Phil Steele’s 2011-12
Bowl Confidence Contest

Pick the Winners of all 35 Bowl Games and rank them in order of 1-35 with 35 being your most confident pick and 1 being your least confident pick.

FREE to ENTER with Cash Prizes!!!

1st Place: $250 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines
2nd Place: $100 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines
3rd Place: $50 and a Set of 2012 Preview Magazines

One Picksheet Per Person!

All picks must be completed by Saturday Dec 17th at 2:00 PM EST

The last couple of years I have had a Bowl Confidence Contest that generated a lot of interest on our site and we had hundreds and hundreds of entries. Two years ago we had the biggest entry pool yet with nearly 1200 entries and it was a huge success with more than double the amount of entries compared to ‘08! Last year we outdid ourselves again with an incredible 2922 entries! This year we will again have a “Bowl Confidence Contest” and I hope there will be many more participants!

You can enter the contest by simply clicking here. To enter, just go to the sign up page and log in your information. Then after that go to your picksheet page and simply pick who you think will win each of the 35 bowl games. You then award your confidence points to each. The team you think will definitely win their game would get 35 points and the team who you picked at the bottom which was very tough for you to call would get 1 point.

For each team that wins their bowl game that you picked correctly, you get the confidence points you assigned to them. Those with the highest points are the winners. The first bowl game takes place on December 17th at 2:00 PM EST and Good Luck!!

One Bowl Entry Per Person Please!! For more contest rules click here and if you have any questions or concerns please email brandon@philsteele.com.

Make Your Group and Compete Against Your Friends!

Also make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. On the homepage click on the Bowl Matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert! Start doing your homework now and get your 35 bowl predictions done.

When I release my All-American and All-Conference teams, I get input back from NFL scouts, schools and head coaches and feel that my teams are the most complete and most accurate post-season awards teams out there today.

Today I am releasing my All-American team with four full teams complete 116 players representing every conference including the independent schools. This year with so many players pulling double duty at RB/WR and ST’s I have added an extra position as “AP” designates All-Purpose with each of the 4 players excelling in at least two different categories.

Tomorrow I will post all of my postseason All-Conference teams.

Download Phil Steele’s 2012 Postseason All-American Team!

Bowl season is upon us and PhilSteele.com will be overwhelming you with the most complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. On the homepage page on the Bowl matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert.

Keep checking back everyday at PhilSteele.com for more bowl information!!

Now Available in iTunes!  Steele Stats iPhone App!

Just $1.99

While I am not always up-to-date on the latest technology, there have been several requests that PhilSteele.com needed to have an iPhone app and I am very pleased that earlier this year we released our first app and we have gotten some great feedback. Here are some of the comments….

The App is Now on sale for $1.99 and features Live scores, box scores, team schedules, week-by-week schedule, 2011 team and individual game statistics including FBS Power Ratings for the 2011 season and includes all 120 teams!

The Steele Stats App has it all!

2011 Live Scores – Live college football scores for all FBS 2011 Games

Individual Team Content at your fingertips!

2011 Individual Team Schedules – All FBS college footballs team schedules, locations, and times.

Quick Facts – Summary of facts about each team including coach, coaching records, colors, mascot, year founded, team formation, stadium and other fun facts.

2011 Game Scores – Final game scores for all season games.

2011 Box Scores for each game once 2011 season begins! Box scores include team, game and individual stats as well a recap of action for each quarter of all games!

2011 Week-by-Week Schedule! Select a week or day and see a complete listing of all game times and scheduled television coverage. Time listed in ET.

2011 FBS Power Ratings!

My Daily Blog – Expert commentary from college football’s own Phil Steele, publisher of “College Football Preview” since 1995. Phil’s blog covers College and Pro Football coverage. Available on the App daily at 2 p.m. ET!

Search by Conference or Team Name!

Only one app needed! No need to buy individual team apps or additional in-app purchases to access 120 FBS teams for scores, stats and schedules!

Whether you are at the game, in your living room or sitting around a table with your friends, follow your favorite FBS college football teams! Includes 120 all teams!

Initial loading of the App will take 0-30 seconds, please be patient! Once loaded, previously viewed data will cached.

