As we discuss pretty frequently, recruiting rankings do matter and in many cases, directly correlate to the number of wins a team collects in a given season. There are other factors there too, of course: Schedule, injuries and coaching staff, most notably, that further dictate a team’s level of success.
Over at CougCenter, SB Nation’s excellent Washington State blog, they took a look at how teams have over- or underperformed expectations relative to recruiting rankings in recent years. To little surprise, the Syracuse Orange well outperformed its expectations last year while taking home 10 wins despite having “only” top-50ish talent on the roster.