3yardsandacloudofdust

I post this only to dispel it, but there is a rumor going around that Brunetti is not eligible to play high school football next year because of his age. Not true, right?

Nice try. Not an MBA'er. Try again, Hawaii Smurf.

All right. The finals are Tuesday 11/25. Two days before Thanksgiving. MTSU has a home game next Saturday. The TSSAA, in its infinite wisdom of treating Division II teams as second class citizens, decided to play it in Murfreesboro on weeknight. What are your thoughts of having the game on a Tuesday? MUS has to be the favorite. Does BA have a chance?

Moeller is a nationally recognized program that, at one time, represented the epitome of high school football in the USA. MBA went on the road in a tournament featuring some of the best programs in the country and beat Moeller in its own backyard--badly--the score did not represent how outmatched Moeller was. The game was broadcast on national TV. The win gained MBA some additional national notoriety and helped the prestige of all of Tennessee football. Why wouldn't you compare your current opponent to a team like Moeller? Any comparison to a program with that kind of heritage would be a compliment. It is not like McGugin was comparing MUS to Red Boiling Springs. MBA was light years faster than Moeller. It sounds like MUS is light years faster that MBA. I doubt Moeller could have given MUS a game this year, but I would not consider the comparison an insult.

From what I heard: It was a cool, windy and wet night. Skies opened up just before gametime and rained or drizzled the whole game. 2 fumbles (QB-center exchanges) deep in MBA territory in the 2nd qtr led to the 1st 2 MUS TDs. Another fumble led to another TD. MBA recovers an onside kick and throws an INT the next play. MBA fumbles again near the end of the game after driving to the 20. MBA could not run the ball at all--I think they had 35 yards rushing for the game. MUS scored on a 75 yard run and on a 50+ yard pass. MBA stopped them in the 1st qtr but could not do anything to stop MUS in the 2nd half.

MUS 35 MBA 7 BA 27 Ensworth 24 So far, all the picks since 10/19 have been on the money. (Never expected MBA to get blown out like they did though.) I am sticking with MUS in the final.

Bye bye. Have a nice winter and spring. See you next year without Tavarres.

Congratulations to MUS on a great and decisive victory. MUS proved how good they are where it counts--on the field against top competition. As I have said earlier posts, I do not believe that they played a "tough" schedule. Apparently, this has riled some of the MUS faithful, but it is not meant to be disrespectful--just an analysis of previous opponents. It does not mean they were not a great team, it just meant it was hard to tell how good they were. I picked them to win tonight despite their schedule, but never expected the blow-out that occurred. MUS proved tonight that they are in a class by themselves. It was difficult for thise of us in the Mid-State to know how good they really were because they played so few teams with whom we are familiar. Kudos to MUS and the MUS faithful.

I would vote for Brunetti or Jefferson pending the outcomes of Friday's games. Wise is a great player but I think the other two are more intrinsic to their teams' success. Brunetti is a junior, so I might favor Tavarres. Wesley Johnson gets my vote for lineman, but I did not get to see Austin Long play.

I posted the same article a couple of weeks ago and got hammered for posting it. I thought it was insightful as to the MBA-EHS rivalry.

Amybody got a list of what the above schools are paying their FB coaches? /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

TSSAA--helping our kids help TSSAA. Thanks.

Still sticking to my guns, but I think both games are toss-ups. Are the games going to be on streaming video? If so, can someone send in the links for MUS, BA, and EHS? The MBA games have been available up to now, but the link for steaming video is gone on the MBA website MBA radio is here: http://208.101.39.74/mbaradio.

Thanks. "Facts is facts" is what we call a colloquialism. And, actually, facts are plural. The word "facts" is singular.

Tavarres gets the job done. His running abiility opens up the passing game, but his arm is not very frightening. His throwig motion is what is a little scary. One day his arm may travel downfield with the ball.

As I said earlier, I have picked MUS to win. I just don't think that the claims that they played a "tough" schedule are accurate. I am picking them because they have an excellent QB and home-field advantage. MBA is a little banged-up in the secondary and have not really been challenged by a dual-threat QB all year. We would have a lot better idea how good MUS is if they played a few more 5A teams or some of the E/M Division II teams. Their relatively weak schedule is what makes them a mystery and keeps them under the radar in the national rankings. I hope you will take my comments in the spirit they are given. I wish you and MUS good luck and we will really find out how good they are in the next week or two. Peace.

Specifically, what do you mean? What makes the MUS schedule a "tough" one? Melrose and Olive Branch? The points are laid out very clearly. Facts is facts. You are free to try to refute them point-by-point (opponent won-loss, quality of opponent, playing smaller schools, beating up on ECS, BCS, CBHS, etc.)

Actually, i think my "whole lot of schedule posting" shows exactly the opposite--that MUS has not played a very tough schedule. Certainly not as tough as MBA or BA. That being said, I picked MUS to win this game on the "Division II Playoffs" thread several weeks ago and I reiterated my pick of MUS again this morning. http://tennessee.coacht.com/boards/index.p...#entry826948258 I did not pick MUS on the basis of a "very tough schedule" though. In fact, I almost changed my pick to MBA when I saw that their record might be inflated by their schedule. We will see Friday night. BA is a much better team than CBHS--rivalry or not. You and Memphisreb need to read my posts a little more closely--I think you missed the point.

