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2012 Top 250 Incoming Frosh

Phil Steele — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:09:25 +0000

National signing day was yesterday as the top rated high school players all over the country sign with their favorite school. It is one of the most important days of the year for each college team as usually the teams with the best recruiting classes year in and year out usually find themselves in the Top 25.

Covering college football as I do takes 52 weeks a year as it is and while I personally do not scout the high school games and rate each player I do compile my rankings based on the many different recruiting services across the country that follow and scout HS football year round. I not only like to use all of the biggest and best services, but I also use regional reports as well. The colleges themselves use many of these services to get the latest information on recruits.

One very important part of my College Football Preview Magazine is an individual player’s “PS#”. You will see them on almost every page and I find them vital in my analysis of a team. A simple definition for a PS# is my ranking of the players at their positions coming out of high school.

When I receive a recruiting magazine, I translate each player’s ranking into a point system from 1-100. Each and every player is then logged into the computer and give them a point total from each source. This is a very time-consuming process. Many players are listed by just one or two sources. The higher ranked recruits are mentioned by almost every source. The more they are mentioned and the higher they are rated in each publication, the more total points they accrue. After months of entering all of this information, I sort the list by each position and by total points. Naturally, the QB with the most total points then becomes PS#1QB for that year. If a player is PS#99QB, that means he ranks 99th in total points of all QB’s coming out of high school that year.

While my final recruiting rankings for this year will not be completed for awhile, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at my top overall 250 players.

Phil Steele’s Current 2012 Top 250 Incoming Frosh

Rank	POS	First	Last	HT	WT	Speed	College
1	WR	Dorial	Green-Beckham	6-6	220	4.40	Missouri
2	DL	Mario	Edwards	6-4	275	4.80	Florida St
3	DL	Noah	Spence	6-3	230	4.50	Ohio St
4	RB	Johnathan	Gray	5-11	202	4.40	Texas
5	DB	Landon	Collins	6-1	205	4.40	Alabama
6	DB	Shaq	Thompson	6-2	210	4.50	Washington
7	OL	DJ	Humphries	6-6	265	4.80	Florida
8	QB	Gunner	Kiel	6-4	216	4.70	Notre Dame
9	RB	Keith	Marshall	5-11	190	4.30	Georgia
10	DL	Eddie	Goldman	6-4	295	5.20	Florida St
11	WR	Stefon	Diggs	6-0	175	4.40	Unsigned
12	DL	Malcom	Brown	6-4	285	4.89	Texas
13	RB	Rushel	Shell	6-0	215	4.45	Pittsburgh
14	QB	Jameis	Winston	6-4	196	4.56	Florida St
15	OL	Andrus	Peat	6-7	305	4.90	Stanford
16	DL	Ellis	McCarthy	6-4	300	4.90	UCLA
17	WR	Nelson	Agholor	6-2	180	4.50	USC
18	RB	Trey	Williams	5-8	175	4.40	Texas A&M
19	OL	John	Theus	6-6	301	5.10	Georgia
20	DL	Darius	Hamilton	6-4	260	4.70	Rutgers
21	OL	Kyle	Murphy	6-7	275	5.00	Stanford
22	QB	Devin	Fuller	6-0	185	4.50	UCLA
23	WR	Eddie	Williams	6-4	197	4.55	Alabama
24	DL	Arik	Armstead	6-8	280	5.20	Oregon
25	LB	Josh	Harvey-Clemons	6-5	200	4.50	Georgia
26	WR	Cayleb	Jones	6-3	198	4.50	Texas
27	DL	Adolphus	Washington	6-5	250	4.70	Ohio St
28	RB	TJ	Yeldon	6-2	210	4.50	Alabama
29	DB	Shaq	Roland	6-2	180	4.39	S Carolina
30	DB	Tracy	Howard	5-11	170	4.50	Miami, Fl
31	OL	Jordan	Simmons	6-5	300	5.20	USC
32	DL	Dante	Fowler Jr	6-3	232	4.60	Florida
33	DB	Ronald	Darby	5-11	172	4.40	Florida St
34	DL	Jordan	Jenkins	6-3	230	4.60	Georgia
35	RB	Mario	Pender	66-0	185	4.40	Florida St
36	OL	Zach	Banner	6-8	320	5.20	USC
37	OL	Joshua	Garnett	6-5	305	5.10	Stanford
38	WR	Thomas	Johnson	6-0	180	4.50	Texas A&M
39	RB	Randy	Johnson	5-9	170	4.40	Miami, Fl
40	DL	Jonathan	Bullard	6-4	240	4.80	Florida
41	LB	Jabari	Ruffin	6-4	230	4.60	USC
42	OL	Avery	Young	6-5	285	5.00	Auburn
43	DL	Tommy	Schutt	6-3	300	5.00	Ohio St
44	DL	Chris	Casher	6-4	225		Florida St
45	DB	Tee	Shepard	6-1	180	4.50	Notre Dame
46	DB	Geno	Smith	6-0	165	4.40	Alabama
47	WR	Davonte	Neal	5-10	180	4.40	Unsigned
48	OL	Kyle	Kalis	6-5	302	5.20	Michigan
49	LB	Reggie	Ragland	6-4	245	4.60	Alabama
50	WR	Durron	Neal	6-1	195	4.40	Oklahoma
51	QB	Zach	Kline	6-2	210	4.90	California
52	RB	Barry	Sanders Jr	5-10	185	4.35	Stanford
53	RB	DJ	Foster	6-0	185	4.50	Arizona St
54	DL	Channing	Ward	6-3	225	4.70	Mississippi
55	LB	Noor	Davis	6-4	235	4.50	Stanford
56	DL	Jonathan	Taylor	6-4	295	4.80	Georgia
57	OL	Kennedy	Estelle	6-7	300	5.20	Texas
58	DB	Brian	Poole	5-11	190	4.39	Florida
59	DL	Se’Von	Pittman	6-5	240	4.70	Ohio St
60	WR	Deontay	Greenberry	6-3	187	4.40	Houston
61	DL	Eli	Harold	6-4	220	4.60	Virginia
62	WR	Bryce	Treggs	6-0	170	4.50	California
63	OL	Max	Tuerk	6-6	294	5.10	USC
64	RB	Cyrus	Jones	5-11	190	4.47	Alabama
65	DB	Travis	Blanks	6-1	195	4.50	Clemson
66	OL	Jessamen	Dunker	6-6	315	5.00	Florida
67	OL	Erik	Magnuson	6-6	275	5.10	Michigan
68	DB	Alex	Carter	6-0	195	4.40	Stanford
69	RB	Bri’Onte	Dunn	6-2	215	4.60	Ohio St
70	RB	Mike	Davis	5-9	192	4.50	S Carolina
71	DB	Yuri	Wright	6-2	190	4.40	Colorado
72	DL	Leonard	Williams	6-5	257	5.80	USC
73	TE	Kent	Taylor	6-5	218	4.70	Florida
74	WR	Joel	Caleb	6-3	205	4.55	Virginia Tech
75	DL	Quay	Evans	6-3	318	4.90	Miss St
76	DL	Aziz	Shittu	6-3	275	5.00	Stanford
77	LB	Vince	Biegel	6-3	225	4.60	Wisconsin
78	LB	Kwon	Alexander	6-3	215	4.50	LSU
79	DB	Ishmael	Adams	5-10	185	4.45	UCLA
80	WR	Chris	Black	6-0	175	4.40	Alabama
81	DB	Deon	Bush	6-1	180	4.40	Miami, Fl
82	LB	James	Ross	6-0	209	4.57	Michigan
83	OL	Evan	Boehm	6-3	286	5.10	Missouri
84	DB	Ladarrell	McNeil	6-1	187	4.50	Tennessee
85	RB	Byron	Marshall	5-10	191	4.40	Oregon
86	WR	Germone	Hopper	6-0	165	4.50	Clemson
87	LB	Ukeme	Eligwe	6-3	210	4.60	Florida St
88	LB	Royce	Jenkins-Stone	6-2	215	4.56	Michigan
89	DL	Jarron	Jones	6-5	308	4.90	Notre Dame
90	DL	Carlos	Watkins	6-4	280	5.00	Clemson
91	RB	Jeremy	Hill	6-1	230		LSU
92	LB	Scott	Starr	6-3	225	4.50	USC
93	OL	Isaac	Seumalo	6-3	280	5.20	Oregon St
94	LB	Kwontie	Moore	6-2	243	4.80	Virginia
95	DB	Elijah	Shumate	6-1	205	4.50	Notre Dame
96	DB	Kevon	Seymour	6-0	170	4.50	USC
97	LB	Peter	Jinkens	6-1	200	4.50	Texas
98	DL	Ondre	Pipkins	6-3	320	5.10	Michigan
99	WR	Jordan	Payton	6-2	199	4.50	UCLA
100	WR	Jaquay	Williams	6-4	201	4.50	Auburn
101	DL	Sheldon	Day	6-2	275	4.90	Notre Dame
102	OL	Camrhon	Hughes	6-7	320	5.10	Texas
103	QB	Cyler	Miles	6-4	220	4.40	Washington
104	WR	Dominique	Wheeler	6-1	176	4.40	Texas Tech
105	OL	Jordan	Diamond	6-6	310	5.20	Auburn
106	TE	Ricky	Parks	6-4	225	4.60	Auburn
107	WR	Eugene	Lewis	6-2	188	4.50	Penn St
108	WR	Sterling	Shepard	5-11	185	4.50	Oklahoma
109	OL	Curtis	Riser	6-4	285	4.98	Texas
110	DL	Javonte	Magee	6-5	265	4.70	Baylor
111	LB	Torshiro	Davis	6-3	222	4.75	Texas
112	QB	Matt	Davis	6-2	202	4.40	Texas A&M
113	DL	Ifeadi	Odenigbo	6-4	217	4.60	Northwestern
114	DL	Michael	Starts	6-4	282	5.00	Texas Tech
115	OL	John Michael	Mcgee	6-4	275	4.80	Oklahoma
116	OL	Ronnie	Stanley	6-6	285	5.00	Notre Dame
117	RB	Brian	Kimbrow	5-9	165	4.35	Vanderbilt
118	DB	Armani	Reeves	5-11	190	4.35	Ohio St
119	DB	Marcus	Maye	6-1	195	4.47	Florida
120	DB	Pj	Williams	6-1	175	4.50	Florida St
121	OL	Dan	Voltz	6-4	295	5.40	Wisconsin
122	WR	Avery	Johnson	6-2	180	4.50	LSU
123	OL	Ty	Darlington	6-3	275	5.10	Oklahoma
124	LB	Josh	Perry	6-4	228	4.60	Ohio St
125	DL	Jelani	Hamilton	6-5	250	4.80	Miami, Fl
126	OL	JJ	Denman	6-6	310	5.30	Rutgers
127	LB	Dillon	Lee	6-4	220	4.50	Alabama
128	RB	Alex	Ross	6-1	205	4.50	Oklahoma
129	DB	Derrick	Woods	6-1	185	4.40	Oklahoma
130	OL	Joey	O’Connor	6-4	285	5.10	Ohio St
131	WR	Darreus	Rogers	6-2	194	4.50	USC
132	TE	Jalen	Cope-Fitzpatrick	6-5	250	4.85	USC
133	TE	Colin	Thompson	6-5	255	4.80	Florida
134	DB	Kendall	Sanders	6-0	175	4.40	Texas
135	DL	Hassan	Ridgeway	6-4	255	4.75	Texas
136	QB	Tanner	Mangum	6-3	195	4.90	BYU
137	WR	Angelo	Jean-Louis	6-0	185	4.49	Miami, Fl
138	QB	Connor	Brewer	6-2	200	4.70	Texas
139	LB	Raphael	Kirby	6-0	208	4.59	Miami, Fl
140	RB	Greg	Garmon	6-1	195	4.50	Iowa
141	QB	Chad	Voytik	6-0	185	4.60	Pittsburgh
142	WR	Aaron	Burbridge	6-1	185	4.40	Michigan St
143	DL	Tyriq	Mccord	6-3	222	4.76	Miami, Fl
144	DL	Denzel	Devall	6-2	236	4.61	Alabama
145	TE	Taylor	McNamara	6-5	232	4.78	Oklahoma
146	QB	Anthony	Alford	6-1	211	4.50	S Miss
147	DL	Devonte	Fields	6-4	220	4.60	TCU
148	RB	Matt	Jones	6-2	200	4.47	Florida
149	RB	Keivarae	Russell	6-0	177	4.50	Notre Dame
150	DL	Jaleel	Johnson	6-3	285	5.00	Iowa
151	DL	Justin	Shanks	6-3	280	4.80	Florida St
152	WR	Dwayne	Stanford	6-4	195	4.50	Oregon
153	WR	Bralon	Addison	5-10	182	4.50	Oregon
154	LB	Quanzell	Lambert	6-1	230	4.60	Rutgers
155	OL	Chris	Muller	6-6	315	5.03	Rutgers
156	RB	Drae	Bowles	6-1	195	4.50	Tennessee
157	WR	Ricardo	Louis	6-2	190	4.50	Auburn
158	DL	Faith	Ekakitie	6-3	270	4.70	Iowa
159	RB	Todd	Gurley	6-1	195	4.40	Georgia
160	LB	Brian	Nance	6-2	210	4.60	Baylor
161	RB	Wes	Brown	5-11	190	4.50	Maryland
162	LB	Timothy	Cole	6-2	230	4.70	Texas
163	WR	Zac	Brooks	6-2	180	4.50	Clemson
164	QB	Zeke	Pike	6-5	220	4.70	Auburn
165	LB	Michael	Barton	6-1	200	4.57	California
166	DB	Demetrious	Cox	6-1	190	4.48	Michigan St
167	RB	Jonathan	Williams	5-11	205	4.45	Arkansas
168	DL	Michael	Moore	6-4	260	4.80	Virginia
169	QB	Chad	Kelly	6-3	208	4.60	Clemson
170	OL	Brock	Stadnik	6-5	285	5.10	S Carolina
171	LB	Joe	Bolden	6-2	225	4.60	Michigan
172	RB	Jovon	Robinson	6-0	215	4.50	Auburn
173	DL	Greg	Mcmullen	6-5	255	4.69	Nebraska
174	DL	Chris	Wormley	6-5	250	4.80	Michigan
175	WR	Deontay	Mcmanus	6-2	215	4.50	West Virginia
176	QB	Tyler	Matthews	6-3	205	4.74	TCU
177	WR	D’Vario	Montgomery	6-3	210	4.50	S Florida
178	DL	Leonard	Floyd	6-4	215	4.75	Georgia
179	DL	Alex	Balducci	6-4	262	4.90	Oregon
180	DB	Terry	Richardson	5-9	160	4.40	Michigan
181	DL	Jordan	Watkins	6-5	260	5.10	Stanford
182	DL	Troy	Hinds	6-5	230	4.60	BYU
183	LB	Keith	Brown	6-1	225	4.50	Louisville
184	QB	Jeff	Lindquist	6-3	225	4.70	Washington
185	LB	Camren	Williams	6-2	215	4.58	Ohio St
186	TE	Evan	Baylis	6-5	225	4.80	Oregon
187	OL	Vadal	Alexander	6-6	310	5.30	LSU
188	OL	Freddie	Tagaloa	6-8	315	5.30	California
189	RB	William	Mahone	5-11	206	4.60	Notre Dame
190	WR	Amari	Cooper	6-2	180	4.50	Alabama
191	WR	Leonte	Carroo	6-1	190	4.40	Rutgers
192	DL	Deforest	Buckner	6-7	230	4.90	Oregon
193	DL	Jamil	Pollard	6-4	275	5.10	Penn St
194	DL	Dalvin	Tomlinson	6-3	270	4.80	Alabama
195	WR	Jaydon	Mickens	5-8	170	5.00	Washington
196	OL	Paul	Thurston	6-5	275	5.00	Nebraska
197	WR	Reginald	Davis	6-1	185	4.50	Texas Tech
198	WR	Jordan	Westerkamp	6-2	195	4.50	Nebraska
199	QB	Jake	Rodrigues	6-3	210	4.70	Oregon
200	RB	Drew	Harris	6-1	210	4.50	Virginia Tech
201	OL	Ryan	Ward	6-5	275	5.10	Iowa
202	LB	Jordan	Richmond	6-1	220	4.70	Texas A&M
203	QB	Justin	Thomas	5-11	175	4.40	Georgia Tech
204	DB	Devante	Harris	5-11	160	4.40	Texas A&M
205	DB	Amos (AJ)	Leggett	6-0	175	4.50	Marshall
206	LB	Antonio	Morrison	6-3	220	4.60	Florida
207	LB	Aaron	Porter	6-2	230	4.70	UCLA
208	OL	Taylor	Decker	6-8	270	5.00	Ohio St
209	DB	Bryson	Echols	5-10	165	4.48	Texas
210	DL	Tom	Strobel	6-6	250	4.80	Michigan
211	RB	Marvin	Bracy	5-9	167	4.30	Florida St
212	TE	Sean	Price	6-3	235	4.80	S Florida
213	TE	Luke	Kaumatule	6-7	260	4.80	Stanford
214	LB	Nick	Dawson	6-3	230	4.70	Louisville
215	DL	Trent	Taylor	6-3	245	4.70	Tennessee
216	OL	Kyle	Dodson	6-6	315	5.20	Ohio St
217	OL	Shane	Callahan	6-6	277	5.20	Auburn
218	QB	Bart	Houston	6-4	215	4.90	Wisconsin
219	WR	Amara	Darboh	6-2	205	4.50	Michigan
220	DB	Orlando	Thomas	5-11	175	4.40	Texas
221	QB	Trevor	Knight	6-3	200	4.70	Oklahoma
222	OL	Nick	Davidson	6-7	285	5.20	Stanford
223	DL	Ken	Ekanem	6-3	225	4.60	Virginia Tech
224	DB	Jarrod	Wilson	6-2	190	4.50	Michigan
225	DB	Colin	Blake	6-3	185	4.50	Florida St
226	DB	Wayne	Morgan	5-11	191	4.40	Syracuse
227	DB	Jordan	Diggs	6-0	194	4.60	S Carolina
228	RB	Jody	Fuller	6-0	200	4.48	S Carolina
229	WR	Darius	Powe	6-2	195	4.50	California
230	DL	Martin	Aiken	6-3	248	4.90	Clemson
231	DL	Nick	James	6-5	340	4.90	Miss St
232	WR	Latroy	Pittman	6-1	190	4.70	Florida
233	DL	Paul	Boyette Jr	6-4	295	4.90	Texas
234	DB	Trae	Elston	6-0	180	4.40	Mississippi
235	OL	Adam	Bisnowaty	6-7	275	5.40	Pittsburgh
236	TE	Christo	Kourtzidis	6-4	230	4.70	Florida St
237	LB	Tyler	Hayes	6-3	215	4.57	Alabama
238	LB	Ronnie	Feist	6-2	214	4.60	LSU
239	DB	Edward	Pope	6-3	175	4.50	Texas A&M
240	TE	Devin	Funchess	6-5	205	4.60	Michigan
241	QB	Maty	Mauk	6-1	190	4.50	Missouri
242	RB	Warren	Ball	6-2	200	4.52	Ohio St
243	TE	Pharoah	Brown	6-6	220	4.60	Oregon
244	OL	Patrick	Miller	6-6	260	5.00	Auburn
245	LB	Lorenzo	Phillips	6-7	200		LSU
246	DB	Reggie	Daniels	6-1	190	4.50	Oregon
247	WR	Jalen	Cobb	6-1	185	4.50	Unsigned
248	DL	Tyler	Nero	6-1	285	4.68	Auburn
249	DL	Korren	Kirven	6-3	280	5.16	Alabama
250	QB	Wes	Lunt	6-4	200	4.80	Oklahoma St

