BurroBall

The simplest system they could do is take the top 2 from each district. However, as I understand it, they are unwilling to have only 3 Division 1 football state championships. Therefore, they'll do whatever garbage they will, I'm afraid. It's a shame.

I agree. There's a very good reason for that and it's somewhat polarizing but, the lack of communities in MNPS creates a lack of community support and that creates a lack of funds, and that makes it hard to get good coaches, which it makes it hard to harness the talent that exists in MNPS.

I never did hear what exactly the reason for Law's suspension was. Like I said, you may be right about Dyson not being ready to be a HC, but I just highly doubt it's football knowledge that proves to be his major flaw. Does he have the personality dynamic to be an HC? Obviously, we'll all find out soon enough. I just don't think he's the worst choice for Independence.

Coach Law was not fired at Whites Creek. It's almost impossible to fire a guy who just took a team to the Semi Finals. If I'm not mistaking he resigned to get a new job. Check into that. He was reportedly suspended by Principal Lang for a game or something this past season. So, you may be right in that he was not technically "fired", but apparently there wasn't a good relationship there, for him to leave being HC at Whites Creek coming off a semifinals appearance to be OC at Independence High.

Not intentionally trying to be rude, but hypothetical situation: what if Peyton Manning was the AD at Independence High and an assistant coach for a year and then was named HC of the football team. Would he have your approval as HC despite not having put in his due time? I mean I understand your point and my hypothetical situation is not the same by any means, but being a WR in the NFL for 6 seasons (two additional years on NFL practice squads) and starting in a Super Bowl should hold a considerable amount of weight in deciding whether he can coach football. So why is Kevin Dyson considered so under-qualified to coach high school football in the state of Tennessee? Granted, he was a WR when he played and not necessarily in a position of leadership so maybe you have a point. I guess I just figure Kevin Dyson, as a former NFL veteran who has his master's degree in education, is more qualified to coach high school football in Tennessee than many of the Physical Education teachers who might pick up football coaching because they are the most qualified person in the school. I'm not saying Independence is a high school in that situation at all....Just that I think Kevin Dyson is hardly the worst choice, but he may indeed prove to not be worthy of being a HC. Good luck to Independence football this coming season!

Really? All I ever heard was that the NAACP was threatening to sue if they changed it back under some kind of "re-segregation" bologna. I just assumed that talk was enough to get MNPS to keep it the way it was and Hillwood High in a bad situation. I hope you are right though.

First of all, I have no clue as to what caused Whites Creek to fire Anthony Law, but he seems to have recovered nicely by being hired on at Independence High in Williamson County. That said, I wish Mose Phillips nothing but the best. I sure wish he hadn't decided to withdraw his name for the HHS job last year, but I am sure he will do well at Whites Creek if he gets the support of the community. Hopefully, he will build the Whites Creek football program for the long term. There is no real Hillwood community at Hillwood High anymore. The football team (as well as the general student body) is largely made up of kids from the Pearl-Cohn community. Spears must understand something that everyone else doesn't by choosing to go there at this time.

So you liked the REALLY old system. That is the system we had when i played in fact i remember when they only took the top seed. I did like the region play that we had used for many years I am curious what is it about that system that you did not like? What I didn't like was the amount of travel that was done during the regular season. For example, HHS as recently as 2004, was in the same region as Hickman County, Tullahoma, White County, Shelbyville, Lawrence County, Columbia, Spring Hill, Hillwood and John Overton. Only the last three of those opponents are under an hour drive each way for a road game. In 2005, the region HHS was in included: Whites Creek, Maplewood, and Stratford. However, Shelbyville, Tullahoma, Lawrence County and Hickman County were still 4 opponents located over an hour drive each way. In 2007, Hickman County left the region. Therefore, from 2003-2008 HHS was in a region where they played 3-6 opponents in a given year that was located at over an hour drive each way for someone. As of 2009, HHS is in the same district for football they have been in for every other sport for years. That district includes Williamson County schools: Brentwood, Franklin, Ravenwood, Independence, and Centennial (before the 2009 realignment it also included Hillwood and John Overton). The only negative I see about the new system compared to the old region system is the manner in which the playoffs are handled. The regular season has improved immensely.

