Oakland best team ever in Tn

[SweetScience]

38 minutes ago, TomLHS said:

Not sure what teams you remember, however, I would have to disagree with you on most of the teams. This Oakland team could beat many of the teams you are mentioning.  I am a Riverdale Warrior fan, and we never had D-1 talent during the stretches in which you are referencing.  Oakland has at least two D-1 commits.

Whaaaat? Antron Peebles, Alvin Duke, Fernando Bryant, David Coppeans, Gerald Griffin just from the ‘94 team alone. Every one of them was an SEC recruit, and Bryant had a career in the NFL. And there were others too I can’t recall off the top of my head. Riverdale had a plethora of D1 talent in the 90s.

[MidTennFootball]

47 minutes ago, SweetScience said:

Whaaaat? Antron Peebles, Alvin Duke, Fernando Bryant, David Coppeans, Gerald Griffin just from the ‘94 team alone. Every one of them was an SEC recruit, and Bryant had a career in the NFL. And there were others too I can’t recall off the top of my head. Riverdale had a plethora of D1 talent in the 90s.

I'll have to go back and check, but I don't think Riverdale ever had another year under Rankin where they had multiple D1 players like they did in '94, at least not in the 90s. I got a feeling that's what TomLHS is referring to

Edited October 19, 2021 by MidTennFootball

[Czar]

90's oak ridge teams woulda stomped these oakland teams of today

[SweetScience]

26 minutes ago, FilmCzar said:

90's oak ridge teams woulda stomped these oakland teams of today

I doubt that. Maybe the ‘91 team, they were a great TEAM. The others - 95, 96 were absolutely loaded, but it was a bunch of individuals who didn’t play as a team. Definitely had the pure talent to stick with any team in Tennessee past or present though. Unfortunately, you need more than mere talent alone.

[Czar]

1 minute ago, SweetScience said:

I doubt that. Maybe the ‘91 team, they were a great TEAM. The others - 95, 96 were absolutely loaded, but it was a bunch of individuals who didn’t play as a team. Definitely had the pure talent to stick with any team in Tennessee past or present though. Unfortunately, you need more than mere talent alone.

tell me about it sweet. Look at our current squad

[SweetScience]

6 minutes ago, FilmCzar said:

tell me about it sweet. Look at our current squad

Makes you wonder.

Edited October 19, 2021 by SweetScience

[6one5]

5 hours ago, TomLHS said:

Not sure what teams you remember, however, I would have to disagree with you on most of the teams. This Oakland team could beat many of the teams you are mentioning.  I am a Riverdale Warrior fan, and we never had D-1 talent during the stretches in which you are referencing.  Oakland has at least two D-1 commits.

Lol are you being serious? Riverdale definitely had D1 talent during the 1990s. Also, the 2008-2009 MUS team, 2012 Ensworth, and 2015 and 2017 BA would absolutely beat this team. Oakland while a good team, has a mediocre pass game at best and undersized Oline and Dline. The wing t is a good offense but when you play a team with either an offense that can score quickly and make you have to match it, or a team with a superior Dline, then it struggles which is evident by the games Creasy has lost in the past, and this has been shown even this particular season to be an issue. Oakland will more than likely win state because of their outstanding skill players, but imo would have issues with several teams I listed, as well as even some this season

[crow6424]

The top 10 list would be filled with private schools

[MidTennFootball]

4 minutes ago, 6one5 said:

Lol are you being serious? Riverdale definitely had D1 talent during the 1990s. Also, the 2008-2009 MUS team, 2012 Ensworth, and 2015 and 2017 BA would absolutely beat this team. Oakland while a good team, has a mediocre pass game at best and undersized Oline and Dline. The wing t is a good offense but when you play a team with either an offense that can score quickly and make you have to match it, or a team with a superior Dline, then it struggles which is evident by the games Creasy has lost in the past, and this has been shown even this particular season to be an issue. Oakland will more than likely win state because of their outstanding skill players, but imo would have issues with several teams I listed, as well as even some this season

Don't need to have a great passing game when you have the best running back tandem in the state. I've never understood equating undersized as inferior, technique is gonna beat size.

