Parity is the Rule These days in College Football By Andrew Bagnato Tribune Knight News The college football world is up up- side-down side again North is South and left is right Parity which first showed up as a virus in the early might be hitting epidemic pro pro- portions How else to explain how Miami once the most feared college team on onEarth onEarth onEarth Earth goes to UCLA and gets pounded by a program that had a losing losing losing los los- ing record last year And was that actually actually actually ac ac- ac- ac Alabama having to put together a mad fourth quarter rally to beat lowly Vanderbilt Then there was the unthinkable Northwestern the ultimate underdog beating Notre Dame the ultimate In South Bend IN no less tess Any given Saturday has never had more meaning By the way take the Wildcats with the points for their game at Michigan in October Its It's not so fetched far-fetched anymore Theres There's Theresa a sense on campus that the playing field is leveling Some of the other factors factor's are stricter national academic standards tougher penalties for cheaters and the influence of television I 1 think theres there's a closeness and my sense is that it will get closer Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said Your your and your have all had losing records in inthe inthe inthe the last 10 years Not to mention your Penn States and Northwestern coach Gary Barnett doesn't believe in parity though many point to his program as a prime exam exam- pIe of it it Its just the nature of the game he said Its very hard to dominate year in and year out especially especially especially espe espe- in college where you have completely new faces every year year To be sure theres there's still a pronounced pronounced pronounced pro pro- lack of parity in some parts of the country Take the Atlantic Coast Conference where Florida State stretched its conference record to 25 0 with a 70 26 shelling of Duke last weekend But most everywhere else in college college college col col- col- col lege football parity is the name game Some of the reasons Scholarship reductions When Nebraska won the national title in 1971 there was a joke that the second string should have been voted No 2 2 But with fewer scholarships the powerhouses cant can't stockpile players That has had twin results It makes more talent available to mid- mid and low-level low programs and it makes it harder for the powerhouses to recover from injuries and natural graduation cycles sanctions In the last few years the reigning ng or recent champions of the Pac 10 Southwest and Southeastern conferences were placed on probation In 1993 sanctions ended Washington's dominance of the Pac- Pac 10 and the next season the Oregon Ducks made their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1957 Sanctions against Texas AM created a parody of parity in the Southwest Conference last year With the ineligible five teams tied for the title including Rice which last won it in 1957 In the SEC Alabama has represented represented represented the Western Division in the first three years of the conference championship Someone else will rise this year in place of the Crimson Crimson Crimson Crim Crim- son Tide which went on probation during the off oft The same thing could happen to Miami which is cracking up even as the investigates al alleged alleged alleged al- al infractions by the Hurricane program Psychology When Northwestern Northwest Northwest- ern came out of South Bend with a victory it boosted the hopes of everyone everyone everyone ev ev- ev- ev else on Notre Dames Dame's schedule schedule schedule sched sched- ule Television It used to be that only big boys drew TV coverage but the explosion of cable and pay- pay view per-view has put almost everyone in front of the camera