By School

School	#
Texas	15
Alabama	13
Florida St	12
Michigan	12
Ohio St	12
Florida	11
Auburn	10
Oregon	10
Stanford	10
USC	10
Notre Dame	8
Oklahoma	8
Oregon	8
Georgia	7
Miami, Fl	7
Clemson	6
LSU	6
Texas A&M	6

Naturally these numbers could changed with 3 unsigned players but it’s a safe bet that Texas, Alabama and Florida St will be among my Top 10 when I published my final rankings in this year’s magazine. The Longhorns who “only” had 4 players in my Top 100 landed and incredible 11 players in my next 150 for a total of 15 players in the Top 250 to lead the way. I will be back later this week with my Top 500 players and start finalizing some of my positions for the 2012 recruiting class.

Super Bowl XLVI Forecast

Phil Steele — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:44:09 +0000

	SUPER BOWL XLVI SUNDAY FEBRUARY 5TH 6:30 PM NBC

NY GIANTS (12-7) VS NEW ENGLAND (15-3)
	Rushing	Passing	Points	TO’s	ST	A.O.R
NY GIANTS	108	328	26	1.6	#25	98.8
NEW ENGLAND	111	258	28	1.7	#5	99.7
GAME OVERVIEW The more things change the more they stay the same for Super Bowl XLVI. Both teams return to the Super Bowl for the 1st time since 2007 looking to cement their status in NFL history. Tom Brady has been the starting QB for NE for 10 years and this will be his 5th Super Bowl. He’s tied Joe Montana’s 16 game postseason victory mark and with a win he’d be tied with Terry Bradshaw and Montana with 4 SB victories. Oddly enough Brady has flown under the radar in 2011 due to the success of other QB’s. He also broke Dan Marino’s yardage barrier this season and his 39 passing TD’s was the 2nd best of his career. This game would redeem Brady’s loss in SB XLII and firmly put him ahead of Peyton Manning in the best of this era conversation in Manning’s own house. Winning SB XLII took Eli Manning out of his brother’s shadow but with a win he’d be ahead of his ailing brother in Championships while giving himself and Tom Coughlin a legit shot at the Hall of Fame. Eli is the 1st NFL QB in history with five road playoff victories. He also has more playoff wins in Giants history than Phil Simms (6). This isn’t much of a surprise as under Coughlin the Giants are 43-27 on the road vs 38-30 at home inc playoffs. The Giants survived a 4 game consecutive losing streak and after missing the playoffs LY despite 10 wins there was serious concerns about Coughlin’s future. Much like 2007, the Giants 38-35 loss to an offensive juggernaut gave them a big confidence boost to fuel their playoff drive. They got healthier as the season went along and played their best ball of the season in the 4 games prior to SF. The Giants can be the 1st 9-7 team to win a Super Bowl. Without a doubt SB XLVI looks to be a great way to cap off what had been a very tenuous 2011 for players and owners over the CBA negotiations. PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE The dominant image of SB XLII is David Tyree making the leaping catch to end the Patriots run at perfection. Playoff experience is fairly equal here. The Giants returned to the playoffs in 2008 losing in the divisional Round to PHI and sat out in 2009 (8-8) and 2010 despite a 10 win season. NE missed 2008 due to Brady’s knee injury but still logged a 11 win season. They then lost B2B home playoff games to BAL/NYJ before getting right in 2011. The Giants have 15 players who played in SB XLII still on the roster (Kiwanuka was IR bkn leg) with 6 offensive starters and 3 defensive starters. The Patriots have 7 players remaining from that game with 4 being offensive starters. Vince Wilfork is the only defensive starter from that game. Kevin Faulk was a big part of SB XLII but has been phased out of the 2011 offense at this point. While the Patriots have more overall playoff experience due to the L2Y (and Brady) this is mitigated by the Giants edge in players with actual Super Bowl experience here so this is essentially even. EDGE: NONE TURF/SITE Indianapolis was awarded SB XLVI in return for the city building the Colts a new venue and as a reward for being the “home field” for the NFL Scouting Combine which takes place 17 days later TY. Unlike DAL LY, Indianapolis is well suited to bad weather and has a series of tunnels that connect major venues to protect tourists. Lucas Oil Stadium is a retractable Dome that seats 67,000 fans with a FieldTurf surface that has been ranked as the best artificial surface in 2009-10. It is also home to the Big 10 football Championship and is regarded as a fan friendly venue with state of the art amenities. Both teams receive 17.5% of the tickets. One-third of that goes to each teams suite owners, another to season ticket holders in a lottery system with the rest divided amongst coaches, players and staff. The hosting team gets 5% of the tickets, 30% is shared by the other 30 NFL teams while the NFL gives the other 30% to big ticket sponsors for promotions and as a reward. Tickets to SB XLVI ranged from $2727 to $17048 on NFL.com which were steady with LY’s. The Giants played here in 2010 while the Patriots were here in 2008 and 2009 so there is no site/crowd edge TY. EDGE: NONE GIANTS #8 OFFENSE VS PATRIOTS #31 DEFENSE Evolution is key to the NFL and the Giants are a different offense compared to what took the field in 2007. Eli Manning was still a developing QB then with an offense centered around the run game. In 2011, Manning is the centerpiece of an offense that only had 3 starters play all 16 games due to injuries. He’s had to cope with 5 different OL combo’s but unlike 2010 when he pressed and threw 25 Int’s he took more sacks to keep the team out of game changing plays. In his L4 games he’s avg’d 298 ypg (64%) with a 11-1 ratio. Along with the return to health of Bradshaw this has opened up the #32 run game which as avg’d 115 ypg (4.0) in the L4W which would be 17th vs a full season. Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz are the Giants first 1,000 yd duo in franchise history. Cruz was a local tryout for the Giants in training camp and has been the 2nd best slot WR in the NFL only to Welker. Nicks is playing with a sprained shoulder but is expected to be okay and the Giants have a good possession option with Mario Manningham as well. The one weakness with the Giants passing attack is that they lack a dependable receiving TE. Jake Ballard has potential but has been unable to stay healthy enough for Manning to get fully comfortable with. The Giants have compensated by including the RB’s in the passing game as Bradshaw, Jacobs and Ware have combined for 76 rec’s (7.4) in the reg ssn which is a good line for a TE. NE has the worst defense in terms of total yardage for a SB team allowing 411 ypg but are giving up 21.4 ppg avg. In their L4 games they are allowing 356 ypg/18.8 ppg showing they are improving. In the 24 drives by DEN/BAL, NE forced 11 punts, 2 TO’s and 2 SOD to advance. NE’s defense lacks a consistent pass rush as Belichick is having to scheme and blitz to create pressure. Inc playoffs they have 48 sks which is what NYG had in 16 games so they aren’t that far off though the loss of DE Andre Carter still lingers. The secondary is a massive concern as injuries have taken a big toll on the depth. This has forced Belichick to convert Julian Edelman from WR to DB and Sterling Moore who was waived from the OAK practice squad at one point is seeing lots of time. This is where the Giants have the biggest edge in the game as they have the depth and talent to cause problems in sub-packages against the Patriots provided their OL doesn’t give up 6 sacks like they did to SF. EDGE: GIANTS PATRIOTS #2 OFFENSE VS GIANTS #27 DEFENSE In 2007 the Patriots had their record breaking season with an offense that relied on deep vertical routes to stretch the field and open up the underneath routes for Wes Welker (112 rec’s 10.5 in 2007). However, in SB XLII it forced the OL to pass protect for far too long and the Giants elite DL tallied 5 sks and 9 QBH’s in the game keeping Brady out of rhythm. The Ravens took advantage of this in 2009 when NE was forced to play from behind and beat them in a Wildcard match by getting all over Brady. By drafting Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in 2010, Belichick shifted the NE strategy to setting up matchups and making the offense more versatile with the pass and in the run game. It also allowed NE to capitalize on the shift to smaller S/CB hybrids on defense by using the TE’s bigger size to set up yds after contact. Welker has had a better statistical season TY (112 rec 12.9) than in 2007 as he gets favorable matchups in the slot. Gronkowski’s ankle sprain is expected to be okay and NE hasn’t been afraid to use Hernandez in situations as a runner. In 2010 NE finished 9th in rushing thanks to BenJarvis Green-Ellis and while NE is only 20th TY they are only 209 yds off the previous year. RB’s are used according to down and distance and by the foes they face week to week. The success of the TE’s TY has the RB’s with just 37 rec’s (9.8) which is a big drop off as LY Danny Woodhead alone had 34 rec’s (11.1). The shift has taken a lot of pressure off the OL which has had its share of problems TY as it was down to its 4th string Ctr vs IND/WAS. NE uses a no huddle almost a quarter of the time and is in the shotgun about 50% of the time to Brady to read and wear out defenses. The Giants aren’t intimidated by big play offenses having dealt with PHI, DAL and GB twice as well as then healthy BUF and NO. Since the GB loss the Giants are allowing 334 ypg/17.7 ppg vs 387 ypg/26.3 prior to it as DE Umenyiora, DE Tuck, CB Amukamara and LB Boley all got healthier. DL injuries forced Jason Pierre-Paul onto the field and he dominated with 16.5 sks despite working all over the line. The Giants LB’s aren’t ideal vs upper tier TE’s like NE’s and the Giants attack first style leaves them vulnerable to teams that are patient running the ball. While NE’s pass defense is criticized for giving up yards the fact that the Giants #29 pass defense has a -11 TD/int ratio is a concern. Plays can be had by savvy QB’s that aren’t flustered by the pass rush by using their hot routes and matchups. Brady’s experience and the fact the offense has seen this style with extra time to gameplan gives them a small edge here. SLIGHT EDGE: PATRIOTS SPECIAL TEAMS The Patriots have a sizeable special teams edge with my #5 special teams unit vs the Giants and their #25 special teams. It’s not unusual for high octane offenses to ignore their special teams but the Patriots put a premium on the 3rd phase of the game. It really shines in their coverage units where they had the 13th best PR avg (8.5) and 6th best KR avg (21.6) in the regular season. Stephen Gostkowski had 50 of 117 KO’s end in TB’s and NE’s foe avg start was the 19.9 yd line. He hit 10 of 13 from 40+ TY but wasn’t needed from that range vs DEN or BAL. Zoltan Mesko finished 3rd with an excellent 41.5 net avg with 24 punts landing inside the 20. NE is only avg on KR’s but they have been excellent on PR’s with a 10.3 reg ssn avg TY. The Giants finished 29th in my special teams rankings in 2010 which played a big role in keeping them out of the playoffs. They shook up the coverage units and made a switch at P for 2011. Steve Weatherford has been an upgrade at the spot for the Giants but their coverage units are avg at best coming in 17th on PR’s (9.9) and 11th on KR’s. The return units have simply been bad as their 6.1 PR is 29th and their 23.3 KR avg is 22nd. Lawrence Tynes clutch kicking got NYG to the SB for the 2nd time in 5 years vs SF but he’s only 4 of 9 from 40+ with just 37 TB’s on 95 KO’s for an avg drive start of 22.6. Steve Weatherford had a decent regular season but was solid in the playoffs with a 40.6 net avg. Yes the Giants special teams came up huge vs SF but the Patriots have been more consistent all season long and get the nod here. EDGE: PATRIOTS COACHING Both coaches are from the Bill Parcells coaching tree and spent the 1988-1990 seasons with the Giants. Coughlin was the WR’s coach and Belichick was the DC on the staff of the Giants team that won SB XXV. Belichick was also the DC of the 1986 Giants team that won SB XXI vs DEN and has had 6 assistants end up as NFL HC’s. OC Bill O’Brien has accepted the Penn St HC job but is remaining with the team here. NE brought back Josh McDaniels who was the OC prior to O’Brien to help ease the transition here. Brady had his 50 TD season with McDaniels as his OC. Belichick is his own DC calling plays and setting up the weekly game planning for the Patriots. Coughlin has had 7 former assistants go on to be NFL HC’s and has been to the playoffs in 9 of his 16 years as an NFL HC. OC Kevin Gilbride has been with Eli Manning since his rookie season starting off as his QB coach and is widely respected. While DC Perry Fewell is in his 2nd season with the team, he was the Bills DC from 2006-10 so he knows how the Patriots operate. He also runs the same basic system as what beat the 2007 Patriots but with his own twist. Neither team has a significant edge due to familiarity despite being non-conference foes. EDGE: NONE PAST HISTORY MATCHUP and INTANGIBLES Just like 2007, this is actually the 3rd time these teams face off this season. The Giants and Patriots traditionally wrap up the preseason against each other with the Giants winning 18-17. The Giants are also the last team to beat the Patriots this season as they pulled a 24-20 upset. The Giants led 10-3 after 3 Qtrs but Brady led NE on a 80/7pl drive for a TD then helped setup a 45 yd FG for the lead. The Giants countered with a 85/8pl drive for a 17-13 lead with 3:03 left. The Patriots followed with a TD drive that took just 90 seconds with a 14 yd TD to Rob Gronkowski. Manning led the Giants on an 80/8pl drive helped out by a 20 yd DPI to set up 1&gl on the 1 for the go ahead score with 15 sec left. NE had a 438-361 yd edge as Welker and Rob Gronkowski combined for 237 yds receiving. The Giants didn’t have 3 offensive starters with RB Bradshaw, Ctr Baas and WR Hicks all sitting out due to injuries as well as current nickel DB Prince Amukamara either. The Giants then went on a 4 game losing streak before getting back on track. There are numerous similarities between this game and the 2007 Super Bowl and the pressure is on NE to redeem themselves after losing SB XVII. However, the Giants can’t play the same disrespect card as before since the entire NFL knows how they are built and how they’ve used followed the 2007 path. EDGE: NONE CONCLUSION This year I am going for the rare feat of not only picking the College Football National Champ correctly from my pre-season magazine (Alabama) but also way back in early August I picked the Patriots to win Super Bowl 46 while many others were picking the Packers, Falcons and Eagles. Naturally I will stick to my preseason pick but I also think the Patriots ST’s could be the deciding difference since the teams are so close. I also think the Super Bowl 42 loss still weighs heavily on the minds of Belichick and Brady and they get their revenge here adding to two of the greatest careers in NFL history.
PHIL’S FORECAST: NEW ENGLAND 31 NY GIANTS 27

