Team Total Talent Ratings: Big Ten Returns Edition

The latest update on the most talented rosters in college football with the Big Ten about to (finally) kickoff.

In this era of the sub-package specialization, early enrollees, advanced strength and conditioning down to the high school level, early entrees into the NFL Draft, and the transfer portal, simply counting returning starters as we used to do back in the day doesn't cut it. That's why analytics are rightfully all the rage, and if you're into that sort of thing Bill Connelly at ESPN is probably the closest thing college football has to KenPom.

However, his analytics are largely based on returning production. And while that's a far superior way of determining how good these teams are than merely counting returning starters and lettermen, it doesn't always tell us how good these teams could be. In other words, how good are the names we don't yet know?

To help me answer this question, and provide me a more profitable metric, back in 2017 I decided to create what I call the Total Team Talent Ratings. These compare the roster potential of power five programs (and Notre Dame) with each other, since that's each program's primary competition.

These are calculated by the following criteria:

--Using the 247 Sports Composite recruiting rankings of the three major services (247, Rivals, and ESPN), we give each player on the roster a point total based on the star they were assessed as a recruit. So 5 points for a 5-star, 4 points for a 4-star, etc.

--We only evaluate the last four recruiting classes, so for this year that's 2017-20. That's because 5th-year seniors at the power five conference level are just not as impactful or plentiful as they used to be. But if a 5th-year senior figures prominently on the depth chart, they are still accounted for.

--These are constantly being updated all offseason to account for the latest roster news, and this update is with news through October 12th.

--To account for teams that are considered "developmental" programs, thus they don't recruit a lot of 4-and-5-star prospects, as their players overachieve their incoming star rating they are given additional points. For example, Minnesota's Tanner Morgan was just the No. 1185th-rated prospect coming out of high school, but he clearly played above that last season. Therefore, he's now considered a 4-star in this metric. Players who underachieve their star rating are not lowered points, though, because the point of this exercise is to measure potential. And there could be mitigating circumstances beyond an overrated evaluation that has held a player back, like injuries.

--Finally, there are many players in the transfer portal awaiting word on a waiver to play next season. Therefore, several teams could be in line for a boost in these ratings in real-time.

Here are the top 25 overall most talented rosters right now for this season:

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama 
4. Oregon
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma 
7. Notre Dame
8. Auburn
9. Clemson
10. Penn State
11. Texas 
12. Michigan
13. Tennessee
14. Kentucky
15. Virginia Tech
16. Mississippi State
17. South Carolina
18. Washington
19. Indiana
20. TCU
21. North Carolina
22. Purdue
23. Miami, FL
24. Texas A&M
25. (tie) LSU, Minnesota

Here's just the Big Ten Total Team Talent Ratings:

1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Michigan
4. Indiana
5. Purdue
6. Minnesota
7. Michigan State
8. Wisconsin
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
11. Illinois
12. Maryland
13. Northwestern
14. Rutgers 

Notes: The Buckeyes are number one by a wide margin...this is easily the most-talented roster Indiana has had since I started doing these ratings...the West Division rosters are pretty even, so there's not much point differential between Purdue and Illinois despite being separated by six slots.