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…

About a year ago I created a facebook fan page. Since football is my area of expertise I sometimes am behind in the latest technology. However, I learned very quickly that it was easier and quicker for me to answer your questions on Facebook than our previous “Questions and Answers with Phil Steele” section developed on the website in 2008.

I usually check the Facebook Fan Site 3 or 4 times a day and if you have been keeping track I think we have had an overwhelmingly positive response as I love to answer as many questions as possible.

Nearly a month ago I sent out a message on Facebook and promised that when I reached 5,000 fans, I would hold what I call, a live one-hour “chat session” and answer all of your questions. During the “live chat” post your questions as you normally do on the Fan Page (in the what’s on your mind box) and I will answer them as quickly as possible. I will not be talking via the “chat” box as it would be impossible to respond to each question posted in an IM forum. 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…

We are only 40 days away from the official on sale date of my 2010 COLLEGE PREVIEW!!! It goes on sale Tuesday, June 8th and there is a possibility you could see it earlier than that at your local bookstore.

Today I want to look at the % of yards returning for the offenses. 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 ’09 for the percentage. Read more…

Spring practice is nearly wrapped up for all the teams so make sure to check out our Spring Central Section to get the latest details surrounding your favorite team. Coming soon is our interesting tidbit section, which will detail several different factors like the Top Winningest Active Coaches, Top Home/Away and top individual performers over the last 5 years.

The NFL draft is less than a week and my NFL Draft Guide is complete with more than a 100 pages filled with the latest and greatest information on this year’s draft! It includes position by position rankings, combine invites, pro day workouts and an updated 2-round Mock Draft!  While my NFL Draft Guide would probably sell for $6.95 on the newsstands you candownload the entire guide for free at PhilSteele.com!

Josh Buchanan who runs JBScouting.com does a great job following FCS football and he contributes significantly to my FCS preview. Josh also has scouted for the Texas vs. Nation Game and East Coast Bowl the last few years and has interned with the Carolina Panthers. He has just released finished his small school draft guide with nearly 200 pages of jampacked infomation exclusively on this year’s small school top players! You can purchase his guide by clicking here.

In the magazine on each team we include a chart of various offensive/defensive stats from the last 7 years. Included in this chart is the number of returning starters, offensive/defensive ppg, total turnovers, and sack totals.

Today’s blog will take a closer look at defensive ppg for all 120 teams over the last 5 years. Here are the…. Read more…

Well here it is, my projected AP Top 10 for next year as of February 1, 2010! 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.

Last year 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 25 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.

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

In today’s blog I will give you the odds to win the 2010 National Championship from the Hilton. If you are in Las Vegas at anytime in the next couple of months make sure to stop by the Hilton to get advanced odds on the 2010 college football season and advanced odds to win the Super Bowl.

Also make sure to check out our team schedules for next year.  On the left side of the home page under 2010 click onSchedules/13 Year Logs. Go to your favorite conference to get schedules for all your teams for 2010.

Click on any game to get all the games played between the two teams in the last 13 years with complete statistics including first downs, rushing, passing, sacks, TO’s and much more.

Because we want all the information to be complete and accurate as possible, if you see any games we have missed for next seasons’ schedules or if there have been any recent changes to your favorite teams 2010 schedule please emailBrandon@philsteele.com and we’ll get it corrected.

Don’t forget to check out our Spring Central section to get 2010 schedules, coaching changes, who’s back/who’s not and all the NFL Draft early entrants.

We will back by the end of this week with my projections of what the 2010 Preseason AP Top 10 will be.

Here are the Odds to win the 2010 National Championship courtesy of the Hilton. Read more…

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

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

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

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