According to my analysis, there has never been a year where, on average, a lower class has been better than a higher class.
Average team strengths, by classes and years
year 4A 3A 2A 1A 2003 81.31 70.76 63.16 53.61 2004 72.65 62.28 55.21 43.10 2005 76.02 65.12 55.63 43.11 2006 93.65 83.99 76.24 63.41 2007 82.57 70.42 61.85 49.64 2008 95.40 81.60 73.56 59.33 2009 95.84 84.80 73.32 60.84 2010 92.20 76.79 66.96 54.52 2011 82.81 67.82 59.80 44.98
The worst team in Iowa is assigned a rank of 0 in the standard regression rankings. This ranking could be changed slightly after the modification process of ignoring mismatches.
For 2011 4A, the entry listed in the table is 82.81. In general, the average 4A team is 82.81 points better than the worst team in Iowa.
For 2011, the average 4A team is (82.81-59.80) = 23.01 points better than the average 2A team.