Ok. After much internal debating, I have decided to stick with my guns and go with my original predictions from last month. I think that MBA would beat MUS at home, but I think home field advantage favors MUS and they win a close one. I still think BA has too many horses for Ensworth and has a team looking for redemption and respect. MUS 17 MBA 14 BA 24 Ensworth 14 BA vs MUS in the final.

21-14. MBA beat them 34-0.

Updated M A X P R E P S rankings 50. Ensworth (up from 67) 52. MBA (up from 78) 54. Prattville (up from 56) 56. South Panola 76. MUS (huge jump from 245) 183. Moeller (down from 179) 285. Olive Branch (up from 449) 330. Brentwood Academy (up from 399)

Condensed from earlier posts: Guess I am wondering where the "really tough" schedule is. MBA played 2 teams with losing records (Antioch 5-6 and JPII 3-7). MUS played 4 teams with losing records including a 1-9 4A team (Northside) and a 2-8 team (St. Benedict). They also played a 4-7 2A team (Carver). MBA's opponents were 70-48. MBA played 2 4A Teams in addition to 5A and II-AA. Beating up on Christian Bros, Briarcrest, and ECS (all teams with winning records) does not hold much weight in view of Friday night's results. Even including the impressive records of the above teams, MUS opponents were 65-53. MUS also played 3 4A teams and a 2A team Here is a review of the MUS schedule: Melrose 4A 7-4 Kinsbury 4A 5-6 Olive Branch MS 9-2.(if you count Pahokee??”apparently Pahokee considered it a scrimmage) Only other loss was to undefeated South Panola. GW Carver 2A 4-7 Christian Bros II-AA 7-4 Lost to MBA 34-0 Memphis Northside 4A 1-9 Cookeville 5A 8-3 Lost to Warren Co 20-14 (Ensworth beat Warren Co 36-7) Briarcrest II-AA 7-4 Lost to Brentwood Academy 40-6 and to BGA 35-21 ECS II-AA 7-3 Lost to Christian Bros and Briarcrest. Barely beat CPA 17-13. Ryan beat CPA 52-15 St. Benedict II-AA 2-8 Lost to Ensworth 62-3, Briarcrest 68-34, ECS 42-7 BGA II-AA 8-3 Lost to Brentwood Academy 28-3, Lost to Ensworth 28-14 The Olive Branch win was certainly a win against a quality team. Melrose is a good 4A team, but they are just that--a 4A team. If Cookeville lost to Warren Co, I think that they would have trouble with the II-AA E/M teams. BGA was the #4 E/M seed but it is debatable if they are better than McCallie and they may well have lost to Ryan on a dry field. For comparison, here is MBA's schedule: Antioch 4A 5-6 Moeller OH 6-5 Baylor II-AA 5-5 Hillsboro 4A 9-2 Only other loss to nationally ranked (#59) 10-1 5A Franklin. JP II II-AA II-AA 3-7 Ravenwood 5A 6-5 Up-and-down team with wins vs nationally ranked (#124) 10-1 5A Brentwood High and vs Brentwood Academy. Ryan II-AA 5-5 Another up and-down team. Beat BA, lost to BGA 7-3, lost to McCallie 21-0, lost to Ensworth 38-25 (despite leading with 2 mins left). Ensworth II-AA 11-0 Brentwood Academy II-AA 7-4 McCallie II-AA 6-5 with 4 of the 5 losses coming from Ensworth, BA or MBA. Other loss was to nationally ranked (#59) 10-1 5A Franklin 36-35. Christian Bros. II-AA 7-4 It is certainly debatable as to who played the tougher schedule.

I accept your great praise with utmost humility. /flower.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":flower:" border="0" alt="flower.gif" />

Hope you all have a great week in Memphis. Thanks for your input and insight. It should be a great game for the Owl fans and for the Big Red fans.

Correction: MBA played 2 teams with losing records (Antioch 5-6 and JPII 3-7). Both Ryan and Baylor finished 5-5. (I went back and corrected the original post.) MUS played 4 teams with losing records including a 1-9 4A team (Northside) and a 2-8 team (St. Benedict). They also played a 4-7 2A team (Carver). Ryan: Date Opponent Details Result Fri Aug. 22 at Hillwood W 38-7 Fri Aug. 29 Pope John Paul II N at Hillsboro W 23-20 Fri Sep. 5 at BGA R L 3-7 Fri Sep. 12 John Overton at Greer Stadium W 38-22 Fri Sep. 19 at McCallie R L 0-21 Fri Sep. 26 at CPA W 52-15 Fri Oct. 3 Knoxville Webb at Greer Stadium (Homecoming) L 0-6 Fri Oct. 17 Ensworth R at Greer Stadium L 25-38 Fri Oct. 24 at MBA R L 0-45 Fri Oct. 31 Brentwood Academy R at Greer Stadium W 27-23 Baylor: Date Opponent Details Result Fri Aug. 29 at St. Anne's-Belfield,VA W 41-12 Fri Sep. 5 MBA R L 3-14 Fri Sep. 12 at Greater Atlanta Christian W 44-22 Fri Sep. 19 Brentwood Academy R L 21-42 Fri Sep. 26 Knoxville Catholic L 20-21 Fri Oct. 3 McCallie N R Finley Stadium L 3-24 Fri Oct. 10 at BGA R L 21-24 Fri Oct. 17 Lincoln Co. W 41-35 Fri Oct. 24 at Pope John Paul II W 28-7 Fri Oct. 31 Knoxville Webb R W 27-23