Now on sale for $1.99

1. Trent Richardson, Alabama-Richardson has a combined 1,910 rush/rec yds with 23 TD’s while being the best player on one of the two best teams in the country this year! When breaking down Richardson’s numbers even further, it is remarkable considering the fact that he has faced EIGHT total defenses that rank in the top 51 with FIVE of them in the top 20! If you want to compare Richardson’s numbers to former Alabama RB Mark Ingram who won the Heisman in 2009 they are better! Thru 12 games, Richardson has 1,583 rush yds (6.0) with 20 TD’s with 27 receptions for 327 yds (12.1) and 3 TD’s. Ingram (thru 12 gms) meanwhile had 1,429 yds (6.5) and 12 TD’s to go along with 28 receptions for 246 yards (8.8) and 3 TD’s. To top it off Richardson has put together his best performances this year in the biggest games. He had 111 rush yds (4.3) and 2 TD’s vs Penn St’s #11 D, 211 combined rush/rec yds vs Arkansas, 208 combined rush/rec yds vs Florida’s #11 D, 169 of Alabama’s 295 total yards vs LSU’s #2 D and in the Iron Bowl needing a big performance to top it off he ran for a career-high 203 yards (7.5) with another Heisman-caliber run similar to his outstanding run vs Ole Miss earlier this year. Simply put, Richardson is the best player in college football this season playing a top notch schedule and putting forth clutch performances to help his team win games. Read more…

The NFL Magazine was sent off to the press and we expect to start shipping the magazines on August 16th. Naturally the NFL lockout this year delayed the release of the magazine but I do believe it will be the most accurate and in-depth NFL magazine on the market as we have included all the recent free agent moves.

You should be able to find my NFL Magazine on the newsstands in late August. However, with this being just the 3rd year I have put the magazine on the newsstands it will only have about half of the distribution that my College Magazine has. If you cannot find my Pro Football Preview anywhere near you, try ordering thru the PhilSteele.com store or call our offices at 1-866-918-7711. The cost is just $12.70 (includes priority shipping) and we will ship it out of our offices within 24 hours unless ordered on the weekend and in that case it will get shipped 1st thing on Monday.

Two years ago, I decided to put out a full color NFL Preview Magazine and I could not have been more pleased with the results. I correctly predicted 7 out of 8 division winners which was more than any other preview magazine and I was the only magazine to predict the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints to win the NFC South! Read more…

Since my magazine went to press in early May there have been three significant changes in college football and three of the most popular questions asked of me on facebook and twitter concern North Carolina, Ohio St and Wisconsin.

I will address these three teams and my updated outlooks on each team in today’s blog. First, I want to say that many magazines and publications specifically websites/writers when predicting the conferences this upcoming season have two advantages over my publication and the other three publications that go to press in May (Athlon, Lindy’s, Sporting News). First, when these writers make their predictions in July/August they are reading the material/information from the already published magazines and have our predictions right in their hands. All of the countless hours we spend coming up with our picks and forecasts are now there at their fingertips to go off of. Second, they also have the advantage of having the latest news/rosters/transfers and happenings. Let’s face it a lot can happen in a 3-month period in college football especially with recent history.

For example, last year I was blind-sided with both USC and North Carolina as the NCAA hit both teams hard after my magazine was sent to press. USC was my pick to win the Pac-10 last year before scholarships were taken away, players transferred and a bowl ban was set in place. I also had North Carolina picked much higher than other publications because they had the most talented defense in the country only to have nearly a dozen players suspended for much of the season. Because I had both these teams picked higher than my competitors and with a few surprise victories by some teams I though less highly of, I did not finish 2010 as the most accurate magazine for the season (over 13-years still #1). Read more…

The last three years in July I have posted my Coaches on the Hot Seat. Here is a quick recap of how those coaches fared. In 2008, my #1, #2 and #3 coaches on the hot seat were all fired BEFORE the end of the season! My #5 and #9 coaches on the hot seat were also fired before the season ended. Two more coaches were let go after the year, so 7 of the 12 lost their jobs. Two coaches in Kirk Ferentz and Mike Stoops did what they needed to do as Ferentz got the Hawkeyes to a New Year’s bowl winning in blowout fashion and Stoops guided Arizona to a bowl and then won it. Both coaches were OFF the Hot Seat last year. The three remaining coaches who kept their jobs all made my hot seat list again the next year and all were fired during or after the 2009 season.

