HC116

I think we are going to learn a lot about both these teams with this one. They look very similar on paper. Solid QBs (at least Cookeville’s looked solid), each team has a good running back, two really good WRs who turn around and play DB. I think this could be a close one. I’ll take the Cavs 28-21, but I think Livingston has a chance to win.

Upperman should be #2 in these rankings.

This is an interesting one. What’s your take?

I just did some research and changed my prediction a bit. Losing to Warren by 14 is not a good sign at all. Upperman may just roll them right out of Baxter.

I’ve heard Dekalb was much improved, but losing by 14 against Warren County is not a good sign. Upperman’s defense was phenomenal against Cookeville. I’ll take the Bees by at least 20, maybe more. What’s everyone’s thoughts?

Westmoreland’s offense looked awful against Livingston. Macon rolls.

Great game, really bad officiating. Upperman was the better team, but Cookeville is much improved. If UHS sophomore receiver grows up a bit this season he will be special. This UHS team is really good.

Crowd tonight should be interesting. Hopefully people come out.

Wildcats win 35-2. Defense gave the offense a couple of short fields that turned the game. I don’t think that team can beat some of the teams on their schedule. (CHS, UHS, Stone, etc.)

I’m right there with you. Given the schedule it wouldn’t surprise me if they went something like 6-4 but still win one or two playoff games. Cookeville, Upperman, Stone, York, and Macon are all tough games.

I'll take LA by 20. Livingston is sneaky good this year. They got destroyed by injuries last year. Tough schedule but this should be a win.

Don’t get your hopes up on that one. Something tells me from your username you may be a tad biased on this one.

Little bit of a different vibe from last year on the board lol. This game is going to be great.

White County finally gets in the win column. I like what the new coach has done. They win 27-14.

Upper Cumberland Reporter and WCTE are live streaming. UCR has done some basketball and middle school stuff really nicely, but I think this is their first HS Football one. Should be interesting. Also Cookeville does have their football games on radio, but I can’t remember their station and 94.1 FM radio is doing their first game on the audio side.

Admins wanted it to be the only game in town to be a bigger crowd. It’s being played at Tech and 4 different outlets are broadcasting it. Should be a great game and atmosphere.

UHS actually has a big advantage at kicker, believe it or not, he’s capable of placing a kick nearly anywhere on the field. And I agree with your point about McCallister doing it all and staying healthy, but he won’t need to do that the whole season, just will on Thursday night to beat Cookeville.

That’s what having really fast and powerful linebackers can do for you.

I love this early season matchup. Total toss-up game for me but I’ll give a slight edge to MC. MC wins 23-20

Yeah, that definitely won’t happen.

Great matchup, great venue. I’ll go group by group to break it down. QB: Advantage Upperman- McCallister is bigger, faster and stronger this year and will have way more on his shoulders. Looks good in camp. Owen lit up spring camp pretty well for CHS, but has struggled throwing the ball down the field in the fall and hasn’t looked as good as anticipated in the jamborees. He will run a lot, but McCallister is a better passer and runner imo. RB: Advantage Cookeville- Stewart will be fine for UHS, but he won’t be the kind of back as the last kid. CHS has a couple of kids they’ll let take carries and they have more speed and big play ability. WRs: Advantage Cookeville- Cookeville simply has more speed and proven guys, UHS loses their top WR from last year. O-line- Advantage Upperman- this isn’t even close. UHS returns 3 starters (if I’m remembering correctly), and CHS has some unproven guys. UHS has 2 good tackles, which helps McCallister run to the outside. Overall offense- Advantage Cookeville- I give a SLIGHT edge to the Cavs because they have a couple more guys who can make big plays that Upperman, but McCallister will be the best player on the field. D-Line: Advantage Upperman- the hallmark of Caine’s team is the front-7. It’ll be very hard to run against them, and Collins is a beast. Cookeville has 2 solid guys, but question marks behind them. Linebackers- Huge Advantage Upperman- the best unit on the field will be the Upperman linebackers. They accounted for at least 20 sacks last season and all 4 of their top guys return. Corners- Huge Advantage Cookeville- Most of the receivers turn around and play corner, and Cookeville has far more athletic guys on the outside than Upperman. Safeties: Advantage Upperman- McCallister is a great safety, and he anchors the back end for Upperman. Overall defense- Advantage Upperman- It’s going to be VERY hard to score on this defense. The front-7 is one of the best in 3A, I would argue second best behind Alcoa, and McCallister is a good enough safety to cover some of the corners mistakes Prediction- Upperman wins 20-10. I think this game comes down to Owen vs McCallister. For Cookeville to win Owen has to be able to exploit Upperman’s weakness at CB and throw the ball down the field, and I haven’t seen an ability to consistently do that. The Cavs will struggle to run the ball. I believe Caine will blitz heavily in the first quarter to try to rattle the QB and he will start running the ball too much, which works in the Bees favor. McCallister’s big play ability and a solid offensive line will be enough to spot the UHS defense 20 points, and Cookeville will struggle to score. I may be all wrong, but that’s how I see it. And I’ve watched each of these teams a whole lot in the past couple of months.

And I’d say Cookeville has about a 40% chance. That’ll be a good game.

On purpose, Sequatchie has better than a 0% chance. Having seen both teams practice I would say UHS is clearly the favorite, but being at Sequatchie this year gives Squatch a little boost. I would say it’s probably a 75% chance UHS wins. We will have a better idea in a couple of weeks.

Barring injury, there is a 0% chance Dekalb County or Smith beats UHS this year. The best chance any team has at beating the Bees in the regular season is Cookeville week 1. And before people start jumping all over me, I promise I couldn’t care less if the Bees are good or not, I don’t have any emotional connection. Just calling it like I see it.

Cookeville has a big QB problem. Having a guy starting that hasn’t taken a snap against the UHS defense will be tough on a lot of levels. Caine is running a better program at the moment than Cookeville. Your point about sheer numbers is certainly valid and could be true, but UHS has about 40 kids and has some depth on the lines where it is really important. Squatch and York are definitely the threats to UHS in the District. The other teams... not so much. They haven’t gotten 30 points better compared to UHS which they would have to to make up the gap. The Bee offense won’t be as explosive, but the defense will be. Grundy, Cannon and Smith won’t be able to hang in 2019 imo. Oneida is an interesting game, not sure what they have coming back but I’ll take the strong UHS defense. I don’t think it’ll be as easy of a road to 10-0 again this year, but I think it happens.