2024 Northern Kentucky Preseason Power Rankings

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

For those a little less familiar with power rankings, the idea behind them is to hypothetically pit every team from a group (here it's NKY) against every other team in the group, regardless of size or classification. You form your rankings by saying if you took every single team in the group, in that snapshot of a moment, and if you were able to have each team play each other team right then, then which team would prove to be the best by wins, and so on down the line.

So now that we're just over 4 weeks away from football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason power rankings for the 28 football teams in Northern Kentucky?

2A Beechwood
1A Bellevue
1A Bishop-Brossart
5A Boone County
2A Bracken County
6A Campbell County
2A Carroll County
5A Conner
5A Cooper
4A Covington Catholic
1A Covington Holy Cross
1A Dayton
5A Dixie Heights
2A Gallatin County
4A Grant County
4A Harrison County
5A Highlands
4A Holmes
3A Lloyd Memorial
1A Ludlow
4A Mason County
1A Newport
1A Newport Central Catholic
2A Owen County
6A Ryle
5A Scott
6A Simon Kenton
2A Walton-Verona

[VF111]

I think these four teams can all beat each other and are also better than the other 24...

Beechwood, Highlands, Cov. Cath, and Cooper. 

[theguru]

I may add Ryle as a maybe to that group. 

[uninformedexpert]

3 minutes ago, VF111 said:

I think these four teams can all beat each other and are also better than the other 24...

Beechwood, Highlands, Cov. Cath, and Cooper. 

Kind of took the air out of that balloon, but hard to argue with what you wrote.  

[VF111]

3 minutes ago, theguru said:

I may add Ryle as a maybe to that group. 

I think that is fair... to a degree. I would say that each of those four teams I named could easily go 3-0 or 2-1 against the other three.

I would say Ryle has a chance to go 1-3 or 2-2 at best against the other four named. JMHO

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

14 minutes ago, uninformedexpert said:

Kind of took the air out of that balloon, but hard to argue with what you wrote.  

Lol, I totally get what you mean but that.....but....

A handful of years back I did week-by-week NKY power rankings. Generally the top 3 teams seldom changed spots throughout the season, but when I was working on updating the rankings each week I really enjoyed the process of figuring out who I thought would logically work their way into the next 10 or 12 spots a lot moreso than I did the top 3 or 4 teams.

[MaddenCurse44]

38 minutes ago, VF111 said:

I think these four teams can all beat each other and are also better than the other 24...

Beechwood, Highlands, Cov. Cath, and Cooper. 

Add Simon Kenton.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

5 minutes ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

Add Simon Kenton.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

8 minutes ago, MaddenCurse44 said:

Add Simon Kenton.

Simon Kenton lost 50-12 to Cov Cath last year, they lost 58-54 to Beechwood last year, they lost 24-21 to Ryle last year and they finished their season with a 5-5 record and a 1st round exit from the 6A playoffs. Simon Kenton people were calling for Roy Lucas' head and saying he wasn't capable of coaching his team based on Coach Lucas' actions during games and halftime.

Especially with the likes of Cov Cath and Highlands, what's been going on in Independence in the offseason makes you think Coach Lucas and the 'Neers have closed the gap so much as for you to claim that they are capable of beating the Birds or the Colonels this year?

(I also, this makes me love that we don't have to wait any longer than September 6 to see how Simon Kenton does against Cov Cath.)

[VF111]

OK, my initial response wasn't much fun... how about this... 

2A Beechwood - The best pound-for-pound team in NKY, Tier 1 
1A Bellevue - Showing some signs of life, Tier 3
1A Bishop-Brossart - Tough to beat, Tier 2
5A Boone County - Boone Co. Schools should be ashamed, Tier 3
2A Bracken County - Scrappy Polar Bears, Tier 2
6A Campbell County - How are the Camels not better than this? Tier 3 for now...
2A Carroll County - They're gonna win 5 or 6 a year. Tier 2
5A Conner - They're a 6'5 Power 5 QB away from being Cooper. Tier 2
5A Cooper - Loaded, maybe double-loaded. Tier 1
4A Covington Catholic - Cov Cath is a flagship program for KY HS Football. Always will be. Tier 1
1A Covington Holy Cross - They're in Covington and they're holy... should be better. Tier 3
1A Dayton - Like Bellevue, a 1A team showing signs of life. Tier 3
5A Dixie Heights - They'll be someone's signature win. Can't seem to get over the hump. Tier 2
2A Gallatin County - It's tough to be a small school in NKY, Tier 3
4A Grant County - On the uptick from a tough past. Still Tier 3
4A Harrison County - Ray Graham gets you into Tier 2
5A Highlands - Highlands is a flagship program for HS Football. Will beat Cooper in '24 😁. Tier 1
4A Holmes - '23 was a disaster, but still a solid football school. Tier 2
3A Lloyd Memorial - Rolling. Gotta find a way to beat the big boys. Tier 2
1A Ludlow - If they don't get you the river fog will. Tier 2
4A Mason County - Really close to Tier 1. Good Football School. Tier 2
1A Newport - Nice 1A program fighting uphill most games. Tier 2
1A Newport Central Catholic - Tier 1 1A-school in KY, but NKY is a tough place. Upper Tier 2
2A Owen County - Doin what they can to survive in NKY, Tier 3
6A Ryle - Like Dixie, they'll help someone's RPI in the 4th round, but they won't be there. Upper Tier 2
5A Scott - Like a yo-yo, they're up and down. Right now they're down. Tier 2
6A Simon Kenton - "This is gonna be the year! I can feel it!" This was not the year. Tier 2
2A Walton-Verona - Great test scores. Surprisingly good football. Tier 2

[TheConch]

1 hour ago, theguru said:

I may add Ryle as a maybe to that group. 

Hmm, they SHOULD BE, BUT not while their HBC is still there. 

[CCHFC]

I’d probably go:

1. Cooper
2. BW

gap 

3/4/5 CovCath/Highlands/Ryle (yes I am biased so CCH is 3). Ryle could easily beat Cov Cath week 1

gap

[TheConch]

2 hours ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

For those a little less familiar with power rankings, the idea behind them is to hypothetically pit every team from a group (here it's NKY) against every other team in the group, regardless of size or classification. You form your rankings by saying if you took every single team in the group, in that snapshot of a moment, and if you were able to have each team play each other team right then, then which team would prove to be the best by wins, and so on down the line.

So now that we're just over 4 weeks away from football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason power rankings for the 28 football teams in Northern Kentucky? 

2A Beechwood
1A Bellevue
1A Bishop-Brossart
5A Boone County
2A Bracken County
6A Campbell County
2A Carroll County
5A Conner
5A Cooper
4A Covington Catholic
1A Covington Holy Cross
1A Dayton
5A Dixie Heights
2A Gallatin County
4A Grant County
4A Harrison County
5A Highlands
4A Holmes
3A Lloyd Memorial
1A Ludlow
4A Mason County
1A Newport
1A Newport Central Catholic
2A Owen County
6A Ryle
5A Scott
6A Simon Kenton
2A Walton-Verona

@theguru are you going to stand for this blasphemous statement?

[theguru]

6 minutes ago, TheConch said:

@theguru are you going to stand for this blasphemous statement?

Huh?

[TheConch]

1 minute ago, theguru said:

Huh?

 

On 1/24/2024 at 6:54 PM, theguru said:

Regardless of whether they are in the NKFCA or not, no one in NKY considers Harrison County a part of NKY.  I mean no one. 

(I realize @Colonels_Wear_Blue was adding all schools in districts with other NKY schools.)