Below is a PDF of the Utah State page from Phil Steele's 2020 College Football Preview Magazine. He sees our ceiling as 6 wins. Of course, we still don't really know what the season will look like and his research was before we brought in Shelly and DHC. Hopefully, we will get a chance to play as many games as possible and see how we stack up. For what it is worth, here is a breakdown of his analysis of The Aggies.

He sees our team as being inexperienced and predicts us finishing 5th in the Mountain Division, above New Mexico. He shows us losing more contributors from last year than any other MWC team. He sees our offense taking a step back while the defense improves

He has us ranked at #107 in his Preseason Power Poll (composite computer rankings). Here is how the rest of the MWC stacks up:

40: Boise State
68. Wyoming
70: Air Force
73. Colorado State
80. Nevada
90. Hawaii
94. San Diego State
104. Fresno State
106. San Jose State
107. Utah State
119. New Mexico
123. UNLV

Here is his MWC predicted order of finish:

Mountain Division
1. Boise State
2. Wyoming
3. Air Force
4. Colorado State
5. Utah State
6. New Mexico

Western Division
1. Nevada
2. San Diego State
3. Hawai’i
4. Fresno State
5. San Jose State
6. UNLV

Aggies on his All-Conference Teams:

First Team: Savon Scarver KR

Second Team: Shaq Bond DB

Third Team: Demytrick Ali’ifua OL, Troy Lefeged DB

Fourth Team: Jaylen Warren RB, Deven Thompkins WR, Andy Koch OL, Justus Te’i DL, Kevin Meitzenheimer LB

Phil sees us as having the 57th best Offensive Line in the country…we didn’t make his top 60 in any other position group.

Phil also puts together a Top 40 (plus a few), which builds upon his computer rankings and takes into account each team schedule and how he expects each team to finish. This year his top 40 goes to 61(basically, he predicts all these teams to be bowl eligible). Here are the teams we were scheduled to play that made his top 61:

#24: Boise State
#36: Washington
#46: Colorado State
#49: Air Force
#52: BYU
#61: Wyoming

Overall he has us with the 77th toughest schedule in FBS.

Here is how he sees our position groups stacking up in the Mountain West:

- QB: 11th
- Running Backs: 8th
- Receivers: 5th
- O-Line: 4th
- D-Line: 8th
- LB: 2nd
- DB: 4th
- Special Teams: 7th
- Coaching: 4th

Floppy Hat wrote: ↑

July 22nd, 2020, 10:42 am

Here is how he sees our position groups stacking up in the Mountain West:

- QB: 11th
- Running Backs: 8th
- Receivers: 5th
- O-Line: 4th
- D-Line: 8th
- LB: 2nd
- DB: 4th
- Special Teams: 7th
- Coaching: 4th

Is the QB ranking just because Love was drafted or is there more research behind that? I can agree with the other rankings.

The QB ranking is due to inexperience, the other MW teams (with the exception of SDSU) have more experienced starters and backups. Columbi has 29 career pass attempts and no other QBs have any pass attempts.

His analysis was all before Shelley transferred in. Air Force's QB room could also take a step back if Hammond ends up not playing.

Floppy Hat wrote:The QB ranking is due to inexperience, the other MW teams (with the exception of SDSU) have more experienced starters and backups. Columbi has 29 career pass attempts and no other QBs have any pass attempts.

His analysis was all before Shelley transferred in. Air Force's QB room could also take a step back if Hammond ends up not playing.

Peasley has two attempts, unsubscribe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

QuackAttackAggie wrote: ↑

July 22nd, 2020, 10:59 am

Peasley has two attempts, unsubscribe


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm contacting Phil now to demand he issues a full correction and apology!!!


Now I find out Peasley actually has 10 career attempts. He threw 8 times against San Jose in 2018. I'm done with Phil Steele forever!

Mr. Steele has been smoking dope!

I think he nailed it, with the 12 game original schedule, I figured 3 to 5 wins. People are going to realize just how good Jordan Love was.

Jjoey52 wrote: ↑

July 22nd, 2020, 2:20 pm

I think he nailed it, with the 12 game original schedule, I figured 3 to 5 wins. People are going to realize just how good Jordan Love was.

Love was damned good. People here cracked me up one they'd go after him for the outs he threw for interceptions.
With that said, the line is so much better this year than last, I think we will be much better than 11th or whatever in the MW.
I think 4th is more realistic.
Also yanking ENA as the DC will be huge.

Phil Steele was, for a long time, the pioneer of preseason rankings and analysis. He's been lapped a few times over, thanks to more sophisticated analysis and his own refusal to evolve at an appropriate pace. Most statheads still buy his magazine as it is a tradition and, in their minds, pays homage to the original football nerd.

If you want to try to argue that our QB room is worse than SJSU, UNM, Wyoming, or Fresno...be my guest. It's not a solid argument. I think he's got our WR and ST groups too high as well.

I think it's a god bet that we're better than more MW teams than just NM and UNLV.

Love wasn't that good last season. Remember?

El Sapo wrote: ↑

July 24th, 2020, 8:16 am

I think it's a god bet that we're better than more MW teams than just NM and UNLV.

Love wasn't that good last season. Remember?

I agree Love made some bad decisions and bad reads but my hell. The defense couldn't stop their grandma. They were always playing from behind. We had an OC who was AWOL after he tweeked the offense just enough to take the option out of the RPO, a hurt experienced O-line, no pass protection, and a green light to the opposing Ds to use 7-8 men to cover the throw game with no run reads or attempts to make them think about the run or QB option run.

I give you had Love not had the boneheaded throws against Wake the Aggies would have won but it was his Jekyl and Hyde brilliant play on the other hand that was the only reason they had a chance to win. The Zoobs game would have been closer but the Aggie D never, ever stopped them and that would't have changed.

Other than that their was nothing more he could do to change the Aggies record for the better. He certainly kept it from being much worse.

I think the restructuring of the O structured around multiple good run options and a better O-line should translate into a competent offense. But if the D is anything like last year the Aggies win 2 games tops. Love gave the Aggies a fighting chance at least.

This year is about the defense. Hoping the scheme and coordinator change brings out some revelations in talent and desire. Otherwise its gonna be ugly.

El Sapo wrote: ↑

July 24th, 2020, 8:16 am

I think it's a god bet that we're better than more MW teams than just NM and UNLV.

Love wasn't that good last season. Remember?

He threw for 3400 yards and made big plays in a lot of our wins. Very few quarterbacks would have done better in that situation. He didn't all of a sudden get worse from 18 -19, his supporting cast just wasn't as good. The defense also couldnt stop anybody. I'm not going to blame Love when Boise State, byu and Kent State are still scoring on us.

The Aggies ranked behind SJS? Oh my!

I think the biggest reason we struggled last year was because of Sanford. It seemed like we only had 3 plays in our playbook.

YoungBloodAggie wrote:Phil Steele was, for a long time, the pioneer of preseason rankings and analysis. He's been lapped a few times over, thanks to more sophisticated analysis and his own refusal to evolve at an appropriate pace. Most statheads still buy his magazine as it is a tradition and, in their minds, pays homage to the original football nerd.

If you want to try to argue that our QB room is worse than SJSU, UNM, Wyoming, or Fresno...be my guest. It's not a solid argument. I think he's got our WR and ST groups too high as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk