The NCAA has dodged a bullet the last couple of years with two teams just ahead of the field playing for the national championship.

Better get that smile off of your face now, guys. Parity is here now more than ever. And I would be very surprised to see an undefeated team at the end of the season.

Right now there are 11.

Florida State leads the way and probably has the best chance of any team to finish perfect.

But the Seminoles have Miami this Saturday and go to Florida in the final game of the season. I don’t think Steve Spurrier will lose to Alabama and Florida State in one year in The Swamp.

Penn State is right behind Florida State. They have Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State to go and I don’t think you’ll see a sweep there.

Nebraska is unbeaten, but less than formidable. Virginia Tech has Syracuse and Miami still in the way.

Kansas State will slip up before meeting Nebraska.

Georgia will fall to Tennessee Saturday.

Michigan State has Michigan Saturday and Purdue the next week.

Mississippi State finishes with Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss.

Marshall doesn’t play anybody, but will be the Tulane of last year.

East Carolina has Southern Mississippi Saturday.

This past weekend was a good example of how anything can happen on any given weekend.

Alabama upset Florida 40-39 in overtime, and unranked Texas Tech beat Texas A&M 21-19.

Kentucky defeated Arkansas and LSU scared Georgia.

Texas A&M and LSU will probably both have new coaches next year.

While I don’t think a win over Georgia would have secured Gerry DiNardo’s job, I think a loss was devastating.

R.C. Slocum year in and year out has the best recruiting class in the nation and has to gear his team up for three games, but the Aggies always stumble to a team they should beat.

And did Mike DuBose save his job with the win over Florida Saturday?

He’s still the same guy who lied to Alabama officials and Tide fans about his personal life, which infuriated Crimson Tide followers and the media because they felt he couldn’t be trusted.

That was all brought back up when Alabama lost to Louisiana Tech, but now that the Tide is still unbeaten in the SEC, are fans all of a sudden forgiving, where otherwise they would be talking about moral obligations?

Getting back to the national championship. I believe Florida State, Florida, Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Tennessee and East Carolina will finish with one loss each.

Florida State lucked up last year as Kansas State and UCLA both loss in their conference championship games, enabling the Seminoles to play Tennessee for the national title.

Tennessee won that game and finished perfect for the season as NCAA officials breathed a sigh of relief.

There will be no relief this year as a storm will be brewing.

The most intriguing part about the national championship game slated for New Year’s Day in New Orleans may be who is selected to participate.

Joey Martin is sports editor of The Democrat. He can be reached by calling 446-5172 ext. 232 or at joey.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.