How we stack up on the recruiting trail against the 2010 opponents

We have been crunching some numbers lately to try to see how Clemson matches up with their opponents.  We are currently in the process of putting together a pretty comprehensive recruiting database for the Tigers and our opponents.  Today we will examine these items from a distance to get a better grasp of how Clemson stacks up based purely on talent alone.

While we realize that talent alone will not win you football games, it definitely helps if the most talented players on the field are on your team.  We also realize that there are some busts and some players who are underrated coming out of high school.  It is difficult to objectively make adjustments and we feel that the best way to move forward is to utilize the "experts" rankings and assume that the AVERAGE accurately reflects talent recruited on an annual basis.

We will also be using this data over the course of the season to better examine how Clemson matches up with its opponent each week of the season.  I think this data and the visuals that it will provide will be interesting to see.  We will also be looking for trends to help us better anticipate future performances.  So hit the jump and dig through the data with us!

After mining all the data and putting these rankings into a comparative table format, I was a little surprised at some of the results that emerged.  Clemson, on average based on Rivals.com and Scout.com recruiting rankings over the past five recruiting classes, has been out-recruited by 4 or 5 teams based on the opinions of these services. 

Auburn, Miami, and Florida State easily rank higher than Clemson.  North Carolina (based on a strong 2009 class) ranked higher than CU through Scout rankings and South Carolina (also helped by a highly ranked 2007 class) eased past Clemson in the Rivals average rankings.  Interestingly, most of the predictions that I have seen to date have Clemson losing 4-5 games.  I also saw a few weeks ago the Vegas over-under on wins for Clemson sat at 7. 

I admit that I am a little surprised about a couple of the ratings.  Based on recent performance, I definitely would not have expected to see Maryland ringing inside a Top 35 Rivals average.  Georgia Tech has had recent success despite only one really good (Top 20) recruiting class over the past 5 years. 

These stats also show past powerhouse teams Florida State and Miami have been getting quality players and should be poised to return to success if their leadership can implement appropriate strategies to properly utilize team talent.  Auburn has been recruiting well for years.  Tommy Tuberville and Gene Chizik have done a fine job bringing players to the Plains as shown below.  With this much talent, it is easy to see how GC was able to come in and win immediately.

Clemson should have no problems with Wake Forest, North Texas, NC State, or Boston College based on talent alone. 

SCOUT TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS:

RIVALS TEAM RECRUITING RANKINGS: