MBA vs MUS

[owlbooster]

Volfan5 - let me try to simplify things so you can understand why you're so unwelcome on this D2 thread. It is NOT me or the D2 fans but the ALCOA FANS who, in their obsession with getting the respect they crave, keep bringing up these IMAGINARY games which they imply they would win. It is ALCOA FANS who started their own thread proclaiming themselves better than anybody else. It is ALCOA fans who invade almost any thread to glorify the almighty "F5" tornado. Are you so caught up in all this that you are blind to it? I and most D2 fans could care less about any Alcoa vs D2 or whomever IMAGINARY game. YOU are the one who came onto a D2 thread about an actual MBA-MUS game to talk about IMAGINARY games that YOU want the elite D2 schools to schedule with Alcoa, when you must know that Rankin would never agree to it and never has, and you imply that the D2 schools are dodging YOU. You obviously didn't read my posts carefully. If you ask Rankin - not your "golf-buddy" AD -whether he discussed a game with the FRA coach and whether he knew Ensworth was looking for a game that same weekend and he says NO, then you will have your "liar."

[owlbooster]

TheBigRedDog - It is a shame that so many never got to see the MUS team that got that "lofty national ranking." The MUS QB was ranked no lower than the 3rd best "Dual Threat" QB in the country mostly because of his running ability, which was NOT on display Thursday night, due to a thigh injury. When he is 100% and able to run, MUS could compete with Aquinas and Byrne. It's impossible to describe how much more potent the MUS offense is with him healthy. If you could see more film, you would understand. I think you can still go to Unapproved Website and see some clips of him running. Do so, if you can.

[owlbooster]

Don't know why the "Unapproved Website" popped up. This site is based in Brentwood TN, starts with an

"R" and has 6 letters ending in "s". It is synonymous with "competitors."

[Redtwin]

TheBigRedDog - It is a shame that so many never got to see the MUS team that got that "lofty national ranking." The MUS QB was ranked no lower than the 3rd best "Dual Threat" QB in the country mostly because of his running ability, which was NOT on display Thursday night, due to a thigh injury. When he is 100% and able to run, MUS could compete with Aquinas and Byrne. It's impossible to describe how much more potent the MUS offense is with him healthy. If you could see more film, you would understand. I think you can still go to Unapproved Website and see some clips of him running. Do so, if you can.

 

I could tell Brunetti was not anywhere near 100%. He hardly tried to run the entire game. I thought the offense and special teams from MUS were excellent. The defense, however, as very average. They're probably the best team I've seen all year, and probably one of the best two teams in TN. Are they one of the best 25-50 teams in the country? Probably. Sixth? I highly doubt it. As has been pointed out several times, however, these national rankings are very arbitrary. Either way, this MUS team has a lot to be proud of and has done a great job representing TN this year.

[big red big blue]

TheBigRedDog - It is a shame that so many never got to see the MUS team that got that "lofty national ranking." The MUS QB was ranked no lower than the 3rd best "Dual Threat" QB in the country mostly because of his running ability, which was NOT on display Thursday night, due to a thigh injury. When he is 100% and able to run, MUS could compete with Aquinas and Byrne. It's impossible to describe how much more potent the MUS offense is with him healthy. If you could see more film, you would understand. I think you can still go to Unapproved Website and see some clips of him running. Do so, if you can.

 

I could tell Brunetti was not anywhere near 100%. He hardly tried to run the entire game. I thought the offense and special teams from MUS were excellent. The defense, however, as very average. They're probably the best team I've seen all year, and probably one of the best two teams in TN. Are they one of the best 25-50 teams in the country? Probably. Sixth? I highly doubt it. As has been pointed out several times, however, these national rankings are very arbitrary. Either way, this MUS team has a lot to be proud of and has done a great job representing TN this year.

 

I tend to agree with you...again, nothing wrong with that. MUS is a 2-time winner with several huge out-of-state wins on their books. That record speaks for itself. They are without question the best in TN and deserving of whatever national ranking they achieve.

