TheBigRedDog

Home run hire for ECS.  They will be a force in D-II AA very soon.

That would make too much sense to do.  9 championships is ridiculous. Should be 5, 4 in D1 and 1 in D2.

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Across all EIGHT classifications, there are 47 teams with losing records in the playoffs.  6 of those teams won just 1 game, respectively.  Another 27 teams with .500 records made the playoffs.  74 of the total 123 playoff spots went to teams with .500 or worse records.  That's 60% of all playoff spots to teams with .500 or worse records.  Absolutely ridiculous and embarrassing.  What kind of message does this send to the kids? 

I have been around Ricky for a long long time and have never heard him utter a single profanity. I was not close enough to see what transpired, and I am not really taking sides in this, but I must question the veracity of anyone who accused Bowers of using profanity.

Totally agree.

Well, this is certainly a shame, especially for the kids.  What a distraction.

The official clearly acted extremely unprofessionally and was the aggressor.  Appears as though he was looking for a reason to throw Bowers out and says "you're bumping me!", when Ricky was relatively calm the entire time.  The statement from the TSSAA was that Bowers was ejected for using profanity.  I have watched the video and Bowers did not use profanity. How could the TSSAA not come to the same conclusion?  IT'S ON VIDEO. 

I've been watching football for a long time and I've never seen a coach ejected.  Ever.  Very strange and made stranger by the manner in which it occured.  Something about this entire chain of events stinks.  I can't help but wonder if there is more to the story.

Good move.  I always thought SBEC was a terrible name.

Did this happen?  If so, can someone provide a report?

Wes, I like where you're going with this. Somewhat akin to the old Mid South league.

In Texas, they split private schools. Most play in the Texas Association of Private & Parochial Schools (TAPPS). They have their own governing body, officials, you name it.

Some of the older and more academically-prestigious schools (ex. St. Marks, ESD, FW Country Day) are members of the Southwest Preparatory Conference.

I could see Tennessee following one or both of these paths.

The decision was based on a rebuilding process. We wouldn't have had the success in 97 if we had not done what we did in 95-96. Also MBA decided not to play us because we were 4A. The powers at MBA did not want to risk a 4A team beating a 5A team. Which was totally understandable. We did play them in 2 qtr jamborees in 95-96. It solved nothing and proved nothing but it satisfied the diehards for that 2 year period.

To suggest that MBA didn't schedule Ryan for fear of losing to a 4A school is laughable. I guess that is the Ryan spin on it. It was a big deal at the time, and we were all very disapointed that Ryan made the decision not to play up with us and BA. MBA certainly wasn't dodging anybody, as evidenced by our non-region schedule that featured CBHS and Gallatin (a power at the time). I was on the '94 team that beat Ryan and both the '95 & '96 teams that played them in the jamboree. I agree, the jamboree was a poor subsitute for the real thing.

You thought you guys were as good as the '96 team? The score certainly indicated there was very little separation.

I meant that our '96 team was better than our '95 team; our '96 team was evenly matched with BA that year. In some folks' eyes (mine) we should have won the game.

Can someone provide some insight into what CBHS brings to the table/ Style of offense, top players, positions of strength, etc.

We all know a lot about this year's DII landscape, but it's also fun to take a look back. Over the next few days, I'll explore the rich history of the programs that make up DII-AA. I'd love to hear your perspectives on the great games, teams, players and coaches who built these programs and kept their legacies alive.

 

Before you ask, yes, things are slow at work right now.

 

Here are the ten most-played rivalries in Division II:

 

1) Baylor-McCallie, 78 games. Baylor leads series, 42-33-3

2) MBA-Father Ryan, 77 games. MBA leads series, 47-29-1

T3) MUS-Briarcrest, 34 games. MUS leads, 29-5

T3) MBA-Baylor, 34 games. MBA leads, 18-14-2

5) MUS-Christian Brothers, 33 games. MUS leads, 19-14

6) Brentwood Academy-McCallie, 27 games. BA leads, 19-8

7) Brentwood Academy-MUS, 26 games. BA leads, 18-8

8) MBA-McCallie, 22 games. MBA leads, 17-5

T9) Brentwood Academy-MBA, 20 games. Tied, 10-10

T9) Brentwood Academy-Baylor, 20 games. BA leads, 18-2

 

Correct me if I've missed a series. Records courtesy of http://hsfdatabase.c...nnesseehsvs.htm

If not for Ryan dropping to 4A in '95-'96, the MBA-Ryan series would be #1. That decision still baffles me.

I"ll start Wes.....

 

One of the great sporting events I'll ever attend in my lifetime was the first ever BA-MBA game in 1995. The game was Friday of Thanksgiving weekend....perfect football night. 5A semi-finals. The paper that day said, "for reasons too numerous to cite here, the crowd will be large for this game. If you plan to go, you should arrive at least 2 hours before kick-off." There was not an inch of space in the BA stands that night. The MBA side was at overflow capacity at least 2 hours before kick-off. MBA took the lead for a brief moment and I thought the stands were going to collapse to the ground. Ultimately BA won going away....I don't think there will ever be an atmosphere like that again.

I played in that game. It was indeed quite the atmosphere. Traffic was such a mess, our (MBA) team buses were met by police escort when we got off I-65 and took us all the way into the BA campus.

In the end, I think we were perhaps distracted by the enormity of the game and all of the pressure and it showed in the final result. Plus, I think that BA team was better than us. '96 was a different story.

