When a number 8 team meets the number 2 team in the nation on a neutral field, we’re supposed to have something closer to 41-14. But the difference between Alabama and Michigan, between the SEC and everyone else, is so big right now, that seeing the Wolverines down 21-0 after 15 minutes shouldn’t come as such a shock.

Three teams from the SEC West are in the top 8. At a certain point last season, all three SEC West teams were the top 3 in the nation, until Arkansas lost to LSU in the final regular season game. The Crimson Tide and the Tigers were so ahead of everyone else, and then we had a national championship that wasn’t even close. Was it 21-0? All I remember is the Tiger unable to make it past the 50 yard line most of the game, with Les Miles finding the perfect time to play ego games with his quarterback and his offensive line letting ‘Bama defenders have their way with his quarterback.

We need this year to be different, but it won’t be. We need the future of College Football to be a bit different than the past six years, which have been all about the SEC – Two Florida titles, two for Alabama, one for Auburn, one for LSU. Maybe Oklahoma State would have done a bit better against Alabama last season, but lets not get to that. That mistake is long gone, and pretty soon, with a playoff, the discussions will be about who the committee picked for the College Football version of the final four, and new kinds of mistakes.

For now, we have an SEC-centric sport, with maybe a couple of teams that can actually enter a fair fight with one of their big boys – Maybe USC, maybe Oklahoma, maybe Oregon, with the Ducks being the team I was counting on last season until they got upset by the Trojans. This year, USC have the offensive firepower, but it just looks like Alabama, once again, or maybe LSU, have the right kind of formula to win a national title – Great defense that’s just too fast for everyone else, backed up by patient, slow, disciplined and intelligent play calling on the offensive side.

For the sake of parity around the nation, so kids know they have a shot of national glory even if they don’t go to Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge, we need a new conference to step up and deliver us a champion, or at least make the playoffs come here a whole of a lot faster.