6A Preseason Rankings?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Here is a look at how the last three weeks of the 6A football season played out last year. So now that we're just over 4 weeks away from the 2024 football season kicking off, what are you thinking in terms of preseason rankings for 6A?

Have any of these teams dropped out of the picture for the beginning of this season?

Are any of the quarterfinalists or semifinalists looking more like finalists this season? Or vice versa?

What about teams like Manual, St. Xavier and Bullitt East...do you see them making it any deeper of a playoff run than they did last year? Is Simon Kenton the most logical favorite to win it all this year?




Here are this year's team threads that have been started from among the teams that made last year's 6A quarterfinalists:

2024 Trinity Shamrocks

2024 Bryan Station Defenders

2024 Frederick Douglass Broncos

2024 Ballard Bruins

2024 McCracken County Mustangs

2024 Male Bulldogs

2024 Central Hardin Bruins

2024 Ryle Raiders

[16thBBall Fan]

I think Douglass will once again be in the mix along with Trinity and St. X of course. I think Trinity is the team to beat going into the season, but that is why they play the games.

[LongTimeReader]

I’d go with:

1) Trinity

2) Fredrick Douglass

3) St. X

4) Manual

5) Male

[TheBallCoach]

I’m curious to see how Frederick Douglass looks against the Purples at LT Smith Stadium, should be another classic at the Rafferty’s Bowl. Then that following Friday they get to host the defending State champions, who I believe are en route to winning another one. I was very impressed with (SO) QB Zane Johnson and the progression he made throughout last season, he should be in for a huge year and have the Shamrocks nationally ranked.

[MBKT]

Until Ryle, McCraken and SK upgrade their regular season schedules and then show they can win those games, the 6A champ will not emerge from either Northern Kentucky or Western Kentucky. 
 

With Trinity graduating all but one of their defensive starters and about half of their guys on offense (the Rocks will play a TON of sophomores ), I think 6A is a toss up between FD, Male and Trinity with St. X, Manual and Bryan Station a step behind. 

[Voice of Reason]

5 hours ago, MBKT said:

Until Ryle, McCraken and SK upgrade their regular season schedules and then show they can win those games, the 6A champ will not emerge from either Northern Kentucky or Western Kentucky. 
 

With Trinity graduating all but one of their defensive starters and about half of their guys on offense (the Rocks will play a TON of sophomores ), I think 6A is a toss up between FD, Male and Trinity with St. X, Manual and Bryan Station a step behind. 

Ryle SOS this year will be top 10 in 6A, possibly even top 5. They have a strong schedule, including a game at St. X in Louisville.

[MBKT]

2 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Ryle SOS this year will be top 10 in 6A, possibly even top 5. They have a strong schedule, including a game at St. X in Louisville.

Strengthening the schedule is the easy part of that equation. Beating the stronger teams on the improved schedule is the more important part of that equation. 

[MBKT]

5 minutes ago, MBKT said:

Strengthening the schedule is the easy part of that equation. Beating the stronger teams on the improved schedule is the more important part of that equation. 

Using Ryle as an example, over the last 3 years, they are 0-6 vs Bryan Station, St. X and Trinity. 

[Purple88]

4 minutes ago, MBKT said:

Using Ryle as an example, over the last 3 years, they are 0-6 vs Bryan Station, St. X and Trinity. 

I'd say most 6A schools outside of perhaps Male and Frederick Douglas (and perhaps on a very good day Ballard/Manual) would too.

I understand you need/want to show improvement, but I also feel it takes time to build up to that point.  It takes timing too.  Bullitt East, is another example, had a lightning rod team in 2022.  IMO, they built up to that year and just so happened that they had to beat Bryan Station and Male at the end to win that championship.  Do I think Ryle is there now?  No, but I think they are building.  Playing X is a big deal.  It really shows them where they are.  This will be the 5th game between the 2 this season.  The first 3 games X won by a combined 116 to 20.  Not very close.  Last year they lost 56 to 35.  Yes, that's still 3 TDs, but to me that is still progress.  At the end of the year, only 1 team (per class) wins their last game.  Station, X and T aren't handing out free wins; you have to earn them.  I think Ryle is a good program and building.

[Bear3]

3 minutes ago, Purple88 said:

I'd say most 6A schools outside of perhaps Male and Frederick Douglas (and perhaps on a very good day Ballard/Manual) would too.

