The list of truly elite recruiters could grow from 10 to 14 in 2018.
Yet again, the national champion will be a team from the Blue-Chip Ratio list.
For the uninitiated, the Blue-Chip Ratio is a quick and dirty way of determining which teams have signed enough talent to win a ring. It is not a guarantee that a team will win a title, but teams who do not meet the minimum threshold have little to no shot to bring home the title.
Oklahoma seemed like a perfect team to bust the Blue-Chip Ratio. The Sooners were extremely close to the minimum threshold, had a Heisman QB in Baker Mayfield, and were surging.
Monday night when Georgia’s Sony Michel scampered to the end zone to eliminate Oklahoma, the Blue-Chip Ratio was again good, since the three remaining teams all met the threshold. The title matchup will feature the No. 1 BCR team in Alabama and the No. 5 in Georgia.
The 2017 Blue-Chip Ratio list featured just 10 teams: Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, LSU, Georgia, USC, Michigan, Auburn, Clemson, and Notre Dame.
I don’t run the final calculations until summer, and there is still a lot of recruiting to be done in the final five weeks of the 2018 cycle, but there are already four new teams who look like they could make the list in after the Early Signing Period.
Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Miami are trending
The Longhorns are signing the best class in the Big 12, including the best DB class in the nation. Since the Blue-Chip Ratio is a four-year look, and Texas is replacing its rather average 2014 class with this elite signing class, its number should skyrocket.
Oklahoma might seem an odd addition the year it’s losing Baker Mayfield, but the Sooners are bringing in an elite class, and the 2014 class, which had 27 signees and only eight blue chips (four- or five-star recruits), is coming off the books.
Penn State is signing a top class this season, and the 2014 class in which the Nittany Lions signed just five blue-chip recruits is rotating off. I’m impressed by the defensive linemen Penn State is getting with Micah Parsons, PJ Mustipher, and perhaps Jayson Oweh.
And the Hurricanes are signing a huge class, which includes 14 blue-chips at this point. With a strong close, Miami could make the jump.
If I told you that the 2018 national champion will be one of these 14 teams: Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, LSU, Georgia, USC, Michigan, Auburn, Clemson, Notre Dame, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, and Miami, what would you think?
I’d say it looks really good, and that there aren’t really too many teams who seem likely to be able to win it. Perhaps Washington or Michigan State could be a threat, but the rich do get richer in college football.