On 9/4/2025 at 2:18 PM, Honey Badger said:

Yes. Conner is 0-2 and Lloyd is 2-0. that's it, Lloyd blows Conner out for sure. Hold up, wait a minute, that doesn't sound right....Conner has played who?? And Lloyd has played who?? Ryle is Ryle so nothing needs to be said about that loss except 6A powerhouse at this point. Madison Central?? Not Ryle quality but another solidified 6A school ranked in the top 10 right now by BGP. MC is no slouch. So the narrative is Conner is hot garbage because they lost to a couple established 6A schools? I'm confused on that.

Lloyds played two 1A schools who aren't the best versions of themselves right now but