I understand you need/want to show improvement, but I also feel it takes time to build up to that point.  It takes timing too.  Bullitt East, is another example, had a lightning rod team in 2022.  IMO, they built up to that year and just so happened that they had to beat Bryan Station and Male at the end to win that championship.  Do I think Ryle is there now?  No, but I think they are building.  Playing X is a big deal.  It really shows them where they are.  This will be the 5th game between the 2 this season.  The first 3 games X won by a combined 116 to 20.  Not very close.  Last year they lost 56 to 35.  Yes, that's still 3 TDs, but to me that is still progress.  At the end of the year, only 1 team (per class) wins their last game.  Station, X and T aren't handing out free wins; you have to earn them.  I think Ryle is a good program and building.

The X-Ryle series will not continue in 2025.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

58 minutes ago, Bear3 said:

The X-Ryle series will not continue in 2025.

I liked seeing that series played, from a NKY standpoint, but I don't think Ryle was the caliber of competitor that St. X wanted to have in their non-district schedule. I'm hoping to see St. X drop the Floyd Central game soon too. From a RPI standpoint that one does them no favors, and Floyd Central definitely isn't challenging them on the field.

[Voice of Reason]

52 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

I liked seeing that series played, from a NKY standpoint, but I don't think Ryle was the caliber of competitor that St. X wanted to have in their non-district schedule. I'm hoping to see St. X drop the Floyd Central game soon too. From a RPI standpoint that one does them no favors, and Floyd Central definitely isn't challenging them on the field.

Ryle is almost the perfect KHSAA RPI opponent for St. X so I will speculate it is Ryle that didn't want to continue the series.

[Unrivaled97]

14 hours ago, Purple88 said:

I'd say most 6A schools outside of perhaps Male and Frederick Douglas (and perhaps on a very good day Ballard/Manual) would too.

I understand you need/want to show improvement, but I also feel it takes time to build up to that point.  It takes timing too.  Bullitt East, is another example, had a lightning rod team in 2022.  IMO, they built up to that year and just so happened that they had to beat Bryan Station and Male at the end to win that championship.  Do I think Ryle is there now?  No, but I think they are building.  Playing X is a big deal.  It really shows them where they are.  This will be the 5th game between the 2 this season.  The first 3 games X won by a combined 116 to 20.  Not very close.  Last year they lost 56 to 35.  Yes, that's still 3 TDs, but to me that is still progress.  At the end of the year, only 1 team (per class) wins their last game.  Station, X and T aren't handing out free wins; you have to earn them.  I think Ryle is a good program and building.

Overall, I agree with this.  I wouldn't necessarily say BE was building up to that year in 2022, they were just building up and it just so happened that the overall talent in that senior class, along with a few really talented players in the junior and sophomores classes, led to that state title.  BE was still 9-3 last year so not a bad year either.  We'll see what this year holds.  As far as Ryle, there is definitely talent there at all levels and the program seems to be getting better each year.  I like the upgrades they made to the schedule with adding CAL & St. X.  They always play Highlands, Covington Catholic & Cooper, so couple all of those games with their 3 district games they have to play and there's not a whole lot more they can do with their schedule overall.  Maybe replace Conner, but I'm not sure they can.  Anyway, I think what Ryle needs at this point is a signature win to help boost confidence.  They need a win over Cov Cath, St. X or CAL this year.  They need that signature win over a team that many wouldn't think they would get.  It's amazing what young kids, with a little bit of talent, can do when they have a lot of confidence.  BE got that in 2022 when they beat Male in the regular season.  It catapulted those kids to a state title because they believed at that point they could beat anyone and the truth is, they had the talent to do it all along, just not the confidence.  If Ryle could get that signature win this year and gain that confidence, they could become a very dangerous team.  They'll have to beat either St. X or Manual in the 2nd round of the playoffs this year to advance, but if they do, watch out.  It could get interesting.

[theguru]

On 7/20/2024 at 9:31 PM, LongTimeReader said:

I’d go with:

1) Trinity

2) Fredrick Douglass

3) St. X

4) Manual

5) Male

I would probably swap Male and X with those five teams and also mention Ballard as a team that could make some noise in 6A this year. 

[Big Things Kentucky]

This year we definitely see the RPI rankings affect as there's more in state big on big games!  we think