2012 Top 100 Incoming Frosh!

Phil Steele — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:37:08 +0000

While my final recruiting rankings for this year will not be completed for awhile, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at my top overall 100 players.

Phil Steele’s Current 2012 Top 100 Incoming Frosh

Rank	POS	First	Last	HT	WT	State	HS or City	School
1	WR	Dorial	Green-Beckham	6-6	220	MO	Springfield Hillcrest	Missouri
2	DL	Mario	Edwards	6-4	275	TX	Ryan Denton	Florida St
3	DL	Noah	Spence	6-3	230	PA	Harrisburg Bishop Mcdevitt	Ohio St
4	RB	Johnathan	Gray	5-11	190	TX	Aledo	Texas
5	DB	Landon	Collins	6-1	205	LA	Geismar Dutchtown	Alabama
6	DB	Shaq	Thompson	6-2	210	CA	Sacramento Grant	Washington
7	OL	DJ	Humphries	6-6	265	NC	Charlotte Mallard Creek	Florida
8	QB	Gunner	Kiel	6-4	216	IN	Columbus East	Notre Dame
9	RB	Keith	Marshall	5-11	190	NC	Raleigh Millbrook	Georgia
10	DL	Eddie	Goldman	6-4	295	DC	Washington Dc Friendship	Florida St
11	WR	Stefon	Diggs	6-0	175	MD	Olney Good Council	Unsigned
12	DL	Malcom	Brown	6-2	280	TX	Brenham	Texas
13	RB	Rushel	Shell	6-0	215	PA	Aliquippa Hopewell Shs	Pittsburgh
14	QB	Jameis	Winston	6-4	196	AL	Bessemer-Hueytown	Unsigned
15	OL	Andrus	Peat	6-7	280	AZ	Tempe-Corona Del Sol	Stanford
16	DL	Ellis	Mccarthy	6-4	300	CA	Monrovia	UCLA
17	WR	Nelson	Agholor	6-2	180	FL	Tampa-Berkeley Prep	USC
18	RB	Trey	Williams	5-8	175	TX	Spring-Dekaney	Texas A&M
19	OL	John	Theus	6-6	301	FL	Jacksonville Bolles	Georgia
20	DL	Darius	Hamilton	6-4	255	NJ	Ramsey Don Bosco	Rutgers
21	OL	Kyle	Murphy	6-7	275	CA	San Clemente	Stanford
22	QB	Devin	Fuller	6-0	185	NJ	Old Tappan	UCLA
23	DB	Eddie	Williams	6-4	197	FL	Panama City-Arnold	Alabama
24	DL	Arik	Armstead	6-8	280	CA	Elk Grove-Pleasant Grove	Oregon
25	LB	Josh	Harvey-Clemons	6-5	200	GA	Valdosta Lowndes	Unsigned
26	WR	Cayleb	Jones	6-3	198	TX	Austin	Texas
27	DL	Adolphus	Washington	6-5	250	OH	Cincinnati Taft	Ohio St
28	RB	TJ	Yeldon	6-2	210	AL	Daphne	Alabama
29	DB	Shaq	Roland	6-2	180	SC	Lexington Hs	S Carolina
30	DB	Tracy	Howard	5-11	170	FL	Miramar Hs	Miami(Fla)
31	OL	Joshua	Garnett	6-4	300	WA	Puyallup	Stanford
32	OL	Jordan	Simmons	6-5	300	CA	Encino Crespi	USC
33	DL	Dante	Fowler Jr	6-3	232	FL	St Petersburg-Lakewood	Florida
34	DB	Ronald	Darby	5-11	172	MD	Oxon Hill-Potomac	Florida St
35	DL	Jordan	Jenkins	6-3	230	GA	Hamilton Harris Co	Georgia
36	RB	Mario	Pender	6-0	185	FL	Cape Coral-Island Coast	Florida St
37	OL	Zach	Banner	6-8	320	WA	Lakewood Lakes	USC
38	WR	Thomas	Johnson	6-0	180	TX	Dallas Skyline	Texas A&M
39	RB	Randy	Johnson	5-9	170	FL	Miami Norland Hs	Miami(Fla)
40	DL	Jonathan	Bullard	6-4	240	NC	Shelby Crest	Florida
41	LB	Jabari	Ruffin	6-4	230	CA	Downey	USC
42	OL	Avery	Young	6-5	285	FL	Palm Beach Gardens	Auburn
43	DL	Tommy	Schutt	6-3	300	IL	Glen Ellyn Glenbard West	Ohio St
44	DL	Chris	Casher	6-4	225	AL	Mobile-Faith Academy	Florida St
45	DB	Tee	Shepard	6-1	180	CA	Fresno-Central East	Notre Dame
46	DB	Geno	Smith	6-0	165	GA	Atlanta St Piux X	Alabama
47	WR	Davonte	Neal	5-10	180	AZ	Scottsdale Chaparral	Unsigned
48	OL	Kyle	Kalis	6-5	302	OH	Lakewood-St Edward	Michigan
49	LB	Reggie	Ragland	6-4	245	AL	Madison-Bob Jones	Alabama
50	WR	Durron	Neal	6-0	190	MO	St Louis Desmet	Oklahoma
51	QB	Zach	Kline	6-2	210	CA	Danville-San Ramon Valley	California
52	RB	Barry	Sanders Jr	5-9	185	OK	Ok City Heritage Hall	Stanford
53	DB	DJ	Foster	6-0	185	AZ	Scottsdale Saguaro	Arizona St
54	LB	Noor	Davis	6-4	225	FL	The Villages	Stanford
55	DL	Jonathan	Taylor	6-4	295	GA	Millen Jenkins Co	Georgia
56	DB	Brian	Poole	5-11	190	FL	Bradenton Southeast	Florida
57	DL	Se’Von	Pittman	6-5	240	OH	Canton-Mckinley	Ohio St
58	WR	Deontay	Greenberry	6-3	187	CA	Fresno-Washington Union	Houston
59	DL	Eli	Harold	6-4	220	VA	Virginia Beach-Ocean Lakes	Virginia
60	LB	Channing	Ward	6-3	225	MS	Aberdeen	Mississippi
61	WR	Bryce	Treggs	6-0	170	CA	Bellflower St John Bosco	California
62	OL	Max	Tuerk	6-6	294	CA	Santa Margarita	USC
63	DB	Cyrus	Jones	5-11	190	MD	Baltimore Gilman School	Alabama
64	DB	Travis	Blanks	6-1	195	FL	Tallahassee N Florida Christian	Clemson
65	OL	Jessamen	Dunker	6-6	315	FL	Boynton Beach	Florida
66	OL	Erik	Magnuson	6-6	275	CA	Carlsbad La Costa Canyon	Michigan
67	OL	Kennedy	Estelle	6-7	300	TX	Pearland Dawson Hs	Texas
68	DB	Alex	Carter	6-0	193	VA	Briar Woods Ashburn	Stanford
69	RB	Bri’Onte	Dunn	6-2	215	OH	Glenoak	Ohio St
70	RB	Mike	Davis	5-9	192	GA	Stone Mountain-Stephenson	S Carolina
71	DB	Yuri	Wright	6-2	190	NJ	Ramsey Don Bosco Prep	Colorado
72	DL	Leonard	Williams	6-5	257	FL	Daytona Beach Mainland	USC
73	TE	Kent	Taylor	6-5	218	FL	Land O’Lakes	Florida
74	WR	Joel	Caleb	6-3	205	VA	Midlothian Clover Hill	Virginia Tech
75	DL	Quay	Evans	6-3	318	MS	Morton	Miss St
76	DL	Aziz	Shittu	6-3	275	CA	Atwater Buhach Colony	Stanford
77	LB	Vince	Biegel	6-3	210	WI	Wisconsin Rapids	Wisconsin
78	LB	Kwon	Alexander	6-3	215	AL	Oxford	LSU
79	DB	Ishmael	Adams	5-10	185	CA	Westlake Village Oaks Christian	UCLA
80	WR	Chris	Black	6-0	175	FL	Jacksonville-First Coast	Alabama
81	DB	Deon	Bush	6-1	180	FL	Miami Columbus	Miami(Fla)
82	LB	James	Ross	6-0	209	MI	St Mary’S Orchard Lake	Michigan
83	OL	Evan	Boehm	6-3	286	MO	Lee’S Summit West	Missouri
84	DB	Ladarrell	Mcneil	6-1	187	TX	Dallas Maceo Smith	Tennessee
85	RB	Byron	Marshall	5-10	191	CA	San Jose Valley Christian	Oregon
86	WR	Germone	Hopper	6-0	165	NC	Charlotte-Phillip O Berry Acad	Clemson
87	LB	Ukeme	Eligwe	6-3	210	GA	Stone Mountain	Florida St
88	LB	Royce	Jenkins-Stone	6-2	215	MI	Detroit-Cass Tech	Michigan
89	DL	Jarron	Jones	6-5	308	NY	Aquinas Institute Rochester	Notre Dame
90	DL	Carlos	Watkins	6-4	280	NC	Forest City Chase	Clemson
91	LB	Scott	Starr	6-3	225	CA	Norco	USC
92	OL	Isaac	Seumalo	6-3	280	OR	Corvallis	Oregon St
93	LB	Kwontie	Moore	6-2	243	VA	Norfolk Christian School	Virginia
94	DB	Elijah	Shumate	6-1	205	NJ	Ramsey Don Bosco	Notre Dame
95	DB	Kevon	Seymour	6-0	170	CA	Pasadena Muir	USC
96	DL	Ondre	Pipkins	6-3	320	MO	Kansas City Park Hill	Michigan
97	WR	Jordan	Payton	6-2	199	CA	Oaks Christian Westlake Village	UCLA
98	WR	Jaquay	Williams	6-4	201	GA	Tyrone-Sandy Creek	Auburn
99	DL	Sheldon	Day	6-2	275	IN	Indianapolis Warren Central	Notre Dame
100	QB	Cyler	Miles	6-4	220	CO	Denver-Mullen	Washington

