A few weeks ago, we reviewed both Athlon and Lindy's preseason college football magazines. Now, with the season just a few weeks away from kickoff, it's time to take a look at a few other publications, including our top pick, Phil Steele's ACC & Big East Preview, as well as The Sporting News and Street and Smith's.

Phil Steele's ACC & Big East Preview

If you are used to reading Athlon, Lindy's or Sporting News previews, you might be thrown off a bit by Phil Steele's publication. It's low on graphics, photos and articles, but high on statistics, trends and analysis. If you are a casual fan just looking for a few rankings and an interesting story you probably won't enjoy Steele's magazine, but if you are hard core fan you will probably appreciate the in-depth analysis and number crunching.

This year, Steele has produced several regional editions including an ACC/Big East Preview. In that publication, the first 87 pages breakdown the ACC and all 12 teams, with six pages devoted to Florida State.

Highlights

Best Case/Worst Case Scenarios - This is an interesting write-up where Steele takes a look at how good or how bad last season could have been had the close losses (or wins) gone the other way. In FSU's case, the best case was 11-2 (could have won UVA, NC State and Penn State), with the worst scenario being 5-8 (could have loss to Miami, Maryland and Va Tech).

All-ACC Team - Wide receiver Greg Carr and cornerback Tony Carter make the first team. If there's a mistake, it's listing linebacker Buster Davis as second team All-ACC (same mistake Rivals.com made).

ACC Forecast - Steele picks FSU to win the Atlantic Division and face-off against Miami in the ACC Title game. Considering FSU's biggest game for their division is home (vs. Clemson) and Miami's biggest game is also at home (Va Tech) this is a pretty logical pick. Steele notes that should FSU get by Miami in the opener they have a shot at an unbeaten season.

Preseason Top 40 - Florida State comes in right at No. 10 (same spot picked in the Coaches' Poll). Some of the other picks certainly raise an eyebrow. Ranking Oklahoma No. 1 after a poor 2005 season, even before Rhett Bomar's dismissal, is a stretch. But even more bizarre is seeing Auburn at #2 and Louisville at #3. Florida coming in at #20 is also an eye-opener but considering the Gators difficult schedule four or five losses aren't out of the question.

FSU Breakdown - Six pages are devoted to the Seminoles starting with an outstanding breakdown of every position on the team. Most of this section, however, is a collection of statistics from previous seasons, rosters, depth chrts and bios. Interestingly, in Steele's projected depth chart, sophomore Neefy Moffett is a starting defensive end.

Positives

* There is more in-depth analysis of the team, players and schedule than you will find in other preview magazines.

* The publication has an excellent record of accuracy compared to other preseason magazines. In fact, according to preseason.stassen.com, Steele's preview has rated out the best in rankings accuracy out of eight different rankings both over a three-year and five-year period.

* Team preview section provides a detailed breakdown of the various positions on the team.

* Steele is very high on players like Drew Weatherford, Greg Carr and Tony Carter.

Negatives

* There are too many stats from prior seasons taking up space that could be used for more interesting content. With the Internet, any of these stats can be looked up in seconds on sites like Warchant.com or Seminoles.com.

* There is very little in terms of player or team rankings. There is an All-ACC team that goes four-deep, but there is no ranking of individual players at each position, which you see in other publications. Also, although Steele does unit rankings for the ACC, it is only one small table with no analysis.

* It's not a big negative in my mind, but there aren't as many eye-catching photos or graphics like you see in other magazines.

Tidbits

* FSU's wide receivers and defensive line are rated the best in the ACC.

* Steele projects that FSU will play LSU in the Chic-Fil-A Bowl while Miami will go to the Orange Bowl. Apparently, he expects the 'Canes to win the ACC Title Game.

* FSU comes in at #9 in Steele's "Power Poll" which is based purely on how good each team is, and not based on the schedule or how many games they might win. Interestingly, Louisville, who as #3 in his preseason rankings, drops to #14 in this poll, and Florida, who was #20 in the rankings, is all the way up to #10.

To buy or not to buy?

Unless you are just a casual fan, Phil Steele's preseason publication is a definite buy.

Other Magazines

If you go to any bookstore, grocery store or drug store you are bound to see several more preseason magazines. We looked at a couple others but neither comes close to Steele's magazine.

Sporting News Preview (incomplete)

With ACC's recent expansion they should be getting more coverage from the media but it looks like The Sporting News didn't get the memo. For some strange reason, they stopped making an ACC preview but still provide full SEC and Big 10 editions. Right there, the well-known newspaper is off to a bad start if you follow FSU or any team in the ACC region. In fact, in Tallahassee area all we could find were the SEC version with Florida's Brandon Siler on the cover.

The Sporting News goes with the trendy pick of Notre Dame as the top team in their rankings. Like Phil Steele, they are also high on Auburn with the Tigers checking in at No. 2. Florida State is No. 10, and Miami No. 14.

The good news is that if you follow an SEC or Big 10 team, the conference editions are packed with a lot of content aimed at their teams. In fact, other than the one-page devoted to the rankings of the top 119 schools and the three-page schedule at the end, every inch of the 126-page SEC edition is something strictly about the SEC. In other words, if you don't follow a team in that conference you threw away $6.99. If you can find a national edition in your area, you might have better luck.

Street & Smith's College Football Yearbook

A few years ago Street & Smith was right up there with Athlon and Lindy's as a well-known preseason publication but has declined a bit in popularity the past few years. Nevertheless, you can still find Street & Smith's college football yearbook in most bookstores and a few grocery stores.

Street and Smith doesn't produce conference specific editions but that's not always a bad thing. The Charlotte, North Carolina based publication did a nice job with its 196-page magazine and there are more than a few interesting nuggets for FSU fans. In fact, the very first story is a pretty good two-page Q&A with Bobby Bowden that covers issues like retirement, his battle with Joe Paterno for the most wins, his thoughts on a college playoff and more.

The two-page summary of Florida State isn't bad for a national publication that doesn't have as much room to cover individual teams. In the breakdown, there's a short blurb on Myron Rolle being the "Next Big Thing," but then they screw-up calling him a cornerback instead of a safety. Also in the "oops" department, they say All-American recruit Brandon Warren "could end up at linebacker". If he doesn't work out at tight end, you can bet he'll end up at defensive end, not linebacker.

Their top 25 rankings aren't bad and FSU checks in at #11. Florida is a bit high at #5 overall.