Success Breeds More Success : Rankings: An ironclad rule over the last 20 years is that most powerful schools stay that way.

Three seasons over 20 years. Three season-ending polls.

One trend?

Well, not really, unless you state the obvious: that parity seems to be a foreign concept in college football.

The test years were 1969, 1979 and 1989. Teams in the final United Press International polls were cross-checked for each of those years. (The Associated Press rankings weren’t used because they included only the top 10 teams during parts of the 1960s.) The results aren’t altogether shocking.

For example, of the 60 total poll spots available, the same 36 teams dominated the voting. Four teams--Penn State, USC, Arkansas and Nebraska--finished in the top 20 in 1969, 1979 and 1989. Thirteen teams were one poll shy of matching the accomplishment.

Of the top 20 teams in 1960, nine were still there at the end of the decade. Nine teams from the 1970 poll made it to 1979. And 10 survived the cut from 1980 to 1989. None of those 10 programs--Miami, Pittsburgh, Michigan, Florida State, Alabama, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Brigham Young, Washington and USC--seem to be in danger of collapse in the next nine years. And add teams such as UCLA, which made the list in 1969 but not in 1979 and 1989. But beginning in 1980, the Bruins have finished in the top 20 eight times.

“I think when 2001 comes about, we’re going to see the same institutions winning, the same institutions losing, the same institutions playing in basically the same postseason games,” said Mickey Holmes, longtime executive director of the Sugar Bowl.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of difference in who’s winning and who’s losing.”

Said Louisville Coach Howard Schnellenberger: “I would think there would continue to be cycles that there always have been. But the cycles might not be as broad as they’ve been. By and large, the top 40 or 50 teams (will dominate).”

There are exceptions, of course. Temple made an appearance in the 1979 rankings and hasn’t been heard from since. Stanford couldn’t make it out of the ‘70s, either.

But these are the odd cases. For the most part, what was good way back when, is good today. And, it seems, will be tomorrow.

Below are the final United Press International rankings for 1989, 1979 and 1969.

1989

1 Miami 2 Florida State 3 Notre Dame 4 Colorado 5 Tennessee 6 Auburn 7 Alabama 8 Michigan 9 USC 10 Illinois 11 Clemson 12 Nebraska 13 Arkansas 14 Penn State 15 Virginia 16 Texas Tech 17 Michigan State 18 BYU 19 Pittsburgh 20 Washington

1979

1 Alabama 2 USC 3 Oklahoma 4 Ohio State 5 Houston 6 Pittsburgh 7 Nebraska 8 Florida State 9 Arkansas 10 Purdue 11 Washington 12 BYU 13 Texas 14 North Carolina 15 Baylor 16 Indiana 17 Temple 18 Penn State 19 Michigan 20 Missouri

1969

1 Texas 2 Penn State 3 Arkansas 4 USC 5 Ohio State 6 Missouri 7 LSU 8 Michigan 9 Notre Dame 10 UCLA 11 Tennessee 12 Nebraska 13 Mississippi 14 Stanford 15 Auburn 16 Houston 17 Florida 18 Purdue 19 San Diego State 20 West Virginia