Phil Steele's 2017 Spring Football Guide
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PHIL STEELE’S 2017 SPRING FOOTBALL GUIDE This is NOT Phil’s Top 10! A LOOK This is who he predicts to be in INSIDE the Preseason AP Top 10!! PHIL STEELE’S ➥ FIND OUT WHO IS BACK AND WHO IS NOT 2017 PROJECTED AP IN PHIL’S 2016 POSTSEASON ALL-CONF TEAMS! PRESEASON TOP 10 ➥ 2017 SCHEDULES 1. ALABAMA 2. OHIO STATE ➥ RETURNING STARTERS AND LY STATS & RANKINGS! 3. FLORIDA STATE 4. USC ➥ Toughest Opponent Records for 2017! *Added 5/13/17 5. OKLAHOMA ➥ WHERE DID YOUR FAVORITE COACH GO... 6. CLEMSON WE GOT THE CHANGES! 7. PENN STATE 8. WASHINGTON 9. WISCONSIN 10. Auburn ALL THIS AND MORE! COMPLETELY FREE! PHILSTEELE.COM FOOTBALL 365 DAYS A YEAR DON’TDON’TDON’T BEBEBE LEFTLEFTLEFT BEHINDBEHINDBEHIND FOLLOWFOLLOW PHILPHIL STEELESTEELE WITHWITH THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS TWITTER PHIL SteeLE’S 2017 Join: COLLEGE FOOTBALL PREView Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews The 2017 College Football Preview will hit stores on June 27th. The Magazine will be Pat Forde, Colin Cowherd available at these seven retailer. Ronnie Lott, Joe Schad as well as • Barnes & Noble • Books-A-Million • CVS Thousands of Athletic Directors, SID’s, • Publix • Target • Walgreens College Coaches and Media who follow & Now Returning to All Walmart Locations nationwide! Or Pre Order a copy Right Now at PhilSteele.com 2017 Phil Steele College Football Preview One of College Football’s Top 20 Regular Price $12.99 +$7.20 for Priority USPS Twitter Accounts Want TWO the College PreviewS? Regular Price $40.38 with Priority USPS $ .18 Save $7.20 and get both Magazines w/shipping 33 Phil Steele’s 2017 Inside the Pressbox Inside the Pressbox Or Get Both Inside the Pressbox 2017 College or Pro College & Pro 2017 Pigskin Bundle $ Inside the Pressbox $ + 89 thru the Super Bowl $ 189 postseason 289 call 1-866-918-7711 to order COACHING CHANGES School Former Coach New Coach Baylor Jim Grobe (Interim) Matt Rhule California Sonny Dykes Justin Wilcox FBS Cincinnati Tommy Tuberville Luke Fickell Connecticut Bob Diaco Randy Edsall Florida Atlantic Charlie Partridge Lane Kiffin FIU Ron Turner Butch Davis Fresno State Tim DeRuyter Jeff Tedford FBS Georgia State Trent Miles Shawn Elliot Houston Tom Herman Major Applewhite Indiana Kevin Wilson Tom Allen LSU Les Miles Ed Orgeron Minnesota Tracy Claeys PJ Fleck Nevada Brian Polian Jay Norvell Oregon Mark Helfrich Willie Taggart Purdue Darrell Hazell Jeff Brohm San Jose State Ron Caragher Brent Brennan Temple Matt Rhule Geoff Collins Texas Charlie Strong Tom Herman USF Willie Taggart Charlie Strong Western Michigan PJ Fleck Tim Lester WKU Jeff Brohm Mike Sanford School Former Coach New Coach ABILENE CHRISTIAN (TX) KEN COLLUMS ADAM DORREL BRyANT MARTy FINE JAMES PERRy CHATTANOOGA RUSS HUESMAN TOM ARTH DELAWARE DAvE BROCK DANNy ROCCO EASTERN WASHINGTON BEAU BALDWIN AARON BEST ELON RICH SKROSKy CURT CIGNETTI FURMAN BRUCE FOWLER CLAy HENDRIX FCS HOWARD GARy HARRELL MIKE LONDON INDIANA ST MIKE SANFORD CURT MALLORy LAFAyETTE FRANK TAvANI JOHN GARRETT LAMAR RAy WOODARD MIKE SCHULTz FCS PRESByTERIAN HAROLD NICHOLS TOMMy SPANGLER RICHMOND DANNy ROCCO RUSS HUESMAN UC DAvIS RON GOULD DAN HAWKINS WHO PLAYS THE NCAA’S 2017’s OPPONENT WINNING % Foe Foe Foe RK TM Post Foe Foe Foe RK TM Post TOUGHEST 2017 SCHEDULE W L Win % TM's W SSN W L Win % TM's W SSN 1 Massachusetts 101 54 65.16% 2 9 9 66 Boston College 81 73 52.60% 4 6 7 2 LSU 98 58 62.82% 4 9 10 67 San Jose St 87 79 52.41% 3 7 8 On March 1st, the Sun Belt released its 3 East Carolina 98 59 62.42% 3 8 9 68 Kansas St 79 72 52.32% 3 5 7 2017 football schedule. Now that all the confer- 4 South Carolina 98 61 61.64% 3 10 11 68 Stanford 79 72 52.32% 4 5 5 ence slates are out, the yearly debate can begin 5 Tulane 94 59 61.44% 2 8 8 68 North Carolina 79 72 52.32% 3 7 7 anew: Which team plays the toughest schedule? 