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 Eastern KY) 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 55 football teams in Eastern Kentucky? Aside from Corbin and Pikeville, who else rounds out the top 5? What's your Top 10 look like? ...are you plugged into things enough to take a guess at #11 through #20 teams in EKY?
 

4A Ashland Blazer
4A Allen County-Scottsville
3A Bath County
3A Belfry
3A Bell County
2A Betsy Layne
4A Boyd County
2A Breathitt County
3A Clay County
4A Corbin
3A East Carter
2A East Ridge
3A Estill County
3A Fleming County
1A Fairview
2A Floyd Central
4A Greenup County
1A Harlan
5A Harlan County
1A Hazard
Jackson County (Withdrawn From District Play)
4A Johnson Central
2A Knott County Central
3A Knox Central
3A Lawrence County
2A Leslie County
4A Letcher County Central
3A Lewis County
1A Lynn Camp
3A Magoffin County
2A Martin County
3A McCreary Central
1A Middlesboro
Morgan County (Withdrawn From District Play)
5A North Laurel
1A Paintsville
4A Perry County Central
Phelps (Withdrawn From District Play)
2A Pike County Central
1A Pikeville
1A Pineville
3A Powell County
2A Prestonsburg
5A Pulaski County
1A Raceland
3A Rockcastle County
4A Rowan County
3A Russell
2A Shelby Valley
2A Somerset
5A South Laurel
5A Southwestern
3A West Carter
4A Whitley County
1A Williamsburg

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville

3. Johnson Central

4. Southwestern 

5. Pulaski

6. Belfry

7. Somerset

8. Bell 

9. North Laurel

10. Lawrence

Just to get the conversation started. 

13 hours ago, crk1980 said:

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville

3. Johnson Central

4. Southwestern 

5. Pulaski

6. Belfry

7. Somerset

8. Bell 

9. North Laurel

10. Lawrence

Just to get the conversation started. 

Because of my lack of knowledge with a few of these teams I will refrain from being over zealous but not having Ashland in the Top 10 is humorous. 

3 hours ago, rerun said:

Because of my lack of knowledge with a few of these teams I will refrain from being over zealous but not having Ashland in the Top 10 is humorous. 

I'm not trying to be disrespectful at all, just throwing a list out there. I don't know a lot about Ashland and they very well maybe deserving of a spot as many others on the list. So what would your top 10 look like?

1 hour ago, crk1980 said:

I'm not trying to be disrespectful at all, just throwing a list out there. I don't know a lot about Ashland and they very well maybe deserving of a spot as many others on the list. So what would your top 10 look like?

Didn't mean to imply that you were disrespectful in any way. Ashland returns a majority of their team that played Cov Cath down to the wire last year in the playoffs.  They will be a tough out this year. I don't know enough about teams outside of the 15th and 16th regions to formulate a top 10 so I'll hold off on that task. 

I know they kind of of sneaked up on some people last year I think they will be pretty good again this year they still have their stud running back Landon Yoak who rushed for almost 1500 yards and had 22 touchdowns.

21 hours ago, crk1980 said:

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville

3. Johnson Central

4. Southwestern 

5. Pulaski

6. Belfry

7. Somerset

8. Bell 

9. North Laurel

10. Lawrence

Just to get the conversation started. 

This looks pretty solid to me. For the next 5 I'd probably add in:

11. Ashland

12. Raceland

13. Paris

14. Rockcastle Co

15. Whitley Co.

I kinda felt like Rockcastle Co had a pretty big case of imposter syndrome last year, Bell Co win aside. Honestly that win still has me headscratching. Rock's cupboard is bare this year, though, so they fit into the bottom top 15 teams. Whitley Co may well step ahead of Rock by the end of this season.

I believe Raceland was hit kinda hard by graduation in May. I'm definitely interested to see how Paris performs this season, if they step forward or step back. Ashland will be solid by the end of the season but they have some rebuilding to do early. Tackett will have them in good shape by the playoffs, though. And Whitley sneaks in

23 hours ago, crk1980 said:

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville

3. Johnson Central

4. Southwestern 

5. Pulaski

6. Belfry

7. Somerset

8. Bell 

9. North Laurel

10. Lawrence

Just to get the conversation started. 

I like your list! But I would put Ashland just behind Johnson Central and Southwestern. Ashland is a team trending upwards. 

This is where I'm at through Week 1....

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville 

3. Belfry

4. Pulaski County 

5. Southwestern 

6. Ashland 

7. Johnson Central 

8. Somerset 

9. North Laurel 

10. Bell County 

Next up (no particular order): Hazard, Breathitt County, Lawrence County, Whitley County, Letcher Central 

2 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

This is where I'm at through Week 1....

1. Corbin

2. Pikeville 

3. Belfry

4. Pulaski County 

5. Southwestern 

6. Ashland 

7. Johnson Central 

8. Somerset 

9. North Laurel 

10. Bell County 

Next up (no particular order): Hazard, Breathitt County, Lawrence County, Whitley County, Letcher Central 

After Southwestern was shut out by a very average North Hardin team, I would struggle putting them in the top 10 right now.  

1 hour ago, Big East Zebra said:

After Southwestern was shut out by a very average North Hardin team, I would struggle putting them in the top 10 right now.  

That was indeed a bad loss for the Warriors, but I'm still clinging to the belief that if they reach their ceiling, they're better than the teams ranked below them.

They get Belfry in a couple of weeks. I'm content to wait to make any drastic moves on Southwestern. 

3 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

That was indeed a bad loss for the Warriors, but I'm still clinging to the belief that if they reach their ceiling, they're better than the teams ranked below them.

They get Belfry in a couple of weeks. I'm content to wait to make any drastic moves on Southwestern. 

Devil I totally understand your point, but as you stated that is a very bad loss for SW. The good thing is they have 9 more games to right the ship!

Southwestern is already on their bye week,  then they travel to South Warren next week. So we should see how they adjust then.