Phil Steele Ranks Virginia Tech No. 13 in Preseason Magazine

Not that they are better, but they will have the better record.

That catches me by surprise.

I can very easily see GT not being ranked at the end of the year, and finishing as low as #5 in the division. I know that the triple option will always be tough to defend no matter who is in the system, BUT the Yellow Jackets lost more than any other team in the conference. It’s going to be tough with possibly 3 other ranked teams in their division to come out where many people project them. As for it not being a low ranking for the Hokies, I agree, 5-15 is a safe range, but certainly it’s on the low end of the safe range and I along with most other pundits have the Hokies well into the top 10. But who knows, a lot can happen, especially as we’re over 4 months until the start of the season. However, from having bought Phil Steele’s prediction magazine and read it as often as I have, I have come to the conclusion that he is an absolute moron. He makes so many useless predictions that it is hard to take him seriously. Just go down his list of player rankings and you’ll see guys out of position, guys way higher or lower than they should be ranked, guys whose year is wrong…one time I found a guy who had graduated the year before and he still had him on there…basically, mistakes the top-tier prediction magazines don’t make (i.e. Athlon). He also makes way to many upset picks, or also known as the “sexy” pick. He continually picks the things to happen that would be filed under wishful thinking in my book. Yeah, I see a lot of things in sports where I want to pick upsets, but I’ve learned to not call them out as much as I used to because conventional wisdom tells me otherwise. He picks so many upsets that some of them HAVE to stick. It’s kind of like throwing darts at a wall. If you throw a million darts at a wall, some of them are bound to stick. And that ladies and gentlemen is Phil Steele’s m.o. Anyone who thinks that Oklahoma will finish #1, Florida will finish #7 and Notre Dame will finish #16 (I respect Brian Kelly, but that’s asking him to do A LOT and turn it all around in his first year…which won’t happen because there is an AWFUL LOT to do with that program before it gets right again) is out of their mind. Don’t expect any of those to happen, and don’t pay too much attention to Phil Steele’s pick for the Hokies, because more than likely, if he picks it, they won’t end up there.