ColumbiaBlueNScarlet

I can see state titles from the playoff era as a criterion, but total wins puts the newer programs at a disadvantage. What about average wins per year and/or winning percentage as criteria?

Good point. Fulton's defense is not as good as it has been in the past. Coatney admitted that the defense wasn't playing good earlier in the season. On paper, Austin-East's defense is better than any other defense that Gibbs has faced. On the other hand, Gibb's offense is better than any other offense that Austin-East has faced. The ironic thing about this game is that most people say that you have to stop the big play to beat Austin-East. This week, Gibbs is the big play team with 6 players with runs longer than 40 yards. If turnovers are even and Austin-East is able to minimize big plays, they have a great chance of keeping Gibbs at the lower end of their scoring range of 34-69 pts.

This is correct... win or lose, it helps Tyner's schedule. This is not totally accurate. Playing a team winning at least half of their games helps due to the second criterion, but losing to anybody hurts due to the first criterion (overall wins). If you don't have enough wins, it would not matter if you played 10 teams that won 50% or more of their games.

Separating the DII-A teams from the DII-AA teams in the AP poll only makes sense if you change it from a Top 10 to a Top 5 poll for each division. Otherwise, there would be too many teams in the rankings.

"throw a wrench in [my] whole plan" ???? I don't have a "plan." I never said anything was "absolute." The words I used were "likely" and "if" I will re-state my original statement with one addition... If CD wins this one, they'll be 8-2 and get the #1 seed in the east quad. SG at 5-5, will likely get the #8 seed. Thus, a CD win means a first round rematch... unless Johnson County beats Happy Valley and Unicoi beats Sullivan North.

I wouldn't call Fulton the fastest or the softest team in Knoxville.

If Pigeon Forge beats GP, they are probably in as a #7 seed because they would beat South Greene in the tie breaker. Criterion #1: Overall victories - Pigeon Forge: 5, South Greene: 5 Criterion #2: Number of teams on schedule that won 50% or more of their games - Currently, Pigeon Forge: 5, South Greene 4. If David Crockett (4-5) wins Friday, PF and SG will tie for criterion #2. Criterion #3: Victories over teams winning 50% or more of their games - Pigeon Forge: 1, South Greene 0. A PF win over GP will give them a 1 for this criterion. For Johnson County (2-7) to get in, they have to beat Happy Valley (6-2)... AND Unicoi (1-8) has to beat Sullivan North (6-3)... this is possible, but very unlikely. The scenario that I spoke of is more than possible... it's very probably. It's not definate, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Johnson County and/or Unicoi will lose Friday.

I don't think Fulton is anywhere near as good as they were in there championship years because their OL/DL is not as strong and physical... but let's look at their 4 loses. Powell (10-0): A physical team that is very good up front Austin-East (6-3): A rivalry game that could go either way every year Alcoa (9-0): No explanation necessary West (7-2): A much improved team this year losing only to Maryville and Farragut A lot of teams would have 3-4 loses if they played these teams. Fulton is still a very capable playoff team.

I wouldn't say it is a "big difference" from last year. Austin-East scored 34 against PF last year and 27 this year. PF's opening drive for a TD took 9 minutes. PF has improved since last year, but IMO GP is still a better team. GP should win, but anything can happen in a rivalry game.

If CD wins this one, they'll be 8-2 and get the #1 seed in the east quad. SG at 5-5, will likely get the #8 seed. Thus, a CD win means a first round rematch.

If I'm not mistaken, you've already made a prediction... all that is missing is the score.

I took the research another step forward adding total games played and win percentage. And let's just look at numbers with no names (although it's not hard to figure out who is who). I will sort them by win percentage. Who is your vote? Team A: 9 Championship appearances 4 State Championships 268 total games played Record: 232-36 (87% win percentage) Team B: 7 Championship appearances 7 State Championships 266 total games played Record: 228-38 (86% win percentage) Team C: 11 Championship appearances 8 State Championships 267 total games played Record: 227-40 (85% win percentage) Team D: 14 Championship appearances 4 State Championships 254 total games played Record: 203-51 (80% win percentage) Team E: 8 Championship appearances 6 State Championships 242 total games played Record: 191-51 (79% win percentage) Team F: 7 Championship appearances 7 State Championships 263 total games played Record: 205-58 (78% win percentage) Team G: 5 Championship appearances 5 State Championships 239 total games played Record: 153-86 (64% win percentage)

There are currently 16 district and only half of them are composed of 4 or more 3A teams. TSSAA would have to re-restructure the districts (which needs to be done) for this system to work. TSSAA has watered down the playoffs so much with the extra classification. There are 53 3A schools, 60% of those schools make it to the playoffs. IMO, that is way too many... TSSAA may as well cut the regular season down to 9 games and have 6 rounds of playoff football with all 53 teams competing. Loudon finished 3rd in their district last year with Alcoa 1st, CAK 2nd, and Kingston 4th. In the old region system, there were 8 regions statewide and the top 4 teams from Region 1 faced the top 4 teams from Region 2. If the top 3 teams of Region 1 are better than all the teams of Region 2, then #1 and #3 of Region 1 would face in the second round… and the winner of that game would face #2 of Region 1 in the third round. When you have a tough region/district somebody is going to get put out early. Everybody can’t make it to the semifinals unless all 32 teams were seeded without regard to geographic location.