PS#’s By Position

PS#	Overall	POS	First	Last	HT	WT	School
1	8	QB	Gunner	Kiel	6-4	216	Notre Dame
2	14	QB	Jameis	Winston	6-4	196	Unsigned
3	22	QB	Devin	Fuller	6-0	185	UCLA
4	51	QB	Zach	Kline	6-2	210	California
5	100	QB	Cyler	Miles	6-4	220	Washington
1	4	RB	Johnathan	Gray	5-11	190	Texas
2	9	RB	Keith	Marshall	5-11	190	Georgia
3	13	RB	Rushel	Shell	6-0	215	Pittsburgh
4	18	RB	Trey	Williams	5-8	175	Texas A&M
5	28	RB	TJ	Yeldon	6-2	210	Alabama
6	36	RB	Mario	Pender	6-0	185	Florida St
7	39	RB	Randy	Johnson	5-9	170	Miami (Fla)
8	52	RB	Barry	Sanders Jr	5-9	185	Stanford
9	69	RB	Bri’Onte	Dunn	6-2	215	Ohio St
10	70	RB	Mike	Davis	5-9	192	S Carolina
11	85	RB	Byron	Marshall	5-10	191	Oregon
1	1	WR	Dorial	Green-Beckham	6-6	220	Missouri
2	11	WR	Stefon	Diggs	6-0	175	Unsigned
3	17	WR	Nelson	Agholor	6-2	180	USC
4	26	WR	Cayleb	Jones	6-3	198	Texas
5	38	WR	Thomas	Johnson	6-0	180	Texas A&M
6	47	WR	Davonte	Neal	5-10	180	Unsigned
7	50	WR	Durron	Neal	6-0	190	Oklahoma
8	58	WR	Deontay	Greenberry	6-3	187	Houston
9	61	WR	Bryce	Treggs	6-0	170	California
10	74	WR	Joel	Caleb	6-3	205	Virginia Tech
11	80	WR	Chris	Black	6-0	175	Alabama
12	86	WR	Germone	Hopper	6-0	165	Clemson
13	97	WR	Jordan	Payton	6-2	199	UCLA
14	98	WR	Jaquay	Williams	6-4	201	Auburn
1	73	TE	Kent	Taylor	6-5	218	Florida
1	7	OL	DJ	Humphries	6-6	265	Florida
2	15	OL	Andrus	Peat	6-7	280	Stanford
3	19	OL	John	Theus	6-6	301	Georgia
4	21	OL	Kyle	Murphy	6-7	275	Stanford
5	31	OL	Joshua	Garnett	6-4	300	Stanford
6	32	OL	Jordan	Simmons	6-5	300	USC
7	37	OL	Zach	Banner	6-8	320	USC
8	42	OL	Avery	Young	6-5	285	Auburn
9	48	OL	Kyle	Kalis	6-5	302	Michigan
10	62	OL	Max	Tuerk	6-6	294	USC
11	65	OL	Jessamen	Dunker	6-6	315	Florida
12	66	OL	Erik	Magnuson	6-6	275	Michigan
13	67	OL	Kennedy	Estelle	6-7	300	Texas
14	83	OL	Evan	Boehm	6-3	286	Missouri
15	92	OL	Isaac	Seumalo	6-3	280	Oregon St
1	2	DL	Mario	Edwards	6-4	275	Florida St
2	3	DL	Noah	Spence	6-3	230	Ohio St
3	10	DL	Eddie	Goldman	6-4	295	Florida St
4	12	DL	Malcom	Brown	6-2	280	Texas
5	16	DL	Ellis	Mccarthy	6-4	300	UCLA
6	20	DL	Darius	Hamilton	6-4	255	Rutgers
7	24	DL	Arik	Armstead	6-8	280	Oregon
8	27	DL	Adolphus	Washington	6-5	250	Ohio St
9	33	DL	Dante	Fowler Jr	6-3	232	Florida
10	35	DL	Jordan	Jenkins	6-3	230	Georgia
11	40	DL	Jonathan	Bullard	6-4	240	Florida
12	43	DL	Tommy	Schutt	6-3	300	Ohio St
13	44	DL	Chris	Casher	6-4	225	Florida St
14	55	DL	Jonathan	Taylor	6-4	295	Georgia
15	57	DL	Se’Von	Pittman	6-5	240	Ohio St
16	59	DL	Eli	Harold	6-4	220	Virginia
17	72	DL	Leonard	Williams	6-5	257	USC
18	75	DL	Quay	Evans	6-3	318	Miss St
19	76	DL	Aziz	Shittu	6-3	275	Stanford
20	89	DL	Jarron	Jones	6-5	308	Notre Dame
21	90	DL	Carlos	Watkins	6-4	280	Clemson
22	96	DL	Ondre	Pipkins	6-3	320	Michigan
23	99	DL	Sheldon	Day	6-2	275	Notre Dame
1	25	LB	Josh	Harvey-Clemons	6-5	200	Unsigned
2	41	LB	Jabari	Ruffin	6-4	230	USC
3	49	LB	Reggie	Ragland	6-4	245	Alabama
4	54	LB	Noor	Davis	6-4	225	Stanford
5	60	LB	Channing	Ward	6-3	225	Mississippi
6	77	LB	Vince	Biegel	6-3	210	Wisconsin
7	78	LB	Kwon	Alexander	6-3	215	LSU
8	82	LB	James	Ross	6-0	209	Michigan
9	87	LB	Ukeme	Eligwe	6-3	210	Florida St
10	88	LB	Royce	Jenkins-Stone	6-2	215	Michigan
11	91	LB	Scott	Starr	6-3	225	USC
12	93	LB	Kwontie	Moore	6-2	243	Virginia
1	5	DB	Landon	Collins	6-1	205	Alabama
2	6	DB	Shaq	Thompson	6-2	210	Washington
3	23	DB	Eddie	Williams	6-4	197	Alabama
4	29	DB	Shaq	Roland	6-2	180	S Carolina
5	30	DB	Tracy	Howard	5-11	170	Miami (Fla)
6	34	DB	Ronald	Darby	5-11	172	Florida St
7	45	DB	Tee	Shepard	6-1	180	Notre Dame
8	46	DB	Geno	Smith	6-0	165	Alabama
9	53	DB	DJ	Foster	6-0	185	Arizona St
10	56	DB	Brian	Poole	5-11	190	Florida
11	63	DB	Cyrus	Jones	5-11	190	Alabama
12	64	DB	Travis	Blanks	6-1	195	Clemson
13	68	DB	Alex	Carter	6-0	193	Stanford
14	71	DB	Yuri	Wright	6-2	190	Colorado
15	79	DB	Ishmael	Adams	5-10	185	UCLA
16	81	DB	Deon	Bush	6-1	180	Miami (Fla)
17	84	DB	Ladarrell	Mcneil	6-1	187	Tennessee
18	94	DB	Elijah	Shumate	6-1	205	Notre Dame
19	95	DB	Kevon	Seymour	6-0	170	USC

Position Breakdown

#	Pos
5	QB’s
11	RB’s
14	WR
1	TE
15	OL
23	DL
12	LB
19	DB

By School

#	School	#	School
8	USC	2	South Carolina
7	Alabama	2	Texas A&M
7	Stanford	2	Virginia
6	Florida	2	Washington
6	Florida St	1	Arizona St
5	Michigan	1	Colorado
5	Notre Dame	1	Houston
5	Ohio St	1	LSU
4	Georgia	1	Miss St
4	Texas	1	Mississippi
4	UCLA	1	Oklahoma
4	Unsigned	1	Oregon St
3	Clemson	1	Pittsburgh
3	Miami (Fla)	1	Rutgers
2	Auburn	1	Tennessee
2	California	1	Virginia Tech
2	Missouri	1	Wisconsin
2	Oregon

By Conference

#	Conf
29	SEC
28	Pac-12
15	ACC
11	Big Ten
5	Big 12
5	Indep
4	Unsigned
2	Big East
1	CUSA

Naturally these numbers could changed with 4 unsigned players but it’s a safe bet that USC, Alabama and Stanford will be among my Top 10 when I published my final rankings in this year’s magazine. The Trojans despite limited scholarships due to probation may have signed player for player the best class when you don’t factor in the amount of players a school signed. I will be back later this week with my Top 250 players then my Top 500 players next week and start finalizing some of my positions for the 2012 recruiting class.

2011′s Top Frosh QB’s: How They fared

Phil Steele — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:33:36 +0000

National signing day is today as the top rated high school players all over the country sign with their favorite school. It is one of the most important days of the year for each college team as usually the teams with the best recruiting classes year in and year out usually find themselves in the Top 25.

While my final recruiting rankings for this year will not be completed for another week, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back on how some of my top players did from the class of 2011 at the QB spot.

Last year 15 True Frosh QB’s started at least one game for a total of 93 starts. 5 of them were in my Top 30 ranked QB’s coming out of HS including Teddy Bridgewater and Braxton Miller who both had Top 10 PS#’s and also both finished on my postseason All-Frosh team.

Here are my top 30 QB’s from last year (all VHT) and how they did statistically last year as a true frosh. I also included all the QB’s and their stats who started a game.

2011 Top 30 True Frosh QB’s and How They Fared

PS#	Name	Team	Gms Plyd	Starts	Comp	Att	%	YDS	TD	INT	Rush Yds
1	Jeff Driskel	Florida	5	0	16	34	47.1	148	0	2	18
2	Braxton Miller	Ohio St	12	10	85	157	54.1	1159	13	4	715
3	Kiehl Frazier	Auburn	13	0	5	12	41.7	34	0	2	327
4	Christian Lemay	Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Brett Hundley	UCLA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Bubba Starling	Nebraska	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	13	10	191	296	64.5	2129	14	12	66
8	Max Wittek	USC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Cody Kessler	USC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	JW Walsh	Oklahoma St	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Jamal Turner (WR)	Nebraska	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-3
12	Jacoby Brissett	Florida	8	2	18	39	46.2	206	2	4	7
13	Marquise Williams	N Carolina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
14	Jerrard Randall	LSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	Justin Worley	Tennessee	4	3	48	87	55.2	604	1	3	-22
16	David Ash	Texas	13	6	98	173	56.6	1068	4	8	103
17	Kyle Boehm	California	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	Kevin Hogan	Stanford	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Michael Brewer	Texas Tech	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
20	Everett Golson	Notre Dame	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
21	Phillip Ely	Alabama	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Brandon Allen	Arkansas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	Tanner McEvoy	S Carolina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
24	Kendal Thompson	Oklahoma	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Evan Crower	Stanford	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
26	Johnny Manziel	Texas A&M	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
27	Gary Nova	Rutgers	10	5	116	227	51.1	1553	11	9	-114
28	Brock Berglund	Kansas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	Corbin Berkstresser	Missouri	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	Michael Eubank	Arizona St	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
49	Max Shortell	Minnesota	8	2	26	54	48.1	309	2	2	14
57	Brett Smith	Wyoming	13	13	253	415	61	2622	20	11	710
59	Tre Roberson	Indiana	9	5	81	142	57	937	3	6	103
96	Nick Isham	La Tech	10	7	155	257	60.3	1457	8	7	-19
97	Rakeem Cato	Marshall	13	9	182	304	59.9	2059	15	11	32
111	Taylor Reed	Memphis	11	9	169	295	57.3	1690	10	4	77
123	Chuckie Keeton	Utah St	11	8	106	174	60.9	1200	11	2	293
144	Maxwell Smith	Kentucky	8	3	84	153	54.9	819	4	4	-109
205	Andrew McNutly	North Texas	4	1	28	51	54.9	352	1	3	57

Leaders

PS#	Name	School	Yds
57	Brett Smith	Wyoming	2622
7	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	2129
97	Rakeem Cato	Marshall	2059
			%
7	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	64.5
57	Brett Smith	Wyoming	61
123	Chuckie Keeton	Utah St	60.9
			TD’s
57	Brett Smith	Wyoming	20
97	Rakeem Cato	Marshall	15
7	Teddy Bridgewater	Louisville	14
			Rush Yds
2	Braxton Miller	Ohio St	715
57	Brett Smith	Wyoming	710
3	Kiehl Frazier	Auburn	327

2012 Preseason AP Top 10 Projection!

Phil Steele — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:07:47 +0000

Well here it is, my projected AP Top 10 for next year as of January 30, 2012! I will mention it now and I will mention it numerous times throughout today’s blog but this is not MY preseason Top 10 for next year, it is where I project the AP Top 10 to come out at the start of the season.

Most AP voters usually look at a couple of criteria when they evaluate a team for the upcoming season. First they look at the number of returning starters that the team has coming back particularly at the offensive skill positions. A team that returns its starting QB and a combination of its RB and WR’s is often times more highly thought of than a team that loses its starting QB but returns its entire offensive line. Similarly a team that returns most of its starters on offense but loses a lot of its defensive playmakers usually is more highly thought of than a team that returns a majority of its defensive starters but loses its skill position players on offense.

Another factor that is heavily weighted is the performance of the team in the bowl game, which undoubtedly is the lasting image of that team in the offseason. A team coming off a huge bowl win usually is more highly thought of than a team that is coming off a bowl loss regardless of what their schedule looks like for the upcoming season.

Using these criteria and a few more, I project the preseason AP Top 10 every year at the conclusion of the previous season, which in most cases is nearly 6 months in advance. Now as you all know, a lot can happen from January to August including injuries, suspensions, transfers, etc.

In 2009, my projected Top 10 for the AP Poll was #1 Florida, #2 Texas, #3 USC, #4 Oklahoma, #5 Alabama, #6 Virginia Tech, #7 LSU, #8 Oklahoma St, #9 Ohio St and #10 Mississippi. The actual AP Top 10 was #1 Florida, #2 Texas, #3 Oklahoma, #4 USC, #5 Alabama, #6 Ohio St, #7 Virginia Tech, #8 Mississippi and #9 was a tie between Oklahoma St/Penn St.

I nailed nine of the ten teams that appeared in the Preseason Top 10 with the only exception being LSU/Penn St and I may have had something to do with that. It’s interesting to note that of the main preseason magazines, only two had Penn St ranked in the Top 10 and I had them my #1 surprise team and ranked #5. Most had Penn St out of the Top 10. Perhaps since I had them rated so high in my magazine, it influenced a few voters across the country, bumping them into the Top 10.

