College Football: Will the North Finally Stop Southern Championship Run?

In the BCS era, only one team north of the Virginia-North Carolina border has won college football's national championship: Ohio State in 2003.

In fact, only two other teams besides the Buckeyes have had a chance to play for the national championship: Virginia Tech in 1999 and Nebraska in 2002.

While most of the talk in college football has been about the SEC being so dominant for the past several seasons, really it has been the entire southern region of the country, spanning from Los Angeles to Gainesville, Florida.

All but one BCS title has gone to a Southern state since the new format was adopted in 1998, and it appears that trend will not be slowing down anytime soon.

What's changed is that the powers have all shifted south, as the current powers of Florida and Texas have replaced some of the older powers such as Notre Dame and Michigan.

The population shift in the past few years to the South has brought a large amount from the Northern states to ones that make it easier for the Southern schools to recruit them.

That equates to a gradual decline in the schools from the north over time, possibly peaking in the last three or four years.

But is the trend starting to reverse itself? Are the schools from the north starting to catch up?

There is a chance that the Northern schools might be gaining steam, and the answer may be to raid the fields of the big crops, i.e. big time college talent.

Up north, there are really only a handful of areas that produce great football talent, with Ohio and the Mid-Atlantic states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey among others being the best sources.

Recognizing an unmistakable trend in population change, Northern schools are making a much more concerted effort to recruit the South, especially in states like Texas, Georgia, and Florida.

Schools like Nebraska have made a living in the past few years of planting flags in the state of Texas to rebuild their program into what is now a top 10 team heading into 2010.

But if the early rankings are any indication, teams from Northern schools have at least a decent chance to play for a national title.

The top ten in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll is a 50/50 split between teams south of the Virginia-North Carolina border and those north of it.

And the teams from the North do have a very good chance to play for a national title, especially Ohio State and Boise State, both in the top five.

Whether or not that actually means the north will win back The Coaches' Trophy will have to be decided on the field.

But the more athletic programs can do to recruit Southern players can not only help improve their teams, but weaken the teams that these kids would go to based on geography.

The hopes of a quick turnaround are very foolish and the shift in balance toward the north could just as likely never happen.

But 2010 may be just as good a chance as any year soon for the North to take a title home and break a Southern winning streak that has lasted seven seasons.

This article can be found on Storm the Field.