USC gets top 5 and most of the time top 3 if not #1 classes. I wanted someone to show me where Nebraska signed CONSENSUS top 10 classes in football recruiting EVERY YEAR like USC because someone posted that Nebraska had the same type of talent USC has today back in the 90s!
Is this the same guy who just posted that we don't get the #1 RBs anymore like we used to in the 90s?
Anyway, if you must know (though as pointed out, the statement "Nebraska had the same type of talent USC has today back in the 90s" has nothing to do with recruiting rankings), finding these ratings is apparently a pain in the a$$ for some damn reason. (Any drop of knowledge I had would be posted on the web with a google ad on it.)
But on a competing web site someone posted Nebraska's rankings from SuperPrep (now Scout):
1987 #7
1988 #24
1989 #12
1990 #10
1991 #28
1992 #14
1993 #9
1994 #20
1995 #8
1996 #6
1997 #19
1998 #17
1999 #17
I also found on an old
PSU site the following ratings for the 1996 class (which don't match the above <_< ):
Lemming #10
SuperPrep #4 :dunno
BlueChip Illustrated > 10
National Recruiting Advisor #9
G&W Recruiting #7
Bill Buchalter #8
(Rivaling the 2005 class as the best rated in Nebraska history?)
None of those services rated the 1997 class in their top 10.
As point of reference here are the rankings for some schools of interest:
Colorado (1990 AP National Champ):
1986 #15
1987 >20
1988 #19
1989 #19
1990 #18
1991 #8
Georgia Tech (1990 UPI National Champ)
1986 > 25
1987 > 20
1988 > 25
1989 > 25
1990 > 25
1991 #21
Miami (1991 AP National Champ)
1986 #21
1987 #18
1988 #18
1989 #9
1990 #11
1991 #14
1992 #2
Washington (1991 UPI National Champ)
1986 #7
1987 #12
1988 #17
1989 > 25
1990 > 25
1991 #4
1992 #24
Florida State (1993, 1999 National Champ)
1986 #17
1987 >20
1988 #8
1989 #2
1990 #2
1991 #3
1992 #8
1993 #1
1994 #3
1995 #2
1996 #5
1997 #1
1998 #4
1999 #15
Florida (1996 National Champ)
1990 > 25
1991 #9
1992 #1
1993 #8
1994 #14
1995 #3
1996 >10
1997 #3
1998 #7
1999 #7
Tennessee (1998 National Champ)
1992 #25
1993 #4
1994 #1
1995 #18
1996 #8
1997 #8
1998 #8
1999 #13
Notre Dame (1988 National Champ)
1986 #9
1987 #1
1988 #1
1989 #1
1990 #1
1991 #16
1992 #7
1993 #2
1994 #7
1995 #1
1996 #3
1997 #9
1998 #3
1999 #8
OTOH:
The popular belief was anytime Notre Dame was ranked outside the top 5 in recruiting, it was a down year. The reasoning was because Notre Dame had the largest fan base, services would rank them higher to appease their constituency.Meanwhile, a school such as Miami didn’t ranked as high in recruiting because it had a far less fervent fan base – but the Hurricanes still won the titles on the field.
Regardless, the 5 recruiting titles translated into only one national title in 1988.
Anyway, while Nebraska might not have averaged the top 10 class in the 90s that a USC has this decade, I think we can call scoreboard: 3 NTs to 2 (or 2 1/2 to 1 1/2 if you're a d!ck).
If I was to pick a school in the 90s with the same "talent" as USC has now, I'd go with FSU. Despite being one of the recruiting power houses, FSU only managed the 1993 and 1999 titles. :dunno