Recruiting vs. Ranking College Football Team Performance: Top 20 Overachieving Teams

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 Switch Years: 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005

Caveats:

  • Each year's recruiting rating is an average of the rank order ratings from two major recruiting services.
  • The Recruiting Rating Average is weighted to give the most weight for 3rd and 4th year student-athletes, and the least for 1st year student-athletes.
  • The Recruiting Rating Averages are rank ordered to assign each team a Recruiting Ranting Ranking for the team's recruiting rating average.
  • The Post-Bowl Ranking is an average of 20+ ranking services. It is not simply the AP, Coaches, or BCS ratings.
  • Read the full explanation on the index page.

Index | Top 20 Overachieving Teams
ACC | Big 12 | Big East | Big Ten | Conference USA | Independents | MAC | Mountain West | Pac-10 | SEC | Sun Belt | WAC

Updated 15 December 2008: 2008 pre-bowl rankings have now been included and the differences between those rankings and the recruiting ratings have been calculated.

(The bottom 5 teams are noted below.)

School Conference 2008 Rating 2007 Rating 2006 Rating 2005 Rating 2004 Rating 2008 Recruiting Rating Avg 2008 Recruiting Rating Ranking 2008 Pre-Bowl Ranking Average 2008 Pre-Bowl Difference Missing Ratings?
1 Navy I 115.5 118.5 104.5 116.5 111.5 112.4 118 38 +80
2 Air Force MWC 89.5 106 115 107 105 108.54 114 40 +74
3 Ball State MAC 101.5 83.5 79 106 101 91.91 93 25 +68
4 Cincinnati Big East 59 84.5 88 84.5 77.5 83.94 81 14 +67
5 Boise State WAC 76.5 62.5 74 68.5 79 70.49 67 9 +58
6 Buffalo MAC 110 115 97 103 110.5 104.45 112 55 +57 2008x1
7 Utah MWC 62.5 68.5 57.5 65.5 64.5 63.24 62 8 +54
8(tie) Rice Con USA 105.5 95 88 105 113 98.21 104 51 +53
8(tie) TCU MWC 105 76.5 67 58.5 62.5 67.17 64 11 +53
10 Western Michigan MAC 83 94.5 100.5 98.5 82 96.09 101 49 +52
11 Central Michigan MAC 93 102.5 101 93.5 98.5 98.26 105 59 +46
12 Nevada WAC 94 94.5 84.5 101 105 94.38 98 54 +44
13 Brigham Young MWC 70 49 56.5 58 67 57.09 59 22 +37
14 Georgia Tech ACC 53 16.5 53 55 45.5 45.21 50 16 +34
15 Tulsa Con USA 80.5 95 87 71.5 72 81.73 80 47 +33
16 Northwestern Big 10 71 54.5 76 51.5 74.5 63.27 63 32 +31
17(tie) East Carolina Con USA 87 71 66.5 95 77 78.68 76 46 +30
17(tie) Florida Atlantic Sun Belt 105 113 117 118 118 116.15 119 89 +30 2004x2, 2005x1, 2006x1
17(tie) Wake Forest ACC 62.5 76 70 62.5 78 69.23 65 35 +30
20 Northern Illinois MAC 119 114.5 107.5 90.5 86 101.6 107 78 +29

Bottom 5 (Worst is last)

5.(tie) Washington State (-61)
5.(tie) UCLA (-61)
4. Auburn (-62)
3. Texas A&M (-67)
2. Washington (-74)
1. Michigan (-86)

Note: Team links go to Amazon, which has a huge selection of team merchandise.