enall

Harriman's bleachers have indeed been deemed unsafe. Roane County three years ago spent around $2 million putting new bleachers at all its high schools (Kingston, Oliver Springs, Rockwood and Midway). As of this year Harriman schools are now part of Roane County schools so the burden of fixing the problem lies with them. Roane County had a 30 cent tax increase to cover the cost of acquiring the school system this past year. Although there have been no estimates whatsoever on the cost to renovate the stadium, it will probably range from $300,000 to $600,000 -- which could be another increase in property taxes.

Here is one stadium that you can generally get tickets for -- Odessa Permian -- check out the last photo on the page: http://www.texasbob.com/travel/tbt_ratliff.html

The numbers -- you decide In the scores database where I have every Tennessee score since 1992 (almost 20,000 scores in all) here is the breakdown of margin of victory: 76% of the games (over 15,000) were decided by 30 pts or less. Only 470 of these 20,000 games (approx 2%) were decided by more than 50 points, of these 150 (<1%)were decided by more than 60 points. 1/3 (33%) of all games are decided by less than ten points.

http://www.tssaa.org/schdir/fbstandings.htm

The SOS and Won/Loss statistcs on coacht are just another "tool" to help fans and sportswriters get a feel for how Tennessee teams compare against each other. We now have at least seven computer polls plus the AP and a few "subjective" polls that are available. I suspect Tennessee has as many of these ratings as any state. This is what happens when accurate scores are readily available from sources as the TSSAA and coacht. It is great to see debate on these things because the bottom line is more attention drawn to high school sports, in particular - football. I look forward to the SOS and W/L and the debate they draw.

I have probably had more feedback this year on Riverdale/Lincoln County and CBHS/Brentwood Academy than ever before since I started the ratings in 1993. When I run the ratings at the beginning of the season they look at each teams' history -- no others stronger than Riverdale and BA. Thus it takes quite a while for them to tumble in the ratings. It is a decision I made when I started doing the ratings. The logic being that when BA or Riverdale play they probably have a touchdown advantage before they even take the field. Of course that logic can be debated -- but I choose to use it. Since the season started these team have had the greatest ratings points increase: White County 16.5 Sequoyah 15.8 Antioch 15.4 Lincoln County 15.1 CBHS 14.0 Chester County 13.7 ECS 13.6 Mt. Pleasant 13.3 East Robertson 12.5 Knoxville Catholic 12.3 Chattanooga Central 11.9 Cheatham County 11.8 Scott County 11.3 White Station 11.0 Cherokee 10.2 so you can tell by these numbers that Linclon County and CBHS's surge certainly has been noticed by the computer and as long as they keep winning they'll keep moving up. On the other hand, these teams have had the biggest drop in ratings: Fayette Academy -12.1 Nashville Overton -12.4 Tullahoma -12.6 Oakhaven -12.6 Sweetwater -12.6 Cascade -13.2 Union City -14.2 Memphis Overton -14.6 West Greene -14.6 David Crockett -16.0 Beech -16.3 Jellico -17.5 Hollow Rock-Bruceton -20.2 You'll notice here that Bruceton has fallen the furthest -- but it took them 4 weeks to drop out of the top 10. Those close to Bruceton probably knew the team was not a top ten team this year -- but the computer kept giving them the benefit of the doubt at first and now has given up on them -- but their tradition kept them in top 10 for a while. I noticed in another thread a comment on how can Rockwood drop in the ratings after defeating another undefeated team. The computer is programmed to reexamine each schedule each week. When Rockwood defeated Sweetwater and Kingston early on they saw a surge -- but at last check, Sweetwater and Kingston are neither very good this year and so what once looked like great victories turned out to not be that impressive, so the computer is figuring that out. I stick by the ratings as over the years they pick about 85-90% of the games each week. I think that is pretty good. There is always room for improvement with any system and perhaps my ratings give too much attention to past performance, but at this time I am not up to getting back into the system and doing some tweaking. I'll just live with the Riverdale and CBHS questions for a while. Debate is good.

The numbers -- you decide In the scores database where I have every Tennessee score since 1992 (almost 20,000 scores in all) here is the breakdown of margin of victory: 76% of the games (over 15,000) were decided by 30 pts or less. 470 games (approx 2%) were decided by more than 50 points, of these 150 (<1%)were decided by more than 60 points. 1/3 (33%) of all games are decided by less than ten points.

The Massey poll is put together by Kenneth Massey - whose college ratings are part of the BCS. He is a PhD mathematics candidate at Virginia Tech. He does high school ratings for 10 other states, as well as baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, lacross, bowling, racing and soccer! Quite impressive.

Enrollment is not based on anticipated numbers. Enrollment numbers that classification is based on are actual enrollment numbers supplied to the State Education Department, which are in turn given to TSSAA.

