steelcityroller

That was about what I imagined. They have lost to the better football teams they have played the last couple years (42-0 Lebanon last year, Mt. Juliet, Hendersonville etc.) by +40 points.

Final score?

I'm looking forward to this week as I still don't know how good any of these teams are after preseason and one week of football. I've heard people claiming that Station Camp is better this year and hope to fight for a playoff spot. But I've also heard that their line got whipped by TC at the jamboree. Which if true means they are gonna struggle (again) in 6A. And they only scored 7 points against a 4A White House team. I also don't know how much stock to put into Lebanon. They went 8-3 last year. I highly doubt they do that well again. They lost alot on both sides of the ball. They practiced together, scrimmaged together and played Cookeville at the Jamboree and several people told me that Cookeville was better than Lebanon. And Cookeville lost in week 1 to 3A Upperman. As always it takes a few weeks to distinguish the pretenders from the contenders.

Oakland beat Maryville 38-0 and Whitehaven 37-0 last year in the last 2 rounds of the playoffs.... In recent years they have beaten playoff teams like Lebanon, Independence, Cookeville, Rossview etc. by +40 during the season without breaking a sweat. So yeah I wouldn't chalk up my entire season because of a big loss to them with a young team the first week of the season. By the way I believe I seen earlier that Oakland is now ranked nationally?

What about in 6A? Like Maryville, Oakland, Whitehaven etc. Because isn't it quite possible that Gallatin will be in 6A after the next realignment? Then Station Camp must have been sandbagging all summer in the scrimmages and jamboree.

We don't know how to take that win over MJ just yet. Every year there are teams that have wins or losses that defy logic when you look back at the end of the season.

I don't know about winning 6 games but the playoffs should certainly be in play. They have Antioch, LaVergne, McGavock and Overton all in region as very manageable games. They can lose to Cane Ridge and Smyrna ( who didn't look good either) and as long as they win a handful of those games above still make the playoffs.

Station Camp might not win a game this year. This one will be ugly.

Antioch is a basement level 6A team. But all the same Nolensville beat a 6A Antioch team 63-6. When 6A teams lose like that it is typically to teams like Oakland and Maryville. You don't see too many smaller classification schools beating up on 6A teams that bad unless they are very good football teams. Nolensville 42 Watertown 21

Those kids aren't going to go out there and give 50% effort just because an opponent might see it. The coaching and playcalling is gonna be vanilla, obviously. But you can still evaluate speed, strength, kicking/punting and line play. I do it every year and feel like I get a pretty good gauge on the teams I see from an athletic standpoint. It benefits the teams. The risk of injuries isn't worth the split of gate money otherwise.

Its too early to say after just one game. Every year there are teams that look DOA one week and then go on to be championship caliber teams. And the reverse as well. I find it hard to imagine all these teams being that bad considering that somebody has to win these region games and they have some easy non-region games. But I know from looking at the rosters that most of this region lost alot from last year. You really don't have anybody returning a bunch of starters like you did last year. Wilson Central and Rossview both have manageable non-region schedules. Hendersonville is gonna have a rough year unless they improve fast. Station Camp could possibly go 0-10. They lost to what may end up being their best chance at a win on opening night. And have remaining non-region games against Gallatin, Beech and Stewarts Creek. Lebanon has a handful of games that I would be comfortable picking them but the rest IDK yet.

How did they look?

Didn't Smith County play Watertown a few weeks ago?

I think Gordy will call them whatever they want this year.

They played Lebanon (at Lebanon) here recently and I kid you not there was maybe at most a dozen people in the stands. Which is pathetic for that many parents to not even make the 30-minute trip to support their kids. But yeah they had arguably more talent than Lebanon but were a complete miss on and off the field. Kids were giving up on the field. Twice I seen kids coming off the field during a live play one of which was a turnover.

I remember a friend of mine had family in Portland they were telling everybody that TC had absolutely no chance to beat them in that playoff game and were betting with us giving us 21+ points. I still remember the look on their face at the game.

What did they have tonight 70 passing yards? Which is pretty much what they averaged last year. Chandler Crite was Region MVP last year he must have done something right.

The big thing for Lebanon is that while its only week 1 their schedule doesn't look as daunting anymore as some of their better remaining opponents didn't look so hot tonight. Mt. Juliet lost to Stewarts Creek, Hendersonville got blown out by Oakland 59-0 and Beech supposedly didnt look good either. They should beat McGavock, LaVergne, Station Camp, Wilson Central and Rossview.

Did everybody come out healthy?

Westmoreland has that record from the game against Jo Byrns. I would be worried about them being down too much. Especially considering that they didn't see much from Friendship tonight due to injuries. You don't want to go into the playoffs untested.

People also need to remember that its week 1 and just one game in general. Last year Maryville beat Oakland 24-21 and then lost to them in the playoffs 38-0. Goodpasture went 2-9 but beat a Friendship Christian team that played for a state championship. I remember a Livingston Academy team that I believe started the season off 0-4 and went on to win a state championship.

Oakland wins 59-0.... they may still be saying touchdown on that broadcast

I seen the numbers after the game Lebanon had 282 yards and Gallatin had 280. Lebanon had 15 1st downs and Gallatin had 14. Both teams had 1 turnover. The time of possession was nearly the same. But the score was 28-7. Lebanon made some dumb mistakes that cost them scores. I believe there is one change roster wise they could have made tonight that may have made a big difference in the ball game. It may be done going into next week when they look at the film. But that is often the difference at the end of the day. I felt like both teams were evenly matched on the field but Gallatin played a smarter better football game. They got good play from the Quarterback position but he is still a big step back from Crite. And the fact is that without him they didn't have much on offense last year. I don't think Lebanon is gonna do much if Copas is gonna be running the ball 20 times a game. His strength is as a passer.

I would give Gallatin an small edge tomorrow night based on what I've read/heard. From what I've heard Lebanon might struggle on offense this year. They had a QB that was a big threat last year as a runner and that may not be the case this year. But I know they are still pretty good on defense and have some tough smart kids on that side of the ball.

From what I heard today FC is having an issue with the injury bug. I hate to hear that these two teams deserve to see each other at full strength.