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I am fairly certain his rankings do not factor in the strength of schedule of out-of-state teams, and therefore his ratings may be understated (or overstated, but certainly not in the case of MUS this year) because of the absence of consideration of those OOS teams. Just checked the fine print; yes, that is the case: Only games played against the teams in the ratings are used to formulate the power ratings.

I think he might have taken a "Coach"ing position. Yes, I think the response you volunteered may have some merit.

Wonder what ever happened to bigvalvenus? He sure was a big MUS fan that posted on here a lot leading up to the playoffs. His "absence" is apparent.

13 large DII titles – 6 to MBA, 4 to MUS, and 1 each to Ryan, Brentwood Academy, and McCallie. So, there is really no “change in powerhouse teams” winning in consistent years, as only one team has won titles consistently (prior to MUS), and that is MBA. “Consistent” has a connotation of a pattern. Interesting that the wins cited for a program that can “beat any team in D2” are a win against a “progressively weaker team” and a win against a team “not competitive outside of Chattanooga”. That’s a really compelling argument. Alas, the Irish are better, and they certainly have pummeled their rival – well, their new rival. It’s the S.O.S. with their old rival, that’s for sure. Christian Brothers will “always seem like a legit contender” for future championships? CBHS has a good program, but I’m not sure I can see how the absences from the last four finals would lead one to that conclusion. Granted, I am not up to speed on CBHS; I haven’t seen the Brothers play since a 34-0 whitewashing in Nashville in 2008 – a really surprising loss given that the opponent has become progressively weaker over the years. Looking forward to further input from you on the boards, as you seem to bring a lot to the table. We need quite a bit of that, as much of the banter on here is borne out of jealousy and turning attention away from one’s own shortcomings. Welcome.

Do they play defense and special teams? I'm talking all-round player, not at just one position. Well for brunetti, as we all know, quaterbacks rarely play more than just that position considering they are the most important part of the offense and you got to keep them healthy, especially one as good as he. But im sure if he wanted to he could. And for darkwa, he played cornerback pretty well up until they moved tavarres. and its kind of important to keep players that are THAT good at their on position rather than playing them at many positions, cause if they get injured, you will be losing alot and well have a hard time replacing the position they played so wonderfully. Uhh, OK. Yes, I guess Brunetti would be a good defender (Ingle Martin certainly played multiple positions well, so I guess the prospect of BB being able to play well exists). And I assume Darkwa did play CB pretty well in practice, as he is hardly to be seen in the defensive stats for EHS in 2007 and 2008 (no INTs or tackles from what I could see). How about this - in the category of "Best All-Round DII Football Player Who Actually Plays Multiple Positions, As Opposed to Outstanding Offensive Player Who Hypothetically Could Play Defense and/or Special Teams If An Injury Risk Did Not Exist", I'd put Fitz Lassing up as my nominee.

You're kidding, aren't you? Your 4A and 5A champs had losses to 6A schools in the regular season that either didn't make the playoffs or were mercy-ruled in the playoffs.

Pretty good come back but you don't lose (respect) as much if you get beat by one of those teams. If you lose to Alcoa then its just that little 3a school that beat you. GET IT!! A silly argument as to why the DII schools have played these regional/national powers. I'm sure if I argued that Alcoa scheduled Bell County so as not to be potentially embarassed by little ol' South Pittsburg, I'd be taken to task similarly. I have nothing but admiration for what Alcoa has done. But the toots on the 3A-4A thread about how "unimpressive" MUS was on Thursday night are laughable but, of course, self-serving.

Why? Because their schedules are already filled with South Panolas and Neases and Trinitys and Byrneses and Moellers and Bolleses and St. Xaviers and Prattvilles?

