[gojetsgomoxies]

was at store today.

leafed thru marc lawrence's magazine.... his two top improved teams are bowling green and indiana.... bowling green though i thought was good last year especially on defense... indiana seems like a perfect most improved type team. completely disregarded every season, usually completely justified.

other top surprise teams : michigan state and texas (tons of returning starters)

his secondary list included ECU (again a classic "under the radar" up and down team) and washington and washington state. i personally was very surprised to see some of the early lines on washington games. perhaps getting too much respect.

i haven't got phil steele's magazine as i haven't seen it in canada yet. i haven't looked hard, but i have looked.

from his free site, he likes FSU, texas, USC (not sure i agree on this one), okstate and ASU... seems you have to get the magazine or pay ESPN for his lesser known improved teams (where i think there's more value)

ok, i see his free site has marshall, southern miss and indiana as his most improved lesser teams...... i see he has tulane improving like crazy on both sides of the ball..

couldn't cull much more stuff than that...... philsteele.com is a nice free site. alot of good info (not as much as the magazine of course)

[WorkHorse]

Gojets, Michigan State was somewhat of a disappointment last year. With that defense and some help from the offense...the Spartans could be tough this season.

I'd add Auburn to the most improved list. The Tigers will surprise some folks this year, especially on offense. Can't be any worse than the mess from last year.

[Louisvillekid1]

Tulane definitely has potential to cash some nice ML prices

[gojetsgomoxies]

i saw that phil steele has marshall with one of the most improved defenses. and that offense with cato at QB has been amazing the last couple of years for yardage and points (i do remember back to back pick 6's - right expression - too but cato racked up huge numbers and he's back). could be a monster lesser conference team.

also saw baylor as very improved defense in phil's work. rookie qb though i think but it's a system to a certain degree i think. EDIT: realize this may seem jumbled. improved D and hopefully still elite offense..... i've always wondered what would happen if one of the OVER machines actually got a good defense.

[gojetsgomoxies]

some more phil steele stuff. his blog is great........... http://philsteele.com/Blogs/CURRENT/DBlog.html

most improved offenses that jumped out at me:

tulane
colo state
buffalo
southern miss
colorado

some of those probably have nowhere to go but up.

most deteriorated offense, again ones that stood out to me:

kent state
west virginia
nevada (was looking at them as value vs. ucla. maybe not now)
la tech

two incredible over teams there. if their offenses worsen, could be poor seasons.

most improved defenses (ones that stood out to me):

marshall
tennessee
tulane
southern miss (improved o and d)
oks
baylor

at least 3 incredible OVER teams there from recent seasons. not sure about tennessee. it's been incredible over and under team in recent memory.

deteriorating defenses:

kent state (one of the most deteriorating O and D... good ATS team last year i think)
rutgers (been incredible UNDER team in recent years)
iowa state (i think it's been good UNDER, and i think it's been "under the radar" ATS success)

my recollections on good/bad ats and OVER/TEAMS are just that, recollections. i didn't look them up.

i think this is where there's a ton of value early in the season. continue on great O/U teams where nothing has changed but realize where O or D will be completely different than recent years.

[Louisvillekid1]

GOod read buddy,

But lets be real about Baylor/wvu defense...

How could they not be improved? lol

There's only one direction they could possibly go

[Louisvillekid1]

Rutgers Defense took a major hit, I think Fresno might light them up in week1...

Fresno is really talented...

[gojetsgomoxies]

GOod read buddy,

But lets be real about Baylor/wvu defense...

How could they not be improved? lol

There's only one direction they could possibly go

thanks, i hadn't thought of that in relation to baylor/wvu defenses... i did think of it in terms of colorado/tulane/so miss units though. it makes sense. some of these teams can't do anything than improve over giving up 45+ points regularly.

[pulledclear]

Phil Steele....

Whos your next EXPERT Jim Feist or Little Deemer.

[BigdaddyQH]

Watch out for Steele. His mag is the best for raw information such as stats, but he is an expert at talking out of both sides of his mouth. This is why his rag has about 100 pages of absolutely worthless information. His Florida write up starts like this: "In '10, UF had to replace Gator leegend Tim Tebow and ohn Brantley started all 13 games". Now can anyone tell me what that has to do with the 2013 version of Florida?

[gojetsgomoxies]

Watch out for Steele. His mag is the best for raw information such as stats, but he is an expert at talking out of both sides of his mouth. This is why his rag has about 100 pages of absolutely worthless information. His Florida write up starts like this: "In '10, UF had to replace Gator leegend Tim Tebow and ohn Brantley started all 13 games". Now can anyone tell me what that has to do with the 2013 version of Florida?

i agree that his writeups have huge historical basis. that's why he is able to have sooo much content........... i like the little synopsis he does on each team though. would love them condensed to 10 pages with all 125 teams.

not sure if i ended up posting this, but also his most improved has alot to do with schedule (i.e. replace ohio state/wisconsin with minnesota/illinios) not improvements in power rating (although obviously major overlap with most improved team predictions)

[Louisvillekid1]

no information is worthless,

Take it in stride

enjoy the read myself

[pulledclear]

can anyone tell me what that has to do with the 2013 version of Florida?

Exactly. Steele will tell you what happened 5 years ago and list 20 surprise teams or improved teams and pat himself on the back when some do better. Let me guess he likes Alabama and Ohio St????

[Killer_Demo]

Fresno is really talented...

Led FBS last year in Interceptions...Big Season for the Dogs this year with new 12 team conference