I am very happy that Al Golden was named the new Miami, Fl coach this past weekend. Naturally I have followed Golden over the past numerous years in the MAC and I thought he did a terrific job at Temple. Now he inherits one of the best situations this upcoming season as the Hurricanes have one of the most talented rosters of any team in the ACC. The firing of Shannon was a move that had to be made because of the underachieving results from the past couple of years and there is no doubt in my mind that Golden will get the most out of the current talent at hand. Overall, this is a huge positive for both Golden and Miami, Fl. Read more…
The college football season is fast approaching and in today’s blog I will give you a sneak peak at some of the early marquee college football non-conference games and how I think they will shake out as of right now. Also included is your current voting tallies for each of these games.
Remember if you visit the homepage right now, you can get a head start on voting in the Non-Conference Poll with all the non-conference games. To see where you rank against other voters, as soon as your vote is entered in, you will see the % stacked with or against you. In the next day or two the four remaining non-BCS conferences will be added on the front page. The Non-Conference Poll will run until Sunday, Aug 29th. On Monday the 30th, look for the Weekly Polls to start. There are games every day Thursday September 2nd thru Monday September 6th as the first week of the season looks to kick off with a bang! Weekly prizes will be awarded throughout the season. Read more…
Categories: College Football Forecasts, College Football Picks Tags: Alabama, Arizona St, Auburn, blog, Boise St, Clemson, college football, Connecticut, Florida St, Forecasts, LSU, Marquee Games, Miami Fl, Michigan, Non-Conference Polls, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio St, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon St, Penn St, phil steele, Pittsburgh, TCU, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia Tech, wisconsin
A lot of people ask me if I have a favorite team. I was born and raised and still live in Cleveland, Ohio. I was a fan of many teams as a child but now that I put out a National magazine, I cannot afford to be a fan of any team. I have to pick the teams where I think they will finish each year. I was doing a radio show last week and I was asked if I have a favorite team or teams. My response was a strong YES! The interviewer was surprised by that answer and also eager to hear which team I would pick. My answer was my favorite team each year is the team I pick #1 in the magazine and my favorite teams are the ones I have picked higher than all the other major magazines out there. I then said that each year I establish a list of my favorite teams for that year. I then give this list to my wife. I wear a shirt and tie to work every day during the week and my tie is always a college team. I wear polo shirts during the weekend and when not at work and they are always different college teams. The list I give my wife is the ones to buy that I will be wearing for the upcoming year as these are the teams I will be the biggest fan of for the upcoming season. I was then asked “What teams will your wife be buying ties and shirts of this year? That was a great question and I thought I would answer it in a blog. Read more…
Categories: Offseason Notes Tags: Arizona, Auburn, Ball St, Baylor, blog, California, college football, Colorado, Favorite Teams, Fresno St, Kent St, Maryland, Miami Fl, Michigan, North Texas, Oklahoma, Penn St, phil steele, San Diego St, UAB, USF, West Virginia, Western Michigan
Many of you have asked me for an updated Bowl Projections listing since USC was eliminated from bowl contention recently. In the magazine which went to press before the NCAA’s ruling I projected the Trojans to go to the Rose Bowl. Naturally most of my Pac-10 selections for bowls have changed with the ineligibility of USC. Oregon now gets my pick to go to the Rose Bowl and a lot of the other Pac-10 teams get bumped up. Here are my current projections for all 35 of this year’s bowl games which includes the BCS Championship game. Read more…
Categories: Bowl Projections Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, bcs, Bog, Bowl Projections, Capital One Bowl, college football, Cotton Bowl, fiesta bowl, florida, Gator Bowl, Georgia, Iowa, LSU, Miami Fl, Michigan, National Title, Nebraska, Ohio St, Oklahoma, orange bowl, Oregon, Outback Bowl, Penn St, phil steele, Pittsburgh, rose bowl, Sugar Bowl, TCU, Texas, wisconsin
For the next two weeks, I will be taking a look at the conference teams of the decade for 2000-2009. Factored into my analysis will be conference win %, conference and division titles, bowl games and bowl wins. I will also include BCS bowl wins, final AP rankings and number of national championships for the major conferences. There have been several teams who have changed conferences during that time and I will include them in the analysis for any season(s) they were affiliated with that certain conference. I will also be doing a breakdown of how the conference did in bowl games during the decade and I will emphasis the overall win/loss record, the number of BCS bowl wins, and the records against Non-BCS and ranked bowl teams. Read more…
Categories: Team of the Decade Tags: acc, blog, Boston College, Clemson, college football, Delaware, Florida St, Miami Fl, phil steele, Team of the Decade, Virginia Tech
First, I want to wish you and your families a very happy and safe 4th of July weekend!