Congrats to the Owls. Worthy champs. Check out the "What if Alcoa and Maryville played again now??" thread on the 3A/4a boards - quite a bit of grasping at straws. I would take solace in the fact the chosen team of some of the fans who were not impressed with MUS is coming off of a 0 passing yards and 177 total yards offensive performance in its championship game. I'm not sure what was not to be impressed about with MUS's multi-dimensional, mistake-free game last night against a team who had just beat two very hot teams itself. Anyway, as is the case every year, the "best in state" debate will occur now, with homers boosting their teams and the naysayers going against the teams they hate. Nevertheless, while the battle will not be decided on the field, MUS will be the highest ranked and highest rated team out of Tennessee when all of the rankings and ratings are finalized over the coming days. Based on an entire body of work, that consensus will be fully justified. At the very least, I'm sure the entire unbiased population of Batesville, MS, will wholeheartedly agree.

Click here for the TSSAA website. Look at Past Champions and Records and then look at year-by-year results for Football: Team Champions. Long story short, if the past decade is any indication, 16,500 would be more than ample for any game. The 25-30K crowds are a lifetime and multiple classification setups ago.

As best as I have been able to research, any Tennessee team's finish in a national poll over the past 50 years can ge found here (page down a couple of times). The 1982 national champion was MBA's opponent in the 2008 Herbstreit Ohio vs USA event - Moeller.

White Station's two losses have me curious as to what happened. CBHS shut out WSHS 27-0, no small feat given WSHS's high powered offense. Yet, in the MUS game, they were up against a better defense in MUS, and yet scored 35 (although gave up 55). I know comparative scores cannot be totally reliable as an indicator of team strength, but those few weeks White Station beat Whitehvaen 33-13, then White Station loses 0-27 to CBHS, and then Whitehaven whitewashes CBHS 21-0 are really a head scratcher. Anyway, good luck to White Station. The 200 or so miles that must be traveled will be tough, but not nearly as tough as the 100 yards that must be traveled back and forth in Cookeville. It will take a monumental effort to keep the Maryville boys from hoisting the first 6A hardware in the state. MHS 42, WSHS 20

Cumberland River Bowl in Gainesboro Dresden 52, Jackson County 21 Link - page down to bottom!

Do they play defense and special teams? I'm talking all-round player, not at just one position.

Real cool. Considering it is their third year as a FULL varsity team. I am not condoning the shot taken at EHS earlier in this thread. With that said, the "youth" of Ensworth's football program is no longer an excuse. It wasn't much of an excuse even in 2007 (when Ricky chalked up MBA's 14-0 win - hardly a dominating win - to the fact "they've played 1,000 games; we've played six"), when EHS went 9-3, losing to a 13-0 state champion MBA team, an 11-2 state runner-up BA team, and a 9-3 Father Ryan team. Ensworth was a one-loss state championship game contender in 2008 (although nobody was beating MUS last year) and was a one-loss state championship game contender this year. Ensworth is a new school, but the football program (not to mention the basketball program) is not your typical three-year-old program. Ensworth's youth as a program was never a game-changing issue going into any of its games this year. It shouldn't be an issue after the games either.

On a somewhat unrelated note, but if you Tennessee fans like reliving yesteryear and enjoy game simulations, a guy who runs historical simulations with national powers from previous years in high school football and basketball is about to run a simulation on the 1971 high school football season, and Tennessee (Bristol) is one of the playoff teams. The Vikings start off with St. Rita out of Chicago. Yes, this stuff is pie-in-the-sky fantasy, but it's something to pass some time and relive good memories. http://www.jimmychitwood.com/

I know moral victories are relatively empty, but that's a heckuva performance on the road versus a team that has run roughshod through the competition the past two seasons. My blowout prediction (like many others) was certainly off.

I know you are still out there, and I still have bandwidth reserved for you and TCHS scores. You take your time and I'll get to whatever you send. As with any submission, I am happy to put it up. It's hard to keep up with every school in the state, but there are significant additions to the site each week (this week has been a smattering of 1970 season scores for a couple dozen West Tennessee schools). Thanks again for everything submitted to date.

That's where I was headed by the late third quarter last year of the MBA-MUS game. Crappy night of football, but my MUS host took care of the Rendezvous tab, so I at least have that memory. I, too, think it will be an ambush. For FRHS to stay within a TD or two would be something only two fine Mississippi schools were able to do this year. MUS by 24-28 points.