By the way, Wes, the '96 game had BA at #5 in the nation and went to 2OT. I also think Tito's TD was on 3rd down.

Biggers fumbled, btw.

Done. Here's my email to the voters (I get the emails because I voted from 2009-2011):

 

Good poll, everyone. You do a diligent job with your research and voting. As a 2009-2011 voter who still gets these emails (I'm no longer a media member and thus ineligible), I wanted to make one quick point:

 

As you likely know, DII is split into two divisions. While DII-A features teams with strong tradition, it is a collection of smaller schools that have fared poorly against teams from DII-AA. The larger class is 10-1 against the smaller since 2010. Webb, St. George's and USJ are having good seasons, but most would agree they are not on the same level as MUS, CBHS, MBA, Baylor, etc.

 

As an example, when Webb played in DII-AA for two seasons, it went 5-8 in league play. When the Spartans moved down to DII-A, they went 18-1 in league play during the next two seasons, winning two state titles.

 

The two leagues are far from equal. It would be fairer for each league to have its own poll instead of being lumped together. But in the meantime, ranking Webb and St. George's ahead of teams like MUS, CBHS and MBA is not representative of the merits of those squads. If you believe differently, continue voting as you wish. But if you don't have a DII team in your area and aren't familiar with the differences between the two leagues, hopefully this helps.

 

That's all. Please receive this message in the way it was intended -- not as criticism but as a nugget of information. Happy voting!

Thanks, Wes. Well put.

I don't think there's a "stink" or anybody is "bent out of shape." The original question was why can't "we" (meaning "they") get it right; the general order seems so obvious to us who follow D II. The apparent answer is that the voters don't spend any time investigating in order to "get it right", especially for D II. We're just the teams that play for the gold ball on Thursday.... Many apparently can't even discern the difference between A and AA. Put simply, they don't care and it's a meaningless poll.

Bingo.

There's another rumor that Ensworth will become a boarding school in the near future....

Funny.

I remember standing next to two Overton fans at a baseball game at MBA once and hearing them talk about MBA's secret dorms.

He is a starting lineman for the University of Tn. His name is Richardson

Pearl-Cohn alumnus.

Why in the world are these two divisions not separated, anyway? Just name the top 5 in each division. Every other division is separated - can you imagine trying to rank 1A-3A in the same poll and make sense of it.

I agree.

I also see others' point that a HS football poll doesn't matter. What's the point of even having one, then? Why not just do away with it if the voters won't even take the time to do five minutes of research?

I have mentioned this before, but how on earth can teams like Webb and St. George's be ranked ahead of teams like MUS, Baylor and MBA? And USJ ahead of MBA? Yes, I know their records are better, but look at their respective schedules. Do the voters just not care? WesVols, please straighten this out.

Division II

Record Pts Prv

1. Ensworth (18) 6-0 180 1

2. CBHS 5-0 146 2

3. Brentwood Academy 4-1 133 3

4. Knoxville Webb 4-1 112 4

5. St. George’s 6-0 91 5

6. MUS 4-2 90 6

7. Baylor 4-2 67 8

8. University-Jackson 6-0 66 7

9. Briarcrest 6-0 50 10

10. MBA 4-2 48 9

Others receiving 12 or more points: None.

I'm not sure what kind of a statement it makes about Ensworth were they to do something like this.

I do think a league similar to the old Mid South would be kind of a neat thing for large prep schools like Ensworth, MBA, CBHS, MUS, McCallie, and Baylor to be involved in. Add in teams like Trinity, Marist in Atlanta, Jesuit or St. Marks in Dallas, and some others and I for one sure would be enthusiastic. Perhaps the TN teams could still remain in the TSSAA for football, competing for a state title, but play their 3-4 "out of conference" games against teams from the multi-state league. But, I digress.

And just imagine if Jalen Hurd was still there...

Yeah, really.

From what I've seen and heard of MUS, they are going to be a force this year and certainly one of the favorites in D-II AA. They gave Ensworth all they wanted two weeks ago. So many good teams in this league...

I don't know what to think about this one. My guess is it will be a close one, perhaps decided by turnovers and/or special teams. I made the mistake last week of underestimating MBA's DB's against a powerful and athletic Trinity side. Certainly one game does not a season make, but I would caution anyone who thinks BA's receivers will be open the entire game. There will be big plays to be sure, but if the Big Red defense shows up up like it did last week, then they certainly have a good chance to beat the Eagles.

Offensively, I am anxious to see the continued progression by Dylan Hall and the stable of tailbacks. I was impressed by all of them last week.

Roll Red.

I have talked with several past Board Members at BGA... a number of them would have supported the move to D-I to compete with the Lipscombs and the Goodpastures, and the CPA's. In the past there have been good rivalry's with Lipscomb in all sports going back many years...family connections and friends...it would have been in their opinion a better mesh than D-II. Board members still read their mission and charter that they give financial aid to those who need it and meets the school's entrance standards for all students which includes athletics. With Lipscomb and the others..financial aid is not available to those who participate in athletics.

This does help to explain the drop to D-II A.

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet. The press release certainly attempts to spin this to the positive, but I must admit I am surprised by this. I thought BGA had really stepped it up in recent years in terms of being competitive and facilities. Perhaps their relative lack of success outside of the three major sports(football, basketball, baseball) is the factor?