In the past several blogs I have been breaking down each factor that goes into my New and Improved Experience Chart and today I conclude the series by combining the five factors into my final ranking.

For more than 7 years I have listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In ’09 I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better.

We still do the exact same chart but now I just list the Senior starters, the rest of the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system I used from 2002-‘08. In the chart listed below I have now included 4 other factors. The 2nd factor listed in the chart below is the % of lettermen returning. I devised a point system for this and explain it in depth on page 319 of this year’s magazine. Also added was the % of returning offensive yards. I took the total yards passing, rushing and receiving for each team and divided out the yardage of the returning players and the yards returning % listed below is that figure. I did the same with the total tackles from last year and the % of tackles returning. This gives us an idea of the defense’s experience. The final factor is the career starts returning for the offensive line. These players are not included in the stats but are a vital part of the offense. Read more…

The “official” start of the College Football season is when you have your Phil Steele College Football Preview Magazine in your hands and TODAY the 2011 Preview hits newsstands and bookstores nationwide!

The magazine is packed cover to cover with two full pages on all 120 FBS schools and is the most complete college football preview magazine on the market! Pick up a copy today at your local bookstore or newsstand for just $8.95 or order it online for $13.70 (includes shipping) at the PhilSteele.com Store and choose from 11 different covers! You can also order it thru our offices by calling us at 1-866-918-7711. Read more…

Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my new and improved experience chart. For 7 years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores and Freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better. I am just listing the Senior starters, and the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system in the magazine (pg 311). In a future blog, I will break down each number of starters for the Junior, Sophomore and Freshman classes. The 2nd factor that goes into my overall chart is the % of yards returning which I featured in the June 4th blog. Another factor listed is the % of lettermen returning and Career OL Starts which I broke down last week. Today I will discuss the % of tackles returning.

% of Tackles Returning Read more…

Yesterday I started my in-depth look at my Experience Chart with number of career starts returning for offensive lineman and the % of lettermen returning. For 7 years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better. Today I will look at the % of yards returning. I took all of the yards each QB threw for as well as all of the individual rushing yards and receiving yards for each team. I then took all of the returning yards from ’10 for the percentage.

At the top of the chart is Toledo. They return 9 starters from last years offense (only lost 2 OL) including their top 6 rushers and top 7 receivers. The Rockets only lose RB Johnnie Bush who had 9 yds rushing and QB Alex Pettee who threw for 8 yds and ran for 1. They are followed closely by UCLA who like the Rockets return 9 starters on offense (only lost 2 OL) and only loses 22 rec yds from last year. Other schools at the top of the list include: Clemson (96.65%), Boston College (96.5%) and Mississippi St (95.68%).

At the bottom of the list are four teams that lost OVER 75% of their yards gained from last year. Iowa loses QB Ricky Stanzi who threw for more than 3,000 yds last year and RB Adam Robinson (941 rush) and Derrell J-Koulianos (745 rec yds). Kansas St loses RB Daniel Thomas who ran for nearly 1,600 yds and they also lose their top passer and reciever! Kentucky lost their QB Mike Hartline and their do-everything player Randall Cobb (nearly 1,500 rush/rec yds) and RB Derrick Locke who ran for 887 yds. North Carolina lost QB TJ Yates who threw for nearly 3,500 yds plus RB’s Shaun Draughn and Johnny White who combined for 1,357 rush yds. Read more…

Today’s blog starts my in-depth look at my New and Improved Experience Chart. For 7 years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better. Today I will look at the number of career starts returning for offensive lineman and the % of lettermen returning.

When most folks judge a team for the upcoming season they look at the QB, RB and WR’s that are returning. A few may take the time to look at star defensive players that are back (those with a lot of sacks or interceptions). However, very few look at the offensive line and yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.

