I recently did a series looking back on my strength of schedule for each conference and in the Power 4 each schedule was a MAJOR force in the leagues overall finish. The Group of Five leagues last year did not have the same impact with more teams going from worst to first and vice versa from first to worst.
The eighth conference I am looking at is the American. This is the fourth Group of Six league I am analyzing and most Group of Six league suffered heavy attrition. In the offseason these teams not only lose their Seniors but most of the all-conference players that have not graduated generally leave for greener pastures. Most Group Six coaches tell me that they now get better freshmen recruits as the P4 schools do not sign as many freshmen anymore but they realize once a player turns into a star he will be bought by a team with more money.
As you see the American conference records add up to 448-448 so the math is correct and there are no new additions or deletions from the league.
I listed 3 teams in RED. UTSA was better than its 4-4 record and has QB Owen McCown back so of last year’s contending teams they are the only one with the QB back and they have much more returning on defense than last year. Navy is the preseason favorite to win the league and Tulane has a great NIL and is coming off a playoff appearance. The next level are the teams that lost so much to the portal and graduation but were the leagues powers last year and those teams are USF, Memphis, and East Carolina. Army was nearly a red team but I am putting them in the purple category. In the American Conference all league team I had 4 teams. I list one QB, two RB, three WR and one TE. Of the 28 skill players listed a grand total of TWO return! They lost a LOT. I took North Texas and listed them in BLUE as they lost the most with ZERO returning starters from last years team. In my All Conference returning/lost chart I showed you in a previous blog they lost 100 points with four first team, 5 second team and 5 third team players lost and zero all league players back. Also listed in BLUE are Florida Atlantic which leads the league with 4 All Conference players back and have QB Caden Veltkamp returning plus are in the 2nd year of the coaching change. Temple is in BLUE because KC Keeler is in his 2nd year and did a great job last year and his teams 2nd year in the CUSA they were a vastly improved team. Tulsa is similar in the 2nd year and were better than I thought they would be last year. The GREEN teams are UAB, Rice and Charlotte which had a combined record of 3-21 in league play last year.
The American Conference plays an eight-game schedule, so each league team has four home games and four away games, so I do not have an extra column added as there are no teams that have the advantage of an extra home game or a fewer road game.
Based strictly on last year’s records East Carolina and Navy draw the most manageable schedules with their foes 24-40 last year in American play. The toughest schedule based on that criterion goes to Florida Atlantic and UAB with their American foes going 37-27 in conference play last year. Now, things change after a year. North Texas took a massive hit in the offseason, so much of a hit that Oklahoma St the team that got their QB, top RB, top WR, head coach plus others and was winless in the Big 12 is a team I put in PURPLE in the Big 12. North Texas goes from 7-1 and playing in the conference title game to a BLUE team in my rankings. With all of the player turnover last year’s 7-1 teams will have a tough time being as dominant.
Florida Atlantic, USF and UAB draw the leagues toughest schedule. These three all face 5 Red/Purple teams and each face just one Green team. Tulsa’s and North Texas each face ALL 3 RED teams but Tulsa faces just 4 Red/Purple teams and North Texas just 3 with North Texas also drawing 3 GREEN teams which is why they rank #4 and #5. At the other end of the scale 4 teams in Temple, Army, Tulane and Navy each face just one RED team with Temple facing 5 RED/PURPLE teams and Navy just two Each Carolina draws the best schedule with 0 RED teams and just 3 RED/Purple teams and 3 GREEN teams.
This years magazine is 376 pages and the biggest and best ever. Here are the different ways you can order the magazine.
Option #1 – Pick one up at your local Barnes and Noble or Books-a-Million store. When you go into a Barnes and Noble you get two different cover choices in each store! The official on sale date is July 4th but it is hitting some stores sooner. It is also available at Books-a-Million which all have the national cover. These two distributors are our exclusive vendors of the magazine, and they are not available at Walmart’s, Walgreens, Grocery Stores, other bookstores or drug stores so save your gas. The only two brick and mortar store they are available are Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million.
Option #2 – Buy the Hard copy of the magazine at philsteele.com or call 1-866-918-7711. The total cost depends on where you live and which of the four types of shipping you choose. It will cost you in the ballpark of $10 for shipping and tax. The biggest advantage of buying online is that When you buy the Hard copy you GET the DIGITAL version of the magazine ($19.99) for FREE and it is updated thru September. Your digital access begins immediately when you purchase. You also get your choice of covers (National, SEC, Midwest, Southwest, West or East Coast) as these are generally mailed out the same or next business day as the order. Order Here!
Option #3 – Buy the digital magazine. The best thing about the digital magazine is that it is updated all the way thru the month of September. If a coach gets fired (that has happened the last couple of years) we update it. If a player is injured and out for the year we CIRCLE him in the magazine. If a player is added late (very rare) we put him in. Any changes to the team from the start of June thru the month of September is updated in the digital version. When you go to the philsteele.com store you will not see a picture there, you need to click on Digital Editions and order it there. It will be activated immediately giving you instant access. Order the Digital Here!
Option #4 – Order the VIP Bundle – The price of the VIP bundle is $44.95. With the VIP bundle you get the National Cover of the magazine. All VIP’s received EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version of the magazine for one week, but that bonus is gone as the digital is now available for everyone. You receive two magazines PLUS the Digital Magazine. You also receive FOUR Free issues of my Inside the Pressbox Newsletter ($20 per issue – $80 value) which gives you my Forecast and my computers forecast on EVERY FBS game each week. You also receive access to Phil Steele Plus ($25 per month) for the months of June, July, August and September! The VIP Bundle also includes SHIPPING so it is basically just $10 more than ordering the magazine by itself! Order the Reg VIP Bundle Here!!
Option #5 – THE BEST BUY – Order the Super VIP Bundle – The price of the SUPER VIP bundle is $74.95. With the Super VIP Bundle you receive
TWO magazines INCLUDING SHIPPING ($69 value!), EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version for one week (that happened already), order shipped next business day. Use the 2nd magazine when your first one gets dogeared or sell/give it to a friend.
Digital magazine ($19.95 value) FREE – The digital magazine is updated thru September (see option 3) and you get immediate access to the digital version upon purchase.
Four Issues of my Inside the Pressbox newsletter ($80 value) which gives you my forecast and my COMPUTERs forecast on EVERY FBS games each week (including FBS vs FCS) the same bonuses that the VIP’s get. You also receive…
FCS Digital Magazine ($25) FREE – Two full pages on Every FCS team laid out the same way the pages are for the FBS magazine. There are 128 FCS teams so over 250 pages!
NFL Digital Magazine ($15) FREE – Four full pages on Every NFL team and a Fantasy Football section!
Phil Steele Plus ($99 value) ENTIRE SEASON FREE – This is a tremendous addition. If you purchase the full year access to Phil Steele Plus it is $99 but you get it included in the Super VIP Bundle Purchase the Super VIP Bundle now and get the entire year of Phil Steele Plus FREE!! Here is a link to all the great info available on Phil Steele Plus including the schedule predictor! Order the Super VIP Bundle Here!!
