Michigan was the first team since......

[StatesEye]

.....the 2000 Sooners to win a national championship having a four-year recruiting average roster outside of the Top-10.

Any thoughts on how they did it?
No.....it wasn't the signal stealing. That's not going to produce that type of dominance.

[captnop]

Same way OU did it ... 1) Defense. ( Yes, Defense STILL WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!!) + physicality on both sides 2) effective running game. 3) efficient offense. (Heup's dink and dunk + Mangino's Running game. vs Meatchicken's running passing qb + running attack)

[waddy's ghost]

I would point out that the Wolverines have a much better running game then we did in 2000.We averaged 130 yards a game and about 4 yards a carry .

[Rough Rider]

I didn't get to watch much of last night but I did watch both the games last week and I thought Michigan's lines looked clearly much MUCH more physical than the other three. I kinda figured due to that Michigan would pull away sooner or later and win comfortably last night. I wonder what the four year average of the four teams would be if we only looked at the trenches.

And I have to also question if four year recruiting averages themselves are all that relevant now with wild west transfer rules and the NIL.

[Zgeo]

They also have a recruiting violation pending for which hairball was suspended. So if they cheat at recruiting why the bad recruiting ????


But the best recruiting job they did was to recruit Conner Stallions…boy that paid off big time

Question for you all….if NCAA voids their wins do they keep the title????

[StatesEye]

I need to make a correction. Clemson in 2016 and in 2018 were CFP champs and they had five-year recruiting averages of 14.2 and 11.8, respective to those years. However, from 2001 to 2015, all national champions had a five-year recruiting average inside the Top-10. I made a list of CFP Champs and Runner-ups along with their respective five-year recruiting ranking averages. Rankings are obtained from 247Sports Composite Rankings.

Year......Champs 5-year Recruit Rk Ave.........Runner-up's 5-year Recruit Rk Ave
2014.....................6.8................................1.6
2015.....................1................................ 14
2016...................14.2................................1
2017....................1...................................7
2018..................,11.8................................1.8
201......................6.8 ..............................10.6
2020....................2...................................5.4
2021....................2.2.................................2
2022....................2.2...............................35.4
2023...................11.4...............................36.4

Just putting what follows out there for possible discussion, but as I was writing this followup post, RoughRider sorta stole my thunder with his comments.

The previous 20 years have seen an increasing concentration of blue-chippers to fewer and fewer teams (predominately located in the southeast of the country) which in turn has reduced the pool of possible programs capable of winning a title. It's never been a large pool, but it has definitely decreased in size over the last two decades. The transfer portal began in the fall of 2018. The recent competitors in the championship game (especially the runner-up) may suggest that the portal and NIL are changing the nature of recruiting from that of the last 20 years....perhaps reducing the importance of blue-chip high school recruits and increasing the importance for programs to acquire experienced talent that has been developed over two or three years of college ball. I suspect the "bust" rate for transfers will be much lower than that of HS recruits.....just one advantage.

Reviewing the bios of Michigan's offensive starters that played in the title game (see at bottom), I'm struck by the overall playing experience of the starters. With the exception of QB and what Michigan designates as the right-side TE (RtTE), by the end of this season all of Michigan's starters on offense had at least three years of playing time as starters or as near starters. Five of them (RB, WR, SLR, LT, RG) had four years of starting experience. Two of them (WR and LT) had FIVE years of starting experience due to the Covid extra year of eligibility. Additionally, Michigan got their starting LT and C from the portal just last year. Both were mid to low three-star prospects out of high school and both were four-star transfers with at least three years of starting experience......and they were both B1G all-conference this year!!!

I'll try to take a look at Michigan's starting defense. I will not be surprised if I find a similar situation on the defensive side. On top of all of this, I think Washington was similarly loaded with experienced talent acquired via the transfer portal.

