Cue the “Old Curmudgeon, Get-Off-My-Lawn” voice.  And not only that, I’m sure that every statement I’m about to make can easily be disputed by actual facts.

When I was growing up, there were a handful of traditional college football powerhouses residing in the Northerly region of the central United States.  It was my understanding that they had been bullies for quite some time.  Nebraska, Colorado, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan consistently fielded top-ranked, if not dominant, football programs that competed for National Championships.

Of these teams, Ohio State is the only one who has been able to stay near the top of the rankings year in and year out, and it is arguable that many times the Buckeyes have been more reputation than substance.  And while the case can be made that the others might be primed to enjoy bounce-back seasons in 2009, I don’t think anyone is expecting any of these teams to compete with the likes of LSU, Florida, Texas, or many other strong Southern schools.  What happened?

Maybe it’s just my clouded memory of the mid-90’s Nebraska Huskers squad that slaughtered the rest of the Big 12, racking up scores in the 70’s and winning by margins of 50 points or more without it even surprising anyone.  Coach Tom Osborne’s recruiting was outstanding: Tommie Frazier, Lawrence Phillips, Ahman Green simply were better than the competition.  In fact, they faced a Miami Hurricanes team in the National Championship and handed their *sses to them in their own stadium.  Nebraska’s perfection of the Option was no match for future NFL superstars Ray Lewis and Warren Sapp.

27 players from the 1995 Championship team went on to at least appear in the NFL.  It’s unfortunate that the unbelievable stupidity of Lawrence Phillips tainted the image of that team, but on the field, he and the rest of the Huskers were as formidable as any college program ever assembled.

Didn’t the annual Colorado-Nebraska game have huge buzz every year in the 90’s?  The Buffaloes had players like Kordell Stewart and Rashaan Salaam (who are now fairly punchline-worthy) give memorable performances and rack up big wins every week.  From 1990 to 1996, Colorado appeared in 5 New Years’ Day bowl games, including 3 against Notre Dame.  But since their 10-3 2001 season, Colorado has ranged from mediocre to awful.

The Miracle in Michigan

Speaking of Notre Dame, I can’t think of a program that has lost more clout than The Fighting Irish has in the last decade.  From 1988 to 1996, Notre Dame played a game every New Years Day, and won 5 of them.  But the mystique fully wore off after Lou Holtz’s mysterious resignation in ’96, and the program, particularly the succession of coaches, has been a series of blunders and disappointments.

Michigan has perhaps kept some of it’s reputation as a traditional Big-10 powerhouse intact, but one opening-week loss to Appalachian State is enough to unravel the status of the Wolverines for me.  Yep, they’ve appeared in the Rose Bowl 3 times since 2004, but haven’t won it since 1997.  And they’ve continued to get big-time recruits, but again, there still isn’t much comparison to a team like USC or Texas.

As I stated in my disclaimer, perhaps my impression of the deterioration of Northern College Football supremacy is more perception than fact, but how can anyone deny that the recent blossom of the typically-Southern “football factory” schools has taken most of the blue-chip recruits in the country and lured them into their programs?  How a team like Boise State draws any recruits is beyond me – must be that blue field.

Programs like Florida and Texas have always been strong, and should be.  But other programs in the same states are now surpassing what used to be big-time football teams to the North, and as a result, a lot of luster and appeal of college football in general has been lost, at least to a schmoe from Iowa like myself. I just can’t get into it anymore because the system seems rigged. And it was probably rigged before, and now the corruption is just spreading southward. Either way, Saturdays are pretty much a yawn for me in the fall, and I don’t see that changing.