At the end of the 2008 season we devised a formula which plugged in the stats from the just completed season and then factored in the opponents and the site the game was played at and came up with an individual team power rating for each game. I was very pleased that the formula did indeed assign a true power rating for each game and it was highly accurate.

In the weekend blog, I gave you the top 15 individual “game grade” performances from 2009. Today I will give you the teams with the highest game grade averages from last year, which make up my computer’s final Top Ten and compare it to the AP Final Top Ten.

First here is the final AP Top Ten from last year. Read more…

In Today’s blog, I will continue releasing my Preseason All-Conference teams with the All-Big East and All-MWC teams.

In the Big East, West Virginia leads the way with seven 1st Team selections led by Noel Devine who rushed for 1,465 yds (6.1) last year. Connecticut returns 16 starters from last year’s 8-5 team and placed six guys on my 1st Team led by Lawrence Wilson who led the Big East last year with 140 tackles (#10 NCAA).

The two best teams from last year, Pittsburgh and 2-time defending champ Cincinnati each placed five players on my 1st Team. The Panthers are led by All-American candidates RB Dion Lewis (1,799, 5.5), WR Jon Baldwin (1,111, 19.5) and DE Greg Romeus (Co-BE DPOY) while the Bearcats return many of their top receivers from a year ago led by Armon Binns who had 888 yds (14.6) and 11 TD’s last year. Read more…

We are less than a week away from sending my 2010 College Preview off to the presses! The good news is that once the magazine is off to the press on May 12th, we will go back to doing a blog EVERY DAY until the end of the 2010 College Football season!! Until then I will be giving you a 2010 NFL draft review. Today’s blog gives you a review for the teams in the AFC North. Have a great weekend! Read more…

In my 2009 College Preview Magazine on pgs 324 and 327 I included my computer’s projected stats in 2009 for all 120 FBS teams. There were several different categories including rush offense/defense, pass offense/defense, offensive pts and defensive pts.

On the right hand side of the page I listed the teams that my computer projected to be most improved in ’09 compared to ’08 season in 6 different categories. I had them ranked in order from Most Improved all the way down to the Least Improved and included the top 15 in each category along with the bottom 5.

In today’s blog I have included my projections of the teams I thought would be most improved in defensive ppg heading into the 2009 season and how they finished in the final NCAA rankings.

In the coming days I will feature a different category in each blog and I think you will be happy with the results of the accuracy of my projections.

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AFC WILDCARD •  Saturday 4:30 ET • NBC

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First I want to wish everyone a Happy and Safe New Year! I also would like to thank everyone who has been using and reading PhilSteele.com this year. Your support and comments have helped us improve the site tenfold the past couple of years and with your help we will make PhilSteele.com even better in the upcoming year!

Each day during bowl season in my daily blog, I will give you my forecasts on the bowl games taking place that day. My forecasts will include a detailed write-up with my computer’s projected box score including rushing and passing yards, points and turnovers along with a detailed write-up on each game.

Also check out the bowl matchup section to get the latest and greatest information on all the upcoming bowl games including, game by game stats, 2009 recaps, and checklists for every position and intangible. Read more…

Last year I had a Bowl Confidence Contest that generated a lot of interest on our site and we had hundreds and hundreds of entries. Last year I was at a disadvantage as I posted my plays first and they were up for everyone to see before they made their plays but I was pleased to finish #15 in the contest with 450 total points. If you followed my forecasts on the site last year I hit 24 of the 34 bowls for 71%. Read more…

Last week I gave my case for Notre Dame to pick Brian Kelly as their head
coach as I felt he was the perfect fit for that team. I just found another
perfect fit for a school so here is my recommendation for the next
Cincinnati head coach.
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CAROLINA AT NEW ENGLAND

	Rush	Pass	PTS	TO’s	ST’s
CAROLINA	130	185	13	2	#32
NEW ENGLAND	140	345	26	2	#24

Last week was the 1^st time since mid-2006 the Patriots lost back to back games. They had their chances vs the Dolphins but were SOD on the 6 & Brady’s Int in the EZ cost them the game. The frustration is showing as Brady called out his teammates afterwards & Belichick sent 4 players home after being late this week. Brady hasn’t practiced yet this week but it wasn’t due to finger/rib injuries & he knows the NE system inside & out so that isn’t much of a concern. What is a concern is NE’s #28 pass rush vs a power rush oriented CAR offense that will try do all it can to help out Matt Moore. The loss of defensive starters like Vrabel, Bruschi, Harrison, Seymour was a big blow to NE’s leadership but I think the Patriots neutralize the Panther run game with offense here. Read more…

There were very few games this week so it wasn’t as tough to earn a Top 20 spot from my computer’s average individual grades as there was only 34 performances to grade. Therefore, I will cut it off at the Top 14 this week.
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