State Rankings

[dou]

Millington was undefeated last year until they left West Tennessee.

 

 

 

That was last year and we are not out of the west yet still more games to play.

[Cletus]

I agree with all you sais, except about the part about from Jeff County to Memphis. Jeff County is in DB's conference and in fact DB has beaten them more time then one can count on 2 hands. However the problem is NOT upper East TN media, it is in fact that upper east TN media does their duty and votes. Many middle and west media outlets don't vote, and that means they don't vote for local teams. So, every year, due to participation in voting, the east votes DB high in the polls. Blame the middle and west media, tell them to vote! I am a DB Fan and I am tired of it. DB fans do not think that they are #1. DB is #1 east of morristown and that is usually it. Don't blame DB or east TN media, it is your middle and west that simply do not vote!

 

 

You might be able to sell this load of convoluted thinking were it not for those first place votes shown in parenthesis out to the right of each school. They're not just including them in the poll, they're voting them no. 1.

 

Also, why does upper East TN's top teams in other classifications not benefit from this same sense of duty?

 

 

 

 

October 27, 2008

 

Tennessee Prep Football Poll

 

By The Associated Press

 

The Associated Press' Top 10 teams in each of Tennessee's five Division I non-financial aid classifications and in the combined Division II financial aid classification as selected by Tennessee AP-member sportswriters and broadcasters. With first-place votes in parentheses, records through October 27, total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 10th-place vote:

 

Class 5A

Record Pts Prv

1. Kingsport Dobyns Bennett (15) 9-0 195 1

2. Millington (3) 9-0 175 3

3. Ooltewah (2) 7-1 149 4

4. Franklin 8-1 128 5

5. Farragut 8-1 118 6

6. Brentwood 8-1 97 7

7. Whitehaven 8-1 75 2

8. Oakland 8-1 73 8

9. Cordova 8-1 21

10. Hunters Lane 8-1 13

 

Others receiving 12 or more points: None

 

Class 4A

Record Pts Prv

1. Maryville (16) 9-0 196 1

2. Henry County (3) 9-0 176 2

3. Sullivan South (1) 9-0 162 3

4. Hillsboro 7-2 118 4

5. Beech 8-1 107 5

6. Brighton 8-1 87 7

7. Cleveland 7-2 76 8

8. Maplewood 7-2 60 9

9. Greeneville 7-2 33

10. Fairley 7-2 22

 

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Memphis East 20. 12, Morristown East 18.

 

Class 2A

Record Pts Prv

1. Alcoa (18) 8-1 198 1

2. Milan (2) 9-0 176 2

3. Lewis County 9-0 159 3

4. Camden 8-1 137 4

5. University-Jackson 8-1 110 5

6. Boyd Buchanan 8-1 102 6

7. Gatlinburg-Pittman 9-1 77 8

8. Westmoreland 8-1 66 9

9. York Institute 7-2 17 7

10. Marion County 7-2 16

 

Others receiving 12 or more points: 11, Stewart County 14.

 

Class A

Record Pts Prv

1. South Pittsburg (16) 8-0 193 1

2. Trousdale County (3) 9-0 172 2

3. Oneida 9-0 144 4

4. Cascade (1) 9-0 135 6

5. Greenback 9-0 114 7

6. Jo Byrns 8-1 86 3

7. Friendship Christian 8-1 84 5

8. Union City 8-1 72 9

9. Cosby 8-1 42 10

10. McKenzie 7-2 14 8

[bud]

Because from Knoxville on up, DB year in and out is the best 5A team. There are tons of smaller media outlets in those towns. In Nashville for instance the Tennesean does all of the smaller towns papers unlike in East TN where there are more individual voters and there are just many more voters in East TN that actually participate. DB is the only team that is year in and out a good team in upper east TN over a LONG period of time. All the tri cities, Elizabethton, etc will vote their way. For example it Oak Ridge and DB are both great, the Oak Ridge Paper and maybe the Knox Paper will put them at #1. DB on the other hand could have 8 or 9 voting DB's way because that is the only team they have seen or known in that area. South will proabably start drawing more votes over time if they keep it up, remember, they are still sort of new to their domination, it takes years. I have seen previous participation counts from all the voters, I am not just throwing out a theory.