This year SMU returns six players who have been full-time starters at some point in their career and as a unit returns 158 career starts. The Mustangs are led by 1st Tm All-CUSA OT Kelvin Beachum. They also have OC Blake McJunkin and OT JT Brooks who were both HM CUSA LY. Together they paved the way for RB Zach Line to have one of the best rushing performances in SMU history. Read more…

For more than 7 years I have published an “Experience Chart” in my National College Football Preview. The old version of this chart just took into account the overall experience from the 2 deep for each squad. Last year I revised the Experience Chart and created a New and Improved version. The new chart uses 20% of the experience grade from the old chart, 20% from the % of lettermen returning, 20% from the % of tackles returning, 20% from the % of yards returning and 20% from the career starts of the offensive line.

The most experienced teams when using the old chart were usually the service academies which play a lot of seniors and juniors. Using the old method (which is listed below) the top 5 most experienced teams in terms of upperclassmen in the two deep are: 1. Hawaii 2. Navy 3. Army 4. Air Force and 5. UAB. Iowa St ranks the highest among BCS teams coming in at #11. Read more…

In the past several blogs I have been breaking down each factor that goes into my New and Improved Experience Chart and today I conclude the series by combining the five factors into my final ranking.

For more than 7 years I have listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. Last year I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better.

We still do the exact same chart but now I just list the Senior starters, the rest of the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system I used from 2002-‘08. In the chart listed below I have now included 4 other factors. The 2nd factor listed in the chart below is the % of lettermen returning. I devised a point system for this and explain it in depth on page 319 of this year’s magazine. Also added was the % of returning offensive yards. I took the total yards passing, rushing and receiving for each team and divided out the yardage of the returning players and the yards returning % listed below is that figure. I did the same with the total tackles from last year and the % of tackles returning. This gives us an idea of the defense’s experience. The final factor is the career starts returning for the offensive line. These players are not included in the stats but are a vital part of the offense. Read more…

For more than 7 years I have published an “Experience Chart” in my National College Football Preview. The old version of this chart just took into account the overall experience from the 2 deep for each squad. Last year I revised the Experience Chart and created a New and Improved version. The new chart uses 20% of the experience grade from the old chart, 20% from the % of lettermen returning, 20% from the % of tackles returning, 20% from the % of yards returning and 20% from the career starts of the offensive line.

The most experienced teams when using the old chart were usually the service academies which play a lot of seniors and juniors. Using the old method (which is listed below) the top 5 most experienced teams in terms of upperclassmen in the two deep are: 1. Hawaii 2. Navy 2. Army 4. UAB and 5. Air Force. Iowa St ranks the highest among BCS teams coming in at #10. Read more…

Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my New and Improved Experience Chart. For 7 years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. Last year, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better. I am just listing the senior starters, and the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system in the magazine (pg 311). In tomorrow’s blog, I will break down each number of starters for the junior, sophomore and freshman classes. The 2nd factor that goes into my overall chart is the % of yards returning which I featured in the April 28th blog. Another factor listed is the % of lettermen returning which I broke down over the Memorial Day weekend and yesterday I discussed the % of tackles returning. Today I will look at the number of career starts returning for offensive lineman. Read more…

For the past 7 years I have listed an experience chart which broke down the number of Seniors, Juniors, Sophomores and Freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. This year I have made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better. We still did the exact same chart but this year I am just listing the Senior starers, the rest of the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system I have used from 2002-08. In the chart listed below I have now included 4 other factors. The 2nd factor listed in the chart below is the % of lettermen returning. I devised a point system for this and explain it in depth on page 319. Also added was the % of returning offensive yards. I took the total yards passing, rushing and receiving for each team and divided out the yardage of the returning players and the yards returning % listed below is that figure. I did the same with the total tackles from last year and the % of tackles returning. This gives us an idea of the defense’s experience. The final factor is the career starts returning for the offensive line. These player are not included in the stats but are a vital part of the offense. I then devised a formula that factors all 5 into the total points equation and then turned the point total into a number from 100 to 0. A 100 would be a team with 25 seniors (NCAA scholarship limit) in the two deep and every yard and tackle returning but 120+ career starts. A 0 would be a team with no experience and 0 seniors in the two deep. Just as in years past the first number is where each team ranks in the NCAA. Read more…