Sports Extra - Blogs - National Signing Day If you believe the rankings OU and OSU are falling behind

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National Signing Day: If you believe the rankings, OU and OSU are falling behind
Published: 2/7/2013 1:04 AM
Last Modified: 2/7/2013 1:06 AM

Another National Signing Day has come and gone, and I'm struck by how different it is today compared to 10 years ago.

Back then -- which seems like the old days because of the advances in technology -- you would casually follow the back-and-forth throughout the day, then boil it down in the evening for Thursday's newspaper readers.

These days, due to the saturation of coverage on television and the Internet, every small item is studied, blogged, tweeted and broadcast until a school's signing class almost seems like last week's news nine hours after the first fax came rolling in.

Depending on how much stock you put in recruiting rankings -- and they're at best an inexact science -- it was a down year for Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

According to Rivals.com, OU, at No. 15, had its worst ranked recruiting class since the site began assigning national rankings in 2002.

And at least according to Rivals, Oklahoma State didn't get the "second-year bump" that a school sometimes gets in the second recruiting class after a big season. The Cowboys, two years removed from a Big 12 title, a top 5 finish and a Fiesta Bowl victory, were ranked 34th, behind Big 12 members OU, Texas, West Virginia and Baylor.

The news is a little better if Scout.com is your recruiting ranking service of choice. The Cowboys' class was ranked 24th nationally and and third in the Big 12.

So what do the rankings mean? That's difficult to pinpoint.

Obviously, you would rather be ranked higher than lower. But the subjectivity of recruiting rankings tends to skew them in favor of traditional teams from power conferences.

Take a look at these numbers:

Associated Press Top 5 finishes from 2008-2012
1t. Alabama 3
1t. Oregon 3
1t. Ohio State 3
4t. Texas 2
4t. Florida 2
13 teams with one appearance

Rivals.com Top 5 recruiting finishes from 2004-2012
1. USC 7
2t. Florida 6
2t. Texas 6
2t. Alabama 6
5t. Ohio State 4
5t. Florida State 4
7t. LSU 3
7t. Miami 3

Make fun of Texas' Mack Brown all you want, but if anyone deserves the designation of "Coach February" it's the folks at USC and Florida State. The two schools have a combined 11 top 5 recruiting classes in the last eight years without a single top 5 finish in the AP poll since 2008.

At some level, however, the recruiting rankings do provide foreshadowing. Of the eight teams with multiple top 5 recruiting classes since 2004, five have finished in the top 5 of the final AP poll in the last five years -- and four of the five have done it multiple times.

Those who like to hold the rankings in disdain can point to Oregon, which has finished in the top 5 three times in the last five years without one top 5 recruiting class since 2004.

But the Ducks aren't exactly picking up scraps on the recruiting trail. Only one of Oregon's last six recruiting classes has finished outside the top 19 and three of them (9 in 2011; 13 in 2010; and 11 in 2007) have been among the top 13.

So while you can point to the occasional TCU, Boise State and Utah, who finished in the top 5 through a combination of good coaching, good talent evaluation and good fortune, National Signing Day usually teaches a harsh lesson.

In college football, if you want to hoist the crystal ball in January, you better do more than just "fill needs" in February.

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215567 (last week)

I think OU's class will prove to be underrated. There is some strong talent in this group.

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Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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