2023 college team talent

Everyone agrees that football team talent is important. That doesn't mean team outcomes track team talent perfectly; variables like coaching, experience, motivation, injuries, and even luck, play a role in individual games. As they say, that's why you play the games. But there does seem to be a strong correlation between team talent and team quality, for lack of a better word.

Most people also agree that HS recruit ratings, when taken in aggregate, are a good indicator of team talent. Just for kicks, here is a combined ranking of SEC and Big 12 roster recruit ratings (averages) from the 2023 season, using data from 247's team talent page.

Rank..........Team.....................Avg Player Rating

1.................Alabama...............0.9449
2.................Georgia................0.9300
3.................TAMU...................0.9106

4.................UTx.......................0.9096

5.................LSU.......................0.9073

6.................OU.........................0.9050

7.................UF..........................0.8939
8.................UTk........................0.8932

9.................TCU.......................0.8823

10................Miss St..................0.8805
11................Mizzou..................0.8802
12................UK........................0.8801
13................AU........................0.8784
14................USCe....................0.8771
15................Ole Miss................0.8760
16................Arkansas...............0.8759

17................Baylor....................0.8698
18................TTU.......................0.8643
19................Cinci......................0.8641
20................Houston.................0.8614
21................WVU......................0.8613
22................Iowa St..................0.8606
23.................Ok St....................0.8595
24................UCF.......................0.8594

25................Vandy....................0.8578

26.................KState..................0.8545
27.................Kansas.................0.8475
28.................BYU.....................0.8305


Average of the team averages: SEC 0.8919, Big12 0.8664. So for UTx and OU fans, in the future if the media starts beating their drums about your "weak schedule", just remember that all opinions (and most "facts") are a matter of perspective.