We have already been working hard on the 2011 season and Today’s blog is the current list for Returning Starters for each team in 2011 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 all the Senior Bowl/Pro Bowl coverage you need to prepare you for this weekend’s games. On Monday I will expand on the Las Vegas odds to win the 2011 BCS National Championship and give you a breakdown of each of the 50 teams including key starters back/lost. Read more…
Categories: Offseason Notes Tags: 2011, Alabama, Auburn, blog, college football, Michigan, phil steele, Returning Starters, TCU, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
From 2005-’08 I published an article titled Coaching Changes in my College Football Preview magazine. Each year I try to make the magazine a little bit bigger and a little bit better but we’re capped out at 328 pages so Coaching Changes does not appear in my 2010 magazine. We have had a lot of requests for this article and since the website has an unlimited amount of room, PhilSteele.com is a great vehicle to continue publishing this article and I will do so each year. Read more…
Categories: Offseason Notes Tags: 2010, Akron, blog, Bobby Hauck, Brian Kelly, Buffalo, Butch Jones, Central Michigan, Charlie Strong, Cincinnati, Coaching Changes, college football, Dan Enos, Derek Dooley, Doc Holliday, East Carolina, Florida St, Jeff Quinn, Jimbo Fisher, Joker Phillips, Kansas, Kentucky, Lane Kiffin, Larry Porter, Louisiana Tech, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, Mike London, Mike MacIntyre, Notre Dame, phil steele, Rob Ianello, Robbie Caldwell, Ruffin McNeill, San Jose St, Skip Holtz, Sonny Dykes, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Todd Berry, Tommy Tuberville, Turner Gill, ULM, UNLV, USC, USF, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Willie Taggart, WKU
I have been publishing a Most Improved Teams list since 1999 and the list hit a home run that very first year. I pegged Hawaii as my #1 Most Improved Team and they were coming off an 0-12 record in 1998. The then “Rainbow Warriors” simply set an NCAA record for largest improvement ever by going to 9-4 in 1999!
This year there are 19 teams on my Most Improved List and these are all teams that had losing records last year but ones I believe will be bowl eligible this year. Last season I had 22 teams on the list and 12 of them were bowl eligible at the end of the year! Do you think it is easy picking teams with losing records that will have a winning record the next year?
I went back to 1992 and there have been 918 teams that had a losing season. Of those 918 teams only 261 had a winning record the next year which is 28.4%. That means if a team is coming off a losing season there is over a 70% chance that they will have another losing record the next year!
Over the last eight years 96 of the teams that have made my Most Improved List have been bowl eligible the next year. In that same eight-year span there have been 424 teams with a losing record and of those 424 only 111 have gone onto a winning record the next season (26.2%). Now you do the math here but as you can see very few teams go from a losing record to a bowl the next year if they are not on my Most Improved list. 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…
Categories: Offseason Notes Tags: Air Force, army, Auburn, BYU, college football, experience chart, Hawaii, Iowa, Juniors, LSU, Magazine, Maryland, Navy, New Mexico, phil steele, Pittsburgh, Seniors, UAB, UCLA, Vanderbilt
In today’s blog, I will finish releasing my Preseason All-Conference Teams with the All-SEC and All-SBC Teams.
In the SEC, Defending National Champion Alabama leads the way with six 1st Team selections led by last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram who rushed for 1,658 yds (6.1) with 17 TD’s. Read more…
Categories: Phil Steele News Tags: AJ Green, Alabama, All Conference, Arkansas, Auburn, college football, florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mark Ingram, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi St, phil steele, Ryan Mallett, SEC, South Carolina, sun belt, Tennessee, Troy, TY Hilton, Vanderbilt
Navy QB Dobbs has a small crack in his kneecap from a prior inj in HS that will have to be repaired, but he is hoping to play thru the injury and have it fixed after the season….
Michigan’s Rich Brooks isn’t hiding his quarterback decision this week. He’s said true frosh Morgan Newton will start….
S Carolina is looking to avenge last year’s loss to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is coming off a 34-10 loss to Georgia and South Carolina’s 20-6 loss at Alabama….
Read more…
Categories: News & Notes Tags: acc, Akron, Alabama, Arizona, Arizona St, Baylor, Big 12 North Title, Boise St, Boston College, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, Clemson, college football, Colorado, Connecticut, Dan Marino, Doyt Perry Stadium, Duke, Erickson, Florida Atlantic, gameday, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Hawaii, Houston, Idaho, Indiana, individual game ratings, Iowa, Iowa St, Jasper Howard, Jordan White, Kansas St, Kent State, Louisiana, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan St, Mike Riley, Mississippi, Missouri, Navy, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico St, Notre Dame, Ohio St, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon St, Penn St, Petersen, phil steele, Pittsburgh, SEC Championship Game, South Carolina, Stanford, Sumlin, Syracuse, Temple, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Toledo, Troy, Tulsa, UAB, UCF, UCLA, ULL, USF, Utah St, Vanderbilt, Vanerbilt, Washington St, West Virginia, Western Michigan
The BCS Busters are down to two as Houston lost to UTEP, so only Boise St and TCU have a shot at being a BCS Buster this year. Boise’s toughest foe appears to be Tulsa who they have to play on the road and TCU has to play BYU on the road.
Let’s take a look at this week’s top performances:
USC’s demolition of California on the road got them the top grade for this week at 103.4 per my computer. USC is a prime contender for the National Title and should they end up with just one loss, would probably get my vote if they continue to play this impressively. They have been in the Top 25 Performances of the Week every week this year.
Read more…
Categories: Phil Steele News, Top 25 Individual Game Grades Tags: California, Clausen, Clayton, college football, computer ratings, Georgia, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, individual game grades, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio St, Oklahoma, Penn St, phil steele, Pittsburgh, rankings, top 25, UNLV, upsets, USC, UTEP, Vanderbilt, Virginia
