Daily Blog •June 27, 2011	Blog Archives

Today I will take a break from the best case/worst case scenarios. First we are only 65 days away from the start of college football season and today I want to talk about a couple of new features on PhilSteele.com.

First, this past weekend on my Facebook Fans page I took requests for some of my early forecasts for 2011’s top games.  From the hundreds of requests here were the first four games.

Facebook Forecasts

1. Arkansas at Alabama, Sept 24th - Both teams have 1st year starting QB's but Ark's Wilson makes his first road start vs the best defense in the country (not ideal situation). In Mallett's 1st start here (12 of 35 passing) and the Hogs lost 35-7 with just 254 yds offense. Ark Oline also is young and has to replace three 3-yr starters. Both teams are in my Top Ten in my Power Poll but 1st road starts are tough and the Tide wins at home 27-17.

2. LSU vs Oregon Arlington, Tx Sept 3rd - Two top 5 teams in a national title elimination game to open the year. Oregon has the offensive edge with QB Thomas and RB James. LSU has the defensive edge and will have 70% of the crowd and just played at this venue in the bowl. UO has managed just 17 & 19 pts in bowls vs teams with extra time to prep. Suspension to CB/PR Harris gives the slight edge to LSU 28-27.

3. Cincinnati at Tennessee September 10th - Both teams make my most improved list and are probably at least 10 points stronger than their 2010 versions. Cincy is 1-7 vs non conf AQ teams on the road losing by an avg of 20 ppg. Cincy does have a Special Teams edge and the offenses and defenses are very close with a couple of exp’d QB's. Great game and goes to the wire but the SEC home team prevails. Tennessee 27-24.

4. Oklahoma at Florida St September 17th - LY OU scored TD’s on their 1st 4 poss (led 47-10) allowing a 47 yd garbage TD pass on the final play. Landry Jones had 372 yds at half (conservative 2H). OU is 14-0 at home but just 4-6 on the road recently. Jones threw for 362 ypg vs 6 ranked foes (FSU QB Manuel 157 ypg vs 3 ranked). Both teams rank in my top units in all 8 position categories. Sooners escape with the win 31-27.

I will continue to update this page multiple times during the week and make sure you get your requests in early by visiting my Facebook Fan page. If you are not a fan of mine already on Facebook make sure you select “like this” as currently I have nearly 8,300 fans and it continues to grow daily.

Non-Conference Polls

A little over a week ago we posted all the 2011 non-conference games for you to pick the winner. Hundreds of you have already voted and if you want to see the breakdown of the top 25 non-conference games of 2011 check out the June 17 Blog.  

If you have not already signed up to vote all you have to do is fill out your name and email with a password and you will be all set to take part in the voting. Remember throughout the season, weekly prizes will be awarded that include great PhilSteele.com merchandise!

If you want to see where you rank against other voters, as soon as your vote is entered in, you will see the % stacked with or against you.

The Non-Conference Poll will run throughout the summer and look for the conference poll to be up on PhilSteele.com very soon!

Click Here to Vote for Non-Conference Games!

Complete List of Players Lost for 2011

The magazine is printed as late as possible and we send it off to the press in the middle of May. 95% of what is written is still completely accurate come August. Every year though there are some players who have left the program for one reason or another during the summer and we will have those players updated in the 2011 “Out for the Year” section, which we have just posted on the site.

What I do in my personal magazine is circle the players that are lost and that way you can tell at a glance which teams suffer the most attrition and those that do not lose anybody. Prior to the season, the players who were lost during the summer and in fall practice are circled in red while the players lost during the season to injury or suspension are circled in blue. Remember when Oklahoma won the National Title in 2000? Not a single OU starter lost a single start due to injury!

Here is the current list for players that have been lost for the year since the middle of May. This includes injuries, transfers, suspensions and dismissals. This list will be updated DAILY so check it often. Any player that will not suit up for 2011 when they were expected to in May needs to be on this list.  If you see any players missing in this list please email brandon@philsteele.com and we will get those players on there ASAP.  Also during the season we will provide an updated starts lost list for each school so you can see which schools are banged up and which fall into the zero starts lost category. This section will also update late additions.

Only 65 DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE FIRST COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME!!!