Iowa does most of its competing for players against other Big Ten schools (I included Nebraska as B1G in this chart). In fact, of the 110 players Iowa recruited, 24 signed with Iowa and 24 signed with other Big Ten schools. The other two conferences that Iowa competed most with were the Big 12 (one kid, Donald Smith, signed with Iowa State) and the ACC. All 3 of these conference make sense because of Iowa's recruiting footprint. Iowa mainly focuses on the states were the Big Ten is present, but also ventures out along the East Coast.
Only 6 players that Iowa offered are headed to a non-BCS/non-Notre Dame conference, though 2 of them are going to TCU.
The two schools that beat Iowa in head-to-head recruiting the most frequently were Notre Dame and Ohio State. Both schools had 7 recruits sign. Most of the other schools in the Big Ten only had 2 or 3.
- Illinois - 1
- Indiana - 1
- Michigan - 3
- Michigan State - 2
- Minnesota - 2
- Nebraska - 1
- Ohio State - 7
- Penn State - 2
- Purdue - 2
- Wisconsin - 3
I think this paints a pretty good picture of the success of Iowa's recruiting this year. Iowa was going after kids that were being recruited by a lot of top football programs in the best conference and they landed a lot of them. What I'm most pleased about is the numbers against the rest of the Big Ten. Ohio State had a good showing against Iowa, but that's to be expected. The schools that Iowa really needs to focus on beating are more on the level of Wisconsin and Michigan State, and Iowa didn't lose too many players to either school (or any other non-OSU Big Ten team).