Winners
LSU: Sure, Death Valley is always an impressive atmosphere, but LSU fans really brought it Saturday night as the Tigers defeated South Carolina. With many top recruits in attendance, including national No. 2 Reuben Foster, an Auburn commitment, it was important to make the impression, and LSU delivered on and off the field.
On the flip side, I don't see this loss hurting South Carolina's recruiting in the slightest. The Gamecocks were expected to lose, and while their national championship hopes are almost certainly dashed, they were a huge longshot anyhow. Recruits saw South Carolina fight hard and play LSU tough for 60 minutes. It wasn't an embarrassing performance like Georgia had two weeks ago in Columbia.
Oklahoma: Everyone knows that for Oklahoma to be very good, it needs to pull a decent number of top kids out of Texas on a yearly basis. Embarrassing Texas in the Cotton Bowl 63-21 in a year in which Oklahoma was the "host" team, meaning it was able to invite recruits, could go a long way toward that goal.
Florida: The Gators avoided the upset at Vanderbilt, and top offensive guard David Dawson decommitted from Michigan, saying he has interest in Florida, LSU and Alabama. In fact, Dawson will visit Florida Saturday when the Gators host South Carolina. It's been a very good year for UF on the recruiting trail, and it might be getting better.
Missouri: Despite the blowout loss in the rain to Alabama, the Tigers did add a QB commit in Eddie Printz Jr., who was committed to UCLA earlier in the year. Printz is a good fit for Missouri's spread offense. Missouri is certainly recruiting SEC territory more heavily since joining the league.
Another GA commit for Mizzou football...RT @petescantlebury: Marietta (GA) Lassiter QB Eddie Printz Jr. committed, is a 5.7, 3star recruit
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) October 12, 2012
Ohio State: On the field, the Buckeyes escaped with a win at Indiana. Off the field, receiver Tony Stevens again said that he is not committed to Florida State. That's a win for the Buckeyes, as they need help at receiver and Stevens would have a shot to potentially start for them from Day 1. The Buckeyes are now also expecting offensive tackle Dorian Johnson, one of the best in the country, to return and visit for the Michigan game. While the hometown Pitt Panthers remain Johnson's leader, it wouldn't be surprising to see Urban Meyer work his magic and pull Johnson in.
Losers
There weren't many big losers this weekend in recruiting, but here are a few who didn't make the most of their opportunities to end bad streaks.
Texas: The Longhorns have given up more than 100 points in the last two weeks in very high-profile losses in the state of Texas, and recruits may begin to wonder if the Longhorns are really moving in the right direction. Still, Texas is Texas and will win the vast majority of battles
Vanderbilt: James Franklin is trying to build something at Vanderbilt, but at some point, Vanderbilt will need to win some games. If it doesn't, recruits will stop buying what Vandy is selling. Saturday was another blown opportunity, as Vanderbilt was a single-digit underdog to Florida and could not pull the upset in front of the many recruits the Commodores invited. All was not lost, however, as defensive back Jalen Banks did pull the trigger and commit to Vandy.
Auburn: Another week and another loss for the Auburn Tigers while Reuben Foster, their top recruit, visited LSU. Granted, it was a road game, so there were no recruits in attendance, but Auburn now seems unlikely to make a bowl game. And that will make it tough to tell recruits that the program is moving in the right direction. Still, Auburn's recruiting won't completely fall to pieces, as Matt Scalici writes for Al.com:
When it comes to recruiting, however, the answers are pretty clear. Keep Gene Chizik as head coach and you are nearly guaranteed a fourth-straight nationally elite recruiting class, another two dozen or so high caliber athletes for Chizik and his staff to add to the mix of inexperienced but talented players already on the Plains.
Fire Chizik before February, and you not only jeopardize Auburn's 2013 recruiting class but you give up arguably one of the top recruiting head coaches in all of college football. The grass always looks greener somewhere else, particularly when your team is struggling like the 2012 Tigers. But when it comes to recruiting prowess, few schools have greener grass than Auburn...except perhaps the school about 160 miles to the west.
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