 

But, regarding the national ranking, MBA/BA/MUS, etc....I don't think it's possible for us to achieve that top 10/top 5 type status. It's just not possible when you're a small private school and simply don't care about football that much. The Brunettis/Ingle Martins of the world can play anywhere, but the total talent/depth just isn't there. How many boys are in a typical class at MUS? I think MUS is smaller than MBA. At MBA, I think it's like 100. So if 20-25 from each class play football (and that's stretching it), you've basically got a 75-person team. They work hard, play hard, and are well-coached, but you can't compete with the likes of Byrnes which will send every year 5-6 guys to D1 schools in the SEC/ACC. Or Miami-Northwestern, which sent 6 kids from one class to U of Miami.

 

The private schools that are outright recruiters--like Oaks Christian in the LA area; Evangel in Louisiana--those schools can compete with everyone. Oaks Christian the year of Jimmy Clausen had 10 guys sign LOI's with d1 schools, and several more with D1-AA schools. That's from a senior class of like 70 kids. I remember laughing when I read that...can you imagine of the people in D1 had had to deal with something like that back in the day?

[owlbooster]

I don't disagree with anything the last few posters said. The defense was average. But the offense WHEN HEALTHY was good enough for MUS to "compete" THIS YEAR with the perennially elite teams. MUS, without McBride, did hand S Panola its 1st home loss in 7 years. Honestly, without McBride, MUS would probably lose that game 9 out of 10 times. You can check the record about the rest of their season. Without that loss, S Panola instead of MUS almost certainly would be in the top 20. MUS, losing almost all of its starters and 34 seniors, will be "back down to earth" next year with a QB so small he looks like a strong gust of wind would move him. Lots of teams probably will get their "payback."

[Redtwin]

TheBigRedDog - It is a shame that so many never got to see the MUS team that got that "lofty national ranking." The MUS QB was ranked no lower than the 3rd best "Dual Threat" QB in the country mostly because of his running ability, which was NOT on display Thursday night, due to a thigh injury. When he is 100% and able to run, MUS could compete with Aquinas and Byrne. It's impossible to describe how much more potent the MUS offense is with him healthy. If you could see more film, you would understand. I think you can still go to Unapproved Website and see some clips of him running. Do so, if you can.

 

I could tell Brunetti was not anywhere near 100%. He hardly tried to run the entire game. I thought the offense and special teams from MUS were excellent. The defense, however, as very average. They're probably the best team I've seen all year, and probably one of the best two teams in TN. Are they one of the best 25-50 teams in the country? Probably. Sixth? I highly doubt it. As has been pointed out several times, however, these national rankings are very arbitrary. Either way, this MUS team has a lot to be proud of and has done a great job representing TN this year.

 

I tend to agree with you...again, nothing wrong with that. MUS is a 2-time winner with several huge out-of-state wins on their books. That record speaks for itself. They are without question the best in TN and deserving of whatever national ranking they achieve.

 

But, regarding the national ranking, MBA/BA/MUS, etc....I don't think it's possible for us to achieve that top 10/top 5 type status. It's just not possible when you're a small private school and simply don't care about football that much. The Brunettis/Ingle Martins of the world can play anywhere, but the total talent/depth just isn't there. How many boys are in a typical class at MUS? I think MUS is smaller than MBA. At MBA, I think it's like 100. So if 20-25 from each class play football (and that's stretching it), you've basically got a 75-person team. They work hard, play hard, and are well-coached, but you can't compete with the likes of Byrnes which will send every year 5-6 guys to D1 schools in the SEC/ACC. Or Miami-Northwestern, which sent 6 kids from one class to U of Miami.

 

The private schools that are outright recruiters--like Oaks Christian in the LA area; Evangel in Louisiana--those schools can compete with everyone. Oaks Christian the year of Jimmy Clausen had 10 guys sign LOI's with d1 schools, and several more with D1-AA schools. That's from a senior class of like 70 kids. I remember laughing when I read that...can you imagine of the people in D1 had had to deal with something like that back in the day?

