ACC Nation

Column by Patrick Hite
accnationpatrick@comcast.net 

Phil Steele, the publisher and editor of Phil Steele’s 2007 College Football Preview recently joined ACC Nation for our weekly syndicated radio show and podcast.

Steele’s publication is 328 pages of information on every Division I-A college-football team. And the magazine doesn’t only look ahead to the 2007 season, but has valuable statistics from years past for every team.

This is how important this magazine is to writers - ESPN.com’s Pat Forde wrote in a column earlier this summer: “I left mine on a plane during the 2006 season and nearly had a seizure when I discovered it was missing.”

According to Steele, he works on the publication 365 days a year with the help of a 30-person staff. That staff is responsible for a lot of the statistical information on the right-hand pages.

During the football season, Steele sits in his office on Saturdays and watches games on the 12 television sets in front of his desk. Then, on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays he reviews the play-by-play of every game.

The Tuesday Twelve this week comes from our interview with Steele. The following are 12 bits of information, either about the magazine or ACC football, that I found interesting. All quotes should be attributed to Steele.

12. Steele likes Sean Glennon and Branden Ore on Virginia Tech’s offense, but he really likes the other side of the ball: “It’s probably the best defense they’ve had there since 1999 … overall I rate it the third-best defense in the country.”

11. The guy writes each of the 119 previews - two pages each - himself. “I believe we’re the only major magazine that’s written one person.”

10. The man knows football. He also knows marketing: ”We’re not only a hundred pages more than any other magazine, but we just pack information on top of information. I feel we’ve got at least twice the amount of information as any other preview.”

9. With Rick Trickett coming from West Virginia to Florida State to coach, Steele said, “I think the offensive line problem is solved.”

8. Speaking of Florida State, Steele had this to say about the Seminoles: “I rate them a dark-horse national-title contender.”

7. “And I know we’re the only magazine that gives the same amount of coverage to a team like Florida International or Ball State as we do to the Oklahomas and USCs.”

6. Get out your magnifying glass: “If we get one knock on the magazine it is that we have a lot of tiny type and not those big full-color pictures.”

5. Steele predicts Boston College to finish last - LAST!!! - in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. We don’t think he was drunk when he made this call. Steele said the offensive line’s new blocking scheme and BC’s secondary concerned him, but more than anything it was the Eagles’ tough schedule: “Out of the Coastal Division they have to face both Virginia Tech and Miami. Wake Forest, for example, draws North Carolina and Duke. So there’s a big difference there.”

4. A member of his staff is assigned to each of the conferences and they read stories from local newspapers and underline the important stuff. “That’s the stuff I go through in December, January and February, which really gives me a good flavor for what happened for the team the year before.”

3. That man isn’t scared of work - “We finally finish the magazine when all the spring practices are over in the middle of May. A lot of 100-hour work weeks in there. I really feel like it’s 119 different media guides rolled into one.”

2. Steele believes one game will be the make-or-break contest if Virginia Tech is to win the Coastal Division: ”Probably the key to their season is that home game on Nov. 17 against Miami of Florida.”

1. But forget the Coastal. Steele thinks another game will be the key if Virginia Tech has loftier goals: “I’ll tell you this - they knock off LSU in week two and you can put Virginia Tech No. 2 in the polls and make them a favorite to get to the national-title game.”