Is Russell the #3 Team in Class 3A?

Calpreps thinks so. Bluegrasspreps doesn't. Defensively they've been stellar, allowing 27 points on the season and never more than 8 in a single game. Offensively, they've started to score more in the last three weeks. The loss to Ashland looked bad at the time but with the Tomcats playing better football it doesn't look so bad now. Wins against Greenup County and Fleming County are strong.

No disrespect intended but....IMO....Russell has played a very lackluster schedule. Difficult to evaluate their progress and overall development against suspect competition.

Not even close.

Russell is far and away behind Belfry, Corbin, Central, & Lex Cath for sure in my book.

I think Russell would have trouble keeping the game competitive against any of that crew. The athletes of Central and Lex Cath would really be difficult for Russell to do anything with considering Russell struggled with Ashland'a athletes once they got in space especially.

Belfry and Corbin are different animals completely and I would be shocked if they did not have a running clock on Russell.

Russell is a solid AAA football team in the 6 class system and will probably win their district, but they have not beat a good team yet this season IMO. Fleming may be solid but they lost by a similar margin as Boyd who is just plain bad.

No disrespect to Russell but I don't see them as top 3. I will buy top 10 but I do not see them as a legitimate threat to win a state title.

They are one of the best defensive teams I have seen in a long time. Their overall team speed and aggressiveness was very impressive. I have watched high school football for years (including state championship teams) and their defense is as good as any I have seen. I know people don't think of Fleming County as a power house, but they have a solid offense this year. Russell completely took them out of their game.

If they can continue to improve on offense they will be a contender this year. The bad thing for them is they will have to play Belfry in the regional finals.

I watched Boyle play Danville and was no where near as impressed with them as Russell. Also, Ashland scored 1 time on them late in the game. Not sure how Russell struggled with their athletes.

Russell is much better than Mr. Know It All is giving them credit for. The Russell defense is very good. Unfortunately, for Russell, though, we will never know how well they stack up against Corbin, Central, and Lex Cath, because their playoff path leads to Belfry pretty quickly.

You know i was just thinking to myself about how Russell may be a little underrated.

I think we all frowned upon a one point loss to Ashland as if it were a bad thing, but the Tomcats are now considered by most a Top 15 team in Class 4A. The Devils are allowing 5 points per game and with the rest of Class 3A seemingly being a major step down I am starting to think Russell is closer to the #3 and #4 teams than we originally gave them credit for.

With all that said, if you stick Russell in 2A, 4A, or 5A (obviously 6A), they are not a Top 10 team. It is crazy to think about it, but the measuring stick for Russell is going to be how they perform against a 1A team when they square up Raceland to end the year.

I'm not ready to declare Russell the #3 team in the class. The wins over Greenup and Fleming are good ones, but Russell's body of work doesn't merit a top 3 ranking, IMO.

Ashland deserves a ton of credit for putting together a clutch drive to win that game, but Russell's D was gassed at the end of that one. Their offense got progressively worse and worse as that game went on and the defense was on the field too much. If they could have mustered any 2nd half offense, they'd probably be 6-0.

Nothing Russell does over the next three weeks should sway voters in the Devil's favor. They won't really know what they've got until the regular season finale against Raceland.

I'm not ready to declare Russell the #3 team in the class. The wins over Greenup and Fleming are good ones, but Russell's body of work doesn't merit a top 3 ranking, IMO.

 

Ashland deserves a ton of credit for putting together a clutch drive to win that game, but Russell's D was gassed at the end of that one. Their offense got progressively worse and worse as that game went on and the defense was on the field too much. If they could have mustered any 2nd half offense, they'd probably be 6-0.

 

Nothing Russell does over the next three weeks should sway voters in the Devil's favor. They won't really know what they've got until the regular season finale against Raceland.

Played terrible schedule and very slow football team in my opinion.

#4 or #5 in 3A

I lean more towards 5

Defense has kept them in games

Offense isn't as consistent as defense

If and only if the offense and defense are both at the same level as the defense on friday night would I put them at 3. I haven't seen the offense live up to their potential yet

They did well against Fleming but still didn't complete every drive

Defensively, they appear top tier but offensively, they're suspect. Their non-district schedule is decent but their District is bad. Belfry looms in their playoff future and that does not bode well.

Belfry looms in their playoff future and that does not bode well.

But that doesn't necessarily affect their rank. Belfry will likely keep Corbin from playing in a state championship game, but the Redhounds have been #2 all season. Russell could easily be the #3 team but just have a terrible bracket.

How are Central and Lex Cath not rated in the AP poll?

How are Central and Lex Cath not rated in the AP poll?

Because clearly a number of AP voters pull up the won/loss records on KHSAA and rank accordingly. Its ridiculous. Here are the ten Class 3A teams with the best records right now:

1. Bardstown

2. Casey County

3. Corbin

4. Adair County

5. Russell

6. Western Hills

7. Belfry

8. Estill County

9. Moore

10. Fleming County

Based on past history, I'd almost be willing to bet there were some AP voters who turned in a 3A ballot that looked exactly like this this week.

Because clearly a number of AP voters pull up the won/loss records on KHSAA and rank accordingly. Its ridiculous. Here are the ten Class 3A teams with the best records right now:

 

1. Bardstown

2. Casey County

3. Corbin

4. Adair County

5. Russell

6. Western Hills

7. Belfry

8. Estill County

9. Moore

10. Fleming County

 

Based on past history, I'd almost be willing to bet there were some AP voters who turned in a 3A ballot that looked exactly like this this week.

Maybe not exactly like it due to First Place votes being visible... but I am sure there are voters who have moved Casey County up following wins over weak teams and moved LexCath down after losing narrowly to St. Xavier and Covington Catholic.