I heard the girls soccer game at GP was cancelled Sunday (10/3) because the field was too soggy and waterlogged to play the game. Based on wunderground.com, the last precipitation in Gatlinburg was 0.12 inches on Thursday (9/30). I guess two days of 70+ degree weather didn't dry the field enough to make it playable... either that or somebody turned the sprinklers on

This is a must win for Fulton (2-4). If Fulton loses any of their last four games, they will have to depend on a wildcard to get into the playoffs.... and I don't know if they make it in with a 5-5 record. Gibbs (6-0) has a little more room for error. They can lose two or three of their last four games and still make the playoffs with an 8-2 or 7-3 record. A win by Gibbs increases their confidence even more. A win by Fulton creates an interesting re-match with GP the following week.

If TSSAA draws vertical lines to geographically separate the quads, then Alcoa will go to the Quad 1 instead of CAK. Alcoa is further east than CAK.

Photo, I think the word you were looking for is valet.

In your scenario with CAK finishing 6-4 with losses to Alcoa and 3 6A schools... CAK would still finish second in the district and be in the playoffs (assuming that CAK and Alcoa are still in the same district). If they are not in the same district in your scenario, then CAK is first in their district. Their playoff seat within the middle-east quadrant may be different since the first criteria is number of wins. I don't think it makes a big difference concerning getting into the playoffs, but it does affect playoff seating.

Take a look at the CoachT photo gallery; there are pictures from 2008 of Austin-East vs Stone Memorial, 2007 Austin-East vs Carter (JV game). At the following link, there are pictures of Austin-East vs Brainard and Fulton in 2009: http://www.aesports.net/AE%20Phots.htm Austin-East's field was in good condition for the entire 2009 season. They do have bermuda grass, which turns brown early, but it wasn't brown in the Brainard game. I don't know why you would refer to it as a "dirt track with a blade of grass here and there." That statement is so far from the truth. Austin-East's fieldhouse and weightroom are nice also. In May 2009, Austin-East hosted Rivals 2009 TN Varsity .com Combine. High school football players from all over the state travelled to Austin-East and used their facilities during this combine. If the facilities were "awful" or "below par," Rivals would not have chosen Austin-East as the host site.

I leave East Knoxville for a High School football game everytime Austin-East does not play at home. I never disputed that the visitor locker room was not small. I will give you "awful" visitor locker room, but not "awful" facilities. Austin-East doesn't have 20 returning starters, but they do have a lot of starters and significant contributors returning... the junior class is loaded.

I don't know when you visited Austin-East, but the field is far from being a "dirt track." The playing surface is in great condition. Austin-East's field looks better than Ooltewah's field looked last year... not that Ooltewah's field was bad, but Austin-East's field is in great condition right now. Btw... I could not find a 62-14, but it sounds like you still have some bitterness.

Austin-East facilities are not "awful." The visitor locker room is small... especially for a 6A school. Austin-East has a concrete stadium, but there is sufficient seating for both sides. The playing surface is in great condition. It usually stays that way until Austin-East has to play on it when it is wet. What is the basis for your comments about Austin-East's facilities? Have you ever been to Austin-East? People always say that if you stop Austin-East from getting the "big play," you have a good chance to beat them. That's probably a true statement, but your chances of winning increases for any opponent that you don't allow to have the "big play." Last week Austin-East had drives of 9, 11, and 15 plays. Austin-East has the ability to score without big plays.

Austin-East scored twice (once on defense). Maryville scored twice and added a FG. Maryville won the scrimmage, but Austin-East played well... especially in the trenches. Austin-East ran the ball farely well, and the front 7 did a good job of playing the run. Austin-East's DBs need to do a better job of playing the run and getting out of their breaks on timing routes. The WRs need to do a better job of blocking. Overall it was a solid scrimmage by both teams. I'm surprised no Maryville fans had anything to say about the scrimmage.

Austin-East is not at the level of Alcoa, but I think it's worth mentioning. Only one DI-A and 6 total in a 4-year period, but still impressive IMO. 2006 - Anthony Anderson (UT) 2007 - Kenny Jones (UT Martin, I-AA), Lincoln Anderson (UT Martin, I-AA) 2008 - DJ Roberts (UT Martin, I-AA) 2009 - Sheldon Wade (Austin Peay, I-AA), Devante Hawkins (Howard, I-AA) Several others went to DII, juco, or prep schools. It's not talked about a lot, but Coach Graham did a great job of helping kids get the opportunity for a free college education.

First of all, I'm not going to rush home from a high school football game to try to be the first one to post about the game. I've never posted on a Friday night, and I usually don't post on the weekends at all. I have a family and a life outside of high school football. As far as Austin-East being a potential obstacle for Alcoa... that's what I believed at the time, but I was wrong this year. Btw, there was only one post were I indicated that Austin-East would beat Alcoa, and that was a friendly exchange that I had with BC. Every other time, I just said that I thought it would be a close game. About the game... I read back through all of my posts in this thread. I never said that Austin-East would dominate the game or that Austin-East is so much better than Elizabethton. I did believe that Austin-East would win, and I did say that Austin-East would score more than 14 points. You want me to say that I was wrong, and that Elizabethton was the better team that night... it's obvious that tey were the better team. I did not hear you apologize for saying that you "don't think the D line is the strength of the E Town defense" and that it "spells problems for them stopping the run game." I gave them their props... I said they have a good team and deserved to win. I still believe that Austin-East was a better team than what they showed against Elizabethton. For some reason, they didn't show up. One of my main reasons for mentioning the pre-game chant, which btw did not sound like they were saying "we run this ship," was to hint that Austin-East would not get away with such behavior without being highly scrutinized. I do believe that it was more than just a chant to get themselves excited about the game. I think they were intentionally taunting Austin-East. Had that been Austin-East, people would've made a big deal out of it.