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"CoachT" wildcat84 is gone, at least for awhile. Yes - Thank You!!!!!

Riddle from McCallie and Oatsvall from BA were the two best QBs I saw this year. Both very fun to watch.

Ha! Over/under is 5 times. I'll take the over.

Zoneread can speak for himself; he doesn't speak for BA - which he said. Much respect to CPA. They have a great program and, IMO, over achieved this year. I really hoped they would win tonight, to represent middle Tennessee in Cookeville next week. They were a very good team that improved over the season - a sign of great kids and great coaching. They'll be very tough in the next few years. As far as non-region opponents, I guess you play who you can. It's interesting BA only had out of state opponents for non-region games and still had an open date. I highly doubt they chose to not play a game. Maybe the reclassification will help them find games. But again, back to the state championship game..... There will be great athletes all over the field. MBA's defense did a great job against BA's offense in the regular season. But, it's hard to beat a good team twice in a year. Basically, I have no idea what to expect in this game. Really looking forward to a great game.

And back to the state championship game.... Looking forward to seeing if BA can slow down Ty Chandler at all. In the first game, MBA's line did a great job of allowing him to be running full speed when he hit the hole. It was a dominating performance, and he is electric to watch run the ball - has the potential to score every time he touches it. But MBA still only won by 7, and BA had the ball for a potential game-tying score at the end. Should be a great game between two good teams.

This playoff scenario created by silverpie, which is pretty impressive, allows for the possibility of CBHS winning the region, but only if St. Benedict beats Briarcrest. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/60064029/Deep_tiebreaks_2016-10.html I've seen St. Benedict play, so maybe everyone is just assuming they will lose? Ha. So, the seeds should be: 1. MUS 2. Briarcrest 3. CB 4. St. Benedict There's a lot riding on the final games in the E/M division. MBA will be #1. If BA beats McCallie, BA is #2, Ensworth #3 and McCallie #4. If Ensworth beats MBA, Ensworth will either be #2 or #3.

This is really impressive, silverpie!

BA headmaster emailed parents last week that they were playing up in AAA. I haven't heard anything about Ensworth. But, they will likely move up as well. So, D2-AAA in 2017 will be exactly like D2-AA in 2016. The big question: will these schools have an easier time getting games in 2017 and beyond?

How good are MUS, Briarcrest, and CBHS this year? I haven't seen any of them play. Judging only from their scores, these 3 teams seem pretty equal. Briarcrest by 3 over CB, but lost to MUS by 4. All 3 teams have done extremely well in non-region games, with MUS undefeated. CBHS beat a nationally top-55 ranked team from Ohio. One ranking system that takes into account out-of-state games has MUS as the 6th best team in Tennessee (3rd in D2). Another ranking system that doesn't consider OOS games (actually seems to penalize for OOS games) has MUS down in the 50's in the state (8th in D2). And the AP has MUS as #1. So, is MUS one of the top teams in the state - meaning (to me, at least) Briarcrest and CBHS are also top teams in the state? Regardless, it looks like the seeding will be decided next week when MUS and CBHS plays. What happens if CB wins, causing a 3-way tie? Who gets #1,2 & 3?

I completely agree, Booger. It seems MBA would love to schedule BA/Ensworth for gate and travel reasons. I could also see Baylor and McCallie wanting to play them - but not both of them every year. As for JP2 and Father Ryan: BA and Ensworth may not care to play them anyway. They don't come to mind when thinking of "powerhouse D2/AAA teams." With more local region games, BA and Ensworth could look to travel more for non-region games and still not travel as much overall.

Good point, RR1. But, if BA and Ensworth stay in AA, the other schools may not be happy: FRA, Silverdale, Boyd, Northpoint, FACS, Goodpasture, USJ, Knox Grace, etc. So, even if a re-vote doesn't happen before next year, I bet it happens within 2 years. By the way, does the appointment to the TSSAA board ever expire, or is DII stuck with their current representation?

Wow. Pretty dominating performance by BA. Out gained Baylor 391-87 and held them to 5 first downs, 3 of them by BA penalties. BA got quite a few breaks early and had great field position all game.

Triple A East - Knoxville Catholic Baylor McCallie Middle - JP II, MBA, Father Ryan, Brentwood Academy, Ensworth West - Christian Brother, Briarcrest, MUS, St. Benedict Have Ensworth and BA decided to play up? I haven't seen any public announcements - only indications that they are leaning towards staying in AA.

Kublah, based on the current classification numbers by the TSSAA, all of the Memphis-only region teams you list would be in AA (ECS and Lausanne haven't yet reported, but should be over the 265 cutoff). Only USJ in the Rural West Tenn region would be in AA; the rest would be in A (JCS hasn't reported yet).

I'm very excited to watch this game; it's great every year. Sounds like Baylor is better than usual with a lot of size on the line. The Baylor 33 defense is always tough - they always run it so well. I'm also interested to see how a healthy BA defense stacks up against Baylor's offense. Looking forward to Friday!

