All hail Oregon as college football's new No. 1 team.
In a world where mathematical formulae determine the national champion, this is a feat in and of itself. One bad week can ruin a season. One wrong call can lead to one loss, and one loss can count you out.
The Ducks routed Tennessee and dropped 52 points on a very good Stanford squad. They have held their pace as Alabama, Ohio State and Florida all faltered.
Oregon's ascension to the top is most impressive, however, simply because it has never been ranked that high. In college football, that amounts to a Miracle on Turf.
The Ducks are the Associated Press poll's first new No. 1 team in 20 years. Since 1936, only 43 teams have held that honor. You rarely have to scroll too far down the list to find Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma. College football's top teams tend to alternate back and forth.
We all want to believe college football is a meritocracy - that the nation's top-ranked team is also its best team. Can that really be the case, though, when it is so difficult to break into the NCAA's upper tier? The mere fact that a team has never been No. 1 significantly lowers its chance of ever reaching that height. People's perception of a team has more to do with its history than its actual talent.
The supremacy of BCS conferences in the BCS bowls is a given, albeit contentious, fact. An unbeaten Big 10 team will always get priority over a MAC team. Fans may debate the fairness of such a system, but they at least recognize that until the system changes, this is how it works.
Even so, we assume that any team from the BCS will start on equal footing. Obviously, certain powerhouse programs have an advantage in recruiting and mentality. This should only be an advantage in the polls, though, if it actually translates into superior performances. No one wants to think that a Texas or Alabama can earn a spot in the national championship game just because people decided in August those teams would be good come December and January.
During the past 20 years, however, only three teams have entered the season outside the preseason poll's top 10 to finish the year as No. 1. The past seven national champions started the season ranked within the top eight and five of those were among the poll's top five.
Teams often rank high in the preseason because they are good teams, so it makes sense that there is a correlation between a team's preseason and postseason rankings. But journalists are not geniuses and certainly are not clairvoyant. Therefore, a team's preseason rank should not be so dramatically predictive of where it will finish.
Theoretically, any of the nation's 120 FBS teams should have a shot at the national championship. Realistically, though, it seems only eight teams have a true chance. And those eight teams are likely to include only the programs that have been historically good.
The rarity of Oregon's feat paints a grim, aristocratic picture of college football. It suggests a sport in which only the elite can contend and indicates final results are largely predetermined. It makes me wonder if college football is just a static, unchanging game.
Then again, prior to Oregon's climb, the previous new team to rise to No. 1 was the 1990 Virginia Cavaliers. Yep, Virginia was the most recent team to break through the glass ceiling. We are one of those 43 teams that have boasted a No. 1 rank. For three glorious weeks, we were considered the nation's greatest.
But anyone who watched North Carolina thump us around the field last Saturday knows the 2010 Cavaliers bear no resemblance to the 1990 squad. We have seen that college football can and does change.
So sure, we may have lost our last nine conference games, but at least we provide an exception to the NCAA's stagnancy rule. Perhaps one day Virginia can change courses again. After all, we've been ranked No. 1 before, so history says it should be easier now ... right?
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