Every February I forecast the AP Top 20 Six months in advance. Many of you may be wrapped up in other sports in February so todays blog is a repeat of the blog I put out on February 23rd and I still strongly feel that this will be the AP Top 10 when it comes out in August.
It is important to make the point that this is NOT my preseason Top 10 for next season, rather what I am projecting the Preseason AP Top 10 will look like to start the season.
My predicted AP Top 10 has been a PERFECT 10 for 10 in EIGHT of the 14 years that I have put it out! When I predict the AP Top 10 in February (about a HALF YEAR ahead of the actual AP poll), I have now hit on 134 out of 140 over the last 14 years! That means hitting all 10 teams in eight of the fourteen years and missing by just one team in the other six years. Once again, predicting the top ten teams in the AP poll SIX MONTHS in advance, the record is now 134 out of 140 or 95.7%!
Last year was one of those years where I missed by one. Interestingly I had Oregon at #10 in my Projected AP Top Ten and they opened #11 in the AP poll. The AP writers put Baylor in at #10. Oregon was actually AP #9 with one game to go in the regular season but blew a 31-10 lead at Oregon St or likely would have finished in the top 10 (they finished #15). Baylor finished 6-7 and unranked so maybe the AP writers should have gone with Oregon.
This week I am starting the second write through process for each team. We have been working full tilt on the magazine since the end of November and are only half-way thru. The second write thru process lasts about a month and a half. Once spring practices have ended, the 3rd write through process begins which involves me talking to 100+ coaches spending about an hour each going over their teams with them. We will send the last page to the press on June 7th. Last year we got the magazines back in our office about 10 days after the last page was sent and starting shipping them out that day. I would estimate we will begin shipping the magazine out to all pre-orders around June 16th this year and they will likely go out Two Day Fed Ex.
I know many of you order the magazine in advance so that you can be the FIRST in the country to receive one.
Last year I offered the VIP DEAL for the first time. This year I have made the VIP even better. If you order the 2023 Phil Steele College Football Preview prior to May 31st your cost will be $36.95 which includes the postage cost ($10 per mag). You will receive your magazine well before it hits Barnes and Nobles on July 4th. You get a head start on everyone else in the country at devouring the information. Now we can only ship so many magazines in a day. We mail them out on the FIFO method, which is First In, First Out. All orders taken now will be shipped on DAY 1. Orders taken in April will likely be Day 2 and those taken in May would be Day 3.
The VIP DEAL also will get you access to the Digital 2023 Magazine so you can have it on your phone or computer. If you buy the magazine at the newsstand or AFTER May 31st (when VIP deal ends), you will have to pay the $19.99 for the Digital Version just like everyone else. The great thing about the digital version is that it is ready even BEFORE the magazine is printed, just days after we send it to the press all my VIP members will have access around June 11th!
The VIP DEAL also will get you full access to my Exclusive PHIL STEELE PLUS Web Site for FOUR FULL MONTHS. Phil Steele Plus is $99 per year or $19 per month. You will have access to Phil Steele Plus for the months of June, July, August, and September, absolutely FREE. This is the exact same information I use every week in fact I created this site so I would have all the information I need at my fingertips on every team for every game. You will be blown away with the amount of information and how easy it is to use.
The VIP DEAL also will get you my 2023 Phil Steele FCS magazine (digital only) FREE and this is a $25 value! Last year there were 117 games between FCS and FBS teams and you can become an instant expert on all 128 FCS teams getting the magazine in much the same format as the FBS magazine. Keep in mind most states have legalized gambling and they post numbers on FCS vs FCS games, and you will have remarkable line value on these games being an expert while the majority of folks know very little about the FCS teams.
The VIP DEAL also will get you THREE free issues of my Inside the Pressbox Newsletter which sells for $20 per issue. The newsletter gives you my personal analysis of every game for the weekend and also supplies you with my computer’s forecast for each game projecting each team’s rush yards, pass yards and points. It comes with 3 Free College Issues, but you can call the office and change that to 2 Free College and one Free NFL if you like.
That is over $300 worth of information before anyone else receives the magazine and all for just $34.
I do realize that many of you like to order two magazines as after the constant use your first one gets dog eared and torn up during the summer. It does cost me extra postage to ship a second one but I will eat that cost and you can get the second magazine for the $19.95 and no extra shipping. If you would like to order two magazines, get the Double VIP Deal and your cost including shipping is just $54. If the Double Deal is not available yet on the web site, then check back in a few.
Click here to pre-order magazine. You can also order by calling 1-866-918-7711.
Here are the ten teams I feel will be in the 2023 AP Preseason Top Ten and over the last thirteen years 134 of my 140 (95.7%) Projected top ten teams in February made the actual top ten, so as I said earlier, I seem to have a pretty good feel for how the voters will rank these teams come August.
My 2023 Projected AP Preseason Top 10.
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Michigan
5. Penn State
6. LSU
7. Florida State
8. Clemson
9. USC
10. Notre Dame
This Top Ten is now part of the spring guide which I will post on the site mid April. I feel confident that this will be another perfect 10 for 10 on these teams for the fifth year out of six once the AP Preseason Poll is released mid to late August! When the AP Poll comes out a half of year from now make sure you check back to this blog to see how I did.
