One of the (many) reasons I don’t like the NFL as much as I like the college game is because of the parity.  In the NFL there is no such thing as a great team nor is there such thing as a terrible team.  There are 32 teams composed of great players running similar schemes.  The difference between a playoff team and a middle of the pack team is miniscule.

Why is this a problem?  It’s a problem for me because there are no upsets.  There are no Stanford beating Southern Cal as 40 point underdogs.  Boston College can’t knock off mighty Miami.  There aren’t 20 point underdogs winning because there are no 20 point underdogs.  A two touchdown line is large by NFL standards.

The college game has resisted that rush to the center.  There are still great teams, terrible teams and everything in between.  There are upsets and blowouts.  You don’t know what you are going to get.  It appears that is going to continue (which is great news if you are a college football fan).

In an article on SB Nation Kevin Trahan points out that the rich are getting richer in terms of quality recruiting.  It’s no surprise that great players want to play with other great players.  Without a draft and salary cap, there’s no way to prevent large groups of talented individuals congregating in, say, Tuscaloosa or Columbus.

Trahan has some nice graphs showing just how much separation there is in each conference.  Here’s what he has to say about Alabama:

It’s not just the West that’s fallen behind entire teams in recruiting. Alabama is better than three entire divisions. The Crimson Tide’s class would rank just ahead of the Pac-12 North’s all-star class and far ahead of the all-star classes for the ACC Coastal and the Big Ten West.

The whole article is worth a read.