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(Ed. note: We welcome Max Bayer to the B5Q staff. Max will be bringing everyone up-to-speed with a few posts of Badger Bits each week.)
Badgers ranked as college football's top overachiever in recruiting
The always-intriguing FiveThirtyEight.com ranked of all the Power Five teams based off of how they perform on the field (wins, losses, strength of schedule, etc.) versus how their recruiting classes were ranked from 2005-2014. Per author Stephen Pettigrew:
I built my data set using two sources. I used ratings created by Ken Massey, a statistician best known for his system of rating sports teams, to measure team success. The ratings take into account factors such as win-loss and strength of schedule, which allowed me to distinguish between two teams with an identical win-loss record. I then used recruiting data from Rivals to measure how well a team recruited in each year from 2002 to 2014. With that, I made a simple statistical model to predict where a team would finish in the ratings and compared the prediction to its actual 2014 rating.
The moral of the story here is that the Badgers often over perform even with average recruiting classes. Per Pettigrew's article, Wisconsin is the best team in college football at exceeding expectations, finishing 32 spots higher than predictions. Sounds about right.
With the hiring of Paul Chryst as head coach and a solid recruiting class, there is reason to believe that another great year is on the horizon for the Badgers. Four-star recruit Arrington Farrar was an amazing National Signing Day pickup who hopefully will help bolster the Badgers defense at outside linebacker. Braderick Shaw and Jordan Stevenson will also hopefully continue where the Badgers have left off in regards to elite running backs. Lastly, Austin Kafentzis will hopefully be able to instantly compete for a quarterbacking job that was about as close to non-existent as possible in today's college football realm.
This year, they have a top-40 class along with experienced coaching that hopefully will lead them back to the Big Ten Championship Game and a prized New Year's Day bowl.
Other Links:
Wisconsin Football Recruiting
Eight QB's On Roster Enough for Chryst -- Madison.com
Madison the Right Fit for Farrar -- BadgerNation.com (Free)
Chryst Speaks about his First Class -- JSOnline.com
Marich Report 2.6.15 -- BadgerNation.com (Free)
No Pressure -- ESPNWisconsin.com
Wisconsin football: Rudolph hasn't noticed increases in academic standards -- ESPNWisconsin.com
Gordon's impact at Wisconsin continued on recruiting front -- Fox Sports Wisconsin
Signing Day: Top Sleepers -- Badger247 ($)
What can Brown do for you? -- Badger247 (Free)
Early enrollees recap recruiting -- BadgerBlitz.com (Free)
Wisconsin Football
5 Questions: Tim Tibesar -- BadgerBlitz.com (Free)
Wisconsin Basketball
Energy Defines Showalter's Game -- BadgerNation.com (Free)
Three-Point Shot: Northwestern -- BadgerNation.com (Free)
Badgers' 'Captain America,' Gasser set to break career starts record -- Fox Sports Wisconsin
Badgers men's basketball: Josh Gasser, Duje Dukan share experiences as fifth-year seniors -- Madison.com