i wonder if it will be enough to finally get the tide past those pesky utes? or maybe these players will find a way not to fall behind by 31 points at georgia. anything is possible, i suppose ...

Whoops, I got carried away. I'm still all giggly about the Utah thing.
I retract the statement ... and I'll impose a self-banning. Three days sounds about right.

Recruiting rankings = worthless hype

Rivals.com is nothing more than the Good Ole Boy network promoting the Good Ole Boy's favorite school. Funny how ESPN ranks LSU # 1 and says they finished far ahead of the #2 School USC giving LSU the Championship with no question, while Alabama is ranked # 5 in ESPN. In fact, LSU signed 3 of the top 10 players on ESPN's rankings and Alabama signed 1. Funny how Rivals has a different scoring method, I guess we could call it the Good Ole Boy or Alabama factor. I just call it predjudiced voting cause that is what it is.

Once upon a time the Louisville dorks laughed at Bama after an upset in a big bowl....2 years later Bama was #1 in the land and Louisville, well they were still just Louisville. So Mr. "giggly"----stay tuned.......
ROLL TIDE ROLL

Love the dismal flailing by the who wish their team hauled in the #1 recruiting class. Priceless comedy. Fact is, there's probably not much relative difference between 1-5, but to go out of your way to dispute the findings as evidence of cheating or conspiracy ... your whining nurtures me. Thank you.
Roll Tide.

http://www.fanblogs.com/alabama/008029.php
Rivals National Signing Day Rankings: Fuzzy Math Results?
It appears as if a USC Fan has independently created a spreadsheet using Rivals own posted and public ranking formula for teams.
It seems every team checked out-except for the University of Alabama. They had the same score as LSU. Exactly. With less Top 100 players, lower position rankings, etc. Yet, somehow, they received extra points.
There have been a few threads regarding this information on Rivals sites. They can be found at these URLS (Which require a Rivals Subscription):
http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?SID=880&fid=2208&style=2&tid=124426760&Page=2
http://lsu.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2219&tid=124445305&mid=124445305&sid=886&style=2
http://lsu.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=2219&tid=124430574&mid=124430574&sid=886&style=2
At the time of this post, no answer from the folks at Rivals have been forthcoming.
The bottom line is that, if I'm reading these threads correctly, there was admittedly a lot of room for error throughout the day, but that Alabama was at least half a hundy points or so-give or take-from overtaking their nearest competitor, which just happens to be LSU.
Time will tell if Rivals sets the record straight, but it still won't stop the stories on all the wires from going out without time for correction, and it won't take back the front page hand you know what that Rivals gave Bama after they declared them champions. Quite convenient for a "news service" that was owned and still employs a large number of Alabama fans, and whose largest individual school site in terms of membership is also the University of Alabama's.
Most folks might know here that I've railed about this issue for some time. Perhaps we've finally found the Recruiting Rankings version of The Zapruder film?
Update as of 9:20
For clarity's sake, after reviewing a mountain of data, it boils down to this:
Alabama ends with a point total of 2786 and LSU at 2762. Using the spread sheet LSU still has 2762 while the Crimson Tide compute out at 2742.415. They picked up 44 mystery points somewhere.
Posted by TE

I'm sure Dan Mullen's a confident and competent football guy, but I wonder if he ever thinks to himself--if only for a second--"what the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Ranking are worthless. Everyone knows the Buckeyes had the best overall haul anyway.

Just a short response to tiger there.Cmon man,1-4 could really say they were #1 in recruiting for the year.Just so you know though ,2 sites had BAMA #1 and LSU #2 .Rivals and scout had them that way and espn had it another way ,,with that being said ,It dont mean poop if they dont win the games they play so dont get caught up in this #1 recruiting national title.In fact if it makes ya feel better you can move BAMA to #2 or 15 ,,ROLL TIDE

@ Steve: Everyone does this now. See Carolina, North. I suppose your school doesn't jerk schollys and probably doesn't pay players either. Get real, fairy (tale) boy.
@ Billy D: Its not a bias on the part of rivals, its the result of different evaluators evaluating players differently (as you would expect). In other words, it doesn't mean rivals is right or ESPN is wrong. The most important fact to get here is that Alabama, USC, and LSU all brought in some highly regarded players.
@Airon: if they did get the best haul, the best haul will be losing to a random SEC team in 2 years. (I keed, I keed... not really)

Duke, Georgia fell behind by 31, not Bama. Pesky utes beat up on the freshman 2008 class, not the coming 2010 class. It's a process and prior to Saban, Bama' s recruiting stunk. Just wait till these guys are So. & Jr.
Sabans past 5 college recruiting classes are like this. LSU 1st, LSU 2nd, Bama (4 weeks) 10th, Bama 1st, Bama 1st.
I like our odds to get past the any future 'utes'

I'll give anybody the argument that 1-5 is a hair's difference ; however, to blame Rivals is crazy. I would take Scout's #2 ranking (LSU #1, Bama #2)and ESPN's FINAL ranking of #2 (OSU #1, Bama #2) as well.
Later.

Doc, rather than rate the recruiting classes based on average or total Rivals stars, I would like to see somebody rank them based on average or total ACT scores.
Go Cardinal.

I love it when everyone hates Alabama! It means they're threatened!!!

Roll Tide.... Having haters strictly means you're on top.

it was an alabama hat he put on not an atlanta braves... kno your sports teams