Ah, there it is. You don't trust the recruiting rankings. I was wondering why you were resisting so vehemently. The recruiting information services aren't right 100% of the time, it's true, but if Tennessee's classes are overrated, shouldn't Sutton and Mosley have been overrated instead of underrated? You seem to have hurt your own point with those two examples.
EDIT: I hate that you don't trust the recruiting rankings. In some cases, they explain what seemed to be an upset at the time, such as a Texas team that had been throttled by BYU and Ole Miss beating Oklahoma handily last season. In other cases, they explain seemingly miraculous turnarounds, such as Auburn, who only beat two teams who had recruited better than them: Georgia (deflected pass caught for the winning touchdown) and Alabama (the only missed field goal returned for a touchdown I've ever seen). In cases like Missouri, recruiting rankings show that they overachieved by a large amount. To me, this confirms what I saw on the field, that Missouri had a great senior class and was playing at a very high level as well as catching teams who had outrecruited them by the widest margin at the right time (with lots of significant injuries). It also explains why Conner Shaw was able to come in for one quarter and erase a 17 point deficit: South Carolina had a significant talent advantage. Discount these numbers if you like, but I think you're missing out on a wealth of knowledge that you can combine with other factors to judge what you should expect, and to explain seemingly strange outcomes.
