I'm glad you said something, because I was about to say the same thing

The post-game silence (lack of appearance) on these threads by stupd cow fans is deafening.

as I said, this is only One way to compare and I think it's a valid one. Is it the only one, of course not. As for your NBA comment, perhaps we should look at players who tried out for the NBA or who are playing professionally someplace.

You assume good college players translate to good NFL players.  While often true, not always.  Dobson was drafted in the second round last year and wasn't even close to being our best player.

Tim Tebow was one of the greatest college football players ever.  He can't even make a team.

we can't use wins or losses to measure talent, we can't use career statistics either if it involves a freshman, and we can't use NFL draft picks because college talent doesn't always translate to the NFL.

but Marshall fans are positive that their players are far superior to Ohio's. We just have to take their word for it.

Nation's leading passer (1st team all conference)
4th in the nation in receptions, school record holder for receptions (1st team all conference)
nation's leader for TD receptions by TE (1st team all conference)
CUSA freshman of the year/ freshman all American RB
freshman all American LB

We signed 4 4-star athletes last year alone.  Not counting the 4 star transfers we got.

have you guys had a 4 star in your entire school history?  Honest question

You can look at past draft picks all you want.  We flat out sucked talent wise pre 2011.  Doc has been stock piling talent.

i don't think the difference is as big as some Herd fans act like.  I think you guys win 10 games this year.  You are good.

Those are some great numbers and some great recruits.   It's a shame for you guys that how ESPN or Phil Steele or Mel Kiper or whatever recruiting guru you decide is your guy, rates a guy hardly matters. What matters is what your coach does with them and your four star recruits suck against Ohio and our FCS-quality athletes.

Here are numbers that matter:

2 winning seasons (both 7-6) since 2005
2 losing seasons since 2005

Which of the above two lines is better?

Let's face it. In D-1A Marshall's glory years were essentially a six year run.  Other than that six year run Marshall is one of the worst D-1A programs in history. 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, Ohio has had some 4-star recruits. Here's one, and here's another.

I'm curious. Have you ever found much correlation between the recruiting rankings and how players and teams actually perform? I keep a database of Ohio recruits, and I periodically try to correlate on the field performance to the various recruiting rankings, and sometimes I think I see a weak correlation, sometimes there doesn't seem to be any correlation at all.  I end up wondering if that is because of flaws in the recruiting rankings, or if it is because Ohio's staff cherry-picks 2-star recruits that really should be 3 or 4 star recruits.

For example, suppose you had a guy that was the MVP in the California High School Championship game. You'd think he'd be at least 3 stars, maybe 4 or 5, right? Yet, suppose he didn't play football before mid-way through his senior year in high school, and the recruiting services missed him entirely. He ends up at Ohio, rated 2 starts, but is on the Jim Thorpe watch list, all conference, and will certainly be drafted. He's the reason that your star receiver had few catches against Ohio, by the way. Does his 2 stars mean he has less talent? Or, does his play on the field speak for itself?

In the end I think you'll find that Ohio has more talent that most people give them credit for. If they didn't, you'd be right, they could not be missing 8 starters, and still go toe-to-toe with Marshall, and stay with them, even with the turnovers.

Agreed.  Christian Laettner is one of the greatest college basketball players ever.  Journeyman NBA career for him.

But, I guess it is one way to judge.

Refocus? On what? The conversations on this board have no bearing on the team. We can talk about whatever we want.

we have never had a 4 star that has panned out to be a great player for us.  But I also consider that we get so many more 2 and 3 stars that the sample size isn't really fair.  We have some 4 stars now that seem like they are going to be stars.  One was CUSA freshman of the year.  Cato and Shuler are easily our best players and not 4 stars.  Chad Pennington had one other scholarship offer and 0 FBS offers.

What receiver are you talking about?  Shu had 9 catches for 95 yards.

We had them on the ropes and didn't pull it out.  O well, on to the next one.

I think both of us are good enough to win our conferences.