2012 Phil Steele Preseason Rankings and AAs

[Darell1976]

No Cal Poly???

[BDKJMU]

According to SCFBF:

4) YOUNGSTOWN ST
5) WOFFORD
8) TOWSON
9) STONY BROOK
14) NORTHERN ARI ZONA
17) EASTERN KENTUCKY
28) GRAMBLING ST
37) DUQUESNE
38) UT MARTIN

I don't know anything about Grambing, Duquesne, or UT Martin.

-YSU has 17 starters back, including all 11 on offense from their team that won @ NDSU last season. I wouldn't be surprised to see NDSU, YSU, or UNI win the MVFC this season.

-SB I believe has 17 starters back and picked up the #2 Big Ten rusher last season from Iowa. They were 9-4 with 2 of those losses coming to I-A, and they gave SHSU all they could handle in the playoffs, losing on the road only 34-27 after SHSU scored with about a minute left. They should run away with the Big South title this season.

-EKU started only 4 seniors vs JMU in their 3 point loss to JMU in the playoffs last season. They should run away wit the OVC title this season. They could easily be a top 15 team this season.

[BDKJMU]

[QUOTE=BDKJMU;1776873]Phil Steele 2011 pre season poll, with playoff teams bolded, and the others with records listed:
1. W&M (5-6/3-5)
2. EWU (6-5)
3. GSO
4. UNI
5. ASU
6. UD (6-5/4-4)
7. JMU
8. Montana State
9. Wofford
10. Sac State (4-7)
11. Jax State (7-4)
12. Montana
13. UCA
14. UNH
15. SBU
16. Lehigh
17. SIU (4-7)
18. SC State (7-4)
19. UTC (6-5)
20. NDSU
21. Murray State (7-4)
22. SHSU
23. UMass (5-6/3-5)
24. S Utah (6-5)
25. Jackson State (9-2 SWAC)
26. Albany
27. Colgate (5-6)
28. UT Martin (5-6)
29. Harvard (9-1, Ivy League Champs)
30. Ind St (6-5)
31. Liberty (7-4)
32. FAU (7-4)
33. Jacksonville (7-4)
34. Grambling (8-4)
35. McNeese St (6-5)
36. Richmond (3-8/0-8)
37. YSU (6-5)
38. UC Davis (4-7)
39. SF Austin (6-5)
40. Bethune Cookman (8-3)[/QUOTE]

[BDKJMU]

The good:
-So 6 of his pre season top 10 and 12 of his pre season top 20 made the playoffs.
-Only 8 of his top 40 didn't finish with a winning record.

The bad: he obviously bombed with some teams:
-His top 2, W&M and EWU, didn't make playoffs. Heck, W&M finished with a losing record.
-Had last yr's 2 NC game participants, NDSU at #20 and SHSU at #22.
-Following playoff teams he didn't have in his top 40, including 3 of the 5 CAA playoff teams:
Towson
ODU
Maine
EKU
Tenn Tech
Norfolk State

[clenz]

-YSU has 17 starters back, including all 11 on offense from their team that won @ NDSU last season. I wouldn't be surprised to see NDSU, YSU, or UNI win the MVFC this season.

That same YSU team then LOST AT MISSOURI STATE WHO WON 2 GAMES LAST YEAR the very next week....They also had only 2 win over teams with a .500 or better record last season (NDSU and Illinois State)

[BDKJMU]

I've said for a long time that pre season top 25 polls in general are as worthless as tits on a bull because most of the people voting in them have intimate familiarity with their own team, some familiararity with the other teams in their conferece, and little to no familiararity with the other 110 or so teams outside their own conference, other than knowing which conferences are traditionally strong and which are traditionally weak. That's why I'll look at conference pre season polls, but won't pay any attention to the national ones other than Steele's. Thank goodness we have the playoffs, rendering polls mostly meaningless, unlike the BCS, which conducts their championship by poll.

The polls like Lindy's, Athlon's, Street and Smith, the Coaches (ie SID) and SN are totally worthless. The coaches barely have time to pay attention to the other teams within their own conference, never mind the 110 or so outside their conference. And its probably mostly SIDs voting in place of the coaches anyway. Same goes for the sports reporters voting. They cover just one team or one conference. I would label Steele's as semi worthless. On the one hand, as off as he was on a lot of teams last yr, I would bet his pre season top 25 ended up getting more of the playoff teams right than those magazine and other 2 polls. No, I'm not going to bother to look up all those other pre season 2011 polls and compare how they ended up faring to Steele's poll to try to prove my point- that would take too damn long. At least Steele uses reams of data/stats on every team. The only guy in the country who does that. Why I ordered his mag. His Top 25 I'll take with a grain of salt, but there is a ton of other info in there.

[BDKJMU]

Copy & paste of a post from the JMU board by another poster on this subject:

"Of the 20 playoff teams, this is how many each had in their preseason top 25 last year.

Phil Steele 13
Athlon 11
College Sporting News 11
Coaches 11
Lindy's 10
Sports Network 10
Sporting News 9

Everybody got 8 right-App St, GSU, Lehigh, Montana St, Montana, N Iowa, New Hampshire, Wofford
Nobody got 6 of them-Albany(Steele had them at 26), Maine, Norfolk St, ODU, Tenn Tech, Towson

Phil Steele was the only one to rank Sam Houston St and Stony Brook, and his only miss of a team picked by anybody was E Kentucky(only picked by Athlon)."

[JackParty]

NAU is getting their due from someone who knows what he is talking about.

They deserve to be in the top 15 in the country and will be in the thick of the fight for the Big Sky.

I have been saying it right along. I am not sure if anyone will be able to stop their offense and their defense is bigger, faster and more athletic then last year....but you guys go ahead...keep underestimating them.

It is sweet to be the underdog and smack some teams in the mouth.

[Grizalltheway]

NAU is getting their due from someone who knows what he is talking about.

They deserve to be in the top 15 in the country and will be in the thick of the fight for the Big Sky.

I have been saying it right along. I am not sure if anyone will be able to stop their offense and their defense is bigger, faster and more athletic then last year....but you guys go ahead...keep underestimating them.

It is sweet to be the underdog and smack some teams in the mouth.

And you keep overestimating them...more often than not those underestimate them are right.

[JackParty]

Ok Griz

Game 4 in Missoula

Can't wait.

[SeattleGriz]

Typically, yes. I don't know how you can completely discount the affect of a rape scandal that cost a coaching staff, players, and administration their jobs.

1 coach
2 players (only one of which was a starter)

While I get the premise of the argument, that isn't exactly "upheaval" between the lines. We shall see how the distraction affects them, however.

Exactly. I always love the demise of Montana football, only to "surprised" they were able to cobble together a functioning team each and EVERY year.

We would not only torch many of those teams, but punish them as well.

[BDKJMU]

No Cal Poly???

Don't know much anout them but I looked at the game notes from their last game, and it showed 13 of 22 starters as seniors. So that means at most they have only 9 starters back from a 6-5 team.

[BDKJMU]

NAU is getting their due from someone who knows what he is talking about.

They deserve to be in the top 15 in the country and will be in the thick of the fight for the Big Sky.

I have been saying it right along. I am not sure if anyone will be able to stop their offense and their defense is bigger, faster and more athletic then last year....but you guys go ahead...keep underestimating them.

It is sweet to be the underdog and smack some teams in the mouth.

I have never seen a team play TWO I-A AND a Div 2 . So to even get to 7 Div I wins (8-3) NAU is either going to have to upset a I-A or go 7-1 in the Big Sky. NAU could bery well end up going 6-2 in the BS, be a legit top 15 team, but yet not have the required 7 Div I wins to make the playoffs. Looks like the NAU AD screwed the FB team out of any reasonable chance of making the playoffs

[Brock Landers]

NAU is getting their due from someone who knows what he is talking about.

They deserve to be in the top 15 in the country and will be in the thick of the fight for the Big Sky.

I have been saying it right along. I am not sure if anyone will be able to stop their offense and their defense is bigger, faster and more athletic then last year....but you guys go ahead...keep underestimating them.

It is sweet to be the underdog and smack some teams in the mouth.

They were 4-7 and haven't made the playoffs in a decade. I don't see how they deserve anything at this point

[JackParty]

They were 4-7 and haven't made the playoffs in a decade. I don't see how they deserve anything at this point[/quote]

Can't blame the haters out there. NAU has done nothing to make your statement less credible....but thats the past.

True I am a homer but who on this board isn't?

Time will tell guys. Just watch and learn.

