Overview of Many Preseason Rankings Below is a set of "consensus" predictions, both for the top 25 and for each conference, derived from all of the national preview magazines which I've been able to find. The tables of data won't line up unless you use a fixed-width font. ============================ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ============================== Thanks to Peter Coughlan for Football Digest's national top 25 and an early view of Preview Sports' data. Thanks to Joe Ledesma for an early view of College Sports, Blitz, Winning Sports Gambling, and Jeff Allen's data. ========================= LEGEND AND GENERAL NOTES ========================= AT = Athlon Sports (National College Football Edition) BG = Bob Griese's College Football 1996 Yearbook BL = Blitz! (mostly NFL converage) (@) CO = College Sports (College Football Preview Issue) CP = College & Pro Football Newsweekly (June 1996 Issue) (#) ES = ESPN College Football FA = Football Action '96 (College and Pro Preview Issue) FD = Football Digest (College Football Preview Issue) (@) FN = Football News (College Preview Issue, August 1996) GP = Game Plan's College Football 1996 Annual Preview JA = Jeff Allen's College Football Preview and Betting Guide LI = Lindy's Big ten Football 1996 issue LM = LineMasters Inc.'s 1996 Sports Betting Encyclopedia MG = Mark Gunn's College & Pro Preview & Betting Guide PV = Preview Sports College Football (1996 issue) SI = Sports Illustrated Presents College Football '96 SS = Street & Smith's College Football (1996 Issue) ST = Phil Steele's 1996 College Football Preview TS = The Sporting News 1996 College Football Yearbook WS = Winning Sports Gambling Illustrated (#) WY = Mike Wynn's top 20 (in Jeff Allen's magazine) (@) Notes: Not all of these magazines gave both a national ranking and conference predictions. (@) marks those which had national rankings but not conference standings, (#) marks those which predicted conference standings but not a national ranking. Last year's College Preview (CPV) was apparently renamed to Preview Sports (PV). I haven't been able to find Feist's college preview. His office promised that it would be available on August 1. If it eventually shows up, I will make another version of this article and submit it to the r.s.f.c WWW site. This year, I review and rate the magazines (at least those which I could find my own copies of); see the list at the end of this article. ================================= TOP 25 =================================== Below is the consensus National top 25. Rankings of the teams in each magazine are given under each column. A "dash" represents a team that was unranked (or ranked below #25, for those magazines that rank more than 25 teams). The individual rankings are scored and totalled in the rightmost column. Details on the scoring system follow the teams list. ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT IS FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO BL MG JA WY FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Nebraska 1 2 5 4 1 2 3 2 1 5 3 2 1 2 4 5 2 3 1 540 2 Florida State 2 4 1 2 2 1 2 3 4 6 8 1 2 1 1 2 4 2 3 538 3 Tennessee 4 1 2 3 4 4 6 5 3 3 1 6 3 5 3 1 5 1 2 527 4 Florida 5 6 4 1 3 3 5 4 2 4 2 4 4 3 7 6 1 4 4 517 5 Colorado 10 5 3 5 6 5 11 1 5 2 4 5 5 4 2 3 7 6 5 495 6 Notre Dame 3 3 6 7 5 7 1 8 11 12 5 3 6 6 5 9 3 5 6 478 7 Texas 11 9 12 9 9 9 16 9 6 11 10 8 8 13 8 - 10 9 8 398 8 Southern Cal 7 8 10 6 11 6 19 15 8 13 9 11 15 11 16 7 16 10 7 384 9 Syracuse 9 14 8 8 7 13 9 10 17 14 6 16 7 8 13 8 - 7 9 380 10 Ohio State 6 13 11 10 8 14 7 6 13 7 - 19 9 15 6 - 6 8 10 374 11 Miami-Florida 8 19 23 14 10 8 4 7 10 1 16 7 10 14 10 - - 14 13 359 12 Penn State 12 12 7 11 16 12 18 14 7 16 13 9 11 12 18 4 18 11 11 357 13 Texas A&M 13 16 21 13 17 16 8 11 15 18 17 10 14 10 9 - 17 12 12 324 14 Michigan 18 7 16 19 13 23 14 16 9 8 14 12 20 7 11 - - 13 14 313 15 Alabama 15 17 22 18 15 22 15 13 14 9 - 14 23 9 12 - - 15 16 267 16 Auburn 21 21 - 12 22 10 21 17 25 17 24 17 16 19 17 10 11 20 15 243 17 Virginia Tech - 11 14 20 14 19 20 18 22 10 22 22 12 16 22 - - 17 20 237 18 Kansas State 17 - 9 21 - 21 - 12 18 22 11 18 - 20 19 - 12 19 19 211 19 Iowa 22 - 17 17 - 11 10 22 - 23 15 15 17 - 21 - 13 21 22 203 20 Northwestern 16 20 13 15 18 25 - - - - 7 24 22 18 - - 15 16 17 192 21 Louisiana St 14 - 19 22 25 18 12 23 12 - 12 - - 24 20 - - 18 18 186 22 Arizona State 19 24 24 25 19 15 13 - - 19 25 - 13 - - - - 22 21 153 23 N. Carolina 23 - 18 24 24 - 17 20 - 25 - 13 - - 15 - - 23 - 128 24 Washington - 15 - 16 21 - - - 19 - - - 25 17 - - 8 - 25 117 25 Virginia 24 - 15 - - 17 - - 16 - 19 - - 21 25 - - 24 23 115 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Others receiving votes: ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT IS FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO BL MG JA WY FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 26 Texas Tech - - - 23 20 - - - - 15 20 - 18 22 - - 14 - 24 107 27 Clemson - 10 - - 23 24 25 - 20 21 - 21 19 - - - - - - 105 28 Oregon - - - - - 20 - 19 - - 21 - 21 23 - - - 25 - 77 29 Wisconsin - 18 - - - - 23 - - 20 - - - - - - 9 - - 69 30 E. Carolina - 23 - - - - - - 23 24 - 25 24 - - - 19 - - 63 31 Kansas - - - - 12 - - - 21 - 18 - - - - - - - - 62 32 San Diego St. - - - - - - 22 25 24 - - 20 - - - - - - - 53 33 Utah 20 25 - - - - - 24 - - 23 - - - - - - - - 52 34 Georgia - - - - - - 24 21 - - - - - - 24 - 20 - - 50 35 BYU 25 - - - - - - - - - - 23 - 25 - - - - - 40 36 Wyoming - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 14 - - - - 37 37 Georgia Tech - 22 25 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 35 38 Stanford - - 20 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 31 39 Arizona - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 23 - - - - 28 Unranked - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 20 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- NOTES: The scoring system is similar to that used in the A.P. poll, except: (1) there is a 5-point bonus for being mentioned (i.e., the difference between "25" and "unranked" is six points, not one point); and (2) I've had to make adjustments for national rankings which don't include a full 25 teams. For magazines that give a top 25, 30 points are given for a 1st-place vote, 29 for 2nd-place, down to 6 points for 25th-place (and zero for unranked). For magazines that rank less teams, the point total for a first-place vote is kept the same, but the value of "unranked" is increased to preserve the six-point drop between the lowest ranking and unranked -- e.g., "unranked" is fifteen points for a magazine that only lists a top ten ("10" is 21 points). (A) Why the five-point bonus? If there were only a one-point difference between 25th and "unranked," then a team ranked #20 in one magazine (six points) would be ahead of a team ranked #25 in five magazines (five points). I felt that a team which is "consensus" ranked (i.e., appears in the most magazines) should have an advantage over a team which is ranked relatively high by very few publications. The AP poll has enough voters that such anomalous entries are lost in the noise; this list only has about 1/4 as many. This bonus doesn't affect the top 10-15 teams, because they are all mentioned in every magazine. It does help those lower-ranked teams that are mentioned many times, at the expense of those lower-ranked teams that are not mentioned as many times. (B) Why compensate for shorter lists? If I did not do this, the teams mentioned near the bottom of a short list would have a huge advantage over those that just missed the list (i.e., the short list would have undue influence on the rankings of teams that just-made or just-missed the list). For example: Suppose Syracuse were #11 in nine publications and #10 in a magazine that only made a top ten list. Suppose Southern Cal were #10 in those first nine publications, but just missed the top ten list in the last one. If I didn't make an adjustment for the shorter list, the huge drop between the last ranking on that list (#10 = 21 points) and unranked (0 points) would cause Syracuse (201 points) to be rated way ahead of Southern Cal (189 points)... even though nine of ten magazines had rated the Trojans higher! I fixed this problem by deciding that being left out of a top ten list shouldn't be as "bad" as being left out of a top 25 list. This adjustment ends up awarding points to teams that are unranked, but it prevents the unfair advantage given to some teams by short lists. Alternatively, I could made the adjustment on the other end and lowered the point values for rankings in a short list (instead of raising the value for "unranked"). For example, a magazine that only rated ten teams could be scored 15...6 points for #1-#10 teams, and still zero for unranked. However, that would have greatly complicated the scoring script, and resulted in strange totals at the upper end of the scale. Magazines which did not rank at least 25 teams are: JA (Jeff Allen's) listed only a top ten (unranked = 15) WY (Wynn's rankings in JA) listed only 20 (unranked = 5) A team which is completely unranked will