BigRedDad

To bad they don't have a category for "football player" cause it would be Lassing hands down

Just a reminder about the 2002 MBA State Champoinship team. This was Jeff Rutledges first team. They started out slowly and struggled early in the season. They were beaten to death by BA at BA, then started to put things together later in the year. They blew through the playoffs and beat BA handily in the Clinic Bowl. These are all 16-18 year old boys and unexpected things happen. GO BIG RED

I understand that the cost of travel is a deterent in this economy, and understand how difficult scheduling is. I also know that the DII football power has been concentrated in Nashville and Memphis since the beginning of DII. I am not saying that Alcoa and Maryville are not great programs, I am saying that they will not get the respect they might deserve form DII fans untill they are willing to schedule one of our schools be it MBA, EHS, BA, or MUS, win and you will have earned our respect. MBA, BA and MUS represent the DII state titles since McCallie's in 2001 (correct me if I am wrong RRR). So what if you beat McCallie and Webb. Webb was not part of our division when you played them, and we beat up on them and McCallie too. A lot of posters from the public schools seem to think that the DII schools have unlimited budgets, and we don't. Dobbins Bennett was willing to schedule MBA a few years ago, but they were not willing to schedule a home/home, and MBA was not willing to make that trip 2 years in a row.

This was a totally different game then the first one. MBA dominated from start to finish, they even got the running clock for most of the 2nd half. Great effort from the Big Red all the way around

Get your facts right. Alcoa scheduled McCallie in 2005 & 2006 after they could not find anyone else in the general area to play them. Alcoa also had to travel over 4 hours to west KY two get a 10th game. No one else was willing to step up. After Alcoa beat McCallie with the old coach and BJ Coleman at QB two years straight, McCallie did not want to continue playing Alcoa. This year Alcoa had to travel out of state and played KY 4A state champions from `2008. Alcoa had to travel out of the area for many games this year. Only giving them 3 home games. This amount of travel takes a toll on the schools budget. Alcoa found there 10th game this year in August after having a list on TSSAA website since early winter requesting 5 game needed. Alcoa would have played anyone in the state, to have 10 games. Big schools and DII school especially in the east TN will not step up. So, don't give that crap about Alcoa not wanting to step up. Alcoa is a 500 student school that plays all their out of district games against much bigger schools! If you want a game, no need to travel to Ohio or Ky! MBA has asked the answer is always the same.

I did not make my assumption that your " It is not all about you." followup directly AFTER my post was directed to my Alcoa post til I read through some of you other post and determined that you hate to hear about Alcoa's success. You come across as simply a hater of a small public school that goes out everyday and works hard to be their best. IMO, that is being jealous in it's simplest form! If the posters on the DII boards want to change the topic from "It's beneath us DII schools to play in Cookeville at TTU" to "can Alcoa play with MUS" then I WILL support my team and My opinion on said matchup. If you "movinonup" can not stand to hear about Alcoa's success then maybe you need to stay off CoachT. I haven't heard anyone on this thread imply that playing at TTU is "beneath" them. People are complaining that Cookeville is geographically undesireable, especially on a weeknight. Playing on thursday with no media coverage is not an issue a small public school would know anything about. As to why the DII's don't respect Alcoa or Maryville, it is simply because those 2 schools tout themselves as being the best in the state, but are unwilling to schedule any of the DII schools. I have heard it said repeatedly by two different head coaches at MBA that the call is made to the east state every year to schedule a game, and most times the call is never even returned. It is the DII schools that are willing to go outside of the state and they have represented TN well over the years. This year MUS has beaten 2 strong programs from MS. In the past MBA has beaten the best team in KY (Trinity) 3 out of 4 games, they have played back to back with Bolles from Jax FL. When Alcoa starts scheduling games like that and some other power teams from across TN, and winning, then the folks on the DII boards might begin to respect them.

I don't know how good EHS is but the 2 games they could have lost were to good Public schools. I do know that with Darkwa running behind the right side of their Oline, they are hard to stop. Their DB's fly on the defensive side. The hit on Luke Colbert was one of the top 10 hardest hits I have seen in high school football.

Since the last BGA game MBA has played better. They beat FR and JPII, they lost to a very talented BA team, but with the exception of a couple of big plays (I know you can't allow those and be great team) played them pretty evenly. MBA has gotten some injured players back which has helped as well. I think BGA will see a different MBA team then the one they saw last month. This team also has a great group of Seniors and I expect they will not lose the last home game of their careers.