Not trying to slight enall, but something must be wrong with the computer model when a team like Pearl-Cohn easily defeats a team like Hillsboro, and is still behind them in any kind of rankings. I know that past performance weighs into the ranking, but once a team soundly defeats another, they should outrank them no matter the system. I am not talking about just winning. Upsets happen. You can't move someone high just because they defeat a team. But, from what I have seen, Pearl-Cohn didn't get lucky. They controlled the game from the opening gun and strongly defeated Hillsboro. How then can Hillsboro still be so highly ranked?!? Just a sanity check on the system. I have always stated that computer rankings, at least mine, are really not very accurate until the 5th week of the season. After that time they are pretty good. The computer has to get to know the teams for a given year. Hillsboro/Pearl-Cohn is a great example. Given 2-3 more weeks the computer will adjust to just how good Hillsboro and Pearl-Cohn are - and if Pearl-Cohn is a better team they will replace Hillsboro in the standings. The computer cannot, after one week in the season determine who are the best teams in the state. Give them a little time. In the ten years of doing the Prep Performance Ratings, there has never been a team that won a state championship that was not rated in the top 10 at the week 10 rating period. I think that says that they are a pretty good measure of teams strengths. Some years back, Maryville won the state after losing their first 4 games. The Prep Ratings were the only ranking or rating system that had them in the top ten on the final rating. The same can be said for the first year Pearl-Cohn won their championship with 4 loses. Take the ratings for what they are worth -- a guide as to the relative strength of each team in the state.

In the aftermath of the MBA Trinity game... MBA moves to #17 nationally in National Prep Poll http://hsflorida.theinsiders.com/2/171989.html and Trinity drops to 23rd. ------------ From Kentucky: Despite dropping the season opener, Trinity debuts on the first Associated Press high school football poll of the season in first place. Trinity, last year's 4-A champs, received nine of 12 first place votes. St. Xavier and Male are second and third in the 4-A poll this week. ------------- And from the Associated Press: "Kentucky is better known for its basketball prowess, but over the years, has turned out some outstanding high school football quarterbacks, too — Paul Hornung, Phil Simms, Chris Redman and Tim Couch. Now some believe that the Bluegrass State has outdone itself with the latest offering — Brian Brohm at 6-foot-4, 205 pounds from Louisville Trinity. Some longtime observers of the state's high school scene are calling Brohm, who has guided Trinity to back-to-back Class 4-A state titles, one of the best quarterbacks the state has ever produced. "There's only a handful of guys you can put in the class with Hornung, Redman and Couch," says Bob White, who has covered high school sports at the Louisville Courier-Journal for more than 40 years. "But without a doubt, Brian is in that group." Hornung, the former Heisman Trophy-winner, goes a step further, saying Brohm is the "best high school football quarterback ever from the state of Kentucky, period."

Living Word Christian Academy, AL has changed their name to Scottsboro Christian Academy. They play 4 Tennessee teams -- Loretto (last week), Whitwell (this week), St. Andrews, and Zion.

http://valdostawildcats.com - complete with photo galleries of practices!

Jackie Pope tailback on Oak Ridge's 1958 National Champinship team averaged 15.2 yards per carry, completed 44 of 64 passes and led state in scoring. Pope was also part of the state champioship 440 track relay team that year that won the state - which included two other members of the backfield (one of which was a fullback - Howard Dunneback who went on to play at Kentucky)

Have had some domian issues. Ratings will be available soon, but may be under a different name. Will inform as to the status. Thanks for asking.

Schedule Changes: Lighthouse Christian in Millington will play all their games away this year. Celina is now called Clay County

Here is the law: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/c...pter/PC0221.pdf

Couple of questions here: Where can more information be found on the new law and what agency will be responsible for enforcement? Thanks.

DCA's game with Lighthouse Christian (Millington) have been verified.

Memphis schedules can be found at: http://www.mcsk12.net/admin/studentprogs/m...v/schedules.htm

This one has been corrected. Thanks for all the feedback.

Lighthouse Christian (Antioch) did drop football and Lighthouse Christian (Millington) started competing DII. We are verifying the DCA vs. Lighthouse (Millington) game.

All schedules were submitted by the schools. White's Creek did indeed submit last year's schedule. The schedules that were submitted by the schools are at http://tssaa.org/schedules/ A quality control/integrity check was run on all schedules and the results can be found at http://tssaa.org/schdir/Sportsmenu.cfm As errors in schedules are found, schedules are changed at both locations. Already there have been seven changes that have had to be made. Anyone that finds an error or correction should send the change to enall@tssaa.org or PM from this website to enall and we'll make the change.

Mitchell is now AA in basketball -- their enrollment chage of 20%+ caused the movement.

I am changing the bracket and results pages to refresh automatically starting today (Thursday). As soon as the games are completed scores are posted. Box scores are emailed into spring fling central as soon as possible and they are posted. There is a problem with box scores from softball because of a ethernet issue. You can also get latest results from (901) 205-2288 (Spring Fling hotline). If you encounter some problems you can email me at enall@tssaa.org