In 2010 I projected the preseason AP Top 10 would be #1 Alabama, #2 Ohio St, #3 Boise St, #4 Oregon, #5 Texas, #6 TCU, #7 Iowa, #8 Florida, #9 Nebraska and #10 Virginia Tech.

The actual AP Top 10 was #1 Alabama, #2 Ohio St, #3 Boise St, #4 Florida, #5 Texas, #6 TCU, #7 Oklahoma, #8 Nebraska, #9 Iowa and #10 Virginia Tech.

For the second year in a row I nailed nine of the ten teams that appeared in the Preseason Top 10 with the only exception being Oregon/Oklahoma, which I can defend easily.

First, at the time I wrote my projection back in early February Duck QB Jeremiah Masoli was not yet suspended. With Masoli still in the fold at that point Oregon had 17 returning starters including RB LaMichael James and Masoli in the backfield. The Ducks clearly would have been a preseason Top 10 team and probably Top 5 had Masoli not been kicked off the team. Even without Masoli Oregon was still rated #11 in the preseason poll.

The team that I did not have in my projected AP Top 10 was Oklahoma (#7) and if you have purchased the 2010 magazine or listened to one of my radio shows across the country you know I thought very highly of the Sooners as I had them ranked #1. Like Penn St in 2009 perhaps since I had them rated so high in my magazine, it influenced a few voters across the country, bumping them into the Top 10 despite the Sooners having five losses in 2009 and the fact that they did not even finish in the final AP Top 25.

I also am pleased that six of the 10 teams were ranked in the exact position that I projected including the Top 3 in Alabama, Ohio St and Boise St. I also had Texas, TCU and Virginia Tech ranked in their exact positions in the poll.

Last year I projected the preseason AP Top 10 would be #1 Oklahoma, #2 Alabama, #3 Oregon, #4 LSU, #5 Stanford, #6 Texas A&M, #7 Boise St, #8 Florida St, #9 Oklahoma St and #10 South Carolina.

The actual AP Top 10 was #1 Oklahoma, #2 Alabama, #3 Oregon, #4 LSU, #5 Boise St, #6 Florida St, #7 Stanford, #8 Texas A&M, #9 Oklahoma St and #10 Nebraska.

For the third year in a row I nailed nine of the ten teams that appeared in the Preseason Top 10 with the only exception being South Carolina/Nebraska, which I can defend easily.

First, when I released my projection back in February of last year South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia was still on the team and was not suspended which would end up costing him the spring and summer with the team. With Garcia’s status up in the air at the time of the AP ballots being due in late July and early August, South Carolina was dropped a bit giving way to Nebraska. The Cornhuskers meanwhile were my pick to win the Big Ten in last year’s magazine which probably influenced a few voters as well.

Now let’s take a look at this year’s projected Preseason AP Top 10:

***#10 West Virginia-The Mountaineers get the nod here due to a dominating 70-33 Orange bowl win over Clemson. This year WVU returns 14 starters including QB Geno Smith who should be more comfortable in his 2^nd-year of Dana Holgorsen’s offense. The asterisk is put on them because at the time of this projection it is not sure whether the Mountaineers will play in the Big East or the Big 12 for 2012. If they remain in the Big East they will be the clear-cut favorites with an easier schedule but if they are joining the Big 12 for 2012, their schedule will be tougher and I would project South Carolina for the #10 spot.

#9 Arkansas-The Razorbacks have had their most successful B2B seasons since 1988-89 going 22-5 the last two years. This year they return 13 starters including QB Tyler Wilson and will get back 2010 All-SEC RB Knile Davis who was out all of last season with an ankle injury. Last year the Razorbacks lost only two games to the top 2 teams in LSU and Alabama (both on the road) and this year the Crimson Tide and Tigers have to travel to Arkansas.

#8 Florida St-The Seminoles were a darkhorse pick for the National Title last year but an injury to QB Manuel saw the Noles drop to 2-3 at one point in the season. FSU would respond to win 7 of its last 8 games including wins over Florida and Notre Dame in the bowl to cap off the season and this year they return 15 starters including QB Manuel and defensive stars DL Jenkins and DB Reid. FSU looks to also bring in one of the best frosh classes in the country and should clearly be the favorites in the ACC.

#7 Michigan-The Wolverines were one of the biggest surprises in college football last year winning 11 games and a BCS Bowl under first-year HC Brady Hoke. This year they return 7 starters on offense led by QB Denard Robinson and RB Toussaint who should be more comfortable in the 2^nd-year of the new offense. UM also return 7 starters from a defense that allowed just 17.4 ppg (#6) which was nearly an 18 ppg improvement from 2010! Michigan finished #12 in the final AP poll and figure to be the favorites to win the Big Ten this year.

#6 Georgia-I was one of the few people in the country last year to pick Georgia to win the SEC East over South Carolina thanks to a favorable SEC slate that had them avoiding Arkansas, LSU and Alabama out of the West and the Bulldogs would not disappoint taking home the SEC East crown. This year they return 15 starters including QB Aaron Murray, leading rusher Isaiah Crowell, their top 2 rec’s and a 1^st-Team All-American candidate on D in OLB Jarvis Jones. Again the Bulldogs AVOID LSU, Alabama and Arkansas out of the SEC West and will be the favorites to repeat as SEC East Champs.

#5 Oklahoma-The Sooners were the preseason AP #1 team last year and clearly underachieved losing three games including a 44-10 beatdown in Bedlam. They did win their bowl game over Iowa, return 15 starters including QB Landry Jones who will play better than last year’s finish and HC Bob Stoops and the Sooners have won at least 10 games in a season 10 times since 2000!

#4 Oregon-The Ducks have become a fixture among the nation’s elite under HC Chip Kelly with 3 straight BCS appearances and last year captured their first Rose Bowl win since 1916! While QB Darron Thomas and RB LaMichael James are gone, their replacements are plenty capable as QB Bryan Bennett and RB’s Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas return with some valuable game experience and the Ducks do not open with a marquee non-conference game like they did last year vs LSU.

#3 Alabama-The Crimson Tide were my pick to win the National Title last year and they did just that avenging an earlier loss to LSU by dominating the Tigers in the BCS Championship game 21-0. This year the defending champs return 7 starters on offense led by QB AJ McCarron who played magnificently in the title game. While the defense returns only 4 starters from last year, keep in mind in 2010, the Tide returned only 2 defensive starters and were the Preseason AP #1 team!

#2 USC-Last year while the probation-stricken Trojans were not eligible to play in the Pac-12 title game, I picked them to be the best team in the South and clearly they were just that going 10-2 (7-2) beating their crosstown rival Bruins who were the de facto Pac-12 South Champs 50-0 in the regular season finale! The Trojans locked up their spot here with the surprising return of QB Matt Barkley who is clearly one of the Heisman favorites in 2012. He will have plenty of skill position talent surrounding him with his top 2 WR’s Robert Woods and Marqise Lee back and 1,000 yd rusher Curtis McNeal also returning. A case could be made at the end of last season that no team in the country was hotter than USC winning 7 of their last 8 games with a 3OT loss to Stanford their only blemish. With 15 returning starters, the Trojans clearly will be one of the favorites to take home the crystal ball.

#1 LSU-Last year LSU was picked 2^nd in the SEC West behind Alabama and would go on to have arguably the best regular season in school history going 13-0 winning the SEC Championship and would beat EIGHT Top 25 teams! While the National Title loss to Alabama still stings, many of the Tigers’ star players return for 2012 including Heisman candidate DB Tyrann Mathieu along with their their top 4 rushers. Throw in QB Zach Mettenberger who Miles said last year was his best pure passing QB and a home game vs Alabama and the Tigers will be the favorites to win the National Title!

JUST MISSED OUT:

I mentioned at the start of the blog that last year I had nine of the top 10 teams correctly predicted and it was the same case in 2009 and 2010 where I also missed out by 1. If one of the team’s I have projected in the Top 10 doesn’t make the polls, there are some teams that have a shot at jumping into the Top 10.

This year I believe there is just one team with a shot and it is #11 South Carolina who could jump the Mountaineers depending on what conference WVU will be in for 2012. Also putting the Gamecocks here is the fact that if they are in the Top 10 that would mean 5 of those teams would be from the SEC. The Gamecocks do return 13 starters including QB Connor Shaw and get back RB Marcus Lattimore who missed the last six games with a knee injury. They also get last year’s SEC East winner Georgia at home.

There you have it – My projections for the AP Preseason Top 10. As mentioned a couple of times in this article, these WILL NOT BE THE TOP 10 IN MY MAGAZINE. As you know, I tend to go out on a limb in a lot of cases and have a lot of surprise picks in my magazine. Those will be unveiled at the start of June when my magazine hits the newsstands but when the first AP poll comes out in August this year, go ahead and take this list and compare it and you’ll find that probably 9 or maybe even all 10 will be in the Preseason AP Top 10 this year.

Review of My 2011 Top Non-AQ Teams!

Phil Steele — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:49:49 +0000

Every year in my magazine, I list my Top Non-AQ teams for that particular year and over the course of the last six seasons I have had great success!

In 2006, my top non-AQ team was Boise St and I PROJECTED THEM INTO A BCS BOWL and they went undefeated and got to the Fiesta Bowl where they beat Oklahoma. In 2007, I called for Hawaii to go 12-0 and grab a SUGAR BOWL BERTH and that is exactly what they did!

In 2008 my top non-AQ team was Utah and while they were NOT RANKED in the preseason and no one picked them to even win the MWC at the start of the year except me, they finished unbeaten and #2 in the country! In 2009 my Top non-AQ team was Boise St and when they beat TCU in the Fiesta Bowl they finished #4 and the top non-AQ team in the country. In 2010 it was FIVE in a row. EVERYONE had Boise St as their top non AQ team but I went against the grain and picked TCU and coach Patterson and company did not disappoint as they knocked off Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl and finished #2 in the country, naturally the top rated non AQ team out there (Boise #9!)

My Top Non-AQ Teams for 2011 as Featured in my College Preview Magazine Published in May!

This past year I picked Boise St as my Top Non-AQ Team and the Broncos came within one missed 39-yard FG vs TCU away from yet another unbeaten season and a possible berth in the national title game as LSU and Boise would have been the only two remaining unbeaten teams. Keep in mind there was a lot of resentment against having an Alabama/LSU rematch and there probably would have been some support for Boise and the little guys to finally get their shot at the title. The Broncos were even shutout of a BCS game but would go on to finish 12-1 and #8 in the AP poll ranking ahead of every other Non-AQ team. That means in the 6 years I have posted my Top non-AQ team 5 of them have gone to BCS bowls and ALL SIX have finished as the best non-AQ team!

Also listed in this past year’s magazine were 5 other Top Non-AQ teams and I am very pleased with their success as well. Each of the top 5 Non-AQ teams finished in the top 25 of either the final AP or Coaches poll and all SIX of them had double digit wins!

TCU was my #2 AQ team and the Horned Frogs despite returning the 2nd fewest amount of starters in the country won the MWC title finishing with 11 wins and indeed finished as the #2 Non-AQ team at #14 in the AP Poll. My #3 Non-AQ team was Southern Miss and the Golden Eagles would finish with their best season in school history with 12 wins and a #20 AP finish which included an upset over my #4 Non-AQ team Houston in the CUSA Championship Game. The Cougars also had a dream season finishing with 13 wins and a #18 finish in the AP poll. Also listed was BYU who won 10 games and finished #26 in the AP poll and #25 in the Coaches’ Poll while Ohio was my #6 Top Non-AQ team and the Bobcats finished with their first double digit win season since 1968!

This year I’m going for SEVEN IN A ROW! So make sure you buy my pre-season college football preview to see which Non-AQ team will top my chart with a great shot at grabbing a BCS Bowl next year!

AFC/NFC Championship Game Forecasts!

Phil Steele — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:15:16 +0000

NFL PLAYOFFS: 5-3 136-74 65% REGULAR SEASON

	AFC CHAMPIONSHIP SUNDAY, JANUARY 22nd 3:00 PM ET CBS

BALTIMORE (13-4) AT NEW ENGLAND (14-3)
	Rushing	Passing	Points	TO’s	ST	A.O.R
BALTIMORE	130	215	19	1.8	#25	97.6
NEW ENGLAND	106	335	35	1.2	#6	98.6
Even though they avenged their loss in 2010, the 33-14 home loss in the 2009 Wildcard round still stings the Patriots. BAL was simply the more physical team that day as they dominated all phases. This led to NE altering their offensive package to be 2 TE heavy and more physical. Both teams took advantage of inexperienced QB’s LW’s to advance. NE exerted their will vs DEN (509-252 yd edge) while BAL capitalized on HOU’s mistakes. Seventeen of BAL’s 20 pts were off TO’s with only 2 drives over 40 yds on the day. NE is now 8-1 at home TY outgaining foes by 70 ypg (+7 TO’s) for a 32-18 avg score. BAL went 4-4 on the road w/a +14 ypg mark (-5 TO’s) for a 20-18 avg score. SD, NYJ, PIT, and IND are the common foes with BAL going 4-1 w/a 331-287 yd edge (+6 TO’s) for a 26-18 avg score. NE went 4-1 being outgained 393-384 but was +9 TO’s for a 30-21 avg score. The Patriots as a whole are on a mission and the playoff sked sets up perfectly being under the radar vs Tebowmania LW and they now get a rematch in front of the fans that booed them 2 years ago. “I’d have been booing us, too, the way we played,” Brady said. “Playing the way we played today, we weren’t going to beat anybody.” I know Brady can beat any def and while BAL’s stop unit looked solid it was vs a rookie QB playing on the road with a 17-3 1Q deficit. The Ravens off LW totaled just 227 yards and 11 FD’s getting TD’s on 2/3pl and 34/5pl “drives”. Don’t discount NE’s D as they’ve played bend but don’t break with their def ypp #2 in the NFL and they’ve had 16 sacks the last 4 games.
PHIL’S FORECAST: NEW ENGLAND 31 BALTIMORE 21

	NFC CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY, JANUARY 22nd 6:30 PM ET FOX

NY GIANTS (11-7) AT SAN FRANCISCO (14-3)
	Rushing	Passing	Points	TO’s	ST	A.O.R
NY GIANTS	63	273	21	2.2	#11	99.5
SAN FRANCISCO	133	200	23	1.3	#6	97.6
Both teams capitalized LW on stout defensive play to turn the tables against two of the NFL’s premier QB’s to advance to the NFC Championship. Earlier this year SF caught the Giants at an ideal time as they were off a big road win vs NE with B2B primetime events vs PHI/NO on deck. The Giants pulled to within 7 halfway thru the 4th Qtr and were threatening to tie at the end but DE Justin Smith deflected the pass on 4th&2 on the SF 10. The Giants had a 395-305 yd edge holding the ball for 34:37. Manning had 311 yds (65%) w/a 2-2 ratio while Smith hit for 242 yds (63%) w/a 1-1 ratio. SF while they have only outgained foes by 12 ypg at home TY they are an amazing +23 TO’s for their 29-13 avg score. The Giants are 6-3 on the road TY (inc SF) where they have been outgained by 7 ypg (+7 TO’s) with a 27-26 avg score. There are plenty of common foes TY with the divisions facing each other and NO was the 1 NDIV foe that both teams faced. The Giants were outgained by 8 ypg (+2 TO’s) overall for a 26-24 avg score but 4 games were at the start of the year when the OL was adjusting and the secondary was beat up. SF was outgained by 4 ypg but were +25 TO’s for a 26-18 avg score. The Giants remind me of last year’s Packers squad using late season momentum and being in better health than earlier in the season. The Giants have proven to be road warriors pulling upsets at PHI (29-16), at NE (24-20) and at DAL (37-34). They also benefit from an earlier meeting here in which they outgained SF 395-305. The 49ers needed 5 Saints turnovers to survive last week and you can’t expect the emotion to match LW’s first playoff game at home since 2002. SF has allowed a staggering 27 sacks their last 7 games and expect the now healthy NY D-line (17 sacks L/4 games inc 4 vs GB) to take over.
PHIL’S FORECAST: NY GIANTS 20 SAN FRANCISCO 17

East-West Shrine Game

Phil Steele — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:05:05 +0000

Todays blog will give you each roster for the East-West Shrine complete with my post season awards, and PS#’s.