receive 20 points (15 + 5) from these two adjustments. ========================= CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS ============================= NOTE: Unlike the "top 25 table", dash "-" in the conference predictions means that the publication did not rank that conference. This only happened to the Big West and MAC. ================================== ACC ===================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Florida State 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 18 2 Virginia 3 5 4 2 4 2 3 3 2 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 3 2 52 3 N. Carolina 2 6 3 5 3 4 2 2 4 3 4 2 4 3 4 2 2 4 59 4 Clemson 4 2 2 4 2 3 4 5 3 5 3 3 2 5 2 6 5 5 65 5 Georgia Tech 6 3 5 3 5 5 6 4 6 4 5 7 6 4 5 4 4 6 88 6 Maryland 5 4 7 6 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 5 6 6 5 7 3 100 7 N.C. State 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 7 7 8 7 6 7 123 8 Duke 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 144 9 Wake Forest 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 161 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- =============================== BIG EAST =================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Syracuse 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 1 28 2 Miami-Florida 1 3 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 30 3 Virginia Tech 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 50 4 West Virginia 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 75 5 Boston College 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 89 6 Pittsburgh 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 6 8 6 7 5 111 7 Temple 7 8 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 8 7 7 8 7 131 8 Rutgers 8 7 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 8 8 7 6 8 5 8 134 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- ================================ BIG TEN =================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Ohio State 1 3 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 3 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 33 2 Penn State 2 2 5 5 3 2 4 2 1 2 2 1 2 3 3 3 2 2 46 3 Michigan 4 1 4 3 2 4 3 3 3 1 3 2 4 2 4 2 3 3 51 4 Iowa 5 7 3 4 5 1 2 4 4 5 4 3 3 5 5 4 5 5 74 5 Northwestern 3 5 1 2 4 5 6 7 5 4 1 5 5 6 2 9 4 4 78 6 Wisconsin 6 4 8 7 8 8 5 5 6 6 8 6 11 4 6 5 7 6 116 7 Michigan St. 7 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 7 7 7 8 9 7 9 7 6 7 126 8 Purdue 9 10 7 8 9 7 10 6 8 8 6 9 7 8 8 6 8 9 143 9 Illinois 10 8 9 9 7 10 9 9 9 9 9 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 156 10 Indiana 8 11 11 11 10 9 8 10 11 10 11 10 10 10 11 10 11 8 180 11 Minnesota 11 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 10 11 6 11 10 11 10 11 185 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- ================================= BIG 12 =================================== NORTH ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Nebraska 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 21 2 Colorado 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 33 3 Kansas State 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 59 4 Kansas 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 67 5 Iowa State 6 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 6 96 6 Missouri 5 6 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 5 6 5 102 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- SOUTH ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Texas 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 21 2 Texas A&M 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 33 3 Texas Tech 3 3 4 4 3 4 6 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 61 4 Baylor 4 4 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 68 5 Oklahoma St. 6 6 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 6 6 5 6 6 4 6 6 97 6 Oklahoma 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 98 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- ================================ BIG WEST ================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Nevada 1 2 - 2 1 2 - 3 1 2 1 - 1 - - - 2 1 19 2 Utah State 3 1 - 1 2 1 - 1 3 4 4 - 2 - - - 1 2 25 3 New Mex. St. 4 3 - 3 6 5 - 5 4 1 2 - 5 - - - 3 3 44 4 Idaho 2 6 - 5 3 3 - 2 2 3 6 - 3 - - - 6 4 45 5 Boise State 6 5 - 6 4 4 - 4 5 5 5 - 4 - - - 5 6 59 6 North Texas 5 4 - 4 5 6 - 6 6 6 3 - 6 - - - 4 5 60 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- NOTE: CP, ST, LM, WS, JA, and MG did not rate the Big West. ============================= CONFERENCE