There is another problem inherent in playing these games in any college stadium,, and that is that the excitement level is hurt because the crowd is dwarfed by the stadium. I think back to the championship game in 2007, MBA and BA. Both schools traveled well, MBA routinely took over the visiting sides stands at away games, even trips to Chattanooga and Memphis. We were lost in the the 45,000 seat stadium at MTSU. A great crowd would be 10,000 people which makes a college stadium seem empty. Even the renowned MBA/FR game in the 70's with close to 25,000 people would still make a college stadium seem empty. They ought to play the championship game on the home field of the higher seeded team. If both teams are the same seed, use overall records or a coin flip.

Did Darkwa play last night? The Tennessee doesn't have any stats online.

That obnoxious commie is still here. You need to to read more often. As Eeyore said so profoundly, thanks for noticing me. Glad you could take time away from illegal recruiting at middle school games to post Haven't you heard? It was has been reported recently by a disreputable unnamed source that 2 DII coaches got into a fight outside the nursery at Baptist hospital. There was a boy born that was 23 inches long and weighed 12 lbs. Both coaches were offering a "free" education to the parents.

Now I don't want anyone saying I have a persecution complex, BUT DII is the red-headed stepchild of the TSSAA. Everything the TSSAA does focuses first on the public schools. There is no telling why the decision was made to play the DII championship in Cookeville except that the TSSAA has to get the games over with and out of the way of the DI playoffs and championship games. They can not allow the best teams in the state to steal the luster of the other 17 state championship games to be played. 2 years ago when my son played for MBA they had to take a week off between the semi-final and final because MTSU had a home game the first Saturday. They played the game the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That meant in our case that my son couldn't travel with us for the holiday, he had to stay in Nashville. I'm sure families from both schools faced the same problem. I remember in 2004 when they first moved the championship game from Vanderbilt (remember the Clinic Bowl?, where the proceeds went to a good cause not into the TSSAA's pocket to pay their legal bills) to MTSU they played the game the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. If I had to guess the reason that the game has been moved to Cookeville has to do first with the availability of MTSU (home games scheduled for the Saturdays) and money for the TSSAA. The schools, players, and fans are the last thing on their mind.

Because of the high level of play in DII, I am pretty convinced that any boy who plays (starts, plays a lot etc) for any of these schools could play at the DIII level in college. That opens up Sewanee, Rhodes, Center and others to most of these players. There are no scholarships at this level, but it is a great opportunity for those who want to keep playing

I wonder if the SEC type schools consider him a "tweener". Either not big enough to be a power back, or fast (quick) enough to be a "scat" back at that level. All I do know is that he is the best I have seen so far this year, and I hope I don't see any that are better.

Congratulations to the REAL Big Red for a well deserved victory that was much needed. Good job boys.

I didn't realize it until a little while ago, but this game is tonight.

They will be good enough to beat Ryan...theyalways are.

And God forbid letting a less fortunate kid get the opportunity to work hard and persevere in the same environment as the wealthier kids. Youu have no idea if my boys were "fortunate or less fortunate", and that was not my point anyway.

I can only direct my comments to MBA because that is the only school I have any direct knowledge of. One of the things I have always appreciated about MBA is that it is a place where any student who is willing to work hard can have an opportunity to excel. I have sent 2 boys through there, neither of whom whould have gotten anyone's attention as athletes as either 7th or 9th graders. Both boys however through their own hard work and perseverence were able to start and be big contributors on 2 very good football teams is 2004, and 2007. I hope that aspect never changes at MBA regardless of what the competing schools do.

Hey KW, Come up to the section to the right of the pressbox (looking from the field). That is where all the recent Alums parents sit and talk about the good old days.

One last comment on the "lost down" situation. It made a huge impact on the pace of the game, and there were 3 or 4 other instances where the officials huddled for what seemed like a long time to figure out a call. The "lost down" came at a critical point in the game. MBA came out in the 2nd half, went no huddle, pounded the rock and took 8 minutes off the clock. The Maplewood defense was on their heels at this point. The officials basically gave both teams another half-time when they lost track of the down. This had to benefit Maplewood's defense, giving them a chance to catch their wind and regroup.

Additonally in the "lost down" situation MBA had to use a time out to argue it's case. That time out should have been given back.

I agree great game all around, it's a shame it took 2:45 to play it. It hurt both teams. I was surprised to see the MBA players cramping, it was a pretty big problem. Knowing that coaching staff it is difficult to believe the MBA players were not properly hydrated.

Congrats to MUS. I know from experience that 13-0 feels great. I'm glad if the Big Red couldn't win it at least we lost to the best.

I don't feel liek reading the whoel thread). Don't feel like spell checkin either do you? (Sorry I couldn't resist, now I have to be sure I don't have any typo's). Good luck to both teams tonight. To the winner: Be sure and buy a big handful of those $1 TSSAA State Champion bumper stickers, cuz they will fall off with the first rain.