Bellsburg2

Another underhanded jab accusation (yawn). Bruins continue to live rent free on Windy City.

In all honesty, it was much closer than it appears. It was a battle in the first half, Bruins offense struggled to find its rhythm and the defense was on its heels against a well run wing-T by Columbia Academy. USJ led 7-0 at the half, with the TD coming on a scoop and score. Another fumble early 3Q resulted in a FG and then another scoop and score for USJ made it 16-0 after a failed 2 pt conversion. At that point, we had gained maybe 3-4 first downs the whole game. Offense then started to click and the game blew wide open. USJ has had a tendency all year to start slowly and this was no different tonight. I won't say they were the "toughest test to date" but they were no slouch and are certainly not your average 0-5 team. The are not big up front, but blocked their schemes well. They had a couple of kids that ran the ball really hard, but struggled in the passing game. Defense was well-coached, in good position, and tackled well until they finally got worn down the the second half. For the second week in a row, I would say USJ was the better team but I don't think they are 37 points better than either squad.

Gary Parrish is an old Commercial Appeal writer that now writes primarily college basketball for CBS. Also does sports talk radio in Memphis and has some pretty good takes on college BB and the Grizzlies.

Gary Parrish writes a weekly column in basketball season blasting AP voters for their lazy and inexplicable voting habits, perhaps we could do the same. I guess there has to be some sort of ranking system, if for no other reason than to generate clicks these days. To ask a sports writer (from the tri-cities for instance) to rank small private schools, some of whom may be 7 hours away, is pointless. They undoubtedly look at records or perhaps box scores at best. Fortunately it appears that nearly every II-A team worth its salt will face almost every other team on the list by season's end and the poll should look a lot like the DII-A west standings with FCS somewhere in the mix as well. Based on performance against teams inside TN state lines, I would personally rank them 1. FA, 2. NCS, 3. USJ at present and these guys will all get to sort it out between the lines over the next few weeks.

Without mudslinging, I will just say that there was A LOT more motivating the unnecessary TD at the end of the game than just the 4Q of football played on Friday night. This rivalry goes back to the days when TCA was nothing more than a glimmer in their daddy's eye. The more recent move to DII for JCS and some of the behind the scenes moves that have taken place in the recent months have rekindled the rivalry as much as ever. JCS is "building" and could very well have the chance to return the favor in coming years, but only time will tell.

Thank you for a little constructive input about CA (A breath of fresh air after yet another thread that doesn't involve them is hijacked by the keyboard warrior TCA trolls, adding nothing but snide remarks, odd inside jokes, and underhanded compliments at best). A bruising ground attack will definitely be a new challenge for the Bruins.

I would love to have a weekly civil discussion about USJ, but it always devolves into a dogpile about anything but football. I haven't had a chance to look at film and I don't know much specifically about Columbia Academy other than being a solid program that graduated a lot of talent last year, now in their first year of DII. I also believe their poor record to date is misleading and they will bring the fight to west TN this weekend. USJ stands undefeated but will need to clean up mental mistakes and improve ball security to remain that way in coming weeks. I suspect ColA will be our toughest test to date and Homecoming week will provide a number of distractions. Schedule only toughens next week with NCS, but the Bruins need to avoid a letdown after a big rivalry game last Friday down the road at JCS. USJ has stayed fairly healthy after a rash of early injuries and QB decision-making continues to improve. I think I'll have my nightly caviar snack now and have the butler turn down my 1200 thread-count sheets. I bid you good day, sirs. We'll see if this thread gets legs.

Let me check out this thread about my Bruins....

No big surprise, the West region still bunched at the top, claiming 9 of 10 spots. I suppose one silver lining (from a fan certainly not player/coach) to having a ridiculous 9 team region is that each week is chock full of good matchups. Games of interest for me this week will probably be NCS/ColA and DA/FC. I expect both to be close and, as the season progresses, it would not surprise me to see ColA and DA climb the rankings ladder some. From the USJ standpoint, the renewed JCS rivalry game this week will be followed by ColA, NCS, DA, FA which is a brutal stretch that will obviously define the season. The Bruins suffered a couple of season ending injuries in the first week of the season and hopefully the ability to stay healthy through the next month or so will be essential to success. I expect TCA get back on track this week and climb back to .500 with a couple of region wins headed into the latter part of the season.

