'all time' recruiting rankings (2002) (update)

FSU #1 (Tied with USC with most 5 stars signed all time (as of 2018)) with 57.



https://www.sbnation.com/college-football-recruiting/2018/2/14/17003548/recruiting-rankings-all-time-history

Who’s been the top recruiting team of the entire internet rankings era? The answer will probably surprise you.

The list of current FBS teams, going back to 2002, or the oldest year before the recorded rankings start getting pretty weird (recruiting ratings have been around forever, but only became a casually accessible thing around the turn of the millennium):

Average recruiting ranking, 2002-2018

Overall	Team	Current conference	Average ranking
Overall	Team	Current conference	Average ranking
1	USC	Pac-12	4.8
2	Georgia	SEC	6.8
3	Florida State	ACC	7.1
4	Florida	SEC	7.7
5	LSU	SEC	7.8
6	Texas	Big 12	8.5
7	Ohio State	Big Ten	10.2
8	Alabama	SEC	10.2
9	Oklahoma	Big 12	10.4
10	Michigan	Big Ten	12.6
11	Miami	ACC	12.8
12	Notre Dame	Independent	13.6
13	Tennessee	SEC	13.7
14	Auburn	SEC	13.8
15	Texas A&M	SEC	17.5
16	Clemson	ACC	19.3
17	South Carolina	SEC	20.5
18	Oregon	Pac-12	22.7
19	Penn State	Big Ten	22.7
20	UCLA	Pac-12	24.7
21	Nebraska	Big Ten	26.1
22	North Carolina	ACC	27.5
23	Ole Miss	SEC	27.8
24	Virginia Tech	ACC	27.9
25	Arkansas	SEC	28.7
26	Mississippi State	SEC	28.8
27	Washington	Pac-12	29.7
28	Stanford	Pac-12	30.2
29	Arizona State	Pac-12	31.8
30	Oklahoma State	Big 12	31.9
31	California	Pac-12	32.1
32	Maryland	Big Ten	32.8
33	Michigan State	Big Ten	33.4
34	Missouri	SEC	36.0
35	Wisconsin	Big Ten	39.4
36	West Virginia	Big 12	40.4
37	Virginia	ACC	40.7
38	Pittsburgh	ACC	41.3
39	Arizona	Pac-12	41.4
40	NC State	ACC	41.8
41	Texas Tech	Big 12	42.8
42	Iowa	Big Ten	42.9
43	Louisville	ACC	44.4
44	Baylor	Big 12	45.2
45	Illinois	Big Ten	45.3
46	TCU	Big 12	45.8
47	Rutgers	Big Ten	45.9
48	Colorado	Pac-12	47.0
49	Kentucky	SEC	47.6
50	Oregon State	Pac-12	48.5
51	Georgia Tech	ACC	50.4
52	Kansas State	Big 12	51.1
53	Utah	Pac-12	51.7
54	Washington State	Pac-12	52.0
55	Boston College	ACC	52.1
56	Minnesota	Big Ten	52.6
57	Kansas	Big 12	55.0
58	Iowa State	Big 12	55.7
59	Purdue	Big Ten	56.3
60	BYU	Independent	56.6
61	Vanderbilt	SEC	58.2
62	Syracuse	ACC	58.2
63	USF	AAC	59.1
64	Duke	ACC	60.1
65	Indiana	Big Ten	62.1
66	Northwestern	Big Ten	62.1
67	Houston	AAC	65.8
68	Wake Forest	ACC	67.2

5. Conference rankings show something like four tiers.

Average rankings, based on current membership (that’s imperfect, since teams have changed conferences, but it’s what’s happening here):

1. SEC, 23.2
2. Pac-12, 34.7
3. Big 12, 38.7
4. Big Ten, 38.8
5. ACC, 39.4
6. American, 77.9
7. Mountain West, 90.2
8. Conference USA, 99
9. MAC, 101.4
10. Sun Belt, 111.8

The SEC stands alone, which makes sense. It dominates the most talented region and doesn’t depend on just a couple teams to bring in all its five-stars, like most other power leagues usually do. For all the talk about the SEC being top-heavy in the Alabama era (which is sometimes true in individual seasons), the league’s had four different schools win titles since 2002. The Big 12, Big Ten, and Pac-12 have one title-winning school each in that span.

The AAC and MWC stand apart from the Group of 5, and not just because their numbers include lots of rankings by once and future Power 5 teams.

7. Your hardest power-conference jobs, more or less:

1. Wake Forest
2. Northwestern
3. Indiana
4. Duke
5. Syracuse
6. Vanderbilt
7. Purdue

Northwestern’s had a handful of 10-win seasons, but S&P+ has Indiana as the best recent program in this group. The numbers evidently prefer a team that nearly beats elite teams to a team whose games are always 17-10, no matter the opponent.

Please never forget that time Wake Forest won the ACC.

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