USA =============================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Cincinnati 1 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 27 2 Louisville 2 2 1 1 2 2 4 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 4 37 3 S. Miss. 3 3 3 3 1 3 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 4 3 2 3 1 50 4 Houston 5 4 5 5 5 5 3 5 6 4 4 4 6 5 4 4 4 3 81 5 Memphis 4 5 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 5 88 6 Tulane 6 6 6 6 6 6 2 4 5 6 6 6 4 3 6 5 6 6 95 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- NOTE: LM included UAB in Conference USA (picked seventh), but no other magazine included that team. I think that UAB doesn't compete in CUSA football until 1997. ================================== MAC ===================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Toledo 1 2 - 1 1 4 - 2 1 1 2 - 1 - - - 1 2 19 2 Miami-Ohio 2 1 - 2 2 1 - 1 2 2 1 - 3 - - - 2 1 20 3 Ball State 3 3 - 3 3 2 - 3 3 3 3 - 2 - - - 3 3 34 4 E. Michigan 4 6 - 6 4 3 - 6 5 4 4 - 5 - - - 4 6 57 5 Bowling Green 5 5 - 4 5 5 - 4 6 5 5 - 4 - - - 6 5 59 6 C. Michigan 6 4 - 5 7 7 - 5 7 6 7 - 6 - - - 5 4 69 7 W. Michigan 7 7 - 7 6 6 - 7 4 8 6 - 7 - - - 7 7 79 8 Akron 9 10 - 8 8 8 - 8 10 9 9 - 8 - - - 9 9 105 9 Ohio U. 8 8 - 10 9 10 - 9 8 7 10 - 9 - - - 10 10 108 10 Kent 10 9 - 9 10 9 - 10 9 10 8 - 10 - - - 8 8 110 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- NOTE: CP, ST, LM, WS, JA, and MG did not rate the MAC. ================================= PAC 10 =================================== ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Southern Cal 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 22 2 Arizona State 2 3 4 4 2 2 1 4 3 1 3 7 1 3 3 4 2 2 51 3 Washington 4 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 2 4 4 3 4 2 2 5 5 3 62 4 Oregon 3 6 3 3 4 3 8 2 4 6 2 2 3 6 4 3 3 4 69 5 Arizona 8 5 7 7 7 6 4 3 5 7 5 5 7 5 5 2 7 6 101 6 Stanford 5 4 5 5 6 5 6 7 7 2 7 6 5 7 6 9 6 5 103 7 UCLA 6 7 6 6 5 7 7 5 6 5 8 4 8 4 8 6 4 7 109 8 California 9 9 9 8 8 8 3 9 8 8 6 8 6 9 9 8 9 9 143 9 Washington St. 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 8 7 7 8 8 150 10 Oregon State 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 180 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- =================================== SEC ==================================== EAST ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Tennessee 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 26 2 Florida 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 28 3 Georgia 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 54 4 S. Carolina 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 5 4 5 5 6 4 4 80 5 Kentucky 5 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 6 5 85 6 Vanderbilt 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 6 105 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- WEST ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1t Alabama 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 4 1 1 2 33 1t Auburn 3 2 1 1 2 1 3 2 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 1 33 3 LSU 1 3 3 3 3 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 44 4 Arkansas 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 2 4 4 5 74 5 Miss. St. 6 5 6 6 5 5 4 5 6 5 5 6 4 5 6 5 5 6 95 6 Mississippi 5 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 4 6 6 5 6 6 4 99 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- ================================== WAC ===================================== MOUNTAIN ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 Utah 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 25 2 Brigham Young 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 29 3 TCU 4 3 3 4 3 6 5 5 4 3 4 4 3 5 3 6 3 4 72 4 Tulsa 3 4 4 6 4 3 7 3 3 6 3 3 4 4 6 4 4 7 78 5 New Mexico 7 6 6 3 5 7 3 4 5 4 7 6 6 3 5 3 5 5 90 6 Rice 6 5 5 5 6 5 6 6 7 5 6 5 5 6 4 5 7 6 100 7 SMU 5 7 7 7 7 4 4 7 8 7 5 7 7 8 8 7 6 3 114 8 Texas-El Paso 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 8 8 8 7 7 8 8 8 140 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- PACIFIC ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- Rank Team LI AT CP FA BG TS ST GP SS PV SI LM CO WS JA MG FN ES Tot ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- 1 San Diego St. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 21 2 Wyoming 2 2 2 4 5 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 1 2 2 44 3 Colorado St. 3 5 5 3 4 5 5 3 3 2 4 2 5 3 2 3 4 4 65 4 Air Force 4 3 3 2 2 4 3 5 5 4 1 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 67 5 Fresno State 5 4 4 5 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 2 5 5 4 3 3 73 6 Hawaii 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 8 6 6 8 6 6 6 6 6 113 7 San Jose St. 