6 Syracuse 95 60 61.29% 5 10 11 71 Nevada 80 73 52.29% 1 7 8 7 Fresno St 96 61 61.15% 3 7 8 71 Florida Atlantic 80 73 52.29% 1 6 7 There are many ways to assess schedule strength. The 8 Georgia Tech 95 61 60.90% 4 9 10 73 UTEP 74 68 52.11% 1 6 8 most commonly used method is to combine opponents’ re- 9 Duke 94 61 60.65% 3 11 11 74 Missouri 79 73 51.97% 3 7 9 cords from the previous season. By this metric, the toughest 9 Vanderbilt 94 61 60.65% 3 8 9 74 Kentucky 79 73 51.97% 3 6 9 2017 schedule belongs to the UMass Minutemen, whose 11 Tulsa 93 62 60.00% 2 8 9 76 Ball St 72 67 51.80% 1 4 6 opponents won 65.2% of their games in 2016. They are 12 Notre Dame 94 63 59.87% 3 10 11 77 Baylor 77 72 51.68% 3 5 6 13 Mississippi St 92 62 59.74% 3 10 10 77 Arizona 77 72 51.68% 3 5 5 followed by LSU (62.8%) and East Carolina (62.4%). Ac- 14 Illinois 92 63 59.35% 3 8 9 77 TCU 77 72 51.68% 3 6 6 cording to this measure, the easiest schedule belongs to 15 Florida 82 57 58.99% 4 8 9 77 Louisiana 77 72 51.68% 0 6 6 Miami, Ohio (34.0%). Ohio (36.7%) and Hawaii (40.3%) 16 Michigan St 91 64 58.71% 4 7 9 81 Toledo 78 73 51.66% 2 5 6 follow the Redhawks along the path of least resistance. 16 UCLA 91 64 58.71% 5 7 8 81 UCF 78 73 51.66% 1 6 6 18 Clemson 90 64 58.44% 4 9 10 83 Penn St 78 74 51.32% 2 6 8 I want to remind you that this is the NCAA’s method, 19 Texas Tech 89 64 58.17% 3 7 8 83 Temple 78 74 51.32% 1 6 7 not mine. Prior to last year, this method said that Clem- 19 Auburn 89 64 58.17% 3 7 7 85 Army West Point 77 74 50.99% 1 6 6 son was facing the 108th most challenging schedule as 21 Utah 88 64 57.89% 4 7 7 86 Oklahoma 76 74 50.67% 3 5 6 their opponents won only 45.3% of their 2015 games. 22 Virginia Tech 88 65 57.52% 3 8 8 86 South Alabama 76 74 50.67% 1 5 6 My method said otherwise. I had Clemson’s schedule 22 Virginia 88 65 57.52% 3 8 9 88 SMU 77 75 50.66% 0 5 8 ranked 47 spots higher and 10 of the 12 Tigers’ oppo- 24 Georgia St 86 64 57.33% 1 7 6 88 New Mexico 77 75 50.66% 1 7 7 nents went on to play in bowl games. It’s safe to say 25 Washington St 86 65 56.95% 5 6 6 88 Houston 77 75 50.66% 1 5 6 26 Texas A&M 87 66 56.86% 4 6 9 91 Colorado 75 74 50.34% 3 6 5 there weren’t 107 schedules tougher than Clemson’s. 26 ULM 87 66 56.86% 2 8 9 91 Idaho 75 74 50.34% 1 4 5 28 Florida St 88 67 56.77% 5 8 8 93 Kent St 77 76 50.33% 3 4 6 There are other ways to approximate schedule strength. 28 Mississippi 88 67 56.77% 3 7 10 94 Wisconsin 76 76 50.00% 1 6 8 Who plays the most teams that had winning records 28 Utah St 88 67 56.77% 1 8 9 94 Northwestern 76 76 50.00% 2 5 6 last year? That honor belongs to the Duke Blue Dev- 31 Pittsburgh 89 68 56.69% 4 8 8 94 Louisville 76 76 50.00% 2 7 7 ils, who will tussle with a whopping ELEVEN teams 32 Oregon St 86 66 56.58% 4 7 7 97 Eastern Michigan 76 77 49.67% 1 5 7 who won more games than they lost a year ago. On 33 Air Force 87 67 56.49% 2 8 8 98 Troy 73 74 49.66% 1 5 5 the other side of that spectrum, Louisiana Tech, Miami 34 Rice 80 62 56.34% 1 7 9 99 Connecticut 74 76 49.33% 1 5 6 (OH), and Ohio each face only two such teams in 2017. 35 California 85 67 55.92% 4 7 7 100 San Diego St 73 76 48.99% 1 4 5 36 Arizona St 85 68 55.56% 6 6 6 100 Buffalo 73 76 48.99% 1 4 5 How about who faces the most teams who made the 36 Maryland 85 68 55.56% 4 6 8 102 Minnesota 74 78 48.68% 2 6 7 postseason in 2016? For purposes of this article, 36 Georgia 85 68 55.56% 3 7 10 102 Akron 74 78 48.68% 2 5 6 39 Purdue 86 69 55.48% 3 8 9 104 UAB 73 77 48.67% 1 5 6 we’ll count the 80 FBS bowl participants, the 24 FCS 39 Colorado St 86 69 55.48% 2 6 7 105 Coastal Carolina 66 70 48.53% 0 6 5 playoff teams, and Grambling State and NC Central, 41 Iowa St 83 67 55.33% 3 6 7 106 Marshall 73 79 48.03% 0 5 7 who played in the Celebration Bowl.