And taking this logic a bit further, if a team signs only 10 and every one is a five star, their class would be better still? Look people, quantity matters. Everything else being equal, 25 players will have a greater impact on your team than 15 players. Average stars is no way to judge a class. It may show how good a recruiter you are assuming scholarship limitations etc., but it's not a good indication of just how strong your class is. Imagine that USC signed 10 more players and each of them were four stars. Their average would go DOWN. Using your logic, their class actually got weaker???? I don't care how many five stars you sign, if you only have 17 players you're almost never deserving of a #1 ranking.
I agree based on quality USC should be the #1 class. The talent they assembled is unbelievable, you have to give petey credit where credit is due. However that doesn't mean that ESPN doesn't have their nose burried in USC's a$$. Clausen was the #1 prospect on almost every single recruiting service and at worse was ranked #2 behind McKnight yet he isn't even in ESPN's top 3. There is no way you can say USC got the top 3 recruits if Clausen signed with ND. USC did a great job yet ESPN still feels the need to pad their coverage to suck USC butt even harder, go figure.
ESPN and many other in the media would rank USC #1 no matter what. Just like the regular season polls, the criteria changes to justify their pre-determined favorite. Pull out your atlas and go to the two-page map of the United States. Highlight the top football programs on your map and you'll start to notice a lot of empty space on the left page. With 30,000,000 people in California and 1/3 of those around L.A., the media can't afford to have that large of a void. They will do everything possible to hype USC and make them more than they really are. Who else can they promote?...Utah?, Nevada?, Stanford?, San Diego St.? This is the same reason that the NCAA will look the other way and never take action against the Condoms. The NFL has been trying to recapture the market for years and has offered things no other city would receive but the fans just aren't as passionate as we are. Remember it was ESPN that continued to promote USC in this year's title game even though they finished the season with a loss to UCLA! :nope:
SabanFan, a card carrying a$$ man, knows who Beyonce' is. I have a 20 year old son at home so this ain't a nursing home yet.:hihi:
Clausen is a great QB and we tried very hard to get him. Ultimately he chose ND and in a few years he'll be doing very well for them. Unfortunately some of his early success and rep came from playing smaller schools in a lesser division. Oaks Christian beat up the competition on a regular basis and some felt his stats weren't a true measure of his ability. Then we had the CA high school state championship games and Jimmy got exposed.........badly. Poor choices, an interception, poor attitude and leadership. I watched the game and thought it must be an imposter. He was further exposed at the AAA game where he was overhyped by the Lemming/ND network and did well but didn't stand out. He was outshined that day by McKnight, Gallipo, and Griffin just to mention a few. Heck, Gallipo is the first D player to earn MVP honors in that game. You also have to remember that Jimmy's teammate and the California Gatorade player of the year, Marc Tyler is coming to SC. Oaks Christian didn't win everything on JC's arm. Marc Tyler is a stud of a running back despite his season ending injury. So in some ways it's not so hard to see why USC may have garnered the #1 ranking. Personally, it's all a bunch of b.s. if it doesn't translate to wins. Any team in the top 10 can be a contender. Avoiding injuries, winning out, good coaching, and a little bit of luck are all that's needed. The "other" SC had a pretty good recruiting class too.:yelwink2:
