Congrats to the MUS Owls Ranked 9'th in the Country!!!

[KWoodroof]

How strong do you think the regional biases are? Phrased another way, the Memphis area is not the hotbed of high school football talent and accomplishment that south florida, the La area, or Cincinnati is. Do you think MUS (or another Tn team) could ever be ranked number 1?

[Redtwin]

I believe Alcoa finished #1 in the USAToday poll once. Maybe Baylor too.

[OmahaVol]

How strong do you think the regional biases are? Phrased another way, the Memphis area is not the hotbed of high school football talent and accomplishment that south florida, the La area, or Cincinnati is. Do you think MUS (or another Tn team) could ever be ranked number 1?

I think the regional bias is very strong and, I agree, Memphis is a basketball city, not a football city, but when a team like MUS comes out you have to acknowledge them. They have ranked MBA, BA, and recently Maryville appropriately. Why have they waited so long to put MUS in the top 25? USA Today seems to only rank a Tennessee team if they finish as unbeaten state champs. I think that Tennessee has earned the respect that it deserves. MBA has beaten formerly ranked teams such as Moeller, Trinity,KY, and Bolles. BA took big bad St. Xavier,OH to the wire in a 21-20 loss a few years back. Now, MUS has beaten S. Panola(in Batesville) and Olive Branch twice. Even Riverdale went up to Ohio and whipped a solid Kilbourne team 26-7 at their place. What else does it take for these pollsters to look at the Tennessee teams early in the year as oppossed to waiting to see if they finish unbeaten? All of us in Tennessee knew that MUS was going to be a special team this year. I even think that Alcoa should be ranked regionally, at least.

 

As far as ever getting a #1 ranked team.....I think it could happen one day. I thought BA back in the 80s came close. I believe they got as high as #5 once or twice(to the best of my knowledge.)

[VolunteerCoach]

Good Stuff Omaha, eventhough I am a White Station Alum, I went to the MUS game and no team has dominated us the way MUS did. They didn't even have Brunetti or their #1 running back to use against us. They are just heads above any Highschool football team I have ever seen, I know these fans of Alcoa and Maryville feel like they could hang with MUS, but it would really not be even close games. If MUS beats MBA and South Panola wins the Mississippi State Championship then I feel MUS should at least be ranked in the top 5 after it is all said and done.

[EHSfan04]

According to the USA Today archives since 1982 the Tenn teams to finish in the top 25 are:

 

1986 Austin East- 19th

1987 Jefferson County- 4th

1988 Brentwood Academy- 8th

1990 Lincoln County- 14th

1992 Gallatin- 16th

1993 Lincoln County- 18th

1994 Riverdale- 9th

1995 Brentwood Academy- 6th

1996 Brentwood Academy- 7th

1999 MBA- 16th

2000 Red Bank- 10th

MBA- 19th

2004 Riverdale- 15th

 

I thought that Jefferson County finished 1st in a poll in 1982(i think).

With this said, it opens another debate. Who is the best team in Tennessee history?

My vote would be between the 1987 Jefferson County and 1995 Brentwood Academy.

What do you think?

[rollredroll]

According to the USA Today archives since 1982 the Tenn teams to finish in the top 25 are:

 

1986 Austin East- 19th

1987 Jefferson County- 4th

1988 Brentwood Academy- 8th

1990 Lincoln County- 14th

1992 Gallatin- 16th

1993 Lincoln County- 18th

1994 Riverdale- 9th

1995 Brentwood Academy- 6th

1996 Brentwood Academy- 7th

1999 MBA- 16th

2000 Red Bank- 10th

MBA- 19th

2004 Riverdale- 15th

 

I thought that Jefferson County finished 1st in a poll in 1982(i think).

 

As best as I have been able to research, any Tennessee team's finish in a national poll over the past 50 years can ge found here (page down a couple of times).

 

The 1982 national champion was MBA's opponent in the 2008 Herbstreit Ohio vs USA event - Moeller.

[GCPioneer]

Good Stuff Omaha, eventhough I am a White Station Alum, I went to the MUS game and no team has dominated us the way MUS did. They didn't even have Brunetti or their #1 running back to use against us. They are just heads above any Highschool football team I have ever seen, I know these fans of Alcoa and Maryville feel like they could hang with MUS, but it would really not be even close games. If MUS beats MBA and South Panola wins the Mississippi State Championship then I feel MUS should at least be ranked in the top 5 after it is all said and done.

 

I had that debate with some Alcoa fans earlier this year in the AA thread. I've seen MUS, Alcoa, and Maryville this year. I told the Alcoa people over and over that Alcoa would lost to MUS in the range of 17-21 points and I thought I was being generous. They couldn't comprehend it and I was called an idiot and everything else, lol. Fact is, MUS is definately the best HS team I've ever laid eyes on and is the best team in the state.

[WTNVol]

Now 6th! Go Owls! I'll be interested to see the USA Today rankings tomorrow.

[OmahaVol]

I can now officially rest my case about USA Today. They are a complete sham! S. Panola got in the rankings at #21 and MUS did not. What!!!???? Need I say anymore?

[sptiger]

7 teams in the USA today poll lost this weekend. no excuse for MUS not to be ranked.

 

does TN have any large newspapers owned by Garnett news services? they run USAT and MS jackson clarion ledger. they generally only have 1 MS school ranked at a time and its always who the CL have as their #1 team. coincidence? maybe but just a thought.

[OmahaVol]

7 teams in the USA today poll lost this weekend. no excuse for MUS not to be ranked.

 

does TN have any large newspapers owned by Garnett news services? they run USAT and MS jackson clarion ledger. they generally only have 1 MS school ranked at a time and its always who the CL have as their #1 team. coincidence? maybe but just a thought.

 

We'll see. USA Today has never been too gracious to Tennessee. It won't surprise me if they do not rank MUS. You may be right about the ties they have with certain papers. It sounds like to me that they don't pay attention to Mississippi either. Like you say, they probably just go on-line and see who the Jackson paper has ranked #1 and precariously throw them in the rankings near the bottom half.

 

Congrats to S. Panola on the state title. Very impressive run through the playoffs. I would hate for MUS to have to play the Tigers now. After they lost to MUS they steamrolled everyone in their path. Besides MUS and their normal showdown with Olive Branch who else does S. Panola have scheduled for next year? Do they play any other out-of-state teams?

[sptiger]

as of right now i know of no one else scheduled. we do 2 year scheduling contracts and 09 was year 1 so unless we do a 1 year type of game for TV (like the apopka fl last year). yes SP is playing much better right now, we were a very young team and literally grew up each week. right now imo SP is a nationally top 10 type team. earlier this year we were not. playing MUS helped for sure

 

SP finished in top 10 of USA today from '03 to '07 but every year we were preseason unranked or in 20's