Over the next couple of weeks, I will be releasing the Hits and Misses of each team in each conference so you can see who faces the easiest and hardest schedule in each conference. 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. I did not see some of the moves happening in advance but with yet another year of analyzing portal moves should be just as sharp on the G6 teams as I was on the Power Four teams.
The second conference I am looking at is the SEC. Last year four team tied for first at 7-1 and Texas was right behind at 6-2. Ole Miss and Texas A&M did not qualify for the title game but were tied with the best record and those three teams all faced schedules that I had deemed the most manageable in the SEC (I won’t use the term easy as there is no easy schedule in the SEC).
I have all of last year’s records for this year opponents listed and they add up to 576-576 so the math is correct.
The SEC has moved to a nine-game schedule and that brings up an imbalance. Some Teams will have five SEC home games and just four on the road while others will have just four home games and five on the road. There are four teams that play a game at a neutral site. For years the Florida/Georgia game gave one of those teams just 3 true road games while giving the opponent just 3 homes games and many time that was a factor who finished higher in the standings. This year the neutral site teams of Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas all have 4 SEC home and 4 SEC road game with the one neutral site game. Florida’s is not as neutral as past years in Jacksonville as this years game is in the Georgia Dome so Georgia will have a slight home edge. The teams this year that benefit from FIVE SEC home games are Miss St, Missouri, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Tennessee and South Carolina. That means that Kentucky, Texas A&M, Auburn, LSU, Alabama and Vanderbilt are the first SEC teams to have FIVE true SEC ROAD games on the schedule.
Based strictly on last year’s records Vanderbilt draws the most manageable schedule with their foes 31-41 last year in SEC play. The toughest schedule based on that criterion goes to Miss St with their SEC foes going 41-31 in conference play last year. Now, things change after a year. South Carolina usually bounces back after a losing year so should fare much better than one SEC win this year. LSU with Lane Kiffin hitting the portal hard is a SEC contender but their record was just 3-5 last year. Can Vanderbilt without QB Pavia match their unprecedented 6-2 SEC record?
Miss St draws the leagues toughest schedule as I have six teams rated purple or red and they face five of them but not face any GREEN Teams. Missouri also faces five Red or Purple teams but gets ALL 3 GREEN teams to balance out their schedule. The teams I list in RED are the top 4 Pre Spring in Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss and Alabama. The PURPLE teams which could easily move up to the RED are LSU and two playoff teams from last year which return their QB’s in Oklahoma and Texas A&M. The next level (BLUE) teams are Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The only GREEN teams are Kentucky, Miss St and Arkansas and all figure to be improved but they combined for three SEC wins last year.
There are four teams in the league that only draw one of the RED teams and they are Georgia, Alabama, Texas and Kentucky. Three teams draw just 3 of the PURPLE/RED teams in Georgia, Vandy and Bama and Vanderbilt draws all three GREEN teams as does Missouri, South Carolina, and LSU.
South Carolina has the most favorable schedule of the teams that have five SEC home games this year with Tennessee the 2nd most favorable. I think the SEC put a lot of work into this brand new nine game schedule to balance it out. In the past two years teams like Florida and Oklahoma drew ridiculously hard slates while teams like Texas and Missouri combined to go 22-10 in SEC play vs very manageable schedules.
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!!
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