In 2009 I had 13 coaches on the list and this time actually missed on a couple but a lot of that had to do with the Economy. It was tough times for a lot of schools financially after the season and that made paying off a coach for multiple seasons on his contract and then having to pay a new coaching staff unpalatable. Therefore six coaches who were on the list and had losing seasons, all kept their jobs in Dan Hawkins, Doug Martin, Todd Dodge, Rich Rodriquez, Bill Lynch and Mike Price. Naturally all those coaches remade my list last year. My #1 coach on the hot seat in 2009 was Steve Kragthorpe of Louisville and he was let go after the season as were the #3 coach Al Groh, #5 Mike Sanford, #11 Charlie Weis and even my #6 coach Mark Snyder was let go after guiding Marshall to a bowl.

Last year I again had 13 coaches on the list and had great success. My #1 coach on the hot seat was Rich Rodriguez and I mentioned that his magic number for wins was 8 and after a 7-5 regular season then an embarrassing bowl loss he was let go. Ron Zook and Les Miles rounded out my top 3 but both did what they had to do to keep their jobs with Zook guiding the Illini to an unexpected bowl and Miles getting LSU back in the top 10. My next 5 coaches were all let go including #4 Dan Hawkins, #5 Tim Brewster and #6 Todd Dodge who were all gone in the middle of the season. #7 Ralph Friedgen was named ACC COY but was still let go while #8 Bill Lynch despite improving the Hoosiers win total was let go as well. Two other coaches were also fired in #10 Doug Martin and #12 Steve Roberts.

Here is this year’s list of coaches on the hot seat. I want the coaches to know that I am rooting for every one of them to have a good season and get off the hot seat. I know that coaches can do all the preparation and have a team poised to win, but costly turnovers or injuries can result in some tough losses and the fans usually only look at the wins and losses. My rankings factor in how hot a seat the coach is on, the national awareness of the program and in some cases my chances of the team having a big year for 2011. Read more…

This year when you add up the national Phil Steele’s College Football Preview, the FCS Preview and the NFL magazine we are closing in on printing close to a million magazines. Now when you factor in the actual printing cost, shipping and distribution of the magazine and my staff of roughly 25 people, the cost becomes exorbitant. My employee’s work on nothing but football year round and I would like to thank them for the massive amount of man hours it takes to produce these in depth and meaty magazines.

To do all the research that we do and print all the magazines, the costs continue to climb. This year you will notice we have expanded our advertising in the magazine and are pleased to have our new advertisers but are still happy to have fewer ads than the competitors. These advertisers are crucial for me to keep expanding the amount of information that we produce every year. There are two things you can do to keep us putting out more and more information. The first is to buy the magazine at the newsstands or ideally buy the entire set of magazines thru the offices and get them sent to you priority mail for just $36.75. The second is to patronize our advertisers. Read more…

June, July and August are my relaxing months of the year where I only work 60 hours a week instead of the normal 100-hour work weeks during football and magazine season. After the magazine went off to the press in Mid-May, I spent two weeks going over each individual game for the upcoming year. I looked at all the history between the teams, read the last two years of past histories for the matchups and then analyze the matchup to see if there are any mismatches (big, strong O-Line vs small, weak DL, etc). After I was done with each and every game, the start of my radio season in which I do nearly 400 radio shows across the country over the next couple of months officially started on May 31st.

Check out our radio shows page to see when I will be doing a radio show near you. Also new this year is that we will have a mp3 recording of nearly all the shows so in case you missed the show you will still be able to hear me on the PhilSteele.com site. So if you’re a Florida Gator fan living in Ohio or a Buckeye fan living in Florida you can listen to me breakdown your favorite team regardless of where you live.

Tonight is one of my biggest days for radio of the entire year with 8 different shows and nearly a different show every half hour from 4-9 PM Est.

Here is the list. Read more…

OPERATION: PHIL STEELE PASS IT ON

Today I am proud to introduce a new promotion “OPERATION: PHIL STEELE PASS IT ON” for our brave men and women currently serving in the military. Any military personnel who purchases my 2011 College Football Preview Magazine will receive a second copy for one of your comrades absolutely FREE! This is my way of saying thank you for your service to this country.

You can purchase the 2011 College Football Preview for just $13.70 (includes Priority Mail shipping) by calling our office at 1-866-918-7711 and mention “OPERATION: PHIL STEELE PASS IT ON” to get that extra copy for FREE!

This offer is valid only to those with an AE, AP or active military address and you can choose between any of the 11 different covers including our very special Armed Forces Cover (featured below). Read more…