For the recruiting industry, the College Football Playoff championship game matchup of the Michigan Wolverines and Washington Huskies on Monday night represents a bit of a crisis. The Wolverines and Huskies shouldn’t be here. This doesn’t compute.
The established formulas for projecting how good recruits will be—and how many of them each team has—are largely at odds with this reality. Michigan and Washington’s rosters are made up of what was rated as good, but not elite, talent. They are reminders that recruiting is inexact and quantifying it is elusive.
In addition, these two teams may serve as bellwethers of a shift in how champions are built. The get-old, stay-old method of roster building has taken over college basketball, and it could be coming to college football now as well.
