Phil Steele Full Top 40 (ND #12)

[irishfan]

I do this thread every year as I'm a big Phil Steele fan. He's doing his Top-40 countdown now to hype up his magazine release in July. I'll keep this updated and just bump whenever one of our opponents is in the ranking.

Phil Steele

1. Ohio State
2. TCU
3. USC
4. Alabama
5. Baylor
6. Georgia
7. Stanford
8. Florida State
9. Michigan State
10. LSU
11. Oregon
12. Notre Dame
13. Wisconsin
14. Auburn
15. UCLA
16. Virginia Tech
17. Clemson
18. Oklahoma
19. Penn State
20. Ole Miss
21. Miami (FL)
22. Arkansas
23. Boise State
24. Missouri
25. Tennessee
26. Nebraska
27. Utah
28. Oklahoma State
29. Arizona State
30. Georgia Tech
31. Marshall
32. Texas A&M
33. Texas
34. Arizona
35. Toledo
36. Minnesota
37. Louisville
38. San Diego State
39. Mississippi State
40. Cincinnati

 

[PANDFAN]

if you want a free read on Texas

if you want a free read on Texas

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get both pages of my #33 team TEXAS right now for free on <a href="http://t.co/YTLyRiNRml">http://t.co/YTLyRiNRml</a> <a href="http://t.co/9iQRhSB5Af">pic.twitter.com/9iQRhSB5Af</a></p>— Phil Steele (@philsteele042) <a href="https://twitter.com/philsteele042/status/608271283944460291">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ACamp1900]

They are going to be better, good news for us that it's more likely they take their bigger steps forward later in the year.

 

[irishfan]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get both pages of my #33 team TEXAS right now for free on <a href="http://t.co/YTLyRiNRml">http://t.co/YTLyRiNRml</a> <a href="http://t.co/9iQRhSB5Af">pic.twitter.com/9iQRhSB5Af</a></p>— Phil Steele (@philsteele042) <a href="https://twitter.com/philsteele042/status/608271283944460291">June 9, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Good call. Full Texas preview PDF here: http://philsteele.com/Pdf/Blogs/2015_Top_40/33_Texas.pdf

 

[irishfan]

Bump for Georgia Tech at #30.

The free Steele preview for them is here http://www.philsteele.com/Pdf/Blogs/2015_Top_40/30_GeorgiaTech.pdf

 

[Irish#1]

I do this thread every year as I'm a big Phil Steele fan. He's doing his Top-40 countdown now to hype up his magazine release in July. I'll keep this updated and just bump whenever one of our opponents is in the ranking.

Phil Steele

40) Cincinnati
39) Mississippi State
38) San Diego State
37) Louisville
36) Minnesota
35) Toledo
34) Arizona
33) Texas
32) Texas A&M
31) Marshall
30) Georgia Tech

OK, I'm nitpicking here, but shouldn't you have 40 at the bottom and 30 at the top?

 

[ulukinatme]

OK, I'm nitpicking here, but shouldn't you have 40 at the bottom and 30 at the top?

If you think of it as a countdown to #1 then no.

 

[irishfan]

OK, I'm nitpicking here, but shouldn't you have 40 at the bottom and 30 at the top?

Just went that way for countdown purposes haha if I were posting a full Top-40 at once, I would have #1 up top for sure.

 

[Irish#1]

Just went that way for countdown purposes haha if I were posting a full Top-40 at once, I would have #1 up top for sure.

So you're saying David Letterman has been doing it wrong all these years?

 

[dshans]

So you're saying David Letterman has been doing it wrong all these years?

No surprise.

He's a Hoosier.

 

[EvilleIrish]

Bump for Georgia Tech at #30.

The free Steele preview for them is here http://www.philsteele.com/Pdf/Blogs/2015_Top_40/30_GeorgiaTech.pdf

That is shockingly low to me

 

[Irish#1]

No surprise.

He's a Hoosier.

Careful now.

 

[woolybug25]

That is shockingly low to me

Did they lose a lot of starters from last year or something?

They won 11 games last year, almost beat Fsu in the ACC title game and blew Miss St out in their bowl game. That is a massive drop from where they ended last season.

 

[NDohio]

Did they lose a lot of starters from last year or something?

They won 11 games last year, almost beat Fsu in the ACC title game and blew Miss St out in their bowl game. That is a massive drop from where they ended last season.

Their O-Line comes back and the QB is back. The rest of the offense graduated. They lost a lot of yardage to graduation.

But - the QB is back, and he makes that O go. One of the games I am worried about.

