The annual Phil Steele College Football preview is bullish on the Miami Hurricanes. Steele has Miami ranked in his top ten. Alex Donno explains why.
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00:00 The digital version of Phil Steele's 2024 college football preview has dropped.
00:05 Now, Steele's magazine, Pound for Pound, has been the most accurate over the past 29 years.
00:11 And I was surprised to see this, pleasantly surprised. But then anytime I get pleasantly
00:18 surprised about preseason hype, I always get nervous, right? But Phil actually has the Miami
00:24 Hurricanes ranked number 10 in his preseason top 40. Not only is Miami ranked top 10, which I guess
00:34 in Phil Steele's mind means Miami is going to make it to the college football playoff this year,
00:39 but he also has Miami actually ranked higher than Clemson and Florida State, etc. inside the ACC.
00:47 So, and by the way, his top 10, this is where he expects teams to finish at the end of the season,
00:54 his preseason top 40. And, you know, he's got Miami at number 10. This is where he expects
00:59 them to finish the year. Miami has not finished a season inside the top 10 since 2003. So if
01:06 Steele's prediction comes true, this would be Miami's best season in over 20 years.
01:11 So he has Miami at number 10 behind in order, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Penn State,
01:19 Notre Dame, Alabama, Utah, and Michigan. And at number 10, he's got Miami right in front of Iowa,
01:27 Clemson, Florida State, Ole Miss, and Oklahoma State. Here's what Steele said about Miami,
01:32 why he's so bullish. "Mario Cristobal hit the portal hard and brought in quarterback Cam Ward,
01:38 running back Damian Martinez, and a plethora of others to go along with a team that already had
01:43 talent. Cristobal won a pair of Pac-12 titles in his four years with Oregon and built that team
01:49 into a powerhouse. Miami has my number seven offensive line and number 12 defensive line
01:54 and only has the number 43 schedule and has zero road trips versus top 20 teams."
02:02 Now, I think something that Steele points out that makes a lot of sense that not a lot of people
02:09 talk about is how important strength of schedule is. Because listen, when you evaluate teams around
02:15 the country, you look at a team like Florida, for example, and of course, Miami has that head-to-head
02:22 with Florida to start the year. Hurricanes are favorites to win that game. I hope it plays out
02:26 that way. But a team like Florida could be just pound for pound better, let's say, than a team
02:33 like NC State this year. But NC State would probably finish ranked ahead of Florida because
02:39 they've got a much more favorable schedule. Florida has the hardest schedule in the entire
02:43 country. So strength of schedule is important. Now, trying to predict strength of schedule
02:49 preseason doesn't always work out because you don't necessarily know how good all these teams
02:54 are going to be. There are surprise teams every single season. I get it. But what Steele points
02:59 out makes a lot of sense because Miami this year, they avoid two of the best teams in the conference.
03:06 They don't play, unless of course they face one of these teams in the conference championship game.
03:10 But in the regular season, you don't have Clemson or NC State on the schedule this year, which are
03:17 expected to be two of the better teams in the conference. Obviously, you play Florida State,
03:22 but you play them at home, which theoretically is better than playing them on the road.
03:27 And he mentions number 43 strength of schedule. That's a factor in his rankings, of course. So
03:35 I think that's something interesting that Steele points out that not a whole lot of people do.
03:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]