Class Rankings vs Top 25 Finishes: 10-Yr win & Class Ranking (2024)

Posted on 5 hrs, , User Since 62 months ago, User Post Count: 22076

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Going back to 2011, on average 48% of teams that finished in the final A.P. Top 25 had a Composite Top 25 Recruiting class. I took a 4-year average for each season. For example, this year I averaged the 2020-2023 classes for an average. Then last year I averaged the 2019-2022 classes.

Alabama led all teams with 13 Top 10 classes and 13 top 25 finishes. Georgia was the second team with all Top 10 classes and 9 Top 25 finishes. Below is the list of teams with at least 2 AP Top 25 finishes during that span.

• Alabama 13
• Ohio St 11
• Georgia 9
• Oklahoma 8
• Clemson 7
• Oregon 6
• Florida St 5
• Texas Christian 4
• Michigan 4
• Michigan St. 4
• Penn St. 4
• Notre Dame 4
• Washington 3
• Wisconsin 3
• South Carolina 3
• Stanford 3
• LSU 3
• Florida 3
• Ole Miss 2
• Texas 2
• Baylor 2
• Cincinnati 2
• Auburn 2
• Texas A&M 2
• UCF 2

Below is an old list I compiled several years ago. It's a 10-year win percentage for all P5 teams and their class average (2011-2020).

1. Alabama .914 / 1.5 Avg.
2. Clemson .870 / 12.6 Avg.
3. Ohio St. .862 / 5.0 Avg.
4. Oklahoma .809 / 12.4 Avg.
5. Georgia .767 / 5.5 Avg.
6. LSU .758 / 7.1 Avg.
7. Notre Dame .734 / 12.3 Avg.
8. Oregon .732 / 15.9 Avg.
9. Wisconsin .731 / 39.7 Avg.
10. Stanford .703 / 22.7 Avg.
11. Oklahoma St. .703 / 34.9 Avg.
12. Florida St. .688 / 8.4 Avg.
13. Penn St. .672 / 21.7 Avg.
14. Southern Cal .669 / 9.1 Avg.
15. Texas A&M .661 / 13.3 Avg.
16. Michigan St. .659 / 31.3 Avg.
17. Michigan .656 / 15.4 Avg.
18. Washington .653 / 23.0 Avg.
19. Florida .643 / 10.2 Avg.
20. Texas Christian .635 / 30.3 Avg.
21. Iowa .632 / 48.3 Avg.
22. Utah .623 / 40.8 Avg.
23. Baylor .619 / 35.4 Avg.
24. Kansas St. .619 / 60.5 Avg.
25. Louisville .614 / 40 Avg.
26. Auburn .612 / 8.8 Avg.
27. Miami .603 / 18.1 Avg.
28. Virginia Tech .600 / 32.8 Avg.
29. Northwestern .580 / 52.9 Avg.
30. West Virginia .580 / 37.9 Avg.
31. Texas .579 / 9.6 Avg. .
32. Miss. St .578 / 27.2 Avg.
33. Arizona St. .570 / 32.5 Avg
34. South Carolina .568 / 19.5 Avg.
35. Missouri .568 / 41.1 Avg.
36. Nebraska .553 / 24.4 Avg.
37. NC St. .551 / 43.3 Avg.
38. Minnesota .541 / 52.9 Avg.
39. North Carolina .532 / 26.9 Avg.
40. Pittsburgh .523 / 46.8 Avg.
41. UCLA .521 / 22.5 Avg.
42. Washington St. .508 / 54 Avg.
43. Georgia Tech .504 / 49.3 Avg.
44. Ole Miss .500 / 23.2 Avg.
45. Duke .492 / 56.4 Avg.
46. Tennessee .492 / 14.4 Avg.
47. Arizona .471 / 46.7 Avg.
48. Texas Tech .459 / 44 Avg.
49. Kentucky .455 / 34 Avg.
50. Boston College .452 / 64.7 Avg.
51. Wake Forest .451 / 62.3 Avg
52. Iowa St .440 / 51.1 Avg.
53. Virginia .431 / 42.8 Avg.
54. California .431 / 44.3 Avg.
55. Indiana .420 / 46 Avg.
56. Vanderbilt .418 / 48.6 Avg.
57. Arkansas .418 / 28.0 Avg.
58. Syracuse .418 / 58.1 Avg.
59. Rutgers .397 / 50 Avg.
60. Maryland .317 / 41.6 Avg.
61. Colorado .364 / 55.1 Avg.
62. Purdue .347 / 58.3 Avg.
63. Illinois .345 / 63.8 Avg.
64. Oregon St. .341 / 45.9 Avg.
65. Kansas .154 / 62.1 Avg.

Posted on 4 hrs, , User Since 62 months ago, User Post Count: 22076

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Posted on 4 hrs, , User Since 7 months ago, User Post Count: 1573

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Posted on 4 hrs, , User Since 7 months ago, User Post Count: 546

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You don’t have TN in your first list and we know they’ve had multiple top 25 finishes in that period.

Posted on 3 hrs, , User Since 165 months ago, User Post Count: 1726

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Posted on 3 hrs, , User Since 265 months ago, User Post Count: 6693

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It probably has as much to do with which conference they play in as much as coaching. In the SEC you can finish in the top 20 recruiting rankings and be playing 5 or 6 teams that ranked ahead of you in recruiting.

Posted on 5 mins, , User Since 113 months ago, User Post Count: 8210

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Yeah it's definitely a mix. Teams like Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, and Utah have had great coaching, but at the same time their schedule will only have maybe 2 teams that recruit at a really high level. They might have an average class rank in the 30s nationally, but that's still probably around 5th or better in their conference. Nearly all the teams that look like they underperform their recruiting ranking on this list are SEC teams, but that's because an average of 19th nationally ranked class is 8th in the SEC (now 10th after adding Texas and Oklahoma). Just the reality of life in the SEC - you need to recruit at a near elite level.