WTF Stat/Fact Of The Week: Michigan Has Had 1(!!!) Recruiting Class Ranked Higher than OSU In The Past 10 Years

WTF! You shouldn't live on total class rank which is based a lot on class size. 

I go by average rank not total since you can load up on 27 kids and be ranked "higher" than a class of nearly all 5 stars that are 14 kids deep for example.

Composite looks like it started in 10.

• 2010: UM 86.9, OSU 86.4
• 2011: UM 86.3, OSU 89.4
• 2012: UM 90.6, OSU 90.3
• 2013: UM 91.0, OSU 89.1
• 2014: UM 88.7, OSU 86.6
• 2015: UM 87.8, OSU 90.2
• 2016: UM 89.9, OSU 91.6

7 year average

• UM: 88.7, OSU: 89.1

 

• Classes UM clearly had advantage: 2013, 2014
• Classes OSU clearly had advantage: 2011, 2015, 2016
• Virtual tie years: 2010, 2012

I am sure if composite existed back another 10 years and you looked at the 2 programs they'd be near identical over that period too.

So to my ledger, UM wasted a lot of talent.  In total this era from 2010-2016 had very equitable talent while OSU had 2 top flight coaches and UM was mostly fucking around in their coaching staff.

2017 obviously OSU took it to another level with Bama type recruiting but until then these 2 programs were a wash in their February championships - while OSU actually has been doing it on the field in the fall.

And sadly MSU has always had lower classes than us (I'm totally assuming this because frankly I don't plan to waste my time pouring over that data).  Rankings don't tell the whole story.   Coaching up, evaluating talent, scheme, etc. all are factors.

I've been sayingthe recruiting sites were biased for a decade. At least a decade.

Why you bringing up old shit?

Harbaugh and Company are doing just fine.  The results are coming.

GO BLUE!!

Doesn't matter. I was the first one to say that their program was going down and woohlah. It starts to happen. They needed their own fans to ref their home game and then got spanked in the playoff. They shouldn't have even been there. I have to give them props for positioning their people in places that ensure they are highly ranked every preseason ensuring they stay in some spotlight and don't fade completely despite losses. Not going to matter though. Their decline is destined now. The pendulum between these two teams has offcially swung. Michigan won that game this year. The offense couldn't do anything because the bucs defense was raping them and getting away with it. Can you imagine if the o-line had started to dominate them in the third quarter and how the hammer would've been dropped on them by those prissy little faggot refs? The defense wasn't playing their game because the refs took them out of it. It's not making excuses either you fuckheads. It's stating fact. Just because you cant see it or don't get it, doesn't mean shit.  

Why is this a surprise? In case you haven't noticed, there has been a slight disparity in how the two programs have performed over the past ten years. 

Santa, I know it's your off season but you should probably quit drinking and go to bed

Ohio generally produces more high end talent than Michigan.

IIRC, Ohio produces the 5th most talent after the big 3 (of California, Florida, + Texas) and Georgia.

Having a better in-state talent pool gives a program a higher floor.

we had outrecruited them one time.My initial guess would have been zero. And I am glad 2007 happened to be the particular season showing an oddity. Compare that class to the past two under Harbaugh and you will gain an even greater respect for the significant difference in decent (13 I think it read) and great classes, the type needed to get to the spot he was hired to take us to. 

I will not debate your opinions of what will occur under Harbaugh because I am in total agreement. Regardless of the sport, with all else being equal, i.e., coaching, support(every type), one needs no more than common sense to conclude the most talented team will emerge victorious almost always. There are, as is true with most things, oddities that exist that results in a team that appears to have no business doing so, playing to the level and more times than expected, actually beat the more talented team. Notwithstanding the occasional exception, the greater the talent, the more likely the chances to be victorious. 

I do recall being on Rivals when Tressel was hired and even today, looking back, the level of arrogance expressed by such a huge percentage of UM fans was amazing. That is one of the significant differences and also significant reasons that I prefer this site over any of the others. It simply has far more knowledgeable fans. There were so many summary dismissals of Tressel without so much as consideration of his resume. A very large number of UM fans based their immediate predictions of his likely failure on nothing more than the division he was coaching in at that time. This was true despite the fact our program was successfully being led by a coach whose only other head coaching experience was at the high school level.  

However, in spite of this difficult to understand reasoning on the part of a huge chunk of UM fans, the reason they've outrecruited us so decisively is because recruiting is and always will be based on on-the-field success and when you're going after the same player, it does not take a great deal of thought to decide which team will usually take the early lead. Tressel proved  that he was simply a much better football coach than Lloyd. This should not have been the case. Although the talent gap was far greater when Harbaugh took over in OSU's favor than was Michigan's over OSU when Tressel took over, the fact is we had a better program with better talent than OSU at the time of Tressel's hiring. For some reason, however, Lloyd began coaching the last game of the season in the manner associated with his usual beginning of the season. He allowed the first two, where there wasn't even a real question of who had the most talent get away. Had losing those first two which should have been wins not occurred, I think there would have been very little chance for OSU, under Tressel to take complete control of the rivalry. There is no doubt in my mind that Lloyd lost far more than one football game at season's end. I believe this, more than any other reason - is there any other? - was the cause for Lloyd going from one of the most respected head coaches in cfb to one that whatever he had that had made him so successful he obviously lost, with 2006 being the only team in his final 5 that was representative of Lloyd in his prime, and even then we came up short. 