For the next two weeks, I will be taking a look at the conference teams of the decade for 2000-2009. Factored into my analysis will be conference win %, conference and division titles, bowl games and bowl wins. I will also include BCS bowl wins, final AP rankings and number of national championships for the major conferences. There have been several teams who have changed conferences during that time and I will include them in the analysis for any season(s) they were affiliated with that certain conference. I will also be doing a breakdown of how the conference did in bowl games during the decade and I will emphasis the overall win/loss record, the number of BCS bowl wins, and the records against Non-BCS and ranked bowl teams.
While some conferences may have no-brainers as the top team, other conferences were very competitive over the past decade. Here is the schedule for the upcoming week with the conferences I will be analyzing on each date.
Monday Sun Belt
Tuesday MAC
Wednesday WAC
Thursday CUSA
Yesterday MWC
Today Big East
Monday, July 5th Pac-10
Tuesday, July 6th ACC
Wednesday, July 7th Big 12
Thursday, July 8th Big 10
Friday, July 9th SEC Read more…
Categories: Team of the Decade Tags: big east, Boston College, Cincinnati, college football, Miami Fl, phil steele, Pittsburgh, South Dakota St, Team of the Decade, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
Expansion Thoughts
The conference expansion/re-alignment situation to me is very similar to all the talk earlier this year of the NCAA Basketball tournament expanding. While I do not follow college basketball, it seemed like every day I turned on SportsCenter I would hear the rumors and possibilities of the tournament expanding to 96 teams but when it was all said and done only three teams were added.
With the news of Texas deciding to stay with the Big 12 (or is it now the new Big Ten?), I think all the expansion talk of there being four 16 super conferences will probably go by the wayside. All the talk about the Big East and ACC being in danger seems moot and I think Utah going to the Pac-10 should probably close all the moves as I do not feel the Big 12 will expand as they will not want to divide the TV pie up among two more teams.
Naturally the Big Ten is now a stronger conference with the addition of Nebraska and are clearly the #2 conference behind the SEC now. The WAC was dealt a severe blow with the loss of Boise to the MWC.
What I do not understand in this whole mess is how the Big 12 can lose two teams with one of them being Nebraska and go from a 70 million dollar TV contract to a 200 million dollar deal. Obviously Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe did a great job of convincing Texas to stay and I am sure Kansas, Kansas St, Baylor and Iowa St fans are glad he did. Read more…
Categories: Offseason Notes Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Boise St, Boston College, college football, Connecitcut, Expansion, Houston, Miami Fl, Middle Tennessee, Nebraska, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio St, Oklahoma, Oregon, phil steele, Power Ratings, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, Virginia Tech. Florida
When it comes to college football, I am a traditionalist. The one thing I love about college football is of all the sports, college or pro, the regular season in college football is the one that means the most. I also love the rivalries and the tradition of the bowls. While I have been calling for a system that pits the #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3 teams in the Jan 1 bowls for nearly a decade, I am vehemently against an 8 or 16 team playoff which would destroy the bowls and make the regular season meaningless.
In 1995 I was actually sad to see the SWC fold as I really enjoyed the great tradition and history of that conference.
From the recent news of Nebraska joining the Big Ten and Colorado heading to the Pac-10, it looks like college football re-alignment and expansion is going forward and I think it will move quickly. However, unlike some of the past radical changes to college football, I actually look forward to seeing which programs end up where and I salivate at the possibility of there being multiple super conferences. Read more…
Categories: News & Notes Tags: acc, big 12, big ten, Boise St, Clemson, college football, Colorado, Expansion, florida, Florida St, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Miami Fl, Missouri, mountain west, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, pac 10, phil steele, Pittsburgh, Probation, rutgers, Sanctions, SEC, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, USC, Virginia Tech