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 8 7 8 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 131 8 Nevada-L.V. 7 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 7 6 7 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 134 ---- ------------- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --- ==================== REVIEWS AND FURTHER INFORMATION ======================= For in-depth information on the predictions and individual teams, see the magazines themselves. I've included publisher (editorial) address information where possible (but it should be possible to find most of these on any decent newsstand). NOTES: The given price is the price at the newsstand in the United States. Some of these are also available by mail order. Some magazines are much larger than the others (page sizes up to 11x17 inches); these are noted in the review as "large" pages. (When comparing page counts between different magazines, multiply large-paged ones by two.) Ratings are 0 (no stars, "don't waste your money") through **** (four stars, "nearly every college football fan will find it useful, and most would want to save it for future reference after the season is over"). I am a tough grader; at the moment there are only three four-star publications (plus Lindy's has a conditional four-star rating for fans mainly interested in a single conference). I don't recommend even buying all of the four-star publications; a lot of the information in these magazines is redundant. Most fans will be satisfied with a single magazine (or one national and one conference-based magazine); read the reviews below to find out which ones have most of the features which you want. AT = Athlon Sports (National College Football Edition) ($4.99, 226 pp., Athlon Sports Communications, Inc. / 220 25th Avenue North, Suite 200 / Nashville, TN 37203. 615-327-0747) Rating: ****. One page per team discussing the prospects of the coming season, includes a projected two-deep lineup. Schedules all together in a separate section (in a font that's almost too small to read). Lengthy recruiting section. Has all-conference and all-American picks. Relatively little space devoted to "special feature" articles. (I consider this a plus; in my opinion these in-depth articles on a given team, coach, or player are usually only of interest to a fan of the relevant team). Lots of commentary within their ranking of all teams; no commentary within predicted conference finish order. Somewhat similar to BG and TS. Most fans probably only need to have one of the four. I'd recommend BG to most, AT to those who want extra recruiting information, or TS to those who want extra feature articles. BG = Bob Griese's College Football 1996 Yearbook ($5.99, 178 pp., C.S. Communications / Route 22 East / One Salem Square, Suite 201 East / Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889. 908-534-5308) Rating: ****. One page devoted to each team; schedule, previous year's results, and projected two-deep for each. Commentary seems more knowledgeable than most. Has all-conference and all-American picks; devotes a page to the discussion of each conference. Several (about a half dozen) "feature articles" (on a single team, coach, or player) which I personally don't find interesting. Small recruiting section, the majority of which on a single player. Somewhat similar to AT and TS; most fans probably only need to have one of the three. I'd recommend BG to most, AT to those who want extra recruiting information, or TS to those who want extra feature articles. BL = Blitz (Not rated, because I couldn't find a copy. But I think it's mostly an NFL preview. I'm not sure that there is any information on college football at all beyond a top 25.) CO = College Sports (College Football Preview Issue) ($2.99, 74 pp., College Sports / Route 22 East / One Salem Square, Suite 201 East / Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889. E-mail letters to the editor: fansforum@aol.com.) Rating: **. Relatively short -- and about half of the magazine is devoted to other sports -- but it is inexpensive. It is essentially a regular issue of the magazine. Includes a national top 25, all-American and all-conference teams, and predicted order of finish for each conference. One or two paragraphs on each team, including the MAC and Big West. CP = College & Pro Football Newsweekly (June 1996 Issue) ($4.95, 84 large pp., Sports Eye, Inc. / 18 Industrial Park Drive / Port Washington, NY 11050. 