The Relationship between Recruiting and Team Performance in Division 1A College Football

Abstract

There is much hype and excitement each year surrounding each school's recruiting classes in Division 1A football. Much of this excitement is based on an underlying assumption that a top-10 recruiting class will result in a highly touted football team in the future. This article examines the relationship between college football recruiting and team performance through regression analysis. The results find both that recruiting significantly affects team performance and team performance significantly contributing to recruiting results. This reinforcing cycle may explain why certain teams are able to continuously be top-25 teams and other teams are never able to rise substantially in their competitiveness.

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