re: SI ranks college football's most talented rosters

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--Using the 247 Sports Composite recruiting rankings of the three major services (247, Rivals, and ESPN), we give each player on the roster a point total based on the star they were assessed as a recruit. So 5 points for a 5-star, 4 points for a 4-star, etc.

--We only evaluate the last four recruiting classes, so for this year that's 2017-20. That's because 5th-year seniors at the power five conference level are just not as impactful or plentiful as they used to be. But if a 5th-year senior figures prominently on the depth chart, they are still accounted for.

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Wait.. so they are using the 247 composite ratings to determine how much talent is on each team’s roster? That’s brilliant! I can’t believe nobody else has ever thought of this!

Although, SI’s math seems a little lazy. Somebody who understands statistics should try to work out a better formula.

Also...

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--To account for teams that are considered "developmental" programs, thus they don't recruit a lot of 4-and-5-star prospects, as their players overachieve their incoming star rating they are given additional points. For example, Minnesota's Tanner Morgan was just the No. 1185th-rated prospect coming out of high school, but he clearly played above that last season. Therefore, he's now considered a 4-star in this metric.

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Translated: “We fudge the numbers when we feel like it because what’s the point of a ranking system without obvious bias?”