516-484-3300) Rating: *. Relatively few pages, and barely over half of them are devoted to college football coverage. Only a few inches (of a single narrow column) devoted to discussion of each team, but last year's results and team statistics are included in a separate section. No MAC or Big West coverage. Has all-conference picks. No all-American list, no national top 25, no recruiting information. ES = ESPN College Football ($4.95, 128 pp., The Hearst Corporation / 959 Eighth Avenue / New York, NY 10019. 1-800-925-0485 for phone orders.) Rating: *. Mostly feature articles. Two pages per team for the top 25, essentially no coverage for anyone else. Includes all-American and all-conference teams, and conference predictions (one page per conference). Note that the predictions in this magazine do NOT match the predictions on ESPN's web site (http://espnet.sportszone.com). FA = Football Action '96 (College and Pro Preview Issue) ($4.95, 180 large pp., Sports Eye, Inc. / 18 Industrial Park Drive / Port Washington, NY 11050. No phone number given) Rating: **. A single issue shares space between pro and college teams. About half of a 10x13 page devoted to each team; includes 1996 schedule, last year's results and per-game average stats. More gambling stats than most magazines (e.g., records against the spread last year), but not so much as some of the higher-rated gambling-oriented magazines. Has all-conference and all-American teams. A page is devoted to the discussion of each conference. FD = Football Digest (College Football Preview Issue) (Not rated, because I couldn't find a copy. But it does not include conference predictions.) FN = Football News (College Preview Issue, August 1996) ($3.50, 40 large pp., Curtis Publishing Co. / 8033 N.W. 36th Street / Miami, FL 33166. 305-594-0508) Rating *. Relatively inexpensive, but also relatively short. Information on each team is only the projected roster and schedule. However, there is a page of text devoted to each conference, with predictions, best offensive/defensive teams, coach/player on the hot seat, impact players, etc. Has all-conference and all-American picks. No information on recruiting. GP = Game Plan's College Football 1996 Annual Preview ($6.95, 210 pp., Mark C. Del Popolo, Managing Editor / P.O. Box 3169 / Syracuse, NY 13220. Phone number 315-458-1287 for advertising inquiries only.) Rating: ***. Nearly one page per team; schedule, last year's results (including pointspreads), last year's season statistics. Projected lineups are covered in the text (all of the relevant players are mentioned), but not presented in an easy-to-read table. Includes at least a short discussion of all teams in Division I. Has three teams' worth of all-Americans, but no all-conference teams. No recruiting information. Includes a power ratings system with initial rankings and instructions for running the system over the course of the year. JA = Jeff Allen's College Football Preview and Betting Guide ($6.95, 146 pp., Allen Communications / 5025 S. Eastern #19 / Las Vegas, NV 89119. no phone number given) Rating: 0. On the expensive end of the spectrum, and doesn't include a whole lot of information. About one page on each team: a long discussion of offensive and defensive prospects for the coming season; pointspreads and game results 1993-1995; and 1995 team statistics. Schedules in a separate section. Does not discuss MAC or Big West teams. Includes two different top ten lists and a power ratings list of all teams, but none of these three lists agrees with each other. (And some of the picks are rather strange; Mike Wynn's top ten has Wisconsin #9.) No all-American or all-conference teams. No recruiting information. LI = Lindy's Big ten Football 1996 issue ($5.99, 194 pp., D.M.D. Publications, Inc. / 2700 Highway 280, Suite 108 / Birmingham, AL 35223-2472. 