But that happened and we experienced some very bad shit for far too long. There is a change about to occur though, and I guarantee Meyer was made aware of that last season.I don't know how he will handle it, nor do I care, but Harbaugh quickly put us back on the right track and he'll keep us there. 

The only wtf here is that we managed to beat them once.

Horrible thread and obsession with OSU you have, OP. Also, it makes sense why. RR and Hoke set the program back a lot. Harbaugh had a lot to fix and did a great job with what he had. Give the man some time. He has this going in the right direction. Meyer was lucky and walked into a stacked team and dynasty. That and the fact he is a good coach are why he has been so successful.

I honestly stopped caring about who OSU gets in about 2012. They're gonna get good players and so will we. Recruiting isn't going to be the difference between the programs, they'll both do that at a high level. It's 3-5 plays a game that matters now, let the PTSD go.

It is painfully obvious that OSU has recruited at a higher level. And I don't blame many of their recruits for going to OSU. Why would you want to go to Michigan to lose? To get worse coaching? To have worse facilities?

I would remind you that it isn't who is better in recruiting ranking . . . it is being in the same vicinity. Harbaugh is close, and has closed the gap. We'll be all right. It just will be another year or two before we are there. The biggest hole, imhe, has been the OL. Unfortunately, that is the area taking the longest time to fix. But it is getting there.

The only thing surprising is that you were so surprised by this.

I don't know what's surprising about this, especially for anyone posting here.

This post intrigued me, so I did some more research.  Did you know that in the past ten years the following was true?

• Illinois had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.
• Rutgers had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.
• Minnesota had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.
• Purdue had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.
• Maryland had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.
• Indiana had worse ranked recruiting classes than us 10/10 years.

Each of these results was every bit as surprising to me as the 1/10 recruiting class ranking record against a dominant OSU.  (My research consisted of educated guesses, by the way.)

that its about the Jimmy's and Joe's and not the X's and O's.  

So what? MSU has had only 1 class ranked higher than us in the last 10 years and it hasn't stopped them from winning 7 games out of 10 against us. We have the coaching now to compete with Ohio State. That's all that matters.

Though I would like to see this stat turn some, the only one that matters is the one on the field that says W or L.

They got away with some BS last year in the cheatin shoe; this year we are going to make them pay!

Got a feeling we are starting our good run against them this year.

This has almost always been the case. We have historically done more with less.

Ohio is a bigger recruiting base. Ohio has no other P5 school. In order to get to Michigan you have to travel past OSU and ND. Most of the time, as a recruit, if you come up to Michigan you will also stop at those two very historically powerful football schools. There is a lot going against Michigan in recruiting. Yet we still have the most wins in college football history. Go figure. Do more with less.

don't care

Also look at comparable recruits.  Darrell Green and Ezekiel Elliot were neck and neck for the #1 and #2 RB recruit in their class.  How did that work out?

Jimmyisgod's point about Michigan and MSU recruiting classes is also spot on.

Don't get me wrong; I agree you can't compete for the playoffs without consistently pulling top ten classes.  Talent tells.  But, our beloved Wolverines have been an also ran for several seasons because of a variety of deficiencies.  We're on the cusp of "Michigan being Michigan" again, but let's not kid ourselves about the safari we recently completed.

k

Ohio State has had better coaches over the last 10 years.

 

OSU has had 5 years of Urban Meyer who is clearly the 2nd best BCS/CFP era coach behind only Saban.  That plus 4 years of Tressel who was a great but maybe not elite BCS era coach.

 

We have allready caught them in recruiting. This year is a small class, but from what I see and read we could very easily have the #1 class in 2019. I see no lean years with Harbaugh at the helm and see him start to dominate as Saban (age) and meyer (pressure) start to fade. Pressure you ask!. Meyer has clearly had the most talent the last two years and has won squat with a gift appearance in the playoffs for a well deserved 31-0 smashing. I do not think Mr. Harbaugh will ever be shutout. Think about the great meyer getting shutout. To me it is fuckin hilarious. He has a huge chink in his armor now and if Michigan can just beat them this year it will be ripped wide open and the columbus faithful's arrogance will start to tear him down. They were suicidal and wanting his head after the losses to msu and ped state. If they do not win the big ten this year he will feel the pressure. osu fans that both those years were in the bag so lets just sit back and see how it plays out. Oh ya msu is allready done.LOL

No Shit.  How is this at all surprising? Say I'm an elite football recruit with no connection to either program; do you really think I'm going to take the last decade of Michigan over OSU for better chances at championships and NFL draft position? 10 years goes long before Harbaugh.