Daily Blog • June 1st, 2010	Blog Archives

The TRUCK IS HERE! That signals the “official” start of the College Football season when you have your Phil Steele College Football Preview in your hands.

To all of you who purchased the magazine over the winter and spring, we dropped your magazines in the envelopes today and they were the first ones out the door this morning!

After today all orders will be shipped within 24 hrs, unless ordered on Fri, Sat or Sun in which case they will go out on Monday. The cost is just $13.70. Call 1-866-918-7711 to order yours today or visit the PhilSteele.com store. The official on sale date of the magazine is June 8th, but some people have already seen them in the bookstores. If you see the magazine in your area before June 8th, just send me a note via the Questions and Answers with Phil Steele and we will post the different locations on our website.

Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my new and improved experience chart. For 7 years I had 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. I am just listing the Senior starters, and the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system in the magazine (pg 311). In a future blog, I will break down each number of starters for the Junior, Sophomore and Freshman classes. The 2nd factor that goes into my overall chart is the % of yards returning which I featured in the April 28th blog. Another factor listed is the % of lettermen returning which I broke down over the weekend. Today I will discuss the % of tackles returning.

2010's % of Tackles Returning

Rank	Team	% TKL Return	Rank	Team	% TKL Return
1	BOISE ST	94.86%	61	LOUISIANA	64.82%
2	IDAHO	90.65%	62	E MICHIGAN	64.81%
3	UAB	87.32%	63	TEXAS TECH	64.76%
4	N ILLINOIS	83.87%	64	MICHIGAN ST	64.75%
5	MIAMI OH	83.54%	65	SAN DIEGO ST	64.08%
6	COLORADO ST	82.52%	66	HAWAII	64.07%
7	MISSOURI	82.20%	67	PITTSBURGH	63.63%
8	TEXAS A&M	81.94%	68	ARKANSAS ST	63.46%
9	AUBURN	81.94%	69	KANSAS	63.43%
10	W KENTUCKY	81.32%	70	WAKE FOREST	62.95%
11	AKRON	81.04%	71	N MEXICO ST	62.84%
12	ILLINOIS	80.79%	72	VANDERBILT	62.02%
13	FRESNO ST	80.47%	73	VIRGINIA	61.57%
14	RICE	80.17%	74	MIDDLE TENN	61.23%
15	BUFFALO	80.02%	75	USC	61.13%
16	N CAROLINA	79.91%	76	MEMPHIS	60.85%
17	FAU	79.70%	77	TEXAS	60.72%
18	FIU	79.56%	78	STANFORD	60.61%
19	PURDUE	79.38%	79	MISSISSIPPI	59.62%
20	ARMY	78.98%	80	NEVADA	59.40%
21	OREGON	78.65%	81	NEBRASKA	58.58%
22	SYRACUSE	78.41%	82	FLORIDA ST	58.57%
23	SOUTHERN MISS	77.73%	83	KANSAS ST	58.16%
24	KENT ST	76.50%	84	AIR FORCE	58.09%
25	TEMPLE	75.60%	85	COLORADO	58.09%
26	MISS ST	75.03%	86	TULSA	57.19%
27	N TEXAS	75.03%	87	KENTUCKY	57.04%
28	WEST VIRGINIA	74.94%	88	NEW MEXICO	57.02%
29	UTAH ST	74.54%	89	NC STATE	56.73%
30	ARKANSAS	74.30%	90	BAYLOR	56.65%
31	WYOMING	74.30%	91	TOLEDO	56.59%
32	S CAROLINA	74.23%	92	DUKE	56.29%
33	BALL ST	73.85%	93	CINCINNATI	55.29%
34	GEORGIA TECH	72.79%	94	RUTGERS	55.29%
35	NORTHWESTERN	72.66%	95	TROY	54.10%
36	W MICHIGAN	72.58%	96	NAVY	54.07%
37	TCU	72.54%	97	TENNESSEE	53.99%
38	CLEMSON	72.37%	98	TULANE	53.85%
39	WASH ST	72.14%	99	ARIZONA ST	53.42%
40	WASHINGTON	72.08%	100	OKLAHOMA	52.63%
41	MICHIGAN	71.96%	101	UCLA	52.20%
42	BOSTON COLLEGE	71.75%	102	PENN ST	51.49%
43	CONNECTICUT	71.49%	103	BYU	51.05%
44	LA TECH	71.48%	104	VIRGINIA TECH	50.59%
45	SAN JOSE ST	71.33%	105	GEORGIA	50.57%
46	MARYLAND	70.52%	106	FLORIDA	50.47%
47	NOTRE DAME	69.76%	107	LSU	46.98%
48	UNLV	68.98%	108	SOUTH FLORIDA	46.49%
49	OREGON ST	68.49%	109	UTAH	46.10%
50	IOWA	68.23%	110	OKLAHOMA ST	44.47%
51	UCF	67.82%	111	IOWA ST	43.95%
52	C MICHIGAN	67.77%	112	BOWLING GREEN	43.84%
53	MIAMI, FL	67.51%	113	UTEP	43.68%
54	MARSHALL	67.44%	114	ULM	41.76%
55	WISCONSIN	67.44%	115	MINNESOTA	40.28%
56	OHIO	66.82%	116	LOUISVILLE	39.80%
57	HOUSTON	66.18%	117	INDIANA	39.78%
58	SMU	65.45%	118	ARIZONA	39.07%
59	CALIFORNIA	65.27%	119	E CAROLINA	37.96%
60	OHIO STATE	64.98%	120	ALABAMA	34.96%

Boise St again comes in at #1 (also #1 in letterman, yards) with 94.86%. The Broncos return 10 starters and were led by returning SS Jeron Johnson last year (91 tkls). Interestingly their in-state rival Idaho, who is fresh off their first winning season since 1999 returns 90.65% of their tackles and were led by FS Shiloh Keo (113 tkls). UAB is #3 with 87.32%.

At the bottom of the list is defending National Champ Alabama (34.96%) who returns just 2 starters from last year’s great defense (244 ypg, 11.7 ppg). They lose six of their top seven tacklers from last including #1 Rolando McClain (105 tkls). SS Mark Barron (76 tkls) is the only player that returns with 35+ tkls.

2-time defending CUSA Champ East Carolina (37.96%) is #119 and like the Crimson Tide return only 2 starters on D. The Pirates lost seven of their top eight tacklers from a year ago. At #118, is Arizona who returns just 39.07% of their tackles and lost their top four from a year ago.

Please check PhilSteele.com everyday to get my Top 30 Countdown, which posted #17 Arkansas yesterday. Thru June 16th, I will post both magazine pages on a new team ranked in the Top 30 and you can get an early look on how I breakdown your favorite team. Remember those magazine pages are available for only 24 hours for you to download. Today, Notre Dame comes in at #16.

I will be back tomorrow to take another factor at my experience chart with the number of career OL starts.

Only 93 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FIRST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME!!!