On the right-hand pages of the magazine for all 138 teams (North Dakota St and Sacramento St added this year), I list the home field advantage. I think college football crowds are the best in sports and some teams have larger home field edges than others. In Las Vegas the standard is to give 3 points to the home team. I believe there is a large difference in home field edges in college football. Traveling to face Mississippi St and having to face the cowbell noise is a daunting task. Some stadiums that may not be 100,000 but are very loud like Oregon and Washington which are a lot tougher venue than traveling to Akron or Connecticut. Last year my home field edges in the magazine ranged from 2 to 5.5.
This will be a multi-part series showing you the numbers that I use to determine the home field edge. I put each category into my computer and then weight the columns. My computer comes up with a home field edge number. I go down the list and adjust them based on my thoughts of each home field and how tough it is to play but I basically stay within a half point of my computers numbers as they are well thought out.
The second category we will look at is the Straight Up win percentage of each team for the last five years. There is a clear home field edge in College Football. In ’23 I looked at the records for 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017 and over those 5 years the 133 FBS teams were 2679-1523 at home for a winning percentage of 63.8%. One note about those last 5 years. In 2020 many games were played without crowds in the stadiums, so I did not count 2020 in the last 5 years. In 2024 the last five years only included games from 2023 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2018. The five-year record for all the teams combined went up a little to 2739-1527 64.2% over five years which is a slightly higher number than the three-year average. Last year looking at the years 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019. The numbers came out the same overall as home teams over that span are 2761-1540 64.2%. Last year there was no need to skip 2020 any more as the five years was from 2021-2025
Here is the last five years home field records chart.
As you can see no team earned that perfect 6.0 home field edge rating in this category as every team had at least one loss. Alabama lost to LSU in 2019 at home and LSU went on to become the national champs. In ‘23 they lost to Texas at home. Clemson had not lost at home in Death Valley since 2016 when Pat Narduzzi and Pitt beat them 43-42 as a 21-point dog but lost to South Carolina in ‘22 and Florida St in ’23 then to both Louisville and South Carolina in ’24 and last year they were a shocking 3-4! James Madison was 37-2 at home the previous 5 years but has been facing FCS teams and in their first three years in the FBS they were still a solid 17-2. Georgia is the only team with just one home loss the last 5 years. UAB was 24-5 at home in the last 5 years into 2024 but went just 3-3 each of the last year. UTSA which plays in the Alamo Dome is 28-4 SU the last 5 years and Miami Ohio is 21-6. Oregon and Alabama are always at the top of these standings and are tied for #2 at 33-2 with Ohio St, Ole Miss and Michigan all with just 3 home losses the last 5 years.
The bottom five teams in 2024 were Akron, Kansas, Rutgers, New Mexico, and UMass. In 2022 Kansas was at the bottom with an 8-24 home record which earned a 1.5 home field edge in this column. Into 2025 Kansas has jumped to 16-16 the last 5 years and last year in their newly updated home stadium went 4-3. In ’23 UMass was at the bottom with their 8-20 home record the previous 5 years earning a 1.71 grade in this category. In 2024 Akron took the bottom spot with a record of 6-21 and that earned them just 1.33 points in the ratings metrics. In 2025 UMass has reclaimed its spot at the bottom with a 6-23 record winning just 20.7% of its home games. Three power 5 teams were in the bottom 6 in Stanford (8-24), Vanderbilt (12-21) and Northwestern (12-21). UMass has successfully held its crown at just 5-24 the last 5 years at home. Stanford is #2 at 9-22 with Charlotte 10-21, Nevada fourth worst at 11-20 and Akron number 5 at 10-17. The next lowest P4 team is Purdue at 14-18. Home teams over the last 5 years are 2765-1559 so the average is 63.9% and the median is 62.9%.
Tomorrow I will have the ATS records for each team over the last three years at home.
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!!
Check out all of our Great Products on PhilSteele.com Store Here!
