Phil Steele Top 40

[MDUte]

#Big12FB rolls deeps… just ask @philsteele042 🤝 pic.twitter.com/X2BgjHdEYi

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) June 22, 2024

[krindor]

Is 7 of the top 40 somehow impressive? Honestly asking. There’s 4 major conferences and a bunch of smaller/weaker conferences. So I’d expect a good number to be 10 or maybe 8 as an average number (accounting for the weaker conferences taking some)

[krindor]

Ok, looking at it, here’s the conference breakdown, so not as bad as I thought (though the Big 12 teams are generally – with exception of Utah – more towards the back)

• SEC: 10 teams (including 8 in the top 25)
• B1G: 7 teams (including 6 in the top 25)
• ACC: 8.5 teams (half credit for Notre Dame) (including 5.5 in the top 25)
• Big 12: 7 teams (including 3 in the top 25)
• Assorted non-P5: 7.5 teams (half credit for Notre Dame) (including 2.5 in the top 25)

[Utah]

The Big 12 leftovers are so…strange. They have such a massive inflated view of themselves.

The thing I love most about them is the idea that we haven’t played any real football the last 10 years. That we haven’t played in stadium like theirs and against Big 12 talent.

I love it. That noise coming from a group of teams who has BYU as their largest stadium. Yeah, we definitely won’t be able to handle the fans. And talent…I mean, last year we played Williams, Penix, Odunze, Nix, Fuaga, Latu, Fautanu, Morgan, Polk, Powers-Johnson, Rosengarten…who were all drafted in rounds 1 and 2.

Big 12 players drafted in the first two rounds of the NFL draft that weren’t on Texas or Oklahoma:

Suamataia, Paul, Sinnott, Frazier…and those were all at the end of the second round.

I think we’ve seen talent like the Big 12 has.

The Big 12 ain’t that hot, unfortunately.

[Utesbyfive]

I agree. Utah has seen bigger competition in the last few years than the Hateful 8 and the leftover four. They really are high on themselves.

[COUte]

The hardest part of the Big12 will be playing in away stadiums where the fans actually care and show up. Stanford, Cal, UCLA, and Arizona have each had multiple seasons in the past 10 years where they were paying people in the streets to come watch their games. Every one of the stadiums we’ll be playing in for the next few years will be pretty planned because, honestly what else is there to do in Morgantown, Stillwater or Manhattan?

[ColumbiaUte]

I also think a challenge for us will be the travel. In the pac 12, almost all of our away games were near airports (except the oregon schools). This new conference there will be long flights PLUS a long bus ride. Stillwater, Manhattan, Morgantown and Waco are treks to get to. Plus there is that cross continent flight to Orlando. It wouldnt surprise me in the slightest if we drop a game due to travel and if the game is early.