I would be interested to know what separates the 2009 regular season from the past multiple dozen regular seasons that have occurred in this state. Sure, we had a handful of new teams playing this year, and we had some new district matchups, but what defines "good" (or, in this case, "best")? If the TSSAA doesn't get any of the regular season gates (I assume it doesn't), then he can't be talking about revenue. So what exactly is the criteria for a "good" regular season, and what made the others "worse"? I'm sure he and his fellow BOC cronies will be holding court in the pressbox at the mid-week DII championships to explain.

Your first post was preceded by my post: "Can't disagree with you there...while Mississippi has won a disproportionate share of its games against Tennessee schools, in many cases, we are sending primarily our Memphis-area schools against schools from all over Mississippi. I think it's fair to say that, of the main areas of Tennessee, Memphis programs are behind Knoxville-area and Nashville-area programs in terms of talent, so Mississippi isn't necessary getting a good geographical sample of Tennessee schools to play." I meant to say "talented programs", not "talent". Sure, as I wrote it, it didn't make sense, because Memphis does have, probably, the best talent in the state - it's just poorly coached, or socio-economic factors keep some athletes away from the playing fields. Was a resonse warranted? Sure. But one as scathing as "the dumbest most un-informed post I have ever read here...Good grief that was stupid."? I was hoping that you may have read some of my previous posts to give you some anecdotes to allow you to second-guess if I was really that dumb or stupid. I corrected my mistake, but I thought an apology may have been in order. Anyway, we need to kill this minor tussle. We all could have chosen some words better, whether in pleading our case or assessing someone else's case. I had to respond to plead my case, as there are probably thousands of "dumb" and "uninformed' posts on this site where the posters aren't making honest mistakes, thereby precluding mine as the most (accidentally) egregious on the site. Anyway, I (we) can't move on by bringing it up again! Allow canines in repose to remain in a prone position.

I talked (via e-mail) to Bobby a few years back, as we put together, at his request, an All-Decade Team (All-Decade Team). He was a pleasure to talk to, and I got him to give me some dirt on one of my friends, who was the oldest of a group of brothers who played at MUS in the early-to-mid 80s and later at Vanderbilt. I never have met Bobby, but based on the e-mails and what my friend says about him, it's safe to say I have respect for him and who he chooses to surround himself with on the sidelines. No, definitely not Bobby. And, no, I didn't really think he was a coach, although I had to put that option out there in the scenario I laid out (to give him the benefit of the doubt had he actually seen the one and only game that he would have been able to see based on previous posts) that he attended EHS-MBA in person last Friday. And, the only way that reasonably would have occurred was if he was a coach scouting, because I don't know many people who would drive that far to see two teams in whom he would have no other interest. Read the Alcoa thread in question. I don't stir up trouble without provocation (and generally don't with provocation). However, I think I've posted on here long enough to get a little more respect than that (football acumen aside, if by the mere fact that I can make complete, coherent sentences, which, sadly, is not the case with quite a few on this site, although less of an issue on the DII boards). If you are offended, so be it, but the unnecessary call-out on the Alcoa thread was the only reason the inconsistency in previous posts was noted. One can't call someone "stupid", even in the event of an honest mistake (and one's previous posts obviously can be viewed to get a flavor as to whether or not one is somewhat competent), and not expect to be held accountable for his or her own posts. Nevertheless, I said I was past it.

There generally has been one Division II All-State Team that covered all classes. What 2009 has in store remains to be seen.

^^ Except for the one glitch this afternoon, the site worked well today. As always, whatever it takes to sustain the site, I support 100%. Format changes or ads will never keep this site from being the only place to discuss HS sports with the breadth that this site covers it. You probably can't hear "thanks" enough.

I am reminded every day (and some days more than others) that it's just a game; I can assure you I don't take it too seriously. I do take "stupid" jabs seriously, though. Surf around on this site - there are certainly enough posts on here, whether from an English language or common sense perspective, worthy of a "stupid" label, and yet not even the youngest or least intelligent posters of such content deserve a dressing down like that. So with that, I am past it and moving on.