 

I'm not disagreeing with you, but the Bolles team we beat junior year sent 14 guys D1.

[JCM64]

I think you misunderstood my point. Not a knock coming from Ensworth about MBA or vice versa -- simply giving a different side to MBA's playoff success. These boys are talented ball players, not some non-athletes who were molded and created by MBA coaching staff. Mobley, Simonis, Bars, Colbert, and Blackwell were alternating starters on MBA's Varsity basketball team last year. Need I say more: quick, agile athletes. (The football info was repeated, without solicitation, throughout the season by many unhappy MBA parents and players regarding negative coaching at the school.) The MBA team deserved better than their season (record.)

I'm not really sure what you watched this season. I watched every MBA game except the second BGA game. This was a distinctly average team. The score against Pearl-Cohn was flattering to MBA: that game was much tighter than the score suggests. MBA deserved to lose to Maplewood. McGugin simply outcoached his counterpart. The Ensworth game was a pretty good indicator of the gulf in talent between the two schools. MBA has a number of good athletes. Ensworth has a number of good football players. By this time they were having to develop a new QB, as well as replace an excellent LB. It was also quite apparent that MBA couldn't stop the run. Their defense makes guest appearances in several TB's highlight reels.

 

The BA game again exposed MBA's limitations. The result was a pretty fair inidicator of the relative talent. The losses to to both Independence and BGA highlighted just how poor the MBA run defense was. I'd say you've completely missed the point in your final statement: MBA deserved to be 4-6 after the regular season.

 

The only difference in the play-off run and the regular season was Simonis at QB. This team had no business beating Ensworth and BA on their own fields. And if they handle that punt in the 4th quarter, the championship might have become a nail-biter. (Lest the MUS people think they're being slighted, I'm fully aware that the stars fell favorably for MBA. Brunetti's injury took away any running threat he posed, and the cold probably made him miserable all night long. According to McGugin, the young man felt he would be at 80% for the game. I would think 60% would have been an optimisitic estimate. On a decent night with him healthy, I suspect we'd have seen a running clock).

 

In short, I think MBA came out out of the season with a lot more than they their talent merited. The success of this season comes down to scrappiness and good coaching.

 

kudos to MBA on a great season. To bad things in the championship game didn't turn out the way they had hoped, but it was more than a muffed punt that kept it from being a "nail-biter".

[owlbooster]

MBA had a remarkable season about which all Big Red fans (which includes myself) can be proud. We in Memphis were amazed at how they turned their season around after the devastating early season injury to

their QB and then the postseason "upsets" at Ensworth and BA. A friend of mine who played ball for Texas said Lassing had the "lightest feet" for a big man he had ever seen. And a true scholar-athlete to boot. It all starts at QB, and Simonis will lead you well the next 2 years. MUS will have a very small but very quick and elusive backfield next year. The line will be significantly bigger but slower. Alston always finds a way to put together a respectable defense. There will be far fewer seniors next year but a good

"crop" of juniors and sophomores. In other words, a "rebuilding" year. I fear the S Panola and possibly the Olive Branch games at MUS could be "blood baths." I believe S Panola has 10 defensive starters returning.

[dabacoach]

GloryUnderTheLights - still waiting for you to cite a SINGLE example of my "bashing" another team. In fact, I have not criticized nor even critiqued an opponent before a game, and I have given credit or plaudits where merited after the game. I haven't predicted a score. The only team I mentioned in a negative light was the Father Ryan team of 1997-1998, who did in fact commit the rudest, most boorish, premeditated act of unsportsmanlike conduct I and my friends have ever seen in a HS game. You should also notice that many Nashville posters, including former players, said that my characterization of FORMER FR teams was accurate. A FR poster asserted that was no longer the case, I accepted that, and I saw nothing but the best sportsmanship by FR on the field last Friday. If you can't cite an example of "bashing" an opponent (you won't because you can't), please retract your inaccurate, unfair statement.