Below is the info I gathered on Michigan starters.....
BTW, Gr. = Graduate (not necessarily transfer)
SLR = slot receiver
LtTE, RtTE = Left TE and Righ TE, respectively

QB: Jr. Very high four-star from 2021 class. Won starting job during second year of 2022 season. Second team all-conference in 2022. First team all-conference in 2023.

RB: Sr. Four-star from 2020 class. Played in all 6 games (one as a starter) as a Fr. in 2020. Third team all-conference in 2021 as a Fr. First team all-conference in 2022 and 2023. Unanimous all-American in 2022 as a Jr. Three-time all-conference academic honoree.

WR: Gr. Four-star from 2019 class. Played in 12 games as Fr in 2019 but caught only 4 passes. Solid and steady contributor averaging 2.7 catches and 41.3 yards per game during 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. Played for five years using the Covid year extra eligibility.

SLR: Sr. Four-star from 2020 class. Played in all six games as Fr. during 2020 with 9 receptions for 122 yards. Averaged 2.3 catches and 35.9 yards per game during 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

LtTE: Sr. Three-star from 2020 class. Played in 8 games on special teams as Fr. at Indiana in 2020. In 2021, played TE in 12 games with one start and caught 14 passes for 162 yards. Started all games in 2022 with 28 receptions for 199 yards and voted team captain prior to season. Transferred to Michigan as a low four-star prospect as part of the 2023 transfer class. Caught 22 passes for 249 yards in 2023.

RtTE: So. Four-star from 2022 class. Caught 16 passes for 235 yards as a Fr. in 2022. Caught 45 passes for 649 yards in 2023.

LT: Gr. Three-star from 2019 class (from Waxahachie, TX). Started 29 games at Arizona State from 2019 to 2022. Team captain in 2022. Suffered a broken bone in hand and missed final six games in 2022. Transferred to Michigan as a four-star prospect as part of 2023 transfer class. Missed spring practice at Michigan to complete graduation from ASU. Played in 12 games, starting in 8, and selected to first team all-conference by coaches. Played for five years using the Covid year extra eligibility.

LG: Gr. Four-star from 2019 class. Did not play in 2019. Played in two games on the OL and five games as a special teams starter in 2020. Started 11 games at LG in 2021 including bowl game. Started 11 games in 2022 and was selected first team all-conference by coaches. Was selected by coaches and media as second team all-conference in 2023.

C: Gr. Low three-star from 2019 class. At Stanford in 2019 played in only two games and kept RS status. Played in 1 game in 2020. Started all 12 games as Stanford’s center in 2021 and was selected as all-conference honorable mention by coaches. Started all 12 games for Stanford at center in 2022 and was selected as all-conference honorable mention by coaches for a second time. Two-time (2021 and 2022) PAC-12 academic honor roll. Transferred to Michigan as a low four-star prospect as part of the 2023 transfer class. Started all games at center for Michigan in 2023 and was selected as first team all-conference by coaches and media.

RG: Gr. Four-star from 2019 class. Played in three games as Fr in 2019 and kept RS status. Started in four of six games in 2020. Played in 10 games with only two starts in 2021.Played in 10 games with 9 starts in 2022. Started in all games at RG, LT and RT positions in 2023 and was selected as second team all-conference by coaches and media.

RT: Gr. Four-star from 2019 class. RS’d and did not play in 2019. Played in one game in 2020. Played in all games in 2021 and started in 2 games as the sixth offensive lineman during “heavy” sets. Played in 9 games on the OL in 2022 with six starts at RT. Played in 11 games in 2023 as the sixth lineman during “heavy” sets but did not start until the conference championship and CFP games.

[inconnu]

Jim Harbaugh has been HC at Meatchicken since 2015...9years!

[Zgeo]

From your post it looks Michigan is heavily graduates and seniors…winning with 5th year seniors and seniors is the KSU method since their 3 star recruits are not physically ready as frosh and sophomores.

If not winning with seniors and graduates then it does look like high rated recruits correlates with winning, But you still need a strong program with good coaches and schemes….