205-871-1182) Rating: ***. Concentrates on the teams in a given region (if you're heavily interested in a single conference you'd rate it ****). Several pages per covered team, relatively little national coverage. Covered teams get a long discussion of the previous season's results and prospects for the coming year; a list of all recruits with several sentences on each; player statistics from the previous year; 1995 results and 1996 schedules. Also includes many interesting ratings, such as national ranking of the best units (e.g., "defensive lines"). Good recruiting sections (both national and local). All-American team and ratings of the top 25 or so players (nationally) at each position. All-conference team for the target conference and other conferences in the region (for example, the Big Ten issue has first-team and second-team all-Big-Ten and first-team all-MAC teams). LM = LineMasters Inc.'s 1996 Sports Betting Encyclopedia ($6.95, 179 pp., no address or phone number given) Rating: *. Concentrates on betting angles; like most of the gambling-oriented rags it is loaded with ads for expansive gambling services. This one splits space between college and pro. Each team gets a few columns (over 2/3 of a page), with: overview of offensive and defensive prospects, 1993-1995 game results with pointspreads, 1995 team statistics. Not as much information as Feist usually has. No schedules anywhere in the magazine(!). Does not cover the MAC or Big West. No national top 25. No all-American or all-conference teams. Conference predictions are given but not discussed. MG = Mark Gunn's College & Pro Preview & Betting Guide ($6.95, 146 pp., Mark Gunn Sports, Inc. / P.O. Box 1033 / Cicero, NY 13039. no phone number given.) Rating: 0. Somewhat similar in tone and construction to GamePlan, except it doesn't have a power ratings system and only has half as many pages devoted to college football. A half page per team, with 1993-1995 results and pointspreads, 1996 schedule, and a short text description of prospects for the coming year. No MAC or Big West information. Some information (previous records, even years the head coach has been at the school) missing for a few minor WAC schools (SJS, UNLV). Has a nice All-American list with the top 10 players at each unit (e.g., DL). No all-conference lists or recruiting information. PV = Preview Sports College Football (1996 issue) ($5.99, 194 pp., Preview Sports Publications, Inc. / 210 Route 4 East, Suite 401 / Paramus, NJ 07652. 201-843-4004) Rating: 0. More than one page per team; discusses overall prospects then offensive/defensive units in some detail. Projected starters, returning statistical leaders, team statistics, and schedule for each team. Has first-team and second-team all-American lists, first-team all-conference list. Projected conference and overall records for all teams, and "talent quotient" grades for all teams' units and coaches. Good 1995 review section which (like SS) has final standings for all conferences. Lots of information, and it sounds like a great magazine. How did it get a "0" rating? Because it is internally inconsistent, its predictions are very divergent from the consensus and in the past have not done well. (A large amount of questionable information is no better than no information at all!) Most of the college preview magazines are pieced together from the writings of more than one person (usually at least one writer per major conference). Despite this, most manage some sort of overall consistency; PV doesn't. Miami-Florida is picked third in the Big East with a projected 9-2 record -- but #1 in the national top 25. Ohio State is picked #3 in the Big Ten with an 8-3 record -- but ahead of every other Big Ten team at #7 in the national top 25. PV has improved their format from last year's; if they would improve their internal consistency and accuracy of predictions, they would be among the highest-recommend magazines in this list. SI = Sports Illustrated Presents College Football '96 ($4.95, 176 pp., Time Inc. No address or phone number given.) Rating: 0. (If you want an expanded issue of SI instead of a college preview, you might rate this ** or ***.) The content of this preview typifies the reasons that I don't subscribe to SI's weekly magazine. Most of the space is devoted to a handful of in-depth special-interest stories, and there is essentially no overall coverage. When you get an issue of SI in the mail, you will find a six-page story on a single player or coach, but don't expect to see the scores of the previous week's games. Some people may like this style in a weekly magazine, but it makes no sense for a college football preview. There are no all-American or all-conference lists. There is no conference-specific discussion (conference predictions are just un-annotated lists -- contrast with TS's conference overviews and bests/worsts of each conference). The section on recruiting is above average in quality, and three pages long. The coverage given to a team depends on where the team fits in SI's overall ranking of I-A teams: teams ranked 1-10 get two pages (a big picture, more than a full page of text discussion, schedule with key