Phil Steele Likes Florida, Ole Miss
by Year2 on Jun 2, 2009 10:30 AM EDT
in SEC Football
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Last week, I went over the Lindy's preseason magazine picks for the SEC. Well, I've found some advance information on the king of the preseason magazine, Phil Steele.
Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun was listening to Colin Cowherd's radio show, and he mentioned that Cowherd had a pre-release copy of Steele's yearly dissertation. He wrote down Steele's top eleven teams, even though the magazine doesn't hit newsstands until June 9.
The generally most accurate preseason prognosticator has Florida No. 1, Ole Miss No. 6, and Alabama No. 8. The story is apparently that Ole Miss will take the SEC West, while Florida will "barely [beat] Georgia for the East." Obviously, Steele must have a higher opinion of the Bulldogs than most people who have them as a distant second.
As of yesterday evening when I wrote this, Steele had also revealed his picks of Arkansas at No. 33 and Tennessee at No. 39. The highest ranked team that he had revealed was No. 23 Pitt, so that means Georgia, and I would presume LSU as well, are somewhere between Nos. 11 and 23.
Steele has South Carolina tabbed for fourth in the East, so that means he has five SEC teams in his preseason top 25. It also means he doesn't think the Gamecocks are going to be as good as Tennessee or apparently Arkansas. I might need to have a word with him about that.
UPDATE
Thanks to Alan from Over the Pylon, I can now report to you that the guy that Orson Swindle affectionately calls "Skynet" has Georgia at No. 13 and LSU at No. 17.
The rationale? Mark Richt does his best work when the expectations aren't high (not sure how much I agree), and LSU will be a victim of its difficult schedule (more plausible). Of course it's June right now, so anything is possible.
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I forgot to mention
I got a little bit of glee out of the fact that the regional cover of the preview as sold in the Tech Barnes & Noble (which is also the official GT campus bookstore) is the SEC cover featuring Eric Berry, A.J. Green, and Charles Scott. I am quite sure the Yellow Jacket faithful are particularly pleased to see UGA and LSU players featured on their shelves.
Being a resident of Charlotte, everything is unfortunately ACC-oriented. I somehow got the SEC edition of Lindy’s, but it had a Gamecock on the cover. Good for my esteemed colleague here; not so much for me.
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Try Barnes & Noble, if you've gone elsewhere
I couldn’t find it at Books a MIllion or Borders here
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Thanks for the info
I was looking at the Border’s in Buckhead on Monday and couldn’t find it. I’ll definitely make a trip to Midtown just for this.
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I don't know about Georgia
Every time I bet against Mark Richt, I lose.
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It’s kind of funny the way the off season prediction circuit goes.
Initially, everyone says Georgia is due for a down year without Stafford and Moreno. Once people notice that everyone is saying that, the story becomes “Richt does best when expectations are down.” As a result, the consensus the rises back up and Georgia’s not going to be down anymore (9 or 10 wins doesn’t count as “down”).
So when is the inflection point where it goes back the other way?
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I think this year might be it
Which means it probably won’t be. You’re right, though. They’ve just got too many holes to fill. I still think they come in 2nd or maybe 3rd in the East — there just isn’t anyone there to challenge them. But I’d be shocked if they’re in a BCS bowl.
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FWIW
I won’t be “shocked” if UGA is in a BCS bowl, but it would definitely be a pleasant surprise. As a fan, it’s hard to describe the level of pleasure/disappointment/surprise/etc. I anticipate based on what the W-L record will be at the end of 2009-10. On its face, 2008’s 10-3 is fine with me; it’s the spectacular manner in which those three losses were incurred that stings. Close wins (like South Carolina) are fairly easily absorbed for obvious reasons (I think); blow-out quarters or halves leading to losses leave lasting impressions (especially when they happen in Jacksonville or Athens and/or against hated rivals).
It’s well-documented everywhere 2009 UGA is mentioned: will a RB emerge (no one saw Moreno coming at the beginning of 2007)? will Cox step up? will the DL and DEs penetrate (we should know a lot after the season opener)? will the OL stay healthy? Having so many “question marks” doesn’t mean good things won’t happen; it means we simply don’t know. I’m just not ready to pencil in any losses at all, although I fully expect a few to come. If we get three or four losses, but they’re reasonably competitive, I won’t need medication.
If UGA was the team that fired its DC and picked up John Chavis (instead of LSU), I’d give them a puncher’s chance at stealing the Cocktail Party and pulling the shocker in the East. The problem in two of the three losses wasn’t the offense, and Cox and crew will ultimately be fine.
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