Ivan Maisel has a nice piece up (h/t Get the Picture) that is mostly about Michigan and Rich Rodriguez, but I’m also glad to see someone try to temper the celebration of parity that’s going on this season.

For all the talk of parity, the teams playing for the national title are 1) a team that played for the title last year and 2) one of the preseason picks. I also note that four of the six BCS conference champions were favored to win their conferences, and the other two – Ohio State and Oklahoma – aren’t exactly newcomers to the scene. The only real manifestation of parity in the BCS is Kansas.

It really has been a wild and incredible season, but something strikes me as wrong when people in the game are placing who lost above who’s winning. As entertaining as upsets are and as great of a story as Kansas is, I still prefer to see excellence shine through. The 2006 Rose Bowl was the ultimate as Bush’s Southern Cal slugged it out with Young’s Texas. Though there are exceptions, true excellence in college football is most likely going to come from a traditional power, and it’s better for the sport when programs like Michigan are doing well. As insensitive as it might be to say, it’s better for the game that Rodriguez is at Michigan than at West Virginia.