I know nothing about Knox Cath, other than hearing that they are very good - perhaps the best team in Tennessee this year. I definitely don't know what their intentions are for D1 vs D2. But if I were them, I would certainly consider the consequences of moving to D2, which would currently include 1 or 2 trips each year to Memphis for region games and 1 or 2 trips to Nashville. The point of my post was directed at the stupidity of TSSAA's ruling on D2's divisions - not accepting the recommendation of 3 equal divisions but making the "arbitrary" cutoffs at 265 and 530 to create AAA with only 7 teams. They want all privates to go D2 (and I would agree), but then they create ludicrous divisions which make it very unattractive. Besides the example of Knox Cath potentially being the only Knoxville team in AAA, based on enrollment numbers released already, Silverdale, Grace Christian in Knoxville, and Columbia Academy would be in AA with Ensworth and Brentwood Academy. Surely Ensworth and BA would prefer to play up in AAA, but they would be crazy to not seriously consider staying where TSSAA put them based on the insane travel schedule they'd be forced to have in AAA. I don't know if they have announced what they are doing, but it seems like several D1 privates may want to know that before they make a decision.......

Columbia Academy announced they are staying D1. I haven't heard anyone else announcing intentions to stay. The way I understand it, if Knox Catholic moves to D2, they will be 1 of 7 teams in AAA based on TSSAA's recent ruling. As the only Knoxville team in AAA, they would have to travel to Chattanooga, Nashville, and Memphis for region games. Travel costs for region games between Knoxville and Memphis would be ridiculous, probably requiring an overnight stay. Knox Catholic may be waiting to see if anyone decides to play up in AAA (specifically BA and Ensworth) to get a better picture of what their region may look like. As an aside, has TSSAA considered the safety of students and parents driving 6-7 hours one-way for region games? Crazy.........

Wow! Y'all may have lost the game, but you won the highlight video! Very impressive! I absolutely love the song - great cover of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs.

Yeah, I'm trying to post from my phone - not my strong suit. But, just wondering if an 11 point loss is a boat race. It seems like it was a one score game in the 4th. No dog in this fight - don't really care, but McCallie played a good Georgia team pretty tight.

Honestly have no idea what to expect on Friday. Trinity's 14-7 win over Ensworth proves only one thing to me: Ensworth is MUCH better than last year, which was expected. They represented Tennessee well, and I wish they would have beaten them. Last year, BA was driving for a go-ahead score in Trinity territory late in the 3rd when they threw an INT. Trinity then wore BA out with 2 long drives to put the game away. BA was gassed. BA doesn't have the size on the line this year, so they may be susceptible to the same game plan. But they are very athletic. Neither team played a perfect first game, so they have things to work on this week. The biggest improvement is always between the first and second games, so Friday's game should be awesome. I won't make a prediction, but Trinity will be very tough in their home opener. They rarely lose at home. But, BA definitely has the talent to do it.

Agreed. Very embarrassing. Are JP2 and Briarcrest's numbers below 530? Either way, the "Super 7" and Knox Catholic (if they were seriously considering moving to D2) got hung out to dry. If everyone stays where they are, AAA will have 3 Memphis teams, 2 Nashville, and 2 Chattanooga. Crazy. Do these schools want Ensworth and BA to play up? I can see both sides. And it seems TSSAA has put Ensworth and BA in a tough position. (I can't imagine why they would want to do that. Sarcasm intended.) TSSAA probably expects them to move up. "Why wouldn't they want to compete against the biggest and best?" D2-AA without those schools is much more inviting for the D1 privates to switch to D2. If they move up, AAA would increase to 9 schools, likely with at least one guaranteed trip to Memphis and Chattanooga each year for regular season games. And then they still have to go out of state to fill their non-region games. But if they decide to stay in AA, how many D1 privates who would play AA if they switch to D2 will decide to stay in D1? On my count based on 2014 numbers, there are 9 D1 privates that would be in AA. The publics want them out. So if they decide to stay in D1 because Ensworth and BA decide to stay in AA, all the publics will despise those two schools even more than they already do - if that is possible. Ha. Dumb and disappointing ruling.....

That's right. But, 3 of the 5 D1-2A schools are above 265: Boyd, Silverdale, and Grace Christian. Trinity and Jackson Christian are just under it by 20-25 students. Of course, these are 2014 numbers. And like I posted earlier, I heard Columbia Academy's enrollment would put them over 265 this year as well. And some ask why Ensworth and BA would not play up. If they choose to play up, they will join a league of 7 schools stretching from Memphis (3 schools) to Chattanooga (2 schools). So, they are guaranteed to travel to Memphis and Chattanooga at least once each year for regular season games. And then they would face the same schools in the playoffs. They would also have to fill the remaining 4 open dates, which is increasingly hard to do (that is why they play 2 or 3 out of state games each year). If they stay where TSSAA slated them to play, they would be in a division of 7 schools in the Greater Nashville area. And they could still play the AAA teams in non-conference games if desired.

I agree that the TSSAA is trying to get all privates to go D2. But, with the crazy enrollment numbers (only 7 schools qualify for the top division), it doesn't sound very enticing for those privates at 266 or above to "get" to play against Ensworth and Brentwood Academy if those schools choose to not play up. Based on 2014, that would include Boyd, Silverdale, Goodpasture, and Grace Christian. I also heard Columbia Academy has grown enough to be in this class as well. Seems like TSSAA's actions could have the opposite effect - these privates will go to great lengths to stay in D1. By the way, since MBA and MUS are all-male, their enrollment figures are doubled.

Based on 2014-15 enrollment numbers, this would leave the following number of schools in each division (assuming all privates opt for D-II): A - 19 (Columbia Academy not included) AA - 20 (includes Brentwood Academy and Ensworth) AAA - 10