REVIEW OF FBS/DIV 1 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 1936-1960 (26 seasons)
As a reminder, I'm only counting the AP and UPI championships that held such prestige. Anyone saying "but 1941" needs to be strapped into a cannon and fired into Toomer's Corner when the trees are covered with ttp.
Since UPI began (as UP) in 1950, this leaves us a possible sum total of 37 national championships to be awarded.
Notre Dame 4
Minnesota 4
Ohio St 3
Oklahoma 3
Army 2
16 of the 37 national championships were won by only 5 teams. Sounds better, right? That drops it to 43.7%, so parity?
No.
1) The AP vote prior to around 1962 was very loose and haphazard. You would have voters who wouldn't fill out anything until the final poll.
2) There was no television, so teams were ranked LARGELY on the basis of reputation.
3) Four full seaons - 1942-45 - were wiped out by this little scrimmage called World War Two. Granted, this doesn't affect the big picture numbers save to point out Army's two national titles were largely a joke achieved when all the good players from other schools were at war while the future officers were in school.
4) Bowl games were not included in what was largely a popularity contest conducted at the end of the regular season.
5) The UPI had an explicit denial of ranking to any team serving on probation, a circumstance which also caused an increase in split national championships.
6) There was a pronounced Big Ten/northern bias because:
a) the perception of the conference at the time was the same as the SEC now enjoys
b) most of the NATIONAL radio stations that could be heard across the country were in northern cities (most notably NY and Chicago, which was near Northwestern, Illinois, and Notre Dame)
c) segregation (though it should be noted very few northern teams had very many black players then, either)
d) TV was growing in the northern cities first due to some of the above reasons plus larger cities (in 1950, the largest Deep South city in the USA was New Orleans, which ranked 16th; the 15 cities above them were all Washington DC and north except for San Francisco)
e) note: there was also a certain pro-Texas bias to the final polls as well
The following SEC teams went undefeated without an AP or UPI national title during this time:
1936 - LSU and Alabama (tie while national champ Minnesota had a loss)
1938 - Tennessee (TCU national champion)
1939 - Tennessee (Texas A/M champion; Vols loss was in bowl game after vote)
1940 - Tennessee was 10-0 and Miss St was 10-0-1 (Minnesota champion)
1945 - Alabama (finished #2 behind national champion Army)
1946 - UGA unbeaten, N Dame and Army tied......N Dame wins title, UGA 3rd, unbeaten UCLA 4th
1951 - Ga Tech unbeaten with a tie (Tennessee national champ, though)
1952 - Ga Tech 11-0 (Michigan St at 9-0 is national champion)
1960 - Ole Miss 9-0-1 (Minnesota began year unranked, Ole Miss at 2; Minnesota had a loss and Ole Miss did not. Guess who won the national championship and then for good measure lost the Rose Bowl?)
1942 - UGA was 10-1, Ohio St 9-1(note: Ohio St should have won it, but note the long history all going in the same direction)
Now, I'm not saying this to re-fight the Civil War on the football field. In fact, one could argue that in every single case the Big Ten team WAS better. That MIGHT be true. The point is that when in every single case without exception the lever falls in one direction, you don't have anything resembling a coherent attempt to be objective. And as I always pointed out, Purdue went 4-4-1 in 1960 and finished 19th and in 1961 they went 6-3 and finished 12th. (I don't hate Purdue, I have two relatives going there right now).
The point is the objectivity of such polls can reasonably be called into account. This does NOT make them worthless, it just means we have to evaluate them in the light of their context and time.
Parity - it does not exist and never has. Circumstances created the illusion.