[Big T]

Here are some scholarship stats you guys may find interesting. First some context: I'm a lifelong Stanford fan in a family of ND fans. We love college football and will argue about everything, including recruiting rankings. Here is some info I compiled as a part of an email I sent to them.


A top recruiting class every year is a necessary, yet insufficient factor to winning a national championship. Couching counts! However, for Stanford, and to some extent Notre Dame, attempting to compete with Alabama or Ohio State for a top 3 class every is an impossibility. The numbers simply do not add up. Here’s why:

Each team has 85 scholarships available each year. By averaging the amount of kids each year who sign on to Stanford, Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame over the past decade I have calculated the number of years the average scholarship at each school is “worth”. (I’ve attached the excel chart for those interested).

Team       Average # of Commits this Decade     Scholarship Value in Years
Stanford         19.9                                                   4.27
Alabama         26.7                                                   3.18
Ohio State         26.1                                                   3.25
Notre Dame 24.2                                                   3.51

For a Division 1 athlete it probably takes about 3.5 years to graduate since they are on campus year-round. These figures in the table should be very alarming. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban offer scholarships to students who on average are not going to graduate. Conversely, Stanford assumes not only that their athletes are graduating, but that they are going to attend grad school on their football scholarship.

If you are a Stanford fan, and on some level an Irish fan you cannot expect to compete on a rankings system based partly on numbers on a yearly basis. Rather, look to average ranking per recruit. Stanford has been closing the gap on the other three schools listed for a few years. This year, they finished fourth in the nation and were right there with Alabama. Stanford eviscerated Notre Dame the ranking per recruit category this year. Stanford needs to continue this trend to win a national championship. They cannot worry about overall rankings because they players they have will be there longer.

[Big T]

Here are some scholarship stats you guys may find interesting. First some context: I'm a lifelong Stanford fan in a family of ND fans. We love college football and will argue about everything, including recruiting rankings. Here is some info I compiled as a part of an email I sent to them.


A top recruiting class every year is a necessary, yet insufficient factor to winning a national championship. Couching counts! However, for Stanford, and to some extent Notre Dame, attempting to compete with Alabama or Ohio State for a top 3 class every is an impossibility. The numbers simply do not add up. Here’s why:

Each team has 85 scholarships available each year. By averaging the amount of kids each year who sign on to Stanford, Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame over the past decade I have calculated the number of years the average scholarship at each school is “worth”. (I’ve attached the excel chart for those interested).

Team       Average # of Commits this Decade     Scholarship Value in Years
Stanford         19.9                                                   4.27
Alabama         26.7                                                   3.18
Ohio State         26.1                                                   3.25
Notre Dame 24.2                                                   3.51

For a Division 1 athlete it probably takes about 3.5 years to graduate since they are on campus year-round. These figures in the table should be very alarming. Urban Meyer and Nick Saban offer scholarships to students who on average are not going to graduate. Conversely, Stanford assumes not only that their athletes are graduating, but that they are going to attend grad school on their football scholarship.

If you are a Stanford fan, and on some level an Irish fan you cannot expect to compete on a rankings system based partly on numbers on a yearly basis. Rather, look to average ranking per recruit. Stanford has been closing the gap on the other three schools listed for a few years. This year, they finished fourth in the nation and were right there with Alabama. Stanford eviscerated Notre Dame the ranking per recruit category this year. Stanford needs to continue this trend to win a national championship. They cannot worry about overall rankings because they players they have will be there longer.