The East-West Shrine game is the oldest annual post season all star game and has been played every year since 1925. Although the East won last years game 25-8 the West is still winning the series 45-35-5. The game features many future pros as 90% of last years participants were either drafted or signed on as a free agent in the NFL.

Even though the game is an American football competition, players playing Canadian university football have been invited every year since 1985. The Shrine game is the only game on either the Canadian or American college football schedules in which players from both sides of the border compete with or against each other.

Most importantly the game is played to raise funds for the 22 Shriners Hospitals around the country.

Make sure you check back on Sunday to get my forecasts for the NFL Conference Championship games.

87th East-West Shrine Game
January 21st, 2012 at 4 p.m. EST
Florida Citrus Bowl
Orlando, Florida

East Roster:
Head Coach: Bobby Ross

Pos	Player	School	Conf	PS#	PS Awards
Q	Austin Davis	Southern Miss	CUSA	285	2ND TM CUSA
B’	B.J. Coleman	Tennessee-Chattanooga	FCS
S	John Brantley	Florida	SEC	4	-

R	Alfred Morris	Florida Atlantic	SBC	148	1ST TM SBC
B’	Bruce Figgins	Georgia (Fullback)	SEC	23TE	-
S	Davin Meggett	Maryland	ACC	97	-
	Tauren Poole	Tennessee	SEC	51	-

	B.J. Cunningham	Michigan State	BIG 10	198	1ST TM BIG 10
	AJ Jenkins	Illinois	BIG 10	54	1ST TM BIG 10
W	Kevin Hardy	The Citadel	FCS
R’	Lance Lewis	East Carolina	CUSA	284JC	3RD TM CUSA
S	LaRon Byrd	Miami (Fl.)	ACC	44	-
	T.J. Graham	North Carolina State	ACC	105	-
	Thomas Mayo	Cal (PA)
	Tim Benford	Tennessee Tech	FCS

T	Chase Ford	Miami (Fl.)	ACC	41JC	-
E’	Emmanuel Igwenagu	UMass	FCS
S	Evan Rodriguez	Temple	MAC	43DB	1ST TM MAC

C	Quentin Saulsberry	Mississippi State	SEC	148	3RD TM SEC
	Tyler Horn	Miami (Fl.)	ACC		2ND TM ACC

	Bradley Sowell	Mississippi	SEC	81	-
O	Jeff Adams	Columbia	FCS
T’	Joe Long	Wayne State
S	Lamar Holmes	Southern Miss	CUSA	35JC	1ST TM CUSA

	Derek Dennis	Temple	MAC		-
O	Desmond Wynn	Rutgers	BE	154	3RD TM BIG EAST
G’	Jeremiah Warren	South Florida	BE	239	1ST TM BIG EAST
S	Rishaw Johnson	Cal (PA)


	Travian Robertson	South Carolina	SEC	26	-
D	Jabaree Tuani	Navy	IND	352	IST TM IND
-	Julian Miller	West Virginia	BE	128	1ST TM BIG EAST
L	Kyle Wilber	Wake Forest	ACC	167	3RD TM ACC
I	Akiem Hicks	Regina (Ca.)
N	Matt Conrath	Virginia	ACC	171	2ND TM ACC
E	Micanor Regis	Miami (Fl.)	ACC	32	-
	Nick Jean-Baptiste	Baylor	B12

	Brandon Lindsey	Pittsburgh	BE	56	2ND TM BIG EAST
	Joshua Linam	Central Florida	CUSA	112	-
L	Max Gruder	Pittsburgh	BE	404	1ST TM BIG EAST
B’	Naji Goode	West Virginia	BE	310	1ST TM BIG EAST
S	Nick Sukay	Penn State	BIG 10	24	-
	Shawn Loiseau	Merrimack College
	Steven Erzinger	Army	IND		IST TM IND

	Charles Brown	North Carolina	ACC	298	-
C	Emanuel Davis	East Carolina	CUSA	199	3RD TM CUSA
B’	Gary Gray	Notre Dame	IND	12	2ND TM IND
S	Justin Bethel	Presbyterian College	FCS
	Micah Pellerin	Hampton	FCS
	R.J. Blanton	Notre Dame	IND	22	IST TM IND
	Josh Norman	Coastal Carolina	FCS
S
A	Christian Thompson	South Carolina State	FCS
F’	Jerrell Young	South Florida	BE		3RD TM BIG EAST
S	Matt Daniels	Duke	ACC	106	1ST TM ACC
	Tysyn Hartman	Kansas State	B12		2ND TM B12

P	Shawn Powell	Florida State	ACC	54	1ST TM ACC

K	Blair Walsh	Georgia	SEC	5	-

West Roster:
Head Coach: Brad Childress

Pos	Player	School	Conf	PS#	PS Awards
Q	Chandler Harnish	Northern Illinois	MAC	98	1ST TM MAC
B’	Dan Persa	Northwestern	BIG 10	53	-
S	Tyler Hansen	Colorado	PAC 12	90	-

R	Bobby Rainey	WKU	SBC	102	IST TM SBC
B’	Cody Johnson	Texas (Fullback)	B12	62	-
S	Lennon Creer	Louisiana Tech	WAC	6	3RD TM WAC
	Marc Tyler	USC	PAC 12	1	-

	Dale Moss	South Dakota State	FCS
	Devon Wylie	Fresno State	WAC	406	-
W	Darius Hanks	Alabama	SEC	284	-
R’	Greg Childs	Arkansas	SEC	48	-
S	Jarius Wright	Arkansas	SEC	36	1ST TM SEC
	Junior Hemingway	Michigan	BIG 10	17	-
	Tyler Shoemaker	Boise State	MWC		1ST TM MW

T	Cory Harkey	UCLA	PAC 12	98	-
E’	David Paulson	Oregon	PAC 12	26	2ND TM PAC 12
S	George Bryan	North Carolina State	ACC	45	2ND TM ACC
	Kevin Koger	Michigan	BIG 10	15	-

C	David Snow	Texas	B12	28	-
	Moe Petrus	UConn	BE	485	1ST TM BIG EAST

	Al Netter	Northwestern	BIG 10	390	-
O	Marcel Jones	Nebraska	BIG 10	77	-
T’	Matt Reynolds	BYU	IND	5	IST TM IND
S	Ryan Miller	Colorado	PAC 12	1	-
	Tom Compton	South Dakota	FCS

O	Ben Heenan	Saskatchewan (Ca.)
G’	Brandon Brooks	Miami, Oh	MAC	104	2ND TM MAC
S	Josh LeRibeus	SMU	CUSA	177	-
	Markus Zusevics	Iowa	BIG 10	153	-

	Arnaud Gascon-Nadon	Laval University (Ca.)
D	DaJohn Harris	USC	PAC 12	5	-
-	Dominique Hamilton	Missouri	B12	124	2ND TM B12
L	Justin Francis	Rutgers	BE	206	3RD TM BIG EAST
I	Kaniela Tuipulotu	Hawaii	WAC	65	2ND TM WAC
N	Kentrell Lockett	Mississippi	SEC	42	-
E	Tyrone Crawford	Boise State	MWC	39JC	1ST TM MW
	Vaughn Meatoga	Hawaii	WAC	226	2ND TM WAC

	Jerry Franklin	Arkansas	SEC	171	2ND TM SEC
	Josh Kaddu	Oregon	PAC 12	278	1ST TM PAC 12
L	Ronnie Thornton	Southern Miss	CUSA	391	1ST TM CUSA
B’	Steven Johnson	Kansas	B12		3RD TM BIG 12
S	Tank Carder	TCU	MWC		1st tm AA ’10
	Brandon Marshall	Nevada	WAC	353	1ST TM WAC


	Brandon Hardin	Oregon State	PAC 12	274	-
C	Chris Greenwood	Albion College
B’	Keith Tandy	West Virginia	BE	195	1ST TM BIG EAST
S	Rodney McLeod	Virginia	ACC	72	-
	Shaun Prater	Iowa	BIG 10	132	2ND TM BIG 10
	Trevin Wade	Arizona	PAC 12		1st tm P10 ’09

S	Aaron Henry	Wisconsin	BIG 10	139	1ST TM BIG 10
A	Austin Cassidy	Nebraska	BIG 10	169	-
F’	Blake Gideon	Texas	B12	178	-
S	Duke Ihenaho	San Jose State	WAC	280	1ST TM WAC

P	Bryan Anger	Cal	PAC 12	1	1ST TM PAC 12

K	Greg Zuerlein	NW Missouir St

2012 Returning Starters!

Phil Steele — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:41:11 +0000

We have already been working hard on the 2012 season and today’s blog is the current list for returning starters for each team in 2012 broken down by offense, defense and special teams (kicker/punter). The * on the offense number denotes that the starting QB is returning. Below the list I broke down teams with the most/least returning starters.

I will be back later this week with my forecasts for the AFC and NFC Championship games while on Monday I will expand on the Las Vegas odds to win the 2012 BCS National Championship and give you a breakdown of each of the teams including key starters back/lost.

Returning Starters for 2012

Rank	Team	OFF	DEF	ST	Total	Conf
1	UTSA	11*	10	2	23	WAC
2	Texas Tech	9*	10	1	20	BIG 12
2	Tennessee	10*	8	2	20	SEC
4	Boston College	9*	9	1	19	ACC
4	Indiana	8*	9	2	19	BIG 10
4	Bowling Green	7*	10	2	19	MAC
4	FIU	7	10	2	19	SUN BELT
8	Ohio State	7*	9	2	18	BIG 10
8	Kansas St	9*	7	2	18	BIG 12
8	USF	8*	8	2	18	BIG EAST
8	Cent Michigan	8*	8	2	18	MAC
8	Eastern Michigan	9*	7	2	18	MAC
8	Miami (OH)	8*	8	2	18	MAC
8	Colorado St	9*	8	1	18	MWC
8	Utah	9*	7	2	18	PAC 12
8	Auburn	7*	9	2	18	SEC
8	Florida	7	10	1	18	SEC
8	Vanderbilt	9*	7	2	18	SEC
8	North Texas	8*	5	5	18	SUN BELT
20	Georgia Tech	8*	7	2	17	ACC
20	Maryland	7*	8	2	17	ACC
20	Oklahoma	8*	7	2	17	BIG 12
20	Texas	10*	7	0	17	BIG 12
20	Connecticut	7*	9	1	17	BIG EAST
20	Tulane	7*	8	2	17	CUSA
20	BYU	8*	7	2	17	INDEP
20	USC	8*	7	2	17	PAC 12
20	Mississippi	8*	7	2	17	SEC
29	Duke	8*	8	0	16	ACC
29	NC State	7*	7	2	16	ACC
29	Michigan	7*	7	2	16	BIG 10
29	Nebraska	7*	7	2	16	BIG 10
29	Purdue	8*	7	1	16	BIG 10
29	Baylor	6	8	2	16	BIG 12
29	Oklahoma St	6	8	2	16	BIG 12
29	West Virginia	8*	6	2	16	BIG EAST
29	Army	6*	9	1	16	INDEP
29	Ball St	8*	6	2	16	MAC
29	Fresno St	8*	7	1	16	MWC
29	UCLA	7*	7	2	16	PAC 12
29	Texas A&M	9	6	1	16	SEC
29	WKU	9*	6	1	16	SUN BELT
29	Louisiana Tech	8*	6	2	16	WAC
44	Florida St	6*	8	1	15	ACC
44	North Carolina	8*	5	2	15	ACC
44	Kansas	7	6	2	15	BIG 12
44	Pittsburgh	8*	5	2	15	BIG EAST
44	Rutgers	6*	8	1	15	BIG EAST
44	Memphis	6*	7	2	15	CUSA
44	UCF	7*	8	0	15	CUSA
44	Notre Dame	8*	6	1	15	INDEP
44	Akron	8*	6	1	15	MAC
44	Kent St	8*	6	1	15	MAC
44	Massachusetts	6*	9	0	15	MAC
44	Ohio	6*	8	1	15	MAC
44	New Mexico	8*	6	1	15	MWC
44	UNLV	8*	5	2	15	MWC
44	Washington St	5	9	1	15	PAC 12
44	Arkansas	7*	6	2	15	SEC
44	Georgia	6*	9	0	15	SEC
44	Florida Atlantic	6*	8	1	15	SUN BELT
44	Troy	9*	6	0	15	SUN BELT
44	ULM	8*	5	2	15	SUN BELT
64	Clemson	6*	7	1	14	ACC
64	Illinois	6*	7	1	14	BIG 10
64	Michigan St	4	8	2	14	BIG 10
64	Louisville	7*	7	0	14	BIG EAST
64	Syracuse	6*	6	2	14	BIG EAST
64	East Carolina	7	7	0	14	CUSA
64	Houston	5	7	2	14	CUSA
64	Tulsa	6	7	1	14	CUSA
64	Wyoming	6*	7	1	14	MWC
64	Colorado	6*	6	2	14	PAC 12
64	Oregon St	6*	7	1	14	PAC 12
64	Stanford	6	7	1	14	PAC 12
64	Washington	7*	7	0	14	PAC 12
64	LSU	7	5	2	14	SEC
64	South Carolina	7*	6	1	14	SEC
64	Utah St	5*	7	2	14	WAC
64	Texas St	5*	8	1	14	WAC
81	Virginia Tech	3*	9	1	13	ACC
81	Minnesota	6*	5*	2	13	BIG 10
81	Iowa St	7*	5	1	13	BIG 12
81	TCU	6*	7	0	13	BIG 12
81	UTEP	7*	4	2	13	CUSA
81	Navy	4	8	1	13	INDEP
81	Buffalo	6	7	0	13	MAC
81	Northern Illinois	3	8	2	13	MAC
81	Western Michigan	7*	6	0	13	MAC
81	Oregon	5	6	2	13	PAC 12
81	Alabama	7*	4	2	13	SEC
81	Kentucky	6*	6	1	13	SEC
81	Mississippi St	5	7	1	13	SEC
81	Missouri	5*	6	2	13	SEC
81	Middle Tenn	6*	6	1	13	SUN BELT
96	Miami (Fla)	4	6	2	12	ACC
96	Wake Forest	3*	7	2	12	ACC
96	Iowa	6*	5	1	12	BIG 10
96	Northwestern	5	5	2	12	BIG 10
96	Penn St.	5*	5	2	12	BIG 10
96	Cincinnati	4	6	2	12	BIG EAST
96	Marshall	7*	5	0	12	CUSA
96	SMU	3	7	2	12	CUSA
96	Southern Miss	6	5	1	12	CUSA
96	San Diego St	6	6	0	12	MWC
96	Hawaii	6	4	2	12	MWC
96	Nevada	6*	5	1	12	MWC
96	Arizona	6	5	1	12	PAC 12
96	Louisiana	8*	2	2	12	SUN BELT
96	Idaho	5	5	2	12	WAC
111	Virginia	6*	5	0	11	ACC
111	Rice	5*	5	1	11	CUSA
111	UAB	6*	4	1	11	CUSA
111	California	6*	5	0	11	PAC 12
111	San Jose St	6	4	1	11	WAC
116	Wisconsin	4	6	0	10	BIG 10
116	Arizona St	4	4	2	10	PAC 12
116	Arkansas St	6*	3	1	10	SUN BELT
116	New Mexico St	5	3	2	10	WAC
120	Temple	2	5	2	9	MAC
120	Toledo	4*	4	1	9	MAC
122	Air Force	3	3	1	7	MWC
123	Boise St	3	2	1	6	MWC

