Daily Blog - Tuesday August 25th

When a QB or top RB goes out, it makes all the local papers and everyone knows about it. There have been some major losses to some defenses that do no make the paper but could have a big impact this year so make sure you check out my latest updates in the INJURY SECTION of the website. I normally do an injury/personnel update on Fridays but this week I will do one today and then another on Friday.

Wisconsin is banged up on the offensive line and entering the week the most experienced OL at practice had 3 career starts. Some guys are expected to return by the opener but there is little continuity there. C John Moffitt (13 sts LY), RG Bill Nagy could return this week and LT Gabe Carimi might not start practicing until a few days before the opener.

Utah St head coach Gary Andersen said this about RB Robert Turbin. “There’s no question that he has to be a leader for us this season”. He’s had a great offseason. He’s gotten bigger, stronger, faster. He’s spent a lot of time in the weight room. He’s our #1 guy, and that’s saying something because he has some very talented players behind him.”

Predicting college football teams and picking stocks in the stock market relies on the same principles. Buy Low and Sell High. You notice in my magazine that I have a ton of charts and graphs that point out when teams are ready to rise and fall. I do not have time to analyze businesses like I do football so thru the years I have relied on many different stockbrokers. I still remember one that told me to buy an internet stock because it was trading at $115 and its high was $140 so there was a big upside. I asked him what the stock traded at a year prior and he had to look it up. He came back with $5. In my mind that stock was grossly overvalued and after his 3rd call requesting I buy this internet stock, I stopped taking his calls. About a month later the internet craze ended and the stock dropped back towards $5. I mention this because I finally found a stockbroker that thought like I did about 5 years ago and his name is Scott Giltinan. Scott just started advertising on PhilSteele.com this past week and I always like to mention our advertisers. I guess my best endorsement for Scott is that he has been and still is my current stockbroker and he is the first one in over 20 years of using stockbrokers that I agree 100% with his buying and selling strategies. If you are looking for a stockbroker for the first time or just unhappy with your current broker, I suggest you contact Scott. Just click here to get to his link.

K Jamie Boyle of UCF is not listed in my magazine as he was a summer addition. He connected on a 57 yard FG in last Saturday’s scrimmage and is battling Nick Cattoi for the K job there.

Southern Miss WR DeAndre Brown did participate in a scrimmage over the weekend and coach Fedora said “DeAndre got quite a few snaps....He’s still not where he needs to be but we don’t have to play today”. Brown could be the best offensive player in CUSA. He suffered a broken leg in the bowl last year and had a setback earlier this summer.

Boston College has still not had a QB step up during August and claim the job. David Shinskie who is 25 years old and has been playing professional baseball just got injured in a weekend practice and is questionable this week. He hit just 3 of 6 passes for 14 yards before the scrimmage.

BYU has a veteran QB in Max Hall but their plan is to play Utah St transfer Riley Nelson for about 8 to 12 quarters of football this season so he is ready to take control of the offense next year.

Memphis WR Jermaine McKenzie had his request for immediate eligibility shot down and won’t be able to play this year. He is a Miami, FL transfer that I had projected to start.

Florida received 58 of the 60 first place votes in the AP Preseason poll which is the highest percentage ever. I have been comparing their level of favoritism to that of USC in 2005. USC that year had just 60 of 77 1st place votes in the AP poll. Interestingly USC that year had 60 of 62 votes in the coaches poll which was a greater % than that of Florida this year which only had 53 of 59. Also USC steamrolled thru the 2005 season unbeaten averaging 49.1 ppg on offense. Prior to their Rose Bowl game with Texas, ESPN ran a series asking the question if they were the greatest team ever and the answer was basically, yes. That USC team played Texas in Pasadena and lost. Ironically I am projecting Texas to play this year’s Florida team in the title game and that game will be held in...Pasadena. USC in 2007 also had 62 of 65 first place votes in the AP poll but that year they lost to Stanford in arguably the biggest upset in NCAA history and also to Oregon on the road. The Gators have been the preseason #1 team two previous times. In 1994 the Gators were #1 in the preseason but after winning their first 5 games by an average of 51-12 they were upset by #6 Auburn, were tied by #7 Florida St and lost to Florida St in the bowl to finish #7. In 2001 they were #1 in the preseason in Spurrier’s final year and they won their first 5 games by an amazing average of 49-5 but they were upset by unranked Auburn in week 6 and later by #5 Tennessee 34-32 and did not even make the SEC title game and finished #3.

Tomorrow I should have the much anticipated blog on how I derive the home field edge in the magazine.

9 DAYS UNTIL FOOTBALL SEASON!