Rivalry Games / Recruiting Battles
I'm hoping maybe someone has thought about this before and already looked up some of the hard facts, but regardless I'd be interested in peoples' thoughts.
Is there any evidence that in recruiting battles for certain players that are considering a pair of rivals (M & MSU, M & OSU, etc.) are easier or harder to get depending on where the rivalry game is played in their senior year (or maybe the junior year would be more important...).
This year, we have ND, PSU, and OSU at home. Obviously that's a good thing as far as home field advantage, but does that affect the recruiting battles at all?
I doubt it. I guess maybe if a recruit is visiting and loves the atmosphere, but I doubt it alone would decide where a recruit would decide to go.
From my perspective on recruits they don't mind about the rivalry games as much. They just go wherever they feel the most comfortable and where they have the best relationships with the coaches.