You are correct on one thing. 72 is a great kid. Much to your disappointment, the overwhelming majority of the kids on other side of the field that night are great as well. As soon as the "crime" was noticed, the coaches put a quick stop to it (the area was about 10x10 BTW) and the one making the mess as well as coaches and others around (including 72) helped to pick it up. Unfortunately, the tightly cropped photo did not reflect that, otherwise the passive-aggressive insinuations and comments about the rest of the players, coaches, students, parents, and institution that ensued in the following days would not have applied. The field was left in the same condition as it was found and no one was harmed. Nothing that took place warranted the words that were uttered, which have now been stubbornly affirmed in the above thread. The belief that your "people" (who all live in the same neighborhoods and go to the same churches as those classless USJ people) are above dumb or childish behavior in the heat of the moment is simply foolish. One might even say unbiblical.

Southside has decent size on the front line. 4 and 23 are very good athletes on both sides of the ball, but very undersized. Passing game was a bit iffy, I think USJ had 3 INTs in their matchup. Not exactly a bold prediction, but the Golden Tide will roll in this one, and so will the clock after halftime.

Maybe it's just because they are the boys I know the best, but I was impressed with the play of the sophomore contingency for TCA tonight. Goodwin to Graves on that critical 4th down was a well designed play, but fell just short at the 1 yard line (for the record, watching the momentum of the game, I think going for the score is a very defensible choice). Graves was a ballhawk in the secondary. Robertson was in the backfield all night causing trouble. I think that core of athletes has potential, they just need some beef up front. USJ dominated the trenches and that ultimately that allowed them to pull out a win despite the -4 (or -5) turnover margin. That being said, had the Bruins pounded the rock all night, I believe the outcome would have been the same but the scoreboard much different.

There were 2 large RBs last year, Tharpe #15 and Wallace #6, that accounted for a big share of our offense. Tharpe graduated and Wallace returns as a senior. The primary tailback is Willis #4 (also a senior) who has been running the ball very well in the preseason. Last week against SS, there was a fairly balanced dose of the two. Without charting every play, I would guess the offense last week was probably 60/40 in favor of passing, with some good chunks of yardage coming in the air. USJ has retooled the offense a bit this year, but will obviously tailor it on a week-to-week basis as the opponent dictates. The OL has 3 returning starters with a newly starting Senior center and a green but talented Freshman LT. USJ should have the advantage in the trenches and I'm sure will try to establish the ground game early.

Similar computer rankings had my Vols in the top 15 preseason and we all know how that worked out last weekend. Several key "top 10" matchups should start to clarify things this Friday, with NCS/DA in the midstate and TCA/USJ here in the west. Clarksville Academy has not been tested but faces FA trying to rebound from getting handled by a decent MS private school. The most interesting finding in this poll is that 8 of 9 teams in the West region are represented here in the top 10. Now the shuffle begins as we all enter into the region gauntlet. I assume most teams now face 8 straight region foes. USJ, after a week 0 bye, will face non-region Crockett in week 9 to break up the private school monotony.

I appreciate your deep concern over USJ enrollment numbers. When classifications were done in 2016, USJ was at 312 and one of the smallest in II-AA, with a district that included zero opponents within 75 miles of our school. We then proceeded to graduate a record class in 2018 of 106 and replaced it with a freshman class of 46. That figure was the primary reason for the 20% drop resulting in reclassification. We have a nearly identical enrollment to that of TCA and JCS even now (+/- 20) and if you want to split hairs, our enrollment at the time of classification was actually less than TCA. For the moment, we have chosen to play schools of comparable size and now have 4 district opponents within an hour and 2 within a stone's throw. So point fingers if you will, but I doubt your administration would have chosen otherwise. In regards to the numbers on the field, take for example our sophomore class which still has less than 50, but includes 12 football players. The majority of our defections going into high school are to Madison, which offers a quality academic experience, but may be more lacking in some of the other things USJ has to offer. We don't have a requirement to play sports like some private schools (no local ones that I am aware of), but we do seem to have a high participation rate. We will see how the numbers shake out next fall when the TSSAA comes calling again, but it's a toss-up right now. The 8th grade is one of the biggest classes in the school and may push us back above the threshold, depending on where they set the cutoff. In my experience, these "lines" seem to be drawn at the suggestion of middle and east schools with far more political influence than any of our Madison County friends. For now, you are stuck with us, so can we please talk some football?

The Bruins definitely have a fuller sideline this year, fielding almost 20 more on the roster than in 2018. This includes 23 freshmen, a couple of whom are making significant contributions. Seniors will be all over the field. The 10th and 11th grade classes are slightly smaller in number, but include some key players for certain. Both sides of the ball returned the vast majority of starters from last year. The OL and DL feature some youth and some upperclassmen new to their starting roles. Skill positions are almost all familiar faces.

