WTF Stat/Fact Of The Week: Michigan Has Had 1(!!!) Recruiting Class Ranked Higher than OSU In The Past 10 Years
I was bored and really curious to see the numbers on this. I know all the Rich Rod and Hoke caveats apply, but in my opinion, this is another reason why we keep losing to Ohio St. In the past 10 years, it seems like they have had that one playmaker (or ref) that was a thorn in our side while we came so close, but not close enough.
The last time our recruiting class was ranked higher than Ohio St was in 2007 according to Rivals. I would love to use 247sports Composite but I'm not sure if their database/website was even active back then. So for that reason I trust Rivals more for the ealier years. Rest assured, any year past 2009 I used 247sports Composite to make sure things were as fair as could be.
With Harbaugh as our coach, we have already seen him recruit to the levels of Ohio St in just a few short years, and I have no doubt in my mind that we will not only be beating OSU on the field, but in recruiting also. GO BLUE!
Sources:
April 13th, 2017 at 10:14 AM ^
Urban is probably 1B in college coaching to Saban's 1A. They'd both have 4 national titles if Urban hadn't been banned his first year at OSU. Luckily for us, for the first time in a long time, Michigan has a coach that is willing to compete against the best rather than starting out the season by talking about winning the Big Ten.
April 13th, 2017 at 10:24 AM ^
has been walking into the B10 when it was down. There was no one who had the talent OSU had, and then he just improved it from there. Had Harbaugh been hired over Hoke, the year before Meyer took over the past 6ish years would look a lot different. Harbaugh has had to overcome lots of hurdles.
The real issue will be can he beat OSU this year. While I don't believe people will be calling for his head if he loses this year, there will be a lot of talk about Harbaugh never being able to get it done if he starts 0-3 to OSU.
April 13th, 2017 at 10:45 AM ^
April 13th, 2017 at 10:49 AM ^
Its been that way for a long time. Like it or not, they are Bama-North
April 13th, 2017 at 11:12 AM ^
That's pretty similar to our record against them the past 10 years so that would make sense. Recruiting correlates highly with winning percentage.
You don't have to out-recruit someone to beat them, but you have to be close enough with talent level that coaching, development, scheme, etc. can get you a win. How close is close enough...who knows?
April 13th, 2017 at 11:38 AM ^
I really don't give a shit.
Urban was supposed to absolutely dominate the Big Ten when he got here and leave the rest of the conference in the dust. He was supposed to have five straight Big Ten titles and 3-4 national championships by now. While he does have a national title, granted, he has exactly one Big Ten title to his name. The rest of his seasons are just big "what if's" culminating in losing games at the worst possible time.
Dantonio has beaten him twice. Clemson has beaten/humiliated him twice. Even Franklin found a way to beat him. None of these teams have the talent that OSU has. There is absolutely nohing saying that Harbaugh can't beat him as well. Especially when Michigan has a very comparable level of talent and a DC who has proven he can slow Meyer's offense down.
For five seasons.
In every season, they finished 1st or tied for 1st in the division.
No idea what people were saying, "he's supposed to have 3-4 national championships by now." That's downright lunacy.
You can spin it any which way you want. He's one of the best coaches in the game.
Not disputing that he's one of the best in the game. He is, and he's proven it.
My main point is that I really don't give a shit who he lines up across from us. There are teams with considerably less talent than Michigan that have found ways to beat him. MSU has beaten him twice with a team full of players that programs like OSU and Michigan regularly turn away.
There is zero reason that we can't beat him too.
He is 61-6 in five years at OSU and 39-2 in regular season big ten games. He has won 91% of the games he has coached them and 95% of regular season big ten games. I'd say that is pretty good. Sure he lost one big ten championship game to MSU but otherwise I'd say Urban Meyer has dominated the big ten. If 95% of your conference regular season games being wins isn't dominance I don't know what is.
and got skunked by rotten, cheating referees.
Welcome to the Big House next year. Our time is now.
Win the damn game. Tired of the talk.