Phil Steele’s Big 12 teams are…interesting

I posted Phil Steele’s preseason All-Big 12 teams in the Bullets this morning but figured we should discuss more here.

OK so it’s June and these things are…whatever…but we kind of have a lot to talk about with this one. First of all, maybe I don’t get the Phil Steele thing. People seem to love him — and granted, I’ve never met him — but his stuff seems kind of wacky…and his site looks like it was made in MS paint and sent back in time to a grad student in 1997 to be posted on the Internet.

So let’s get to that All-Big 12 first team QB, shall we?

Bryce Petty, he of the 14 career pass attempts is on the first team. I actually don’t have that much of a problem with it. Baylor’s offense is the real deal and Petty should put up, at the very least, similar numbers to Nick Florence from last year (4,300 yards and 33 TDs).

My bigger issue is with the Pachall-Ash-Bell second through fourth team combo. Here’s a look at Clint Chelf’s projected numbers if he performs at the same pace over a 13-game season as he did in his five starts at the end of last season:

Chelf – 61% completions | 3,400 yards | 34 TDs | 10 INT

And here are Ash and Pachall’s numbers from their two most recent seasons:

Ash – 67% | 2,700 yards | 19 TDs | 8 INT
Pachall – 67% | 2,900 yards | 25 TDs | 7 INT

As for Bell, are we totally sure he can throw the ball over 15 yards downfield yet?

I guess my point is do you trust Chelf in OSU’s offense more than you trust Ash in Texas’ or Bell in OU’s? Maybe…but I wouldn’t bet anything of value on it.

Also I think Tracy Moore is one team too high — has he ever done anything that made you say “yup, first team All-Big 12 guy right there”? And Jeremy Smith is one team too low. *IF* he stays healthy, there’s no way seven guys have better statistical years than Smith — it’s just not going to happen.

I guess I get Justin Gilbert being second team based on talent alone but, man, it’d be tough for me to put him that high after he singlehandedly tried to make me nickname him “Floodgates Gilbert” with his performance last year.

All in all these mid-June teams are ridiculous things we all write to try and make the time pass until football season but still pretty fun to talk about.