Last year in this blog I talked about several teams that were the most experienced in the country and three of them mentioned went on to have outstanding seasons. Last year new Vanderbilt HC James Franklin inherited one of the most experienced teams in the country with a total of the 21 of the 24 players back for this season including all 11 starters on offense. Franklin and the Commodores would go on to qualify for only their 2nd bowl game since 1982. New Michigan HC Brady Hoke also inherited one of the more experienced teams in the country with the Wolverines returning 20 starters led by All-American candidate Robinson at QB. The Wolverines delivered with 11 wins and their first BCS Bowl win since the 2000 season! Also mentioned was Alabama as despite losing RB Ingram, WR Jones and DE Dareus to the NFL draft early, the Crimson Tide still returned 17 starters and would go on to win the national title!

On the opposite end was the 2010 national champion Auburn Tigers who returned only 7 starters which was an incredible 3 fewer than any other team and they would go from 14-0 to 8-5.

In 2012 UTSA returns the most starters in the country but that should be expected since they are a start-up program that will move into the WAC this year. The two FBS teams from last year that return the most starters are Texas Tech and Tennessee who return 20 starters including ST’s and are similar in many ways. Both are coming off disappointing 5-7 seasons and both feature a 3rd-year HC who has struggled to live up to expectations to date. With so much experience returning for both teams, look for them to be improved and back in a bowl game for 2012. Another school that missed out on a bowl last year for the first time since 1998 was Boston College who also will be one of the more experienced teams in the country and should be improved.

At the bottom of the rankings to no surprise is Boise St who was featured near the top of the returning starters list in 2010 and 2011. The graduating class of seniors went an unbelievable 50-3 in their 4 years and naturally the Broncos will have to replace their 4-year starting QB Kellen Moore. The last time Boise St had this many key departures they were coming off the 2006 BCS Bowl win over Oklahoma and would finish 10-3 in 2007.

Returning Starters for 2012 By Conference

Rank	Team	OFF	DEF	ST	Total	Conf
4	Boston College	9*	9	1	19	ACC
20	Georgia Tech	8*	7	2	17	ACC
20	Maryland	7*	8	2	17	ACC
29	Duke	8*	8	0	16	ACC
29	NC State	7*	7	2	16	ACC
44	Florida St	6*	8	1	15	ACC
44	North Carolina	8*	5	2	15	ACC
64	Clemson	6*	7	1	14	ACC
81	Virginia Tech	3*	9	1	13	ACC
96	Miami (Fla.)	4	6	2	12	ACC
96	Wake Forest	3*	7	2	12	ACC
111	Virginia	6*	5	0	11	ACC
4	Indiana	8*	9	2	19	BIG 10
8	Ohio State	7*	9	2	18	BIG 10
29	Michigan	7*	7	2	16	BIG 10
29	Nebraska	7*	7	2	16	BIG 10
29	Purdue	8*	7	1	16	BIG 10
64	Illinois	6*	7	1	14	BIG 10
64	Michigan St	4	8	2	14	BIG 10
81	Minnesota	6*	5*	2	13	BIG 10
96	Iowa	6*	5	1	12	BIG 10
96	Northwestern	5	5	2	12	BIG 10
96	Penn St.	5*	5	2	12	BIG 10
116	Wisconsin	4	6	0	10	BIG 10
2	Texas Tech	9*	10	1	20	BIG 12
8	Kansas St	9*	7	2	18	BIG 12
20	Oklahoma	8*	7	2	17	BIG 12
20	Texas	10*	7	0	17	BIG 12
29	Baylor	6	8	2	16	BIG 12
29	Oklahoma St	6	8	2	16	BIG 12
44	Kansas	7	6	2	15	BIG 12
81	Iowa St.	7*	5	1	13	BIG 12
81	TCU	6*	7	0	13	BIG 12
8	USF	8*	8	2	18	BIG EAST
20	Connecticut	7*	9	1	17	BIG EAST
29	West Virginia	8*	6	2	16	BIG EAST
44	Pittsburgh	8*	5	2	15	BIG EAST
44	Rutgers	6*	8	1	15	BIG EAST
64	Louisville	7*	7	0	14	BIG EAST
64	Syracuse	6*	6	2	14	BIG EAST
96	Cincinnati	4	6	2	12	BIG EAST
20	Tulane	7*	8	2	17	CUSA
44	Memphis	6*	7	2	15	CUSA
44	UCF	7*	8	0	15	CUSA
64	East Carolina	7	7	0	14	CUSA
64	Houston	5	7	2	14	CUSA
64	Tulsa	6	7	1	14	CUSA
81	UTEP	7*	4	2	13	CUSA
96	Marshall	7*	5	0	12	CUSA
96	SMU	3	7	2	12	CUSA
96	Southern Miss	6	5	1	12	CUSA
111	Rice	5*	5	1	11	CUSA
111	UAB	6*	4	1	11	CUSA
20	BYU	8*	7	2	17	INDEP
29	Army	6*	9	1	16	INDEP
44	Notre Dame	8*	6	1	15	INDEP
81	Navy	4	8	1	13	INDEP
4	Bowling Green	7*	10	2	19	MAC
8	Cent Michigan	8*	8	2	18	MAC
8	Eastern Michigan	9*	7	2	18	MAC
8	Miami (OH)	8*	8	2	18	MAC
29	Ball St.	8*	6	2	16	MAC
44	Akron	8*	6	1	15	MAC
44	Kent St	8*	6	1	15	MAC
44	Massachusetts	6*	9	0	15	MAC
44	Ohio University	6*	8	1	15	MAC
81	Buffalo	6	7	0	13	MAC
81	Northern Illinois	3	8	2	13	MAC
81	Western Michigan	7*	6	0	13	MAC
120	Temple	2	5	2	9	MAC
120	Toledo	4*	4	1	9	MAC
8	Colorado St	9*	8	1	18	MWC
29	Fresno St	8*	7	1	16	MWC
44	New Mexico	8*	6	1	15	MWC
44	UNLV	8*	5	2	15	MWC
64	Wyoming	6*	7	1	14	MWC
96	San Diego St	6	6	0	12	MWC
96	Hawaii	6	4	2	12	MWC
96	Nevada	6*	5	1	12	MWC
122	Air Force	3	3	1	7	MWC
123	Boise St.	3	2	1	6	MWC
8	Utah	9*	7	2	18	PAC 12
20	USC	8*	7	2	17	PAC 12
29	UCLA	7*	7	2	16	PAC 12
44	Washington St	5	9	1	15	PAC 12
64	Colorado	6*	6	2	14	PAC 12
64	Oregon St	6*	7	1	14	PAC 12
64	Stanford	6	7	1	14	PAC 12
64	Washington	7*	7	0	14	PAC 12
81	Oregon	5	6	2	13	PAC 12
96	Arizona	6	5	1	12	PAC 12
111	California	6*	5	0	11	PAC 12
116	Arizona St	4	4	2	10	PAC 12
2	Tennessee	10*	8	2	20	SEC
8	Auburn	7*	9	2	18	SEC
8	Florida	7	10	1	18	SEC
8	Vanderbilt	9*	7	2	18	SEC
20	Mississippi	8*	7	2	17	SEC
29	Texas A&M	9	6	1	16	SEC
44	Arkansas	7*	6	2	15	SEC
44	Georgia	6*	9	0	15	SEC
64	LSU	7	5	2	14	SEC
64	South Carolina	7*	6	1	14	SEC
81	Alabama	7*	4	2	13	SEC
81	Kentucky	6*	6	1	13	SEC
81	Mississippi St	5	7	1	13	SEC
81	Missouri	5*	6	2	13	SEC
4	FIU	7	10	2	19	SUN BELT
8	North Texas	8*	5	5	18	SUN BELT
29	WKU	9*	6	1	16	SUN BELT
44	Fla Atlantic	6*	8	1	15	SUN BELT
44	Troy	9*	6	0	15	SUN BELT
44	ULM	8*	5	2	15	SUN BELT
81	Middle Tenn	6*	6	1	13	SUN BELT
96	Louisiana	8*	2	2	12	SUN BELT
116	Arkansas St	6*	3	1	10	SUN BELT
1	UTSA	11*	10	2	23	WAC
29	Louisiana Tech	8*	6	2	16	WAC
64	Utah St	5*	7	2	14	WAC
64	Texas St	5*	8	1	14	WAC
96	Idaho	5	5	2	12	WAC
111	San Jose St	6	4	1	11	WAC
116	New Mexico St	5	3	2	10	WAC

Bowl News and Notes Plus Playoff Recaps

Phil Steele — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:13:23 +0000

COTTON BOWL Arkansas 29 Kansas St 16 Dome. KSU had a 19-13 FD edge but Ark a 345-260 yd edge. Joe Adams got his 4th PR TD on the yr and this one was 51 yds. AU had their first 11 win season since Lou Holtz’s 1977 team and Frank Broyles only undefeated season at Ark (1964). This was played in Jerry Jones’ (Ark alum) Dallas Cowboys Stadium. AU came in #6 in the BCS and KSU #8. AU’s first FD didn’t come until early 2Q but thanks to the PR TD they led 19-2 with KSU’s 2 pts coming on a blk’d xp ret’d for 2. It was 19-16 late 3Q when AU on 3&9 got a 9 yd td pass, 26-16 (3:57). KSU missed a 43 yd FG with 6:36 left. AU got a 30 yd FG with 3:30 left and KSU got to the AU37 but on 4&16 was int’d at the 25 and ret’d 61 yds.

SUN BOWL Utah 30 Georgia Tech 27 OT GT led Utah 24-10 into the 4Q but UT got td’s with 6:50 and 1:32 left to tie. GT missed a 48 yd FG with :02 left sending it to OT. The first time in the 77 year history of the Sun Bowl it had gone to OT. GT had earlier missed two 40 yd FG’s and GT finished with a 448-337 yd edge and 19-14 FD edge losing their 7th straight bowl appearance while Utah moved to 7-1 in bowls under Whittingham. GT’s Preston Lyons who had just 39 carries on the year, rushed for 138 yds as David Sims was out with an injury and Orwin Smith was banged up. GT got a 74 yd IR TD in the 3Q to go up 24-10. UT converted on 4&3 for their first 4Q TD and opted to punt on 4&3 from their own 25 with 2:48 left but a 31 yd PR set them up at the GT24 and the TD came on a 4&14, 28 yd pass. After GT got a FG in OT, UT on 3&gl from the 8 got an 8 yd td run by White for the win.

KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL Illinois 20 UCLA 14 This game featured 2 teams that did not have winning records and both had interim HC’s. Whitney Mercilus tied Simeon Rice’s school record for in a season with 16 sks. IL won their first 6 of the year, lost the next 6 but got a winning season at 7-6 while UCLA, despite being in a bowl actually finished the year 6-8. IL had a 178-18 rush edge and 326-219 yd edge. UCLA came in avg 190.7 ypg rushing but was held to a season low. LA was the first team to go to a bowl with a losing record since North Texas in 2001. Officials used an Oreo cookie for the opening coin toss and there were 29,878 tix sold. There were some blown opportunities. IL was int’d at the LA31 and SOD at their own 44 in the 1H. That SOD set up a UCLA 44 yd drive for a TD and LA led 7-0 (10:02 2Q). IL faked a FG on 4&1 from the LA23 and were SOD and settled for a 36 yd FG after taking a sk on 3&gl from the 3. LA missed a 34 yd FG in the 3Q and IL missed a 37 yd FG. IL got ahead with a 39 yd IR TD and on 3&8 got a 60 yd TD pass with 5:36 left to basically clinch it at 20-7 (5:36). LA punted with 4:04 left on 4&14 but drove 84/9pl getting a garbage TD with :29 left and IL rec’d the onside kick.

