Sports > September 24, 2003

By Alex Myers

Assistant Sports Editor

Parity is a word we’ve come to associate with football, both professional and college, over the past few years. Much of this evenness in the pros has come from the implementation of a salary cap, which at least tries to keep big spenders like the Redskins’ Dan Snyder in check. Perhaps the NCAA should look into a similar system with all the allegations of illegal payments to athletes that have been in the news lately.

Seriously though, much of football’s parity is due to the game’s heavier reliance on teamwork than any other of the major sports. For a play to be run successfully, all 11 guys on the field need to do their job correctly and even then, a good play call by the opposing team can stop it. This aspect of the game allows teams with less skilled players to actually compete. By working as a cohesive unit and executing a well-conceived game plan, teams can overcome their lack of talent. As a result, “upsets” occur all the time.

I’m not trying to cheapen the meaning of the term, but as these occurrences happen more and more frequently, their legitimacy needs to be questioned. Two weekends ago, Arkansas shocked Texas. However, in the latest polls, the two teams are separated by a single spot. Was this really an upset then or was Arkansas just underrated? Also, I’m calling for a stop of labeling any Notre Dame loss to an unranked team as an upset. Having a good defense is important, but so is having some kind of offense. The Irish have as much chance of scoring as a guy taking a date to Burger King—And not a nice Burger King but a really sketchy one.

As teams have become more even across the country, this sliding up and down and in and out of the national rankings has become more common. This past weekend was no exception as three Top 10 teams, Michigan, Kansas State and Georgia, were all bumped from their lofty status.

Out of these three “upsets,” Kansas State’s was clearly the most shocking. In probably the toughest out of conference opponent scheduled by the program in the last 15 years (I’m pretty sure they’ve scheduled some high schools along the way), the Wildcats were taken out by the Thundering Herd of Marshall. Georgia’s loss shouldn’t be considered a surprise at all by losing to an underrated LSU team in Baton Rouge and Michigan, hailing from the grossly-overrated Big 10, put to rest experts predicting their run to a national title game for now.

In fact, four teams from the first A.P. poll this year have already been dropped from the Top 10 and another, Michigan, is barely hanging on at No. 10. So much for preseason rankings.

Meanwhile, the NFL season is off to a running start, literally. In recent years, the NFL has seen a shift to more pass-oriented offenses.

This year, however, those who have run the ball have had the greatest success. In fact, teams that have had more than 30 rushing attempts in a game are a staggering 33-1.

Of the 32 teams, only five are still unbeaten at 3-0 and only another two teams are without a loss at 2-0. It’s not surprising that three of these five 3-0 squads, the Chiefs, Vikings and Broncos, rank in the Top 4 in rushing attempts per game.

One of these teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, is quietly becoming a Super Bowl favorite. Armed with a Priest who plays more like a God in the minds of fantasy owners around the country, Dick Vermeil has created an offensive juggernaut similar to his championship Rams team just of just a few seasons ago.

Priest Holmes, who people questioned if he could come back fully from a bad hip injury that cut short his last campaign, and the rest of the team have picked up right where they left off and have scored over 40 points in each of the last two games.

To add to that, their defense has looked much improved at the start of this season. Through three games the Chiefs have already forced 10 turnovers and registered eight sacks.

The fast start has led ESPN.com to place the Chiefs at the top of its power rankings. Fortunately, these arbitrary rankings don’t hold as much weight as the ones in college.

The Carolina Panthers, who are 2-0 and own the league’s No. 1 defense, are also off to an unexpectedly good start, winning their two games by a combined four points. Of course it hasn’t hurt that they’ve already blocked five kicks. 

Other early surprises involve teams struggling to get on track. The Philadelphia Eagles, who have reached the NFC Championship in each of the last two seasons, have looked terrible in starting 0-2. Other sub-.500 teams with aspirations of returning to the playoffs include the Browns, Jets, Raiders, Packers and 49ers. We’re not even a fifth of the way into the season, though, and unlike in the college ranks, early slip-ups don’t cost you dearly.

Overall, parity across the board has increased excitement level because as the saying goes, your team has a chance “on any given Sunday,” or Saturday rather. The closing of the gap between teams has also made the need for a college football playoff system more apparent. But that, as they say, has been and will continue to be discussed at another time and place.