Ugh, Sean Foster de-commits from Minnesota

[gopherdudepart2]

Supposedly yes

Kasl told the Gophers not to bother to offer, it's not like he wouldn't have received a Gopher offer. He Kasl told the staff he wasn't coming here.

Just saying, I know I read that he told the staff not to offer after the Gophers camp. I could be dead wrong about it, and wouldn't be surprised if so but I thought I read that on a recruiting site.

 

[GophersInIowa]

OK, disagree with FPI and think that the BiG is the second strongest conference. How does that affect my argument that WI, IA, and NE all do better, over the last several decades than we do? Or do you disagree with that, too?

1. Never said the Big Ten is the second strongest. You just made it seem like it is obvious the Big Ten is 5th in talent. I think the Big 12, ACC, and Big Ten are all fairly close.
2. Never mentioned anything about your argument about WI, IA and NE. I agree they are all better programs that us.

Oh, and re your statement "It also ranks teams, not recruiting talent" are you suggesting that recruiting success and team success are not correlative?

Many times yes. But not always. It's not always the most talented teams that win the most games. Miami is a good example of that right now. In 2014 they went 6-7 and had five guys taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Extremely talented team year after year, yet many times aren't one of the top teams in the country.

The FPI and all rankings change week after week. When teams rise and fall, does that mean they became more or less talented than the week before? The rankings alone don't tell the whole story in my opinion, that is all.

What I'd love to read is your opinion about why WI, IA, and NE do better than we do despite their geographic similarity. What advantages do they have over us?

I don't know if it is one thing specifically. But fan/community/financial support is one that stands out to me. As money became a big driving force in college athletics, we weren't very good and fell behind. Programs like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska were having a lot of success then and that meant more support. More support meant better facilities, better players, etc. For Wisconsin specifically, the Rose Bowl appearances under Alvarez happened at the perfect time in my opinion.

Having lots of money doesn't guarantee success but it sure helps.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

1. Never said the Big Ten is the second strongest. You just made it seem like it is obvious the Big Ten is 5th in talent. I think the Big 12, ACC, and Big Ten are all fairly close.
2. Never mentioned anything about your argument about WI, IA and NE. I agree they are all better programs that us.



Many times yes. But not always. It's not always the most talented teams that win the most games. Miami is a good example of that right now. In 2014 they went 6-7 and had five guys taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft. Extremely talented team year after year, yet many times aren't one of the top teams in the country.

The FPI and all rankings change week after week. When teams rise and fall, does that mean they became more or less talented than the week before? The rankings alone don't tell the whole story in my opinion, that is all.



I don't know if it is one thing specifically. But fan/community/financial support is one that stands out to me. As money became a big driving force in college athletics, we weren't very good and fell behind. Programs like Wisconsin, Iowa, and Nebraska were having a lot of success then and that meant more support. More support meant better facilities, better players, etc. For Wisconsin specifically, the Rose Bowl appearances under Alvarez happened at the perfect time in my opinion.

Having lots of money doesn't guarantee success but it sure helps.

Thanks for your thoughts. Another responder here mentioned some of the same things. And I agree with both. College towns with exciting college sports atmospheres I think have a big recruiting advantage. Top recruits want to be noticed and when your football (and basketball) programs are down the list in town, it's hard to attract top coaches and top prospects. They expect to be on page 1.