Alabama vs. Auburn: Which Program Is Winning the Recruiting Battle?

The Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers hate each other about as much as any two teams in college football. Fans of either team would probably give an arm and a leg in exchange for win in today's edition of the Iron Bowl.

But while today's game is important, what teams really want is a long-term advantage over their rivals. Future success is determined by a number of factors in college football. However, the primary determinant is recruiting. So which of the two Alabama schools is winning the recruiting battle?

Recent Success

Both coaches have had fairly short tenures with their current programs. Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2007, while Gene Chizik is just finishing his third season with Auburn. Each has won a BCS National Championship in that time, so they're even on that front.

Chizik was hired in December of 2008, which means that he's only had two full recruiting periods in his time in Auburn. So far, he's done very well. Per Rivals team rankings, his first (half) recruiting class was ranked No. 19 in the country. The program experienced a significant boost once he took over, with his first two complete recruiting classes ranked No. 4 in the country in 2010 and No. 7 last year by Rivals.

Over those last three years, Saban has been even more successful. Rivals ranked his last three classes No. 1 in 2009, No. 5 in 2010 and No. 1 again last year.

This Year's Class

According to Rivals, both teams are currently in the process of wrangling top-10 classes again this season. The Tigers' 2012 class currently includes verbal commitments from a stud tailback in T.J. Yeldon and a Cam Newton-sized quarterback named Zeke Pike.

The Crimson Tide's slightly higher ranked class includes a pair of highly sought after wide receivers from Florida, Chris Black and Amari Cooper, along with two highly rated defensive backs named Geno Smith and Eddie Williams.

Verdict

While Saban's classes have been ranked slightly higher three of the last four years, each team has had top-10 classes in each of the last three. It's impossible to know which players will pan out, and which are underrated or overrated, so the difference between the first and 10th ranked classes in any given year is often negligible.

As long as these two teams continue to haul in premier talent, we can expect this game to regularly determine who plays in the BCS Championship Game, as it has each of the last two seasons, and will again today.