ORANGE BOWL West Virginia 70 Clemson 33 Tavon Austin tied a record for any bowl with 4 TD rec’s and TO’s were a big key to WV’s dominance over CU as 3 TO’s in the 2Q turned a close game into a blowout. CU was playing its first major bowl in 30 years and WV improved to 3-0 in BCS bowl games. It was expected to be a high scoring game and WV did finish with a 589-443 yd edge. The key play of the game was a 99 yd FR TD. CU had a 1st & gl at the WV3 and were poised to retake the lead 24-21 when that play happened to put them down by 11. CU then turned it over twice in the final 2:00 of the 1H setting up 32 and 18 yd “drives” for quick TD’s, the latter coming with just :04 left in the half and WV blew open a close game and led 49-20 and then went 73 and 74 yds on their first 2 drives of the 2H vs a deflated CU team to lead 63-20. It was actually 70-26 (6:21) with CU getting a TD with 1:01 left to “only” lose by 37 pts.

ROSE BOWL Oregon 45 Wisconsin 38 UO won their first Rose Bowl game since they beat Penn in 1917, 14-0. That year they wore leather helmets and here they wore mirrored helmets. Montee Ball rushed for 164 yds and LaMichael James 159. After the bowl, Ball declared he was coming back and James left early for the NFL. D’Anthony Thomas only had 2 carries for the Ducks but made the most of them with 91 and 64 yd TD runs. The 2 combined to produce the highest scoring 1Q (14-14) and 1H (28-28) in Rose Bowl history and their 83 pts topped the 1991 Rose Bowl when Washington and Iowa combined for 80. UO finished with a 621-508 yd edge. UW led 38-35 after 3Q’s and then trailing 45-38, had a 29 yd pass down to the UO27 but fmbl’d with 4:06 left. They got it back on their 13, got 29 and 33 yd passes but with :02 left, the ref spotted the ball and they snapped and spiked it but it was ruled time ran out and they did not get a chance at one more shot from the Duck25.

FIESTA BOWL Oklahoma St 41 Stanford 38 OT The game started like it would be anything but high scoring as on the first 8 poss there was just 1 TD into the 2Q but the teams would combine for 35 pts in the 2Q incl 43 and 67 yd TD passes to Blackmon. SU did not trail in the entire 2H. OSU, down 38-31, converted on 4&3 for a 21 yd pass from its own 40 to keep a drive alive and got a TD with 2:35 left. SU went 63/9pl and lined up for a 35 yd FG from the middle of the field. Their K had not missed from under 40 all year but missed then missed again in OT and OSU escaped with the win.

BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Alabama 21 LSU 0 - LSU didn’t cross midfield until 8:00 were left in the game as Alabama proved that they are one of the top defenses in NCAA history. They held LSU to 5 FD’s and 92 yds. Jeremy Shelley tied a bowl record with 5 FG’s and the game was somewhat of a replay of their 9-6 OT match except Bama completely dominated this one on offense, defense and special teams. Trent Richardson rushed 20 times for 96 yards and got the first TD in the 2 games with 4:36 left on a 34 yard run. AJ McCarron was the star player as they threw on FD all but twice and McCarron hit 23-34-234 yds. Bama even lost their top PR/WR Marquis Maze after a long PR in the 1Q and he DNR. Bama missed 2 FG’s in the game with a 42 yd’r blk’d and a 41 yd’r being missed late 3Q and LSU when they crossed midfield with 7:53 left was actually still within 2 scores despite the domination but after Bama went up 21-0 LSU opted to punt on 4&9 from their own 24 with 2:47 left and Bama’s final play ended at the LSU 40.

WILDCARD HOUSTON 31 vs Cincinnati 10 - Houston had its first ever playoff game and it was at home in front of a charged up crowd. Cincinnati was coming off a home game vs Baltimore which was like a playoff game but they had come up short and now had a rookie QB making a playoff road start. Foster rushed for 153 yards (6.4). Dalton did outstat TJ Yates hitting 27-42-257 while Yates hit 11-20-159. Each team went 3&out to open. HOU got 1 FD and punted and CIN went 74/5pl, the key a 52 yd PI down to the 20. The TD put the Bengals up 7-0. HOU answered with an 80/6pl drive and Foster’s 8 yd td run tied it at 7. CIN went on a 14pl drive but on 3&8 was sk’d for a 9 yd loss and missed 50 yd FG (12:45 2Q). CIN20 went 61/8pl for a 37 yd FG, 10-7 (7:09). HOU went 59/13pl and settled for a 39 yd FG, 10-10 (1:48). The key play of the game happened after the Bengals got 1 FD to their 34. Dalton threw a short pass that was int’d by DL Watt and ret’d 29 yds for a TD and HOU led 17-10 (:52). CIN got 1 FD and was sk’d. At half the yards were even at 156. The first three 2H poss were punts. HOU took over with 5:45 left in the 3Q and went 83/9pl and got a 40 yd TD pass to Johnson, 24-10. CIN20 got 2 FD but on 4&3 were int’d from the HOU47. Joseph actually should have dropped the int as it cost them 23 yds of field position and HOU started at their 24. HOU got 2 FD’s and punted with just 7:25 left. CIN was then int’d at their own 45 and HOU’s Foster ripped off a 42 yd TD run down the right sideline where he barely stayed in bounds, 31-10 (5:15). CIN gained 71 yds on 13 plays getting to the HOU9 where they were SOD on 4&5 with 2:23 left.

WILDCARD NEW ORLEANS 45 Detroit 28 -. DET rushed for just 32 yds and Drew Brees hit 33-43-466 as the Saints piled up a 626-412 yd edge. Two TO’s in the 1H kept it close. DET opened with an 80/8pl drive and got a 10 yd TD pass. NO19 got 2 FD’s but fmbl’d at the DET18. DET got 2 FD’s to midfield and punted. NO went 89/11pl for a TD, 7-7 (14:01 2Q). DET went 87/9pl for a TD, 14-7 (9:11). NO20 got 3 FD’s but fmbl’d at the DET38. After DET went 3&out punting with 5:03 left, NO went 78/14pl but settled for a 24 yd FG on the last play of the half on 3rd down. At the half the Saints had a 256-210 yd edge but trailed by 4. NO scored TD’s on their first five 2H drives. The opened with a 78/4pl drive for a TD. DET got 1 FD and punted. NO went 92/13pl for a TD, 24-14 (4:03). DET went 80/8pl and got a 1 yd TD run, 24-21 (1:08 3Q). NO went 80/14pl for a 17 yd TD run by Sproles, 31-21 (9:53). DET was int’d on a deep pass and the Saints went 61/4pl for a TD, 38-21. DET went 79/9pl and got a 12 yd TD pass with 4:40 left, 38-28. NO rec’d the onside kick then went 44/4pl for a TD with 3:36 left. DET20 got 1 FD and was int’d and ret’d 17 yds to their own 33. NO got a FD to the 7 and took a knee.

WILDCARD DENVER 29 Pittsburgh 23 OT - The story here was two-fold. Injuries to PIT and big plays in the passing game for Tebow. PIT came in without their top rusher Mendenhall, C Pouncy and S Clark and a banged up Roethlisberger. During the game, their entire D-line was injured and out by mid-2Q and they also lost starting OT Starks. The Steelers game plan was to take away the Bronco rush and that left Tebow some deep passes. He had just 10 completions for the game but they went for an amazing 316 yards. PIT looked like they would dominate early. They opened with a 53/8pl drive for a 45 yd FG. DEN went 3&out on their first 2 poss. PIT punted on their 2nd poss but then went 47/12pl and settled for another FG, this one 38 yds and led 6-0 in a dominating 1Q where they had 119-10 yd edge. DEN went 80/5pl with a 30 yd TD pass to Royal. That was set up by a 21 yd pass to Decker and DEN led 7-6 (13:24 2Q). PIT went 3&out and DEN got a 58 yd pass to Thomas on its 2nd play and went 73/4pl for an 8 yd Tebow TD run, 14-6. PIT was int’d at their own 27 and ret’d 9 yds. DEN got 1 FD and settled for a 20 yd FG, 17-6 (7:30). PIT got 1 FD and punted (5:09). DEN31 went 59/8pl and got a 28 yd FG with 1:08 left in the half, 20-6. PIT got 2 FD’s to the DEN 38 but on 3&4 from the 32, Roethlisberger fmbl’d the snap and was tkl’d for a loss and PIT punted. At half DEN had a 233-170 yd edge. DEN opened the 3Q (20) with 3 FD’s to the PIT38 but punted 26 yds. PIT13 went 87/11pl for a TD, 20-13. DEN went 63/12pl and got a 35 yd FG, 23-13 with 13:10 left. PIT went 61/7pl but settled for a 37 yd FG, 23-16. DEN got 2 FD’s but then McGahee fmbl’d and PIT appeared poised for the win. They went 55/7pl and got a TD to tie with 3:48 left. DEN got 1 FD and punted and PIT (24) once again got to the DEN45 but Roethlisberger was sk’d and fumbled for an 11 yd loss and they punted on 4&14. In OT DEN won the toss and on the first play, Tebow went deep and found Thomas for an 80 yd TD. Even in the new playoff OT rules, that ended the game.

WILDCARD NY GIANTS 24 Atlanta 2 - ATL was a dome team playing outdoors but it was 44? with 12 mph winds. The story here was two failed 4th down conversions which really set the tone for the game. The first 5 poss opened with punts and just 1 combined FD. ATL went 66/14pl but on 4&1 on the first play of the 2Q were SOD. Two plays later, however, Eli Manning was called for intentional grounding in the EZ on 2&21 from the 13 so ATL got a safety and the lead, 2-0. ATL38 got 1 FD and punted. NYG went 85/13pl with 9 runs on the drive. The TD made it 7-2. 2 punts. ATL took over with 1:08 left in the half (20) and got 2 FD’s. At half NYG had a slim 128-127 yd edge. ATL opened the 3Q with a punt and NYG went 72/11pl but settled for a 22 yd FG after a 1st & gl at the 5, 10-2. ATL21 went 58/9pl but on 4&1 were SOD at the NYG21. Three plays later Manning found Hicks for a 72 yd TD pass where he was wide open over the middle then outraced the secondary in the EZ, 17-2. ATL went 3&out and the NYG went 85/10pl and got a 27 yd TD pass to Manningham to lead 24-2 with 9:55 left. ATL punted on 4&10 and the NYG went on a time consuming 71/12pl drive eating up 6:25 and missing a 32 yd FG with 2:57 left. ATL gained 54/10pl being SOD on 4&10 at the NYG17 with 1:01 left. NYG had a 442-247 yd edge.

CONF SEMI-FINALS SAN FRANCISCO 36 New Orleans 32 - Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. There has been a grand total of one team that has ever won a playoff game giving up 5 TO’s and that was back in 1977 when the Oakland beat the Baltimore Colts. The TO’s kept the Saints from dominating but this turned out to be one of the most exciting finishes of any playoff game. With 1:37 left in the game, NO had 26-14 FD and 472-322 yd edges and led by 3 but Alex Smith hit a huge 47 yd pass to Vernon Davis which got him in scoring position and they got a 14 yd TD pass while in FG range to tie it with :09 left. Had that pass been incomplete, the game would have gone to OT. NO opened with a 78/12pl drive but fmbl’d at the 2. Each team punted and SF got a 49 yd TD pass to Davis to go up 7-0. It was a 54/2pl drive. NO14 got 1 FD and then were int’d and ret’d 41 yds to the 4. SF got a TD 3pl later, 14-0. NO then fmbl’d the KO at their own 13 and SF got a 25 yd FG to lead 17-0 giving them scoring drives of 3 and 4 yds. The Saints went 80/9pl for a TD. SF went 3&out and the Saints went 66/7pl for a TD, 17-14. SF punted but the Saints were int’d at the SF29 with 1:54 left in the half. Each team punted and then SF fmbl’d at their own 45 but NO could not capitalize on SF’s lone TO as they fired incomplete 3 times. NO fmbl’d the punt at their own 26 and SF got a 3 yd drive for a 41 yd FG. 4 punts. NO went 47/9pl getting a 48 yd FG to pull within 20-17. 2 punts. SF36 got a 42 yd run by Gore to the 22 and got a 37 yd FG to go up by 6, 23-17 (7:36). NO went 79/9pl and got a TD for the lead with 4:02 left on a 44 yd pass to Sproles. SF answered. On 3&8 it appeared they were going to settle for a FG but Alex Smith ran around the left end 28 yds for a TD and the 2 pt failed and SF led 29-24 with 2:11 left. NO12 got 2 FD’s then a 66 yd TD pass to Graham appeared to give them win. The 2pt conv made it 32-29 with 1:37 left. SF got 1 FD and then a 47 yd pass to Davis and on 3&4 in FG range for OT, took one final shot at the EZ and their wish was granted as it was a 14 yd TD to Davis for the outright win.

CONF SEMI-FINALS NEW ENGLAND 45 Denver 10 - Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow. The media focus on Tim Tebow all week and Tom Brady made sure folks didn’t forget about him. He hit 26-34-363 yds and tied an NFL Playoff record with 6 TD passes. The record was set by Daryle Lamonica in 1969 and tied by Steve Young in the 1995 Super Bowl. The outcome was decided by halftime. NE rolled up 31-15 FD and 509-252 yd edges. NE opened with a quick 80/5pl drive for a TD. DEN got a pair of FD’s to the NE37 but Tebow was sk’d and fmbl’d. NE quickly went 59/7pl for a TD, 14-0. DEN17 got 1 FD and punted. NE13 got 1 FD and was int’d and ret’d 17 yds to their own 24. They set the Broncos up for a 24/4pl drive and McGahee’s 5 yd TD appeared to make a game of it, 14-7. NE got 1 FD to midfield and punted but DEN went 3&out and NE went 52/8pl for a TD, 21-7 (7:42). 3 punts. NE took over with 2:27 left in the half and got a 61 yd TD pass to Branch with just 1:57 left. DEN threw the ball twice and punted with 1:09 left. The Pats made them pay with a 58/5pl drive for a TD with :05 left, a 19 yd pass to Gronkowski, 35-7. At the half NE had 19-7 FD and 351-120 yd edges. DEN went 3&out and NE went 44/4pl after a 15 yd PR by Edleman, 42-7. DEN went 3&out and NE(49) got 2 FD’s to the DEN23 but fmbl’d. DEN went 58/14pl and got a 41 yd FG with 2:14 left in the 3Q, 42-10. NE went 78/11pl for a 20 yd FG, 45-10 (12:39). DEN went 77/14pl and were SOD on 4&gl at the NE3. NE got 2 FD’s and punted with 2:56 left and DEN was happy to run the clock out taking over at their own 5 and getting 1 FD with 5 runs.

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87th East-West Shrine Game January 21st, 2012 at 4 p.m. EST Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida

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87th East-West Shrine Game
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