g33

I would have liked to see Maryville play Oakland in the 6A final. Having watched Knox Catholic I am wondering how they lost to Maryville (I know it was early when they played) because their size looked much more like a D2 than a D1 school. That is the reality that many people do not seem to grasp when comparing D1 to D2 which is the players of the D2 schools by and large are just so much bigger than those of any D1 school and for 4 qtrs it gets quite tiresome on the OL/DL trying to push around guys that outweigh you by 30-60lbs. Even the skilled players are bigger top to bottom D2 vs D1 on a relative basis. A lot of the teams on your list are well coached and disciplined and have solid skilled players but as they say size matters and it would be very hard for any of these D1 teams to go toe to toe with many of the biggest D2 schools for a whole game because of that significant difference. Since this is a D2 board I will also say that I think that McCallie is going to be extremely dangerous next year. If they can ever figure out how to travel a bit better and get up for playing on the road I can see them making a run.

Both of these teams have more experience in the playoffs over last 3-4 years than any other football teams in this State so is unlikely any of the players are going to be overly nervous for this game. There is no reasonably informed person who has watched a fair amount of HS football in TN who would not objectively judge BA to be hands down the best team in the State. While national rankings probably are impossible in terms of differentiating a team in TN from a Team in FL or OH, etc. so one can decide who is 4th vs. 7th it is clear that somebody is watching film of all these teams from all over and putting BA in the national conversation for a reason. MBA got destroyed by BA during the regular season (game was over in the 1st Qtr) and there was as clear of an "athletic mismatch" as everyone has alluded to. The difference between this BA team and the BA teams of the last couple of years is that they have an excellent and disciplined defense. While they do not have the QB who seemed to always make plays for them in key situations, this year they have a very balanced offense that does not make mistakes and looks like the NE Patriots in terms of efficiency but their best player is actually the RB who does not get near the credit he should. MBA has nothing but a bunch of very solid HS football players who are extremely well coached and collectively they have to found a way to beat teams that across all of D2 have many more athletes, and a bunch of commits "sportswriters" like to talk about, etc. In the playoffs MBA has allowed less points per game than any other team in the playoffs in any class but they have also scored the less per game. These are VERY different football teams but they both have been battle tested all year because teams like McCallie, Baylor, Ensworth, CBHS are VERY good football teams that while they have weaknesses like all HS teams (except for maybe BA) they give their competition a real fight. Easy to pick BA like all the "experts" have. The analysis leads one to conclude that MBA will have a very hard time moving the ball and scoring against BA, as every team has had a hard time doing, and also that BA will move up and down the field. I think that that is likely to happen at the beginning of game. If it happens past the first quarter than the game will probably end up being the "sure thing" everyone thinks it will be. If, however it is a tie, or a one touchdown game after one quarter I believe it will be a lot closer than every one might imagine. These are teeanage boys and a lot can happen in the course of a 48 minute football game. There is a very solid chance that the 23 people that drive to Cookeville to watch this game (lol) will see a good close game and there is an 100% chance that they will see all the players on both sides playing their guts out until the last whistle. There are no "sure things" in high school sports so maybe it will be worth the drive and the $12 ticket

First this topic was supposed to be about one game between two of the very best football teams in this state and instead it morphed into comments about who "deserves" to play on what day/time even when the TSSAA made it widely known that the rotation was supposed to have been going on for last 8-9 years and they are just now getting around to it! And, for the statements made about relative attendance to have any validity you should actually get the data from the TSSAA about how many people were at all of the games in every class the last few years and then after this "monumental" change is made this year compare what might be the same or different. Individual's perceptions might not be reality. Frankly, if you are not gonna talk about the BA/MBA game on a string with that headline, a more interesting topic i would be why this state has 9 football classifications in the first place and even with all of these classifications why so many dang teams make the playoffs so we have to play into December. All teams could play on Friday/Saturday if the state had 4-5 classifications like its population warrants. Lastly, I don't think any of the young men playing in a state championship game give a rip as to whether or not they are playing on Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Tuesday!

Correct me if I am wrong, but I have been told that Div 1 teams TOTAL records for playoff seeding count; regardless if they play all Div 1 or play some Div 2 teams as well. This, I think, creates a total disincentive for any Div 1 teams to play the Div 2 AAA teams. It sure would be nice if the TSSAA would give the Div 1 schools a "hall pass" and allow them to play one game outside of their classification (propose that it could be outside their D1 class or it could be any D2 school) that would NOT count for playoff seeding. With freakin' 9 classifications just about every team that wins 3-4 games makes playoffs anyway but this really would make it more likely for top publics to play top privates solely for the experience and competition and it would have ZERO bearing on their playoff seeds. I would think this would also open up the likelihood for example that a D1 4A would play a crosstown 5A or 6A team as well which would be fun for those communities. Unfortunately also agree that BA is ridiculously good this year. They are the best HS team I have seen in state in the 20 years I have lived here. That said, they still gotta play 3 more good games to finish!