From the article:

"It's probably no coincidence that the number of former LDS missionaries has increased — there were 52 of them on the 1984 national championship team and 55 on the 1996 Cotton Bowl championship team, compared to 74 in 2003 (Crowton era) and 74 in 2010 (Mendenhall era)."

The overwhelming majority of the best players in our history did not serve missions. Our football team had only 3 RMs drafted in the '80s (out of 37 draft picks). More RMs does not equal more success yet we continue to focus our recruiting in both sports on the mission bound athlete.