FanNation - The Republic of Sport

This has been a wacky, wild, up-and-down college football season with more intrigue than a Jason Bourne movie. There have been many theories as to why there have been so many upsets this season, and I've compiled many of them here:

It's The Information Age, Baby! In the past, if you wanted to find out more about Midland State Polytechnic School for General Studies, West Campus, you had to rely on the occasional one-line game summary in the Nowhere Times Herald. Now good ole' Midland State Polytechnic has their own website, and you can by a T-shirt by clicking on the link they provide. (Go Fighting Suburbanites!) Plus, MSP might make the Generic Brand, Two Weeks After Thanksgiving Day Bowl Game, which incidentally, has its own website. So recruits can find out more about more schools, and there are a plethora of options open to them.

It's The Information Age, Baby! Part II: It used to be that when a coaching vacancy opened up, the athletic director, school president, and a few other informed individuals huddled together and made a choice based on what was best for their football program. Now, the athletic director, school president, and a few other informed individuals gather together and make a choice based on what will satisfy the rabid fans, who will otherwise make their discontent known on message boards. The perceived need to make a "sexy" hire has perhaps resulted in some ineffective, big-name retreads. (Hello, Coach Wannestadt!) Meanwhile, coaches who really merited consideration were overlooked and landed at smaller schools.

It's Bud Selig's Fault: This is a theory proposed in the New York Times. For the past few seasons, Major League Baseball postseason games have ended long past even Paris Hilton's bedtime. Young Americans cannot watch the games, and thus, fail to become hooked on the sport. When they take up athletics, they chose football instead, and that makes a wealth of talent available to college recruiters. As a result, not even USC can scoop up every available tailback. (Although, God Bless them, they do try.)

The Stars are Out: Quick. Who quarterbacks the team currently ranked first in the BCS? If you answered Todd Boeckman, you are probably an Ohio State fan, or the Columbus reporter who came up with this theory. You're certainly not a photographer for USA Today. Instead of Boeckman, the paper included a picture of backup Rob Schoenhoft with their headline regarding the Bowl Championship rankings. Those things happen, of course. But it does help to illustrate the lack of star power in college football this season. None of the big schools have a Reggie Bush or Vince Young on their roster, and maybe that allows the smaller schools to compete.

The Scholarship Limits Are Starting to Catch Up: Proponents of this theory believe that this season represents what is becoming a trend in college football. Because of the rule limiting Division IA colleges to 85 scholarships, the big schools can no longer stockpile talent, and smaller schools are increasingly snagging up good players.

College Football is Migrating South: This is a favorite theory of an ESPN radio talk show host. He thinks that recruits are more and more interested in attending warm weather schools. That leaves certain traditional powers like Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Michigan, ahem...out in the cold. Add to that the lack of pull that tradition has these days (as OSU coach Jim Tressel says, history to this generation of kids is "last week's Sports Center,") and that means a changing of the guard is inevitable in the college game.

It's All in Their Head: This theory is for those who love to psychoanalyze the players they cheer. These armchair shrinks see a sense of privilege in today's athletes. As evidence, they'll cite some of the high profile sports scandals from the previous summer. In a society that coddles jocks, they argue, isn't it understandable that a top ranked team would think they are just entitled to roll over a lower ranked team? That means a lack of focus that translates into an upset.

Pollsters Don't Know What They're Talking About: Then again, maybe in the end, the people who vote in the polls and the people who write columns that influence poll voters just have no clue. Before I prove that true, I'll end with an invite to you to give me your theory on why there seems to be more parity in college football today.

(And as always, I invite you to visit: http://www.buckeyegridguide.com/interviews.htm. It's not Midland State Polytechnic's website, and it hasn't been updated yet this week, but I work hard on it.)