Iowa develops NFL talent: confirmed by numbers!

A poster over on BHGP (UpUpDownDown) put together a pretty amazing post that compares recruiting rankings to NFL draftees and confirms what we've all know for years: Iowa is exceptional at developing players. There is a ton of good information in the post (some breakdowns by conference and offense vs. defense), but the part most exciting is that since 2002 Iowa has been the 3rd best program at developing players.

The analysis is quite interesting, but it boils down to what the poster call the Development Ratio. It takes the actual number of draftees divide by the expected number of draftees based on recruiting rankings (read the post for a better explanation). Based on Iowa's mix of 2, 3, 4, and 5-star players they would have been expected to have 13 draft picks, but in actuality Iowa has had 22. So, Iowa's program essentially doubles a player's chance of becoming a NFL draftee than an average BCS program. Compare that to Iowa State, whose expected number of draftees comes in just slightly lower at 12.6. However, the Cyclones have had just 5 players drafted. They are actually the third worst BCS program.

9-game seasons will have to wait

There has been a lot of speculation that the B1G will move to a 9-game conference schedule starting in 2015. This would solve the Wisconsin-Iowa problem as the two schools could be added as a second protected cross-division rival. Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez, however, says that we'll likely have to wait until 2017 at the earliest to see the conference add the extra game.

I still can't decide if I'd like a 9th game. It would likely mean the end of non-conference games against other BCS school not named Iowa State, but adding Wisconsin back on the schedule every year may be worth the trade off. I am also not sure about the unbalance home-and-away schedule in which some teams will get 5 home games while others will get only 4. The Pac-10 has been making it work but it doesn't seem completely fair given how difficult it can be to win on the road. Ultimately though, this isn't about what the fans want...if Jim Delany wants 9 games, he's probably going to get it.

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