Here's a good reason we might well get to championship level.
From 2002-2005, four recruiting classes, 60% of the Top 250 players on Rivals stayed in their home state to play football.
From 2015 to 2018, 60% of the Top 250 on Rivals left their home state to play football.
The really good players are more willing to travel to play their college ball than ever before. A brief scan of this year's Top 50 according to Rivals, shows that of the 41 who have committed, 31 are leaving their home state, 9 are staying in their home state, and one is from DC, and I have not counted them in prior analysis, as they are not from a state.
We don't produce enough in-state talent to fill a roster, so the willingness of better players to travel plays to our advantage. For every Harris or Parks we lose, Stoops and Co. are finding more OOS talent than we lost.
Does losing top notch in-state talent hurt?
Ask Michigan and Michigan State. The top recruit in Michigan in both the '18 and '20 classes look likely to be shoulder-to-shoulder in Blue next year.
And that's Big Blue!