games highlighted, 1995 team statistics and returning statistical leaders); 11-25 get one page (a small picture, 2/3 of page text discussion, schedule with key games highlighted, and returning statistical leaders); 26-50 get a few inches of text in a half-page column (and some get small pictures); 51-111 get one or two sentences each, the coverage of all these 61 teams is crammed into four pages. SS = Street & Smith's College Football (1996 Issue) ($4.95, 146 pp., Street & Smith's Sports Group / 342 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017. Phone number 212-880-8698 for advertising inquiries only.) Rating: **. About 1/2 to 1/3 page devoted to each team; only discusses the team's prospects for this coming season. Schedules are all together in a separate section. There are no projected lineups. Relatively long recruiting section, lots of top high school players listed. Excellent "recap" section which gives the previous year's records (excluding bowls) and conference standings (I am surprised that so few other magazines include such a section; only PV does and its overall coverage isn't as good as SS). There are relatively few "feature articles." First-team, second-team, and honorable mention all-American lists are given. There are "all-area" teams (e.g., there's no all-Big-Ten team, but there is an all-Midwest team which includes Big Ten, Notre Dame, and MAC players). SS is a sentimental favorite of mine; I end up referring to the schedules and recap section frequently over the course of the season. However, I suspect that BG, AT, or TS would be preferred by most. ST = Phil Steele's 1996 College Football Preview ($6.95, 194 pp., Northcoast Sports / P.O. Box 35126 / Cleveland, OH 44135. 216-521-wins) Rating: ****. Two pages per team (except Big West and MAC teams, which are not covered), and they are packed with material. Use of about 100 different abbreviations (most are standard but some are not, e.g, "VHT" = Very Highly Touted "top 5" recruit) yields a high information content per unit space... but it also takes a little work to read. Per-team information includes: last five years' record including point spreads; projected lineups with comments on each player; last year's results with multi-sentence comments on each game and per-game stats; this year's schedule "worksheet" with room for you to fill in pointspreads and game results; per-unit overview of the team. Few "feature articles." Little space devoted to conference predictions (1/2 page per conference, includes both predicted order of finish and all-conference teams), no recruiting coverage other than a list of the team's top few recruits in each team's section. TS = The Sporting News 1996 College Football Yearbook ($4.95, 186 pp., The Sporting News Publishing Company / 10176 Corporate Square Drive, Suite 200 / St. Louis, MO 63132. No phone number given.) Rating: ***. About 1/2 to 2/3 page devoted to each team: schedule, text discussion of offensive/defensive strengths and weaknesses. No projected lineup (but does list key players, returning starters, and top newcomers). Several (about a dozen) "feature articles." Relatively small recruiting section, but contains a reasonable amount of information. Nice "composite" schedule laid out in a table format (would be even better if teams were grouped by conference). Has first-team and second-team all-conference lists, a page "scouting" each conference (everything from "worst schedule" and "best offensive line", to "coach on the hot seat"). All-American teams supplied, as well as the rating of the top 20 (national) players at each position. Approximately equivalent to BG and AT; most fans probably need only one of the three. AT has better recruiting information; BG has (in my opinion) better commentary; TS has more feature articles. WS = Winning Sports Gambling Illustrated ($6.95, 162 pp., no address or phone number given) Rating: 0. Split between college and pro, relatively expensive; more ads for gambling services than actual information. No MAC or Big West coverage. Information per team is 1/2 page; includes 1996 schedule, 1993-1995 schedules, pointspreads, and results, and a one-paragraph overview of the team's prospects for the coming season. No national top 25. No all-American lists. No recruiting information. No all-conference teams. Predicts conference finishes, including projected record; includes a discussion of the conference race. ============================================================================ Chris Stassen chris@stassen.com http://www.nextek/com/stassen 614-366-9628