Ed's note: Leaking Phil Steele information is the new planking. Everyone's doing it, from ESPN blogger Andrea Adelson to Mountain West tycoon Jeremy Mauss. So far we know that Boise State is ranked No. 3 and destined for a Fiesta Bowl with Notre Dame. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The rest of the iceberg is after the jump, courtesy of OBNUG reader killtacular and his stellar FanPost that is now a stellar main post. If you enjoy your Phil Steele magazines like you enjoy your Hunger Games novels - suspenseful and uncorrupted - you should probably stop reading here. Spoilers ahead. Enjoy.
Here is the complete rundown, by team, unit, and individual. Parts of this Boise State preview will appear at Steele's website today when he unveils the Broncos in his Top 25 countdown.
Projection for end-of-season rankings: Boise State #3. Behind Alabama and Oklahoma.
Other notables: Georgia #9; TCU #11; Air Force #30; Tulsa #35; San Diego State #44; Nevada #51. This means that, unlike last year, Steele is predicting a BSU undefeated season, and he is higher on a possible NC shot for BSU this year than he was last year.
Power Poll ranking: Boise State #4
Other notables: Georgia #11; TCU #21; Tulsa #39; San Diego State #60. This is more or less Steele's overall quality ranking. The team that sneaks up above BSU at #3? Oregon.
Bowl Projection: Fiesta Bowl (again), against Notre Dame.
Now, while you might scoff at Notre Dame, this isn't that crazy. If Notre Dame gets BCS-eligible, they will absolutely be selected. I dunno how they are going to do against Michigan, Michigan State, USF, Pitt, Air Force, USC and Stanford (etc). But this is a "this is who the bowls will pick" choice, which I suppose could make sense. If Notre Dame gets 9 wins, they are probably going to a BCS bowl.
(ed's note: Notre Dame is BCS eligible if they finish ranked No. 14 or higher. If they are No. 8 or higher, they automatically qualify.)
Other bowl projections: Capital One Bowl: Georgia vs Ohio State (pre Tresselgate); Poinsettia Bowl: Nevada vs Air Force; Hawai'i Bowl: Hawai'i vs SMU; Armed Forces Bowl: Tulsa vs BYU; Las Vegas Bowl: TCU vs Oregon State; Independence Bowl: San Diego State vs Boston College;
Mountain West order of finish
Overall Mountain West national stat projections for Boise State: Scoring Offense: #3. Total Offense: #9. Pass Defense: #6. Scoring Defense: #4. Total Defense #3.
Schedule: 51st Toughest Schedule.
Other notables: Georgia: #53; Tulsa #56; Fresno State #79; Nevada #89; TCU #92; Idaho #97; Air Force #99; Hawai'i #115.
Seems pretty reasonable to me, all around.
A thing to keep in mind about this: Steele's overall individual rankings are heavily influenced by where he thinks people will be drafted. Hence Moore's low rating. Steele's All-Americans are heavily influenced by how he thinks the team will do. Hence Landry Jones' 1st team All-American ranking. His position rankings are his purest quality rankings. This is why BSU is #2 in QB rankings (behind Andrew Luck and Stanford), and why BSU has decent rankings for DBs, LBs etc; even though they don't have much in the way of overall individual rankings.
This content was not created by OBNUG and therefore may not meet our standards. On the contrary, it probably exceeds them.
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