Champ Bailey said:
HoustonAg2106 said:
Champ Bailey said:
Michigan State got destroyed by Bama in the first round a couple years ago. Are they benefitting from that loss? I honestly don't know.
Are you suggesting that they would be better off today if they had not made the playoffs a few years ago? Maybe they didn't take advantage of making the playoffs and the competition around them got better, but it doesn't make any sense that you would be better off not making the playoffs and play in a meaningless bowl game (that you could still lose by the way).
I'm not suggesting anything either way. I don't really know. I think it would be an interesting study to take a look at them versus the 5th thru 8th ranked teams (basically the rest of the NY6 bowls) that year and comparing recruiting results.
There are so many variables though, that you would likely need many years of data to come to any kind of conclusion.
I get what you are saying, and no making the playoffs doesn't automatically mean your recruiting will improve over teams that didn't make the playoffs that year (Ohio State didn't make the playoffs the year Michigan State did and we all know Ohio State is still out recruiting them).
But to me it seems backwards to suggest that not making the playoffs would lead you to have better recruiting and more success than if you did make the playoffs. How could going 12-2, winning your conference (most likely), and making the "final four" hurt your program? If you do all of that and don't take advantage of that success on the recruiting trail, then you have failed or you just don't have a program that can sustain success and just had a good year (like Michigan State).