I didn't like the old system. However, if the regular season districts were maintained through the playoffs and there were only 3 public state championships in football, there would be two VERY SIMPLE options to employ to select the playoff teams: 1) Top 2 teams in each district automatically qualify for playoffs. No wild card selections. 2) 16 district champions automatically qualify for playoffs. Top 16 regular season records of the teams remaining fill the wild card spots. Of course, this won't ever happen. However, I believe this would be the very best way to do this.

While I agree with that principle in general, I think it would be fair to assume that even the person who said that didn't let players "draw up plays in the dirt", so to speak. No, the person who said that won MNC's throwing the ball and later won MNC's running the ball. Right, I think were saying the same thing then essentially with different words.

While I agree with that principle in general, I think it would be fair to assume that even the person who said that didn't let players "draw up plays in the dirt", so to speak.

HHS won the 4A State Championship in 2003 against Morristown West running the Wing-T. However, HHS lost to Maryville in 2001 and 2002 in the 4A State Championship game running the Wing-T. So, it CAN, but it is certainly not the most potent offense, in my opinion. Teams who are the most successful running it have great running backs and a VERY good defense.

I just knew my prediction of Oakland repeating would somehow be incorrect. Instead we get to see Quarles vs. Aydelott round 3. Although, this will be the first since Aydelott has been at Riverdale and he has employed a solid passing attack into his offensive philosophy this season to balance his running attack. Should be fun to see, as this time it will be for the right to play for the state championship and the loser receives no trophy. Winner will face the winner of Brentwood-White Station.

This post should be considered the textbook definition of the Trick Play. What is the "wildcat" formation? It does not fall into either of the above categories. For that matter, the "Statue of Liberty" play that Boise State ran on their two point conversion attempt in OT to beat Oklahoma in 2007 also doesn't fall into either category.

Football fans are just like any other human being: creatures of habit. We more often than not would rather do as we always have and be comfortably wrong than change our habits. That's just my opinion.

Well put! That is exactly my opinion on the subject as well. "Trick" is a misnomer, as the goal is always to surprise the defense with a play they are not ready for. "Unconventional" is the more accurate term to use. However, it's kind of like the phrase "could care less" being commonly misused by people when what they really mean and should say is "could not care less". It's just what people hear over and over so it becomes what they also use to describe something. In this way, in the early days of football, throwing a forward pass would likely have been considered a "trick" play because it was very unconventional, as throwing an incomplete pass was ruled the same as a fumble and was live ball.

With the winner of this game playing the winner of Whitehaven-White Station and then looking at the top bracket having the Riverdale-Oakland winner playing the Farragut-Maryville winner, I'd say this is anybody's game in 6A. Gonna be fun to watch!

I agree. However, as I'm sure you are aware, the harsh reality is there are some teams that finish the regular season with winning records that quickly prove that they don't deserve to be part of the playoff picture either. It's a messed up playoff system in TSSAA football. I understand where you are coming from with that. But I just feel that a team without a winning record should not be in the playoffs. No, I ABSOLUTELY agree with you there. I wish the TSSAA would keep football in 3 classes for public schools through the playoffs like they still do for every other sport. It would keep out all the teams with losing records.

I agree. However, as I'm sure you are aware, the harsh reality is there are some teams that finish the regular season with winning records that quickly prove that they don't deserve to be part of the playoff picture either. It's a messed up playoff system in TSSAA football.

I honestly don't expect HHS to win this game, but stranger things have happened before in the playoffs. However, if they can win this game against Columbia, I certainly would give them a chance against Clinton or Anderson County. The biggest downside, of course, will be having to travel so far each potential game from here on out. Go Burros!

If White County were to pull that off, we'd see national headlines about it on ESPN, Yahoo, CBS, etc. and probably a movie about it would be put in the works.

