Palmetto Proving Grounds

he and the mag. have allways been crazy. i almost think he does it on purpose to draw attention and sell mags. who in their right mind would make pics like that every year, year in and year out. i agree with you 100%, he is nuts, but not if it sells and makes him money! just for entertainment, look at who he picked to win the nc last year. if you go back and look at his picks , he never gets many right.

He's trolling South Carolina fans IYAM.

It is very well documented that Phil Steele heavily weights his picks towards SOS. We have a hard schedule. UNC, UCF CU, etc... do not. His picks are more about where he thinks the teams will end in the rankings, not preseason.

I think it is more of how much more/less difficult is this year's schedule for this team as compared to last year's schedule for the 2011 team.

Arkansas: I think Arky will be easier b/c it will be at home & their future is harder to tell b/c of the unique coaching situation.
UGA: this one will be about the same difficulty level or maybe a bit harder, IMO. Last year they were in an uncertain situation facing us, but had their backs against the wall at home. This year, they have more established identities both offensively and defensively, plus it is later so they will have less people missing (unless injuries hit them). But they should have a better backfield but worse line.
LSU: replaces Mississippi State, and still on the road. Much more difficult than last year.
Mizzou: take a non-conf cupcake & replace with a conference foe. Harder no matter the non-conf opponent.
Clemson: at their place, debatable scheme/personnel improvement. Still will be weak on fronts, likely, but some people seem to have man-crushes on them. They have the usual cupcake schedule, though. So they won't be too worn down & could have a ton of momentum unless the rest of the world figures out what Ellis Johnson/NC State/West Virginia figured out in regards to shutting down their gimmicky but ultra-talented offense (Taj is not all that, but Watkins, Hopkins & Ellington are very good to special talent). I think it will be somewhat more difficult.

Ultimately, to me, we have a harder row to hoe this year than last year. The question may be, will we be improved as well & if so, by enough to make up for the difference? We lost a lot, but certainly have hope that we have the depth to fill in those holes well. It will be tough to go 4-1 against these five, IMO. But we can hope. However, to think we fall to #23 & below UCF, UNC, & Texas (don't care how much talent they have, they should have to show more than they have the last couple of years to be expected to be high at all) is ridiculous. Don't like being behind OSU & CU, but there's the allure of Meyer and the aforementioned press infatuation with Clemson (and we'll have the opportunity to see if we're better than CU on the field). UGA is going to be legitimately good. So that one I get. The rest doesn't seem to hold the usual objective analytical standards that Steele touts so vociferously, but then again, I'm naturally biased.

Tajh ain't all that, he really ain't.

Connor>>>>>>>>Tajh

Steele is a stats guy, which is why I love his magazine; I use it all season long to look up all kinds of facts about the teams I watch on TV.
Some of the stats on which he puts the most of emphasis are returning starters, returning yards, and returning tackles. That is why he has us ranked out of the top 20; we have to replace a number of key players.

Phil is all about the schedules, and he is fairly accurate in his predictions. Have you seen our schedule? BRUTAL