I have produced printed FCS magazines and put a lot of effort into them. Naturally if I am going to do a publication it has to be up to “Phil Steele” standards. I have produced four FCS magazines and the most recent was 2018. These magazines did not sell well on the newsstands and I lost a lot of money producing them.
You might wonder why I would dip my toes into the FCS water again. Well, things have drastically changed in the last few years. Let me give you the biggest Five things that have changed that show there is now a NEED for an FCS magazine and why I am able to produce an FCS magazine that is twice as good as what we put out back in 2018 and gives you all the information you need to know on every FCS team.
#1 You can wager on FCS football – In 2008 Las Vegas and the offshore Sportsbooks started to put numbers on games between the FBS and FCS. Back then there were about 75 games per year between FCS and FBS teams and naturally I have logged all the numbers dating back to 2008 on these games. Five years ago a few places started to put pointspreads on FCS vs FCS games and we captured all of those lines and have them for each game. Each year since them more and more casinos have started putting numbers on FCS vs FCS games. Now with most states legalizing gambling and gambling itself becoming mainstream and much talked about on networks such as ESPN, Fox, etc, I believe almost all sports books will have lines on FCS vs FCS games. This goes along with the 100+ games between FBS and FCS teams that are played this year as well.
#2 Everyone has Access to the Internet – Almost everyone in the country has access to the internet and can download a magazine on their phone/computer. We have had digital access to the Phil Steele Magazine for about ten years now but the digital magazine had its problems through the years and was not reliable. We partnered with Learfield two years ago and they have taken care of any and all problems that we had with the digital magazine. We are even able to update the digital magazine after we have sent it to the press making it even better. One problem I had in 2018 was that I was relying on printing of the physical magazine and then getting the physical magazine to the stores. This was where a good deal of the cost was. Also convincing stores to give shelf space to an FCS magazine and getting the magazine in front of the FCS fans was tough. Now with the digital version being so superior and being able to be updated, I can get right to every FCS fan with the same quality magazine that you expect from a Phil Steele product.
#3 We have the FCS Information on Phil Steele Plus! – While we have not been producing a magazine for the FCS since 2018 that does not mean that we have not been tracking the FCS and keeping all of the stats the same way, we do for the FBS. All you have to do is go to Phil Steele Plus and for the 2022 season we had
Writeups
If someone was to produce an FCS magazine there would probably be between 500-1000 words written about each team.Last year I had the staff do complete writeups on each FCS and the writeups were between 750-1,500 words written on each team for the 2022 season with complete breakdowns on each position
Individual Player Stats
I was looking at Athlon and their coverage of the Group of 5 to get an idea of what an FCS magazine would have. They have the Top Passer, Rusher and Receiver from last year for each team.
On Phil Steele Plus you get the top 5 passers, top 5 rushers, and top 5 receivers from the 2022 season and they were updated weekly. . You also get them for the 2021, 2020 and 2019 seasons as well so FOUR years of the top 5 in each category for the individual leaders. Here is a sample of North Dakota St from 2019.
Making it even better is that these stats are UPDATED each week during the season which give you an idea of which players are doing well and who the stars of the FCS are.
Game by Game Individual Stats
No magazine has the room to put individual game by game stats for each team
On Phil Steele Plus you get Game by Game stats for each player for the last 4 years. Here is a sample from 2019 North Dakota St.
Making it even better is that these stats are UPDATED each week during the football season for this year!!!
Past Years Scores
With an FCS preview magazine, you would probably get last years’ games and scores of each of the games.
With the Phil Steele Plus FCS Package you get the scores of each game from last year but also the complete stats of each game color coded in Green and Red (Green for good numbers, Red for Bad). You also get an Individual Game Grade for each game that was played. This is just like my FBS magazine but color coded. Here is a sample from 2019 year champ North Dakota St.
Now take that picture that you see above, and you will get that for 2022, 2021, 2020 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011 stats just like that! That’s right TWELVE YEARS of these stats so you can not only go back and look at the scores of past games but see who had the yardage edge, etc.
Making it even better is that it is updated each week for the current 2023 season!
Power Ratings
An FCS magazine would not have power ratings.
Phil Steele Plus FCS Package gives you the updated Game Grade power rating for each team and it has it for the season as well as the last 4 weeks Game Grades giving you two sets of Power Ratings.
FIVE YEAR SPREAD LOGS and stats!
As mentioned we have been tracking the lines on FCS games for the past 5 years and you have access to the last 5 years logs including spreads.
#4 Two Full Pages on EVERY FCS Team – Here is a blog for the 2018 FCS Magazine and back then there were not spread logs available on we had one information filled page on Every team. Here a blog from 2018 showing you what the magazine had.
Blog from August 15th 2018
The Phil Steele’s FCS Preview is the only Magazine out there dedicated to FCS Football!!
Included in the FCS Magazine
*FCS Preseason Offense Position Rankings for QB, RB. FB, WR TE and the OLine.
*FCS Preseason Defense Position Rankings for DLine, LB, CB, Safeties, Kicker and Punters.
*2018 Preseason FCS All American Teams.
*2018 Preseason FCS All Conference teams for every conference.
**How to get your Copy of the 2018 FCS Football Preview listed below.
*One Full Page dedicated to each Team. The only Magazine out there Dedicated to the FCS.
As you can see below on each FCS team page you have:
- 2017’s Game by Game Stats Color coded with Green= Good & Red= Bad.
- 2018’s Full Team Schedule.
- 2017 Statistical Leaders.
- Last 7 years records and stats.
- Full write-up of each team going over the season ahead.
- Last 6 years schedule with results.
Example of North Dakota State’s team page below.
Now here is an example of the two full pages we have for the FCS in this years’ magazine!!
#5 It is FREE to VIP members! – Right now with the VIP deal for my 2023 Phil Steele College Football Preview get the FCS Magazine ($19.95 value) FREE! You will also receive 4 months including the full month of September access to Phil Steele Plus for FREE. Since it is a digital version we will have that for sale for $19.95 starting in June.
The Phil Steele Plus FCS Package gives you 3-4 times the amount of information from past seasons and for the upcoming season. The cost is $29 but that not only gets you superior information right now, FCS Plus also gives you complete updates for the months of August, September, October, November, December and takes you thru the FCS playoffs in January. That is SIX month of FCS updates all the way thru the season with Game Grades updated each week thru the championship game. That comes out to LESS than $5 per month over the six months and you are an instant FCS College Football expert with all that knowledge and power!
