Last year was the first time we reviewed Phil Steele's college football preview magazine. Even though the Ohio based publication is not as well known as the others, it took home top honors. That is the case again this year.

Unlike Lindy's, Sporting News and Athlon, you won't find a bunch of cool features or eye-catching photos in Phil Steele, but you will get plenty of information. As much as college football fans enjoy the flashy packaging that comes with some of the preseason magazines, most of us spend our hard earned cash so we can soak up as much information as possible, and that's what Phil Steele provides.

Phil Steele's 2004 College Football Preview     

1/2 of

Total pages: 328

Price: $7.95

Florida Edition Cover - Chris Rix, Chris Leak and Antrel Rolle

Northcoast Sports

P.O. Box 35135

Cleveland, OH 44135

Rankings, lists and ratings

Some preseason publications like Athlon left Craphonso Thorpe, who is a projected first round NFL draft pick for 2005, completely off their All-American list. Phil Steele doesn't make that mistake and Thorpe checks in as a second-team wide receiver. Also, offensive tackle Alex Barron, who was as consensus All-American after his junior season, is named a first team All-American.

No Seminole defenders were mentioned among the four preseason All-American teams.

In our opinion Phil Steele does a better job ranking Seminole players than most other magazines, but there were still a few eye-brow raisers. Here is a look at where FSU players fall in the rankings:

Chris Rix - No. 7 QB

Lorenzo Booker - No. 21 RB

Leon Washington - No. 61 RB

Cro Thorpe - No. 3 WR

Chauncey Stovall - No. 41 WR

Chris Davis - No. 42 WR

Dominic Robinson - No. 62 WR

David Castillo - No. 20 C

Matt Meinrod - No. 51 OG

Alex Barron - No. 1 OT

Ray Willis - No. 10 OT

Xavier Beitia - No. 18 K

Chauncey Davis - No. 27 DE

Eric Moore - No. 31 DE

Travis Johnson - No. 41 DT

Brodrick Bunkley - No. 61 DT

Ernie Sims - No. 26 OLB

AJ Nicholson - No. 27 OLB

Antonio Cromartie - No. 11 CB

Bryant McFadden - No. 15 CB

BJ Ward - No. 16 FS

Pat Watkins - No. 17 FS

Jerome Carter - No. 5 SS

Claudius Osei - No. 45 SS

As with the player rankings, Phil Steele does a good job evaluating FSU's various positions. One publication ranked the 'Noles' offensive line the second best in the nation, but Steele has FSU's big men at No. 5. Even though all five starters are back, No. 5 is more realistic considering the the line struggled at times last season.

Steele gives a lot of credit to FSU's secondary ranking the unit the fourth best in the land. Considering all the safeties are back, including four seniors, and with young stars like Antonio Cromartie ready to burst onto the scene, the defensive backs have the potential to be one of the nation's best.

The one area where Phil Steele drops the ball is the ranking of the linebackers. Even with 27 linebackers ranked, you don't find FSU's unit anywhere. Does anyone really believe teams like Alabama, California, Stanford and UNLV have anybody like Ernie Sims and AJ Nicholson on their roster?

Other FSU unit rankings:

Quarterbacks - No. 12

Wide receivers - No. 3

Defensive line - No. 5

Running backs - No. 12

Special teams - No. 21

Post-season projection

Phil Steele projects that FSU and Texas will matchup in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. I really doubt that will take place for a couple reasons. First, unless it is a national championship game, it is unlikely FSU will find themselves in the Fiesta Bowl, which is played in Tempe, Arizona. Whether deserved or not, the Seminole fans have a reputation for not traveling well. With that in mind, you have to believe the Fiesta Bowl Committee will do everything possible to find another team.

As much as a showdown with Texas might be appealing, the Longhorns have never made it to a BCS bowl game under Mack Brown. I don't see anything about Texas in 2004 that will change that.

Steele predicts that Oklahoma and USC will play in the Orange Bowl, the site designated to determine the 2004 national champion. The projections for the other two BCS bowls are Michigan vs. California in the Rose Bowl, and LSU vs. West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl.

Conference rankings

For two pages Phil Steele goes into great detail citing all kinds of mathematical formulas to explain his conference rankings. Bottom line is that he ranks the SEC as the top conference for 2004 followed by the Big 12, ACC, and the Big Ten and Pac 10 in a 4th place tie.

Top 25

Like Lindy's and Sporting News, Phil Steele ranks the Seminoles in the top five at No. 4. That's a lot of confidence in a team that hasn't finished in the top 10 of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll since 2000. But the 'Noles do have a lot of players coming back and have more talent across the board than they have had in years.

For the other ACC teams, Miami checks in at No. 6, Virginia at No. 14, NC State at No. 23, and Clemson at No. 29. With the way the Tigers rolled at the end of the 2003 season, including impressive wins over FSU, South Carolina and Tennessee, and with the return of Charlie Whitehurst behind center, it would be a shock if Clemson finished outside of the top 25.

Other than not having Clemson in the top 25, Steele's preseason team rankings are pretty much on the mark. However, having California in the top 10 seems is a bit of a stretch. Also, ranking the Florida Gators at No. 13 is probably too high. After some heavy losses on the defensive side of the ball, and after getting blown out by Iowa in the Outback Bowl, it's hard to believe that UF will have much to cheer about in 2004.

1. Oklahoma

2. USC

3. LSU

4. FSU

5. Georgia

6. Miami

7. Michigan

8. Texas

9. West Virginia

10. California

Last year Phil Steele took a nosedive with his preseason rankings finishing in ninth place out of 12 publications surveyed by preseason.stassen.com. However, last year was most likely an aberration since Steele has been the most accurate publication in predicting the preseason rankings over the past five years.

ACC breakdown

Phil Steele picks Florida State to win the ACC, which means he must believe the 'Noles will get the win down in Miami on September 6th. He also says FSU has the "best talent in the league". With the run Miami has had in the NFL draft lately, that's a big statement.

Several Seminole players can be found on the ACC-ACC team including first-teamers Chris Rix, Lorenzo Booker, Craphonso Thorpe, and Alex Barron. Interestingly, no FSU defenders make Steele's first team ALL-ACC team.

FSU Section

Since Phil Steele does not have specific conference editions, he is forced to squeeze team previews into two pages. Even with the limited space, he does a pretty good job breaking down FSU on one page, while providing statistics and FSU's success against the betting lines over the past few years on the second page. However, compared to the other preseason magazines with conference editions, this publication is a little lacking when it comes to team previews.

Team Experience Rating

One of the most unique features offered by this publication is the "Team Experience Rating" which takes a mathematical look at the depth and experience of every team in Division 1-A. Based on the experience chart, FSU will be the most experienced team in the ACC, and the 9th team overall. Interestingly, Miami comes in at No. 10 in the ACC and No. 108 overall. Also, Florida isn't much better at No. 10 in the SEC and No. 83 overall.

Dot Com's Recommendation: Phil Steele's publication costs a dollar more than most other preseason magazines but it is well worth it. Just looking at the total pages, it is nearly twice as long as other publications, and probably contains more than twice the information. Also, Steele seems to be more on the ball with what is going on in college football than the writers at Athlon, Lindy's and Sporting News. The only drawback is that without specific conference editions, you don't get as much specific information on Florida State, and the other ACC teams. However, if you subscribe to Warchant.com there really isn't a need to get a four-page team breakdown from some writer in Tennessee or Alabama, since most of that information can be found right here.

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