 

[Irish#1]

Did they lose a lot of starters from last year or something?

They won 11 games last year, almost beat Fsu in the ACC title game and blew Miss St out in their bowl game. That is a massive drop from where they ended last season.

I think they lost a lot of starters, especially along the lines.

 

[L-cart ND-ana]

Did they lose a lot of starters from last year or something?

They won 11 games last year, almost beat Fsu in the ACC title game and blew Miss St out in their bowl game. That is a massive drop from where they ended last season.

Their O-Line comes back and the QB is back. The rest of the offense graduated. They lost a lot of yardage to graduation.

But - the QB is back, and he makes that O go. One of the games I am worried about.

Option teams worry me but they usually come in the form of one of the military academies with bad defenses. Tech had a good D last year but I think they lost some guys on D as well.

 

[texbender]

definitely a game to be concerned about

 

[irishtrain]

definitely a game to be concerned about

More than a little concerned but would like to post this for anyone who cares-I have a buddy that had a son who played on the last Tech team to beat Notre Dame. His comment-'we were surprised how soft they were'. I don't think that will happen this year but letting the boys know that may not be a bad thing.

 

[ACamp1900]

Saw GT a few times last year, their QB is a super beast in that offense...

 

[Old Man Mike]

Great QB and four OLine return --- BUT ALL OTHER SKILL PEOPLE and their number one OLineman [who was where they went on third and short consistently] are all gone. Steele thinks they might lose four games [inc. to us.]

 

[irishfan]

More than a little concerned but would like to post this for anyone who cares-I have a buddy that had a son who played on the last Tech team to beat Notre Dame. His comment-'we were surprised how soft they were'. I don't think that will happen this year but letting the boys know that may not be a bad thing.

The Demetrius Jones era!

 

[irishfan]

Got my copy in the mail early yesterday, so I've updated the full Top 40 at the top. I have also put it in 1-40 order for Irish#1.

#12 seems like a great spot for us. Surprised at Stanford, although I definitely think they'll be improved from last season. Some other quick surprises for me are Penn State at #19 and Miami at #21. I don't think either did enough last season to warrant that. Arizona should also be much higher IMO.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

I am just excited he has the Rockets at number 40!


Brings a little cred.

Does anyone have a breakdown on how accurate Phil's team predictions are for ND?

 

[NCND]

I think Miami is gonna surprise some people. Their QB is the real deal.

 

[woolybug25]

I'll go ahead and say it... LSU shouldn't be in front of us. We beat them on a neutral field in our bowl game and have more returning starters. We are a better team than LSU.

 

[irishknight35]

Stanford at #7 is puzzling let alone in the top 10 teams in the nation. Same ineffective QB and RB group with only Cajuste and Hooper to throw the ball to. Unless they plan on winning every game 14-10 they should have another 7-8 win season.

 

[gkIrish]

Is it too early to fire up a prediction thread?

 

[Irish YJ]

Their O-Line comes back and the QB is back. The rest of the offense graduated. They lost a lot of yardage to graduation.

But - the QB is back, and he makes that O go. One of the games I am worried about.

They have a ton of speedy kids still there, and better ones coming in. My GT neighbor Thinks their backfield won't skip a beat.

LSU and Stanford are way to high.

 

[IrishLax]

I'll go ahead and say it... LSU shouldn't be in front of us. We beat them on a neutral field in our bowl game and have more returning starters. We are a better team than LSU.

Half those teams shouldn't be in front of us. OSU, TCU, USC, Bama, and FSU are all better on paper. I'm not buying Baylor at 5, CERTAINLY not buy Georgia - who is taking every QB transfer they can get their hands on because their situation is sooooo bad - at 6 even with their RBs, Stanford at 7 is truly laughable, and then I really like 8-11 but there are also huge question marks for each team.

Stanford at #7 is puzzling let alone in the top 10 teams in the nation. Same ineffective QB and RB group with only Cajuste and Hooper to throw the ball to. Unless they plan on winning every game 14-10 they should have another 7-8 win season.

Their defense got much worse, too. And they've got McCafferey as a really good offensive weapon, but your point still stands... their skill position talent is below average.

 

[Wild Bill]

I'll go ahead and say it... LSU shouldn't be in front of us. We beat them on a neutral field in our bowl game and have more returning starters. We are a better team than LSU.

Agree. I could maybe see them being ranked ahead of us if they had a QB that could actually throw a forward pass.

USC seems a bit overrated too. Juju will be better than Agholor but it's still a loss to the offense. The entire defense went through Williams. I can't imagine they'll be better without him.