I think we can all agree that preseason polls are pointless. But to your point, at least USJ had fielded a team and played in a jamboree at that point. I just found it humorous that the NCS as a frontrunner prediction seemingly came out of nowhere right after a bye week. NCS always (at least in the last decade) fields a good team, although the last couple of years pale in comparison to the state title run a few years back. In a unique position as an NCS alum and now a USJ parent, I most definitely have 10/4 circled on my calendar as an opportunity to catch up with a few old friends and hopefully see a good old fashioned "fist-fight Campbellite" (to quote the late Coach Keeton) on the gridiron. Based on some of the reports above, I guess I better hope the fist-fight remains metaphorical.

On a positive note for USJ, I am told that the injury does not appear to be as severe as they initially feared and he should hopefully only miss a couple of weeks. #14 is a very capable QB and split the preseason reps fairly equally with the starter in what was a true QB battle. That being said, we are very inexperienced behind him and could ill afford another double-whammy like last year. The offense has multiple ground and air weapons and the workload was spread fairly evenly last night. There were quite a few dings and cramps which is not uncommon in an opener, but aside from the QB we came away pretty clean. I feel pretty confident about our ability to move the ball against most any team, but we put the ball on the ground twice last night and that won't fly in a close game. Defense is fairly strong. Front line held their own against some strong SS boys and the DBs covered and tackled well, bringing down a couple of INTs in the process. We have seen #7 every year and will obviously game plan for him. I would have to say the kicking game is a push. Pledger has a strong leg and is very accurate. Went 3/4 on FG last night, missing a close one from 47 after a mishandled snap/hold. Had only one full kickoff come up just short of a touchback all night. He is a sophomore and if he continues to progress, will certainly be kicking on saturdays in a few years. Unfortunately, the RIFA can drive is no longer a "competition" for whatever reason (everyone gets a trophy, right?) but we have been promised an extra day of Thanksgiving break is we meet our schoolwide goal, so here's to hoping both schools knock it out of the park. The more people that get fed, the better.

I thought only Clemson moved up in the rankings on a bye week. Congrats to the Eagles on their blazing 0-0 start!

Parents with unrealistic demands regarding playing time for their freshmen got recruited to JC and now their boys will see exactly zero PT as they are ineligible for this entire school year. No idea what promises were made to get them there, but hopefully it includes cutting a check to USJ for the tuition they owed under contract. For the record, they are both good players with tons of potential moving forward, but their loss has no bearing on this season.

No transfers per se, but a couple of freshman newcomers, both big kids with big bats. Most importantly, they didn't lose anything to graduation last year. They have 5 seniors this year that were all major contributors last year as juniors, including their biggest bat and top 2 arms. None of the above have seen 95 at the plate this season, so would make for an intriguing matchup.

TCA beat Peabody 3-2 in 9 innings tonight and will face GC in the championship game tomorrow.

Parking will be a big challenge. I've had to park 3 lots away for a middle school game. They may even have to arrange a shuttle from Union or something or cars will be parked a mile up Country Club Lane. They have a reasonable amount of seating for a small school but "standing room only" will be an understatement for a game of this magnitude. With all the local teams already eliminated, the opening of duck season may be the only thing that thins the walk-up crowd. Best of luck to both teams. Haywood seems to finally be living up to some of their lofty preseason hype and that duo of RBs will be hard to contain on turf.

Middle TN schools did not feel it was fair to all play each other, since clearly they are the best. They had the votes and bullied everyone else into this absurd 2 region scenario. Agree with ReitzFan, all these long travel games will mean awful gate revenue for all parties involved. Eight region games gives you very little flexibility in scheduling (fall break for instance). USJ struggles to find out of conference games as is, and the limited flexibility makes that even more challenging. We will open with Southside next year and sounds like our other will probably be Crockett Co. Regular season road trips to Nashville and Clarksville. Even worse travel for the other teams on the far ends of the "region".

ECS scored two TDs late in the first matchup, making the box score look more competitive than the game. I expect Lausanne to roll this time around. SGIS may have enough weapons on offense to put some points on CPA, but their QB is hot/cold and time will tell which one shows up tomorrow. Lions can name their score and I don't think this one will be close either. Next week's de facto championship game will be hard fought and it's possible that CPA is the more complete team. They are most definitely better coached and have better quality depth. The Lions' field was a muddy mess last Friday (but well short of the above photo thankfully) and by next week may look more like a rodeo arena than a football field after 6 straight home games. I don't think that necessarily helps one team more than the other. That one will be worth the price of admission for sure.