Spring football has already begun for some teams and every year in late February, I put out my Projected AP Top 10 basically six months ahead of the AP Top Ten release!
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 Preseason AP Top 10 has been a PERFECT 10 for 10 in EIGHT of the 16 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 152 out of 160 over the last 15 years! That means hitting all 10 teams in eight of the sixteen years and missing by just one team in the other eight years. Once again, predicting the top ten teams in the AP poll SIX MONTHS in advance, the record is now 152 out of 160 or 95%!
Last year was one of those years where I missed by one. Last year I had the top 9 teams correct. For #10 I went with Missouri. The Tigers had a lot coming back and a very manageable schedule. The Tigers just missed the top 10 coming in at #11 in the AP Poll. The AP voters went with Florida State at #10 and the Seminoles did not live up to that lofty ranking going just 2-10 on the year. Missouri won their bowl game and finished 10-3.
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 exhaustive process. The second write thru process lasts about a month and a half. Once spring practices have ended, the third write through process begins which involves me talking to 125+ coaches spending about an hour with each going over their teams with them. We will send the last page to the press on June 6th. Last year we started shipping them out almost as soon as the finished product rolled off the press (about 10 days later). I would estimate we will begin shipping the magazine out to all VIP members around June 16th this year.
I know many of you order the magazine in advance so that you can be the FIRST in the country to receive one. When you sign up for the VIP deal you will receive your magazine well before it hits Barnes and Nobles on July 4th.
When you purchase the VIP deal you get the magazine before it hits the bookstores, the digital magazine for FREE, 4 weeks of my Inside the Pressbox newsletter for FREE, and my FCS magazine for FREE and 4 Free months of Phil Steele Plus. That is over $200 worth of football info for just $39.95 right now. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.
VIP members get the magazine before anyone else, and they are mailed on the FIFO basis so the first to sign up for the offer get the magazine shipped first. We are still on DAY ONE shipments if you sign up right now. CLICK HERE TO ORDER. If you wait, you may get day TWO or day 3 and in future months the price will go up and the bonus offers will decrease so the deal is the best right now. As mentioned, we mail the middle of June, two day express so you will have it weeks before it hits the nation’s #1 Book Store Barnes and Noble on July 4th!
The VIP digital bonus was even better than expected last year as all VIP members had access to the magazine two days after we sent it to the press and were reading it for a full week before it was even printed (3 weeks before it hit the newsstand). Also, we did not open access to the digital magazine to anyone but VIP members for a full week after that! All VIP members had two full weeks of EXCLUSIVE ACCESS to the digital version!
The VIP DEAL gets you FOUR 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 supplies you with my computer’s forecast for each game projecting each team’s rush yards, pass yards and points. It comes with 4 Free College Issues, but you can call the office and change that to 2 Free College and two Free NFL if you like. Last year the four free issues went 16-9 on the Best Bets!
The VIP DEAL also will get you my 2024 Phil Steele FCS magazine (digital only) FREE and this is a $25 value! Last year there were 118 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.
This year I have added a SUPER VIP deal. The price is just $30 more or basically the cost of one magazine mailed to you. In the SUPER VIP you get TWO magazines and access to Phil Steele Plus ($99) for a FULL year thru the Super Bowl! If you are thinking of subscribing to Phil Steele Plus again for 2024, just get the SUPER VIP deal and save $30 plus get two magazines and all the other bonuses. I may stop this offer soon. To get the SUPER VIP membership CLICK HERE.
You can also order by calling 1-866-918-7711.
Here are the ten teams I feel will be in the 2025 AP Preseason Top Ten and over the last fifteen years 152 of my 160 (95%) 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 2025 Projected AP Preseason Top 10.
1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Oregon
4. Georgia
5. Penn State
6. Notre Dame
7. Alabama
8. LSU
9. Clemson
10. Tennessee
This Top Ten is now part of the spring guide which I will post on the site early April. Also in a later blog, I will give the reasons for each team being in the Preseason AP Top this year. I feel confident that this will be another perfect 10 for 10 or almost perfect 9 of 10 on these teams for 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.