[Cletus]

Just because D-B is the best 5A team in upper East TN doesn't mean they're anywhere close to being the best 5A team statewide. The voters from up that way should know this better than anyone. How many state championships has D-B won on the field (meaning since '69)? You seem to be implying that the answer is for all voters to participate, and to participate in the same manner as those from upper East TN -- mindlessly selecting the local team no. 1. If this is truly all they know or all the research they're willing to do (just as "lazy" as not voting, and even more irresponsible), it only reinforces the question at the top of this thread.

[bud]

Cletus, you are right. Trust me as a DB fan (and all DB fans agree that I know) we don't want that #1 target on our back. It also is usually way off anyway. I would put DB in the top 10 this year. Now in 98, 2000, or 2002 they were plays away from taking the big prize in the semis losing to natially ranked teams that won it all (state) and rankings may have been more reasonable then though I can't recall if we were ever #1 in those years but probably so as history goes. Maybe it is ignorance from the media, maybe a few have fun putting the target on DB's back. Regardless of a #1 ranking most local teams play DB like it is a super bowl. McMinn played their game as such. It ain't good for anyone. DB fans do not like it at all trust me. Whatever the problem is, I wish it would stop. Any team that wants to be ranked #1 in 5A can gladly take away this false burden that DB carries much too often and usually with no merit.

I agree with this much. However, I do know for a fact that East TN media does participate more and this could be some of the problem. I am not in dispute about the merit of ranking, just trying to find answers to this common problem.

[WaCoJaCo]

If you think about it the high school polls in this state are not much different than anywhere else. Take the polls in college football as example: In the end the #1 & #2 are going to play for the national championship. This format doesn't expose how far off the poll is. If there was a playoff in college you would probably see the # 8 team beating the #1 team sometimes if not many times. In college you only have to go undefeated to make it to the championship game. In high school if you go 10-0 it just means you made it to the playoffs, just like the team that went 5-5. And you could very well get beat by that 5-5 team. The same would be true in college if they had a playoff. I don't really think the sportswriters in upper east tn. have been that far off in their voting in the past. Most of the reason DB gets the #1 rank is like bud has said, the sportwriters west of Knoxville are to lazy to vote. Having said that I think what happened friday night should tell the sportswriters something about DB. And that something is that this school cannot win in the playoffs. It seems they can beat just about anybody in regular season and have over the years. But when it comes to the playoffs they can lose to just about anybody. This is something the sportwriters should remember in the future when they think about ranking DB.

[beatle78]

MIDDLE WILL WIN STATE, EAST,WEST 5A IS JOKE.

[WaCoJaCo]

MIDDLE WILL WIN STATE, EAST,WEST 5A IS JOKE.

 

 

Based on what?

[fsunoles]

MIDDLE WILL WIN STATE, EAST,WEST 5A IS JOKE.

 

 

Who is in the Middle.

[sleeper3773]

Who is in the Middle.

 

 

Region 4 and and region 6. And if memory serves me right the past 4 state champions and runner-ups (with the exception of runner-up Oak Ridge in 05) have all been from these two regions. Clearly the best 5a football is between these two regions.

[the prophet]

All ranking systems are flawed. Even if the guys in the west vote, tehy know little about those inthe middle and east and vice vesra. THere are too many biased factors in voting and most media guys dont know crap about anyone but the teams they cover. I am a Henry county fan and we are ranked #2, it is meaningless. Hillsboro for instance is ranked on down the list and they have 2 losses, one to Franklin and one to MBA, two pretty solid teams. Maplewood two losses and those are to Hillsboro and Hunters Lane, two more pretty good programs and they are like 8th behind Brighton and I have seen both and Maplewood could beat Brighton with 10 player on the field all night.

Rankings are the medias way of acting like they know more than the rest of us and they dont. COmputer generated rankings are not exactly that, starting numbers have to be punched in and those are human generated.

[cam6]

There hasn't been a 5a team from west Tenn is the championship game since Germantown 5 years ago. It will be a team from region 6 (either Franklin or Brentwood) from the west side of the bracket. No way does a team from Memphis play in the 5a state final!

 

Good point about West TN, but we don't have the good fortune of having 4,5, or 6 High schools from our county. We have abot 30+ High Schools in shelby county alone and the talent is spread thin. If we took area the size of franklin here in shelby county and assembled one High school it might be different. We have 17 5A schools alone in shelby county. I am not complaining because it is what it is but there are 2 many highschools in West TN.