I think today's Big East debacles, the Cincy-UF game for sure, and to an extent WVU-FSU as well, points out the import of recruiting. As Bobby Bowden once said "people ask me in the off-season how the team is going to look, and i tell them the team will be as good as the players are".

The difference between UF and Cincy tonite is all those 4- and 5- star recruits on UF.

Oh NO!!!!! I hear SFHusky comming in 1..2....3... LOL

Football is KING in the south. If you want the best recruits (Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia-Richmond south and Louisiana), you have to have some type of establishment in the south through schools and or TV sets. The Big 10 is now pushing their network down here for a reason, using it as a recruiting tool.

You guys are too easy. Seriously, then please explain to me the following:

1. Why did USC got their butt handed to them by Stanford? Aren't USC's 4 and 5 star recruits suppose to just walk over a team like Stanford?
2. It wasn't too long ago FLA was the laughing stock of the SEC full of 4 and 5 star recruits. People forget so quickly the Ron Zook years. What happened to those 4 and 5 star recruits?
3. FSU is full of 4 and 5 star recruits too? Why did they only finish 6-6 in the ACC?
4. ND is also full of 4 and 5 stars. How come a team like UCONN beat them in their own house?
5. Ohio ST is full of 4 and 5 stars too. Before this year, how many times did they get the snot beat out of them in BCS bowls? Is their 4 and 5 star recruits inferior than other team's? I though a 4 or 5 star should be the same as other 4 or 5 stars? No?
6. How did UTAH dominate Bama with a roster full of 4 and 5 stars last year?

Recruiting is just one of the zillion other components of a winning football team. Coaching matters a zillion times more than 4 or 5 star recruits. Yeah recruiting matters only if they are recruited by the right coach LOL.

(01-02-2010 01:09 AM)BamaRoll Wrote:  Football is KING in the south. If you want the best recruits (Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia-Richmond south and Louisiana), you have to have some type of establishment in the south through schools and or TV sets. The Big 10 is now pushing their network down here for a reason, using it as a recruiting tool.

Yep, the BE has gone as far as it can w/ the 'diamonds in the rough' deal. Now it's time to get real, or should I say 'Get STRONG'. Jurich pinpointed this as the Numero Uno priority for UofL ... RECRUITING!!!

Charlie Strong is already taking it to a whole 'nother level. The BE cannot survive w/out others doing the same. Otherwise tonight will simply repeat itself like groundhogs day.

Talent level must be upped, Big Time! That's why TCU absolutely bulldozed their conf., they are so much more talented at this point. Utah last year, though TCU was close.

Losing our most successful coaches hurts, bad recruiting hurts worse.

BTW, Bama dude, when you gonna spill on the so-called 'dirt' you got on Strong...?????

While I'll agree with the premise, "recruiting matters", I don't think it had much to do with Cincinnati's lose.

When Brian Kelly left, the Bearcat advantage left. There is no doubt that Kelly would have had Cincinnati offense humming for this game. Could they have beaten Florida? I don't know. I do know that the Bearcats would have score more points.

(01-02-2010 01:46 AM)SF Husky Wrote:  You guys are too easy. Seriously, then please explain to me the following:

1. Why did USC got their butt handed to them by Stanford? Aren't USC's 4 and 5 star recruits suppose to just walk over a team like Stanford?
2. It wasn't too long ago FLA was the laughing stock of the SEC full of 4 and 5 star recruits. People forget so quickly the Ron Zook years. What happened to those 4 and 5 star recruits?
3. FSU is full of 4 and 5 star recruits too? Why did they only finish 6-6 in the ACC?
4. ND is also full of 4 and 5 stars. How come a team like UCONN beat them in their own house?
5. Ohio ST is full of 4 and 5 stars too. Before this year, how many times did they get the snot beat out of them in BCS bowls? Is their 4 and 5 star recruits inferior than other team's? I though a 4 or 5 star should be the same as other 4 or 5 stars? No?
6. How did UTAH dominate Bama with a roster full of 4 and 5 stars last year?


Recruiting is just one of the zillion other components of a winning football team. Coaching matters a zillion times more than 4 or 5 star recruits. Yeah recruiting matters only if they are recruited by the right coach LOL.

Virtually everyone of those scenarios above were do to inexerpienced 4 and 5 star guys. What recruiting does is get your cubboard filled, but it still takes a good chef, and some if not all to marinate for a while in order for the entree to taste well. I see in just about all the games above a situation where they were raw and talented players, now you see an Alabama and Florida team all grown up. As for ND, they can only get so many 4-5 star guys in (academic standards), so their depth is shallow.