In games against CPA and Lipscomb, Oakland overcame deficits of 10 and 14 against probably the two best private school programs in the state, at the very least 2 of the 3, setting fire to the notion that Oakland can't win coming from behind. You can't treat Oakland like a Wing-T team because they aren't, they're a multiple formation offense that happens to feature the Wing-T at times. Pretty much every variation of the Spread today started in the Wing-T

I'm glad someone started this thread, at the very least it opens up a fun debate

[6one5]

1 hour ago, MidTennFootball said:

Don't need to have a great passing game when you have the best running back tandem in the state. I've never understood equating undersized as inferior, technique is gonna beat size.

In games against CPA and Lipscomb, Oakland overcame deficits of 10 and 14 against probably the two best private school programs in the state, at the very least 2 of the 3, setting fire to the notion that Oakland can't win coming from behind. You can't treat Oakland like a Wing-T team because they aren't, they're a multiple formation offense that happens to feature the Wing-T at times. Pretty much every variation of the Spread today started in the Wing-T

I'm glad someone started this thread, at the very least it opens up a fun debate

Never said that they can not win from behind, but it makes it much harder to do so when you have a running based offense like the wing T. One thing that has always been an advantage that Oakland has is that their defense has always been a top tier defense even back to Mcdaniel days and especially Creasy, and this allows them to primarily rely on run game. Although I would argue that the Air Raid, Run & Shoot, Veer & shoot, etc do not come from the wing t lineage, the way which teams play now and current athletic ability, there really is no "pure" offense anymore except in a few specific instances(think Mike Leach, June Jones, Rich Rod, etc). I will agree with you that Creasy has significantly diversified his offense since he came to Oakland, but he still loves that wing t lol. One point I will add is that at a certain point, you will eventually get beat if you do not have an advanced passing game. Oakland does not have to deal with this much as they are athletically superior to 99-100% of teams in TN, but once you meet someone who has as good or better athletes on defense then you will be forced to throw it. The best example of this I can think of to represent this for Oakland would be the 2016 Whitehaven game. I remember them just continually trying to pound the ball on Whitehaven that game and their defense did not budge bc they were incredibly talented that year, whereas if they had a better passing game then things more than likely would have went the other way.

[MidTennFootball]

2 hours ago, 6one5 said:

Never said that they can not win from behind, but it makes it much harder to do so when you have a running based offense like the wing T. One thing that has always been an advantage that Oakland has is that their defense has always been a top tier defense even back to Mcdaniel days and especially Creasy, and this allows them to primarily rely on run game. Although I would argue that the Air Raid, Run & Shoot, Veer & shoot, etc do not come from the wing t lineage, the way which teams play now and current athletic ability, there really is no "pure" offense anymore except in a few specific instances(think Mike Leach, June Jones, Rich Rod, etc). I will agree with you that Creasy has significantly diversified his offense since he came to Oakland, but he still loves that wing t lol. One point I will add is that at a certain point, you will eventually get beat if you do not have an advanced passing game. Oakland does not have to deal with this much as they are athletically superior to 99-100% of teams in TN, but once you meet someone who has as good or better athletes on defense then you will be forced to throw it. The best example of this I can think of to represent this for Oakland would be the 2016 Whitehaven game. I remember them just continually trying to pound the ball on Whitehaven that game and their defense did not budge bc they were incredibly talented that year, whereas if they had a better passing game then things more than likely would have went the other way.

I will agree with you about Whitehaven in 2016, a lesson which Oakland took to heart two years later in the title game. I will say Oakland threw for 2,000 yards in 2016, so it was a matter of choice, rather than execution

Do I think you need to at least be a credible threat to throw the ball? Absolutely, but I dont think you need a great passing game, at least not in this state. If you have a good group of backs, solid up front and a good defense, that formula wins titles more often than not

[chs1984]

23 hours ago, TnBear said:

One of the Cleveland teams in the early 90s may have something to say about it. 

‘93 Cleveland remains the best I ever saw, but never got credit because they really didn’t play anybody until they met Brentwood Academy in the final. ‘94 Cleveland was very good, not great. I’m still not sure how we won state in ‘95. ‘94 Riverdale and ‘87 Jefferson Co. would probably rank as the next best two that I saw in Tennessee.