It's official. The landscape of college athletics has done a complete turn-around, and there's no telling if it will ever return to the place it once was.
Gone are the days when the word "impossible" held any weight in college sports, when major programs had everything from the best athletes to the best fight songs and, of course, the national titles. Now, a new era has been ushered in.
Though it fell short, Ball State University's near-astronomical upset of the University of Michigan last Saturday in the "Big House" merely solidified a truth that has been forming the past couple years - anything can and usually does happen when kids are playing kids.
Ten years ago this wasn't possible. In the past, a team like Michigan beat a team like Ball State a hundred times out of a hundred. In most cases it wasn't even close. Each year, there were a select few who could legitimately play for a national championship. Everybody else was fighting for second best.
Even with the odds still in favor of the major programs, competition is so close that any team can win a national championship. If you win, it doesn't matter who you are. The reason? During the past few years, confidence has started to creep into the mid-major conferences.
In 2004 Saint Joseph's University came out of the Atlantic Ten Conference to earn a No. 1 seed in the men's NCAA basketball tournament. No one gave them a legitimate chance. Analysts said Saint Joe's was overrated. However, the Hawks ended up reaching the Regional Finals, a mere John Lucas III game-winning three pointer from earning a trip to the Final Four.
Last year, eight teams from mid-major conferences received bids to the NCAA tournament, the most since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985. But the evolution wasn't complete until George Mason University picked up where Saint Joseph's left off, becoming the first mid-major to reach the men's Final Four in that period of time.
The phenomenon of parity doesn't stop at men's college basketball. It's also found its place in college football. How odd is it that the University of Louisville and Rutgers University are playing Thursday night in a battle of unbeaten teams? Just about as odd as it is to realize that if Louisville wins Thursday they have the inside track for a ticket to this year's BCS Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz.
When the University of Miami, Boston College University and Virginia Tech University left the Big East in 2003, the conference's football prestige suffered a huge hit. The last time a team that wasn't Miami even won a national championship out of the Big East was Syracuse University in 1959. Now, two teams are undefeated, one of which appears to be a win away from a ticket to the national championship game next January.
Though the scoreboard prevents you from putting the Ball State at Michigan game into the upset category, it wasn't about the final outcome. Instead, the game sent a message throughout the college sports world that any team, on any day, in any place, can indeed play to win.
Saturday, cliche became reality. Mid-majors and even programs without a rich history (Louisville, you're welcome) gained respect.
While power programs may disagree, the change is definitely better for the whole.
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