Sorry to be so late Owlbooster but knowing those two teams well what was the boorish act committed by that Father Ryan. Those were the last years Ryan beat MBA. I just went back into the archives and watched them tell me why you have said that.

[volfan5]

Volfan5 - let me try to simplify things so you can understand why you're so unwelcome on this D2 thread. It is NOT me or the D2 fans but the ALCOA FANS who, in their obsession with getting the respect they crave, keep bringing up these IMAGINARY games which they imply they would win. It is ALCOA FANS who started their own thread proclaiming themselves better than anybody else. It is ALCOA fans who invade almost any thread to glorify the almighty "F5" tornado. Are you so caught up in all this that you are blind to it? I and most D2 fans could care less about any Alcoa vs D2 or whomever IMAGINARY game. YOU are the one who came onto a D2 thread about an actual MBA-MUS game to talk about IMAGINARY games that YOU want the elite D2 schools to schedule with Alcoa, when you must know that Rankin would never agree to it and never has, and you imply that the D2 schools are dodging YOU. You obviously didn't read my posts carefully. If you ask Rankin - not your "golf-buddy" AD -whether he discussed a game with the FRA coach and whether he knew Ensworth was looking for a game that same weekend and he says NO, then you will have your "liar."

 

owlbooster I was responding to rollredrolls post. I actually like most of his post on here. Just didn't agree with him on that one. So I responded to his post with a reply. These boards are about debate and opinions on football. That's all I did on my post. You have made negative post against Alcoa in other threads. You want to come on here and talk about ALCOA FANS. Then you better look in the mirror. Alcoa has great fans and we have great respect for our opponents. Hence the sportsmanship award this year that are team received. Also I have great respect for the DII schools. They have 2-4 of the top tens teams in the state every year. They are well coached and have very good athletes. Most all of the fans I have met are class too. Of course we all have a fan or two that just seems unbearable.

 

As far as saying Alcoa is the best team in the state. I really don't know but I do know this. We were the only public school to go undefeated. We have a 29 game winning streak(longest in the state). We have 6 straight state championships(most ever in a row). We have 11 total state titles. That's tied for most with our brothers in Maryville. We are 84-6 over the last 6 years and are 6 loses were to 5 state champions(fulton and maryville) and one runner up(maryville 08). These are FACTS not opinions!!! This is why I'm responding to you and all the other posters that think MUS would beat Alcoa by 2 or 3 td's. Then to say that MBA would beat us this year. Of course this is just my opinion. GOOD DAY.

[owlalum]

I attended 4 games of the owls this year and came away very impressed by this team. There defense was nothing special but really flew to the ball and played fundamentally sound and would bend but not break. This offense is what really was deserving of that national ranking. They were very tough to stop when brunetti was on. Kudos to MBA for a great season and i was at the championship and thought they gave MUS all they wanted. THe one thing i will say is that it would not have been such a tight game had barry been able to run. They shotgun spread/veer is predicated on the QB being able to run the ball and i thought it was very impressive that without that they were still able to move the ball the way they did. He really impressed with his pocket presence and his accuracy. I think he will play alot of games for someone on saturdays and can say if he had another 2-3 inches he would be in high demand for alot of pro style teams as well.

 

I played in the 97-98 Ryan games and I can say that those guys were very dirty and talked alot of junk but they sure backed it up. THey were a tough group. Man was i glad to hear mondelli was out the following year. That guy was a beast! He had alot of potential.

 

I wont get into a public private debate but i sure wish we had played alcoa this year. This was a special MUS team, much like Ingles MBA teams. A banged up MUS team really had no trouble at all with the 6A champions and i personally think when clicking they were on a different level than other TN teams. Looks like we are in for a few rebuilding years ahead.