On Wednesday, UT will announce a class expected to be No. 1 in the MAC for a third straight year. BG figures to slide in at fourth or fifth. Campbell and Clawson will praise their new players during news conferences at their schools, and fans will dissect highlight packages and hypothesize about the future.

Their energy might be better directed at examining Northern Illinois' and Ohio's past few recruiting classes. The teams that played in the 2011 MAC championship game turned in poorly rated recruiting efforts from 2007-09. NIU's classes over that time period ranked 11th (Rivals) and 12th (Scout). OU's were ninth (Rivals) and seventh (Scout). When the teams met up Dec. 2 at Ford Field, a combined 26 players in their fourth and fifth seasons made up the starting lineups. BG started just four players fitting that description and won five games.

Prior to his team playing OU in November, Clawson called the Bobcats a "model program" for developing lightly regarded classes into a championship contender.

"They've been very smart because they took a very long-term approach to their program," Clawson said. "They resisted the urge to play a lot of freshmen in the years that they were struggling, and now they are seeing the benefit of it. They are a much older, more experienced football team."

It's not uncommon for highly rated recruits to never arrive on campuses because of academic issues. Their impact on recruiting rankings is still felt, though, and therefore Clawson has an interesting proposal -- re-rank the classes in September once all eligible recruits are enrolled in school.

Last Edited: 1/30/2012 8:24:22 PM by L.C.