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Debunking the MVFC parity myth
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
You should drink eight glasses of water per day.
Dogs’ mouths are cleaner than humans.
If you shave, your hair will grow back darker and thicker.
The Missouri Valley Football Conference is full of parity.
What do all these statements have in common? They’re not true, but it’s hard to convince people otherwise.
We’ll leave debunking the first three for another article and focus on the MVFC, which actually did have a lot of parity in 2010, when six of the league’s nine teams went 4-4 in conference play. One of those teams was North Dakota State, which advanced to the FCS quarterfinals — one round better than champion Northern Iowa (6-2) and runner-up Western Illinois (5-3).
Plus, the only team to lose more than four games — YSU — lost to the league’s three playoff teams by a combined 11 points.
But, historically, that was more of an aberration than a trend.
Predictably, though, league coaches have continued to talk about the MVFC’s parity this year, since it gives them a chance to talk about how many good coaches there are in the MVFC, and how any team can beat any other team on any given day.
Coaches (in all sports, at all levels) LOVE to talk about those two things and even a straight shooter like YSU’s Eric Wolford isn’t immune.
“There’s so much parity in this league, up and down,” Wolford said. “Some of the leagues I’ve coached in in the past, there’s an upper echelon and there’s another group.
“You can look at this league across the board and say there is a lot of parity. That’s a compliment to the coaches and the programs and the commitment by them.”
Thing is, while the scores may have been close in a handful of games, the overall statistics tell a different story. No. 2-ranked UNI (6-1, 5-0) and No. 3 North Dakota State (7-0, 4-0) have clearly been the league’s two best teams this year. The league’s four worst teams, meanwhile, are a combined 4-15.
Sure, Southern Illinois only lost to UNI by seven points last week, but the Panthers’ other five wins have all been by at least two touchdowns. North Dakota State also struggled to beat SIU by six points but won its other three league games by at least 10 points.
Wolford is probably right in saying that there’s a bigger gap between, say, Indiana and Wisconsin in the Big Ten or Alabama and Ole Miss in the SEC than there is at top and the bottom of the MVFC. But it’s also true that, since 2003, only three teams have won or shared MVFC titles: Northern Iowa (five), Southern Illinois (five) and YSU (two).
That’s not parity.
So the next time you hear something different coming out of the league coaches’ mouths, take comfort in knowing that it might be cleaner than what’s coming out of your dog’s mouth, but not necessarily more accurate.