I think Beech is a very solid team. However, I say if there is ever a year where Henry County should win a state championship, 2009 is the year. We'll see if they can finally get it done after making the semifinals each of the last 3 seasons. As for 6A, Oakland, Riverdale, Blackman, Franklin, Brentwood are all legitimate contenders for the state championship as well as Maryville no matter what people say. George Quarles is still the head coach. Also, who knows, there might even be a surprise or two out of West TN like Whitehaven or Germantown or White Station. As for Mount Juliet, they have had a terrific season, but I don't see them beating Oakland in the first round and then Riverdale or Blackman in the quarterfinals AND then a team like Maryville in the semifinals, only to then play a team like Brentwood, Franklin, Germantown, Whitehaven, or White Station in the state championship game. I think that is just probably too much to ask of a program that hasn't been past the 2nd round each of the last 3 seasons. So, I'll say Oakland wins the 6A state championship even though for some reason I feel like I should being saying Maryville instead. However, the only thing everyone should be able to agree on is whoever wins it all in 6A will likely have had a pretty tough slate of games to play to do it.

If it were still three classes through the playoffs that would work. 16 automatic and 16 slots TBD based on resume. Or even simpler, just the district champion and runner-up from each of the 16 districts for the AAA playoffs. However, I have been told the TSSAA is far too interested in making money to actually do only 3 public school classes for the football postseason again. As for the NCAA Division 1-A format, it should be 32 teams at that level also, but that is a discussion for another time.

The reason there are 3 champions in soccer or baseball or softball but 6 now in football is $$$. I offered 4 as an olive branch knowing they will never go back to less than 5 - again for the $$$. But how many people from teams that don't qualify would go to the games of teams that do if you did drop it to 4? But the answer is going to be less classifications, less games, less gates. Man, that's ironic as that seems to be the same reason NCAA Division 1-A won't institute a 32 team playoff format for their postseason. Good grief.

I posted this on a smaller thread, but figured I would post it here also: I am wondering about what the problem would be with staying with 3 classes for public schools through the state playoffs (ala every other sport). Currently once you get to the playoffs: In 5A, 32 of 59 eligible teams make the state playoffs= roughly 54% In 6A, 32 of 55 eligible teams make the state playoffs= roughly 58% For example, if you didn't separate class AAA for the state playoffs, 32 of 114 eligible teams would make it=28% (a.k.a. a little less than the top 1/3 of the teams and the same kind of system NCAA Division 1-A would use if they were to ever institute a 32 team tournament format for their postseason.) Doing it this way would ensure that no teams with losing records would ever earn a spot in the state playoffs. Now, apply this to the 2009 football season. Only 46 of 114 teams in class AAA finished with winning records (roughly 40%). Of those 46, 7 finished with a regular season record of 6-4. So, only 39 of 114 teams won at least 7 games this season. Therefore, is there any logical reason why there shouldn't be a state playoff bracket of 32 teams for all of class AAA? I mean this year, the worst thing you'd be seeing is 14 teams that had winning records not make the playoffs. So, the easiest way to do this would be that each district champion and runner-up of the 16 districts earn playoff spots equaling 32. Of course, this creates a significant advantage for those teams in weaker districts over the teams in stronger districts. So, if that is the primary issue with this kind of setup being implemented, what should be the criteria for determining the teams who earn the 16 spots left after the district champions qualify? Suggestions? Btw, in case you're wondering, this would work also in class AA: In 3A, 32 of 51 eligible teams make playoffs= roughly 63% In 4A, 32 of 53 eligible teams make playoffs= roughly 60% When combined, 32 of 104 eligible teams make the playoffs= 31%. In 2009, only 49 of 104 teams in class AA finished with winning records (roughly 47%). Of those 49, 16 teams finished with a record of 6-4. So, only 33 of 104 teams won at least 7 games this season. It would even work in class A: In 1A, 24 of 41 eligible teams make playoffs= roughly 59% In 2A, 24 of 39 eligible teams make playoffs= roughly 62% When combined, 24 of 80 eligible teams make the playoffs= 30%. In 2009, only 35 of 80 teams in class A finished with winning records (roughly 44%). Of those 35, 11 finished with a record of 6-4. So, only 24 teams won at least 7 games this season.