They have a tough deep athletic defense with speed. They have 4 legit running options including Bauman who is the best RB in FCS. Add a former 5th year Cal running back transfer, a Boise Stae FB transfer, and a new speed option coming out of the backfield coupled with an experienced reliable if not spectacular QB and teams including ASU and UNLV will have their hands full.

The attitude is a winning one....finally.

[Brock Landers]

Ah I see. We're haters for questioning their being 20-50 spots too high. I'd be just as perplexed if it was Sac State or Richmond in that spot

Lakes 2.0

[Seawolf97]

I will take 9th anytime. Hope we can improve on that as the season goes along.

[DavedS]

-YSU has 17 starters back, including all 11 on offense from their team that won @ NDSU last season. I wouldn't be surprised to see NDSU, YSU, or UNI win the MVFC this season.

That same YSU team then LOST AT MISSOURI STATE WHO WON 2 GAMES LAST YEAR the very next week....They also had only 2 win over teams with a .500 or better record last season (NDSU and Illinois State)

Also that same YSU that hung with lowly Michigan State till the final quarter.

[89Hen]

True I am a homer but who on this board isn't?

95% of the board isn't.

[Grizalltheway]

True I am a homer but who on this board isn't?

95% of the board isn't.

Goddamn 5%ers.

[UNI88]

95% of the board isn't.

Goddamn 5%ers.

OccupyCS

[AZGrizFan]

Time will tell guys. Just watch and learn.

The attitude is a winning one....finally.

The past 7 years:

3-8
6-5
6-5
6-5
5-6
6-5
4-7

Define "winning".

[clenz]

Time will tell guys. Just watch and learn.

The attitude is a winning one....finally.

The past 7 years:

3-8
6-5
6-5
6-5
5-6
6-5
4-7

Define "winning".

And almost every single one of those years we heard how improved NAU was going to be, and how it was finally their year

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[JackParty]

[/b]The past 7 years:

3-8
6-5
6-5
6-5
5-6
6-5
4-7

I said FINALLY. If you know our record so well then you know that the majority of those games were loses by a TD or less. Phil Steele has you guys at 15, one behind NAU....hmmm...that could be because a top member of his staff was in Flagstaff covering the Cardinals who train at NAU ( by the way voted one of the top training camp facilities in the NFL) and he watched NAU. He was so impressed he called Phil to report about their defense.

Every one knows the Big Sky and the CAA are the toughest conferences in FCS all teams considered. It just got tougher with SUU and Cal Poly. Consistency in the Big Sky means something.

Define "winning".

And almost every single one of those years we heard how improved NAU was going to be, and how it was finally their year.

Winning is what NAU is going to do this year. The biggest thing that has changed is the attitude. They have always had talent. 50 of the kids on the roster are from AZ. AZ HS football has grown which is why all FBS and Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington, North Dakota State and many others recruit here. How many teams recruit from Iowa?

Respect. I will look forward to comparing NAU's record to UNI's when all is said and done.

[clenz]

Winning is what NAU is going to do this year. The biggest thing that has changed is the a[/i]ttitude. They have always had talent. 50 of the kids on the roster are from AZ. AZ HS football has grown which is why all FBS and Montana, Montana State, Eastern Washington, North Dakota State and many others recruit here. How many teams recruit from Iowa?

Respect. I will look forward to comparing NAU's record to UNI's when all is said and done.

Let's see....

In the last 4 years Iowa has had kids with offers from:

ARIZONA - yep
ARIZONA STATE - yep
Iowa - who has produced more draft picks the last 4-7 years than ANYONE in college football
Iowa State
Nebraska
Michigan
Florida
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Kansas State
Kansas
Minnesota
Wyoming
Illinois
Indiana
Western Kentucky
Central Michigan
Western Michigan
Ohio
Bowling Green
Air Force
Army
Navy


Those are off the top of my head, I guess I could look further if you wanted.

Oh....and on top of that Iowa's basketball talent has grown as well - mind you Harrison Barnes is from Ames, Iowa - as is All American Doug McDermott.

Couple that with another Iowan starting at North Carolina this year (probably starting PG as a true fresh), Tennessee, Western Michigan, Albany, Wisconsin, Air Force, etc... and offers from other big time programs that they haven't committed too.


Not bad for a state of 3,062,000 people...LESS THAN HALF THAT of Arizona's 6,482,505 .

Iowa isn't a barren wasteland of corn and dirt roads....but I wouldn't expect you to know any different.