Recruiting has a lot to do with it. I know people question some of the ranking systems, but I'll take my chances with 20 kids being recruited by BCS schools vs 20 kids being recruited by Non's....whether they are 2's, 3's, 4's, or 5's.

(01-02-2010 08:22 AM)dgrace4cards Wrote:  

(01-02-2010 01:46 AM)SF Husky Wrote:  You guys are too easy. Seriously, then please explain to me the following:

1. Why did USC got their butt handed to them by Stanford? Aren't USC's 4 and 5 star recruits suppose to just walk over a team like Stanford?
2. It wasn't too long ago FLA was the laughing stock of the SEC full of 4 and 5 star recruits. People forget so quickly the Ron Zook years. What happened to those 4 and 5 star recruits?
3. FSU is full of 4 and 5 star recruits too? Why did they only finish 6-6 in the ACC?
4. ND is also full of 4 and 5 stars. How come a team like UCONN beat them in their own house?
5. Ohio ST is full of 4 and 5 stars too. Before this year, how many times did they get the snot beat out of them in BCS bowls? Is their 4 and 5 star recruits inferior than other team's? I though a 4 or 5 star should be the same as other 4 or 5 stars? No?
6. How did UTAH dominate Bama with a roster full of 4 and 5 stars last year?


Recruiting is just one of the zillion other components of a winning football team. Coaching matters a zillion times more than 4 or 5 star recruits. Yeah recruiting matters only if they are recruited by the right coach LOL.

Virtually everyone of those scenarios above were do to inexerpienced 4 and 5 star guys. What recruiting does is get your cubboard filled, but it still takes a good chef, and some if not all to marinate for a while in order for the entree to taste well. I see in just about all the games above a situation where they were raw and talented players, now you see an Alabama and Florida team all grown up. As for ND, they can only get so many 4-5 star guys in (academic standards), so their depth is shallow.

Recruiting has a lot to do with it. I know people question some of the ranking systems, but I'll take my chances with 20 kids being recruited by BCS schools vs 20 kids being recruited by Non's....whether they are 2's, 3's, 4's, or 5's.

Yes, no one, as SFHusky implies, is saying that recruiting is the ONLY thing that matters. We all know other things count as well, which is why occasionally a USC loses to a Stanford, and why Notre Dame regularly loses to teams with less talent.

But, it surely does matter greatly, and last night was an example.

It wasn't recruiting that did in WVU against FSU. The Mountaineers recruits were as highly rated as FSU's. The difference in that game, besides the emotion of Bobby's retirement, is that FSU had a lot of upperclassmen starting, while WVU had a lot of underclassmen starting. Nearly the entire Mountaineer team comes back next year, both offense and defense. FSU doesn't have that same luxury. They lose several key players. WVU loses nobody we can't easily replace...

The Mountaineers will be back in force next year, and will once again challenge for The BEast's BCS bid...

That was the same FSU team which nobody gave any USF any credit for beating.....

FSU still has a lot of talent. Recruiting matters. The way to beat FSU is to out coach them and hit them over the top for big plays over the middle. IMO, Coach Stewart didn't attack the Noles early enough in the game. Brown has a huge arm so I am still puzzled why they didn't take more shots down the field. Just the threat of the big play would have created more space for Devine....which as everyone in the Big East knows.....that is deadly.

BTW, once the game entered the 4th quarter the Noles fed off the emotion of Bobby's last game, as I predicted several weeks ago. IMO, the better team did not win yesterday.

It will be very interesting to see what WVU does on offense next year if Devine turns pro. Any word on Noel's direction?

Only one thing changed between the regular season and last night: Brian Kelly. He's obviously a genius at extracting the most out of his players and playing to their strenghs.

Eith way, it's the GATORS people. Defending National Champion, Tebow's last game and possibly Urban's last game. They are a monster who chewed up Cincy's obvious defensive weaknesses. They're defense finally put some pressure on Pike and he looked rushed and made bad throws all night.

Give Florida some credit. Nobody would've wanted to play Florida last night under those circumstances....NOBODY. Cincinnati had to do it w/o the coach that got them there. In the end, I don't think he could have gotten them over the top anyway, but I think he would have made a difference.

(01-02-2010 11:58 AM)CyberBull Wrote:  That was the same FSU team which nobody gave any USF any credit for beating.....

FSU still has a lot of talent. Recruiting matters. The way to beat FSU is to out coach them and hit them over the top for big plays over the middle. IMO, Coach Stewart didn't attack the Noles early enough in the game. Brown has a huge arm so I am still puzzled why they didn't take more shots down the field. Just the threat of the big play would have created more space for Devine....which as everyone in the Big East knows.....that is deadly.

BTW, once the game entered the 4th quarter the Noles fed off the emotion of Bobby's last game, as I predicted several weeks ago. IMO, the better team did not win yesterday.

It will be very interesting to see what WVU does on offense next year if Devine turns pro. Any word on Noel's direction?

I've heard no word on Devine. He still hasn't filled out the draft evaluation papers, so he may be leaning on coming back. But I have no idea, one way or the other...

As for Devine in the Gator Bowl, he hardly touched the ball after the 2nd quarter. He tweaked an ankle shortly after Brown's injury, and that was the end of his, and the Mountaineers, day...

I will say it again:

1. Cincy and WVU both lost not totally due to recruiting. WVU should have won that game. Cincy coach made NO adjustment to play to Cincy's advantages and therefore they got beat. Cincy has advantages at WR but the coaches could not put them in the right position to score.

2. Rivals and Scout recruiting ranking is still a crapshot. It means nothing.

3. Coaches like Meyer and Carroll do matter. The 4 and 5 stars they have recruited actually are real 4 and 5 stars. Those Rivals and Scout rankings gave players 4 or 5 stars because they were recruited by those coaches and schools, not because they actually know how to evaluate players. Like every year, those "recruiting" experts miss hundreds of top talent.

Recruiting is just one part of equation. I can see UL focusing on recruiting because the players they got now are not good. That being said, it is not the same case for all the BE teams.

(01-02-2010 01:39 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  I will say it again:

1. Cincy and WVU both lost not totally due to recruiting. WVU should have won that game. Cincy coach made NO adjustment to play to Cincy's advantages and therefore they got beat. Cincy has advantages at WR but the coaches could not put them in the right position to score.

2. Rivals and Scout recruiting ranking is still a crapshot. It means nothing.

3. Coaches like Meyer and Carroll do matter. The 4 and 5 stars they have recruited actually are real 4 and 5 stars. Those Rivals and Scout rankings gave players 4 or 5 stars because they were recruited by those coaches and schools, not because they actually know how to evaluate players. Like every year, those "recruiting" experts miss hundreds of top talent.

Recruiting is just one part of equation. I can see UL focusing on recruiting because the players they got now are not good. That being said, it is not the same case for all the BE teams.

That is why I always focus on which players have offers from which schools not what is the "Star" ranking in Football.

Corwin Lamb is a 2 Star recruit on Scout.com that Coach Strong has brought in yet he has offers from Miami, Florida State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Mississippi State ect. ect. and after watching some tape on him I see why

That is not a 2 Star player and after watching film on a 4 Star that he had-(he has since gone to Memphis after Kragthorpe was let go) I can see he was overvalued. Good player but on tape not as athletic as Lamb. Memphis was his only other offer yet he was rated a 4 Star player. A true 4 Star would have had offers from other BCS programs not just us.

UCONN got talent despite all the 1 and 2 stars. Look at these youngs Huskies go against one of the SEC's best defense today.

(01-02-2010 01:39 PM)SF Husky Wrote:  I will say it again:

1. Cincy and WVU both lost not totally due to recruiting. .............

Recruiting is just one part of equation.

No doubt, wins/losses are not totally due to recruiting, and it is one part of the equation.

But, it's a very important part, particularly at the elite level.

USF's OL is a good example of the importance of recruiting. Injuries happen during the season and depth goes a long way to surviving it.

I think that it takes both good recruiting (top twenty recruiting classes) and good coaching (motivation, teaching, development) to be a good (BCS type) college football team.

One without the other will get you by for a while, but will always catch up to you.

Well today is yet another example of recruiting rankings on Rivals and Scout mean squat. South Carolina usually have top 15 recruiting classes and UCONN usually have it in the 70s. What I saw on the field is bunch of UCONN DLs dominated that South Carolina OL. UCONN OL pushed around a top SEC defense enough to get our running game. I don't think any of our kids gave one thought on how many recruiting stars they had when they committed to UCONN. This after a year full of injuries to key players and our depth was really tested.

Edsall does a hellva job evaluating and coaching up talent. That is a skill that not many coaches have.

That is probably why he was on Notre Dame short list of coaches and he would have done a hellva job there. I for one am glad he is staying at UConn and I only wish that BK would have stayed at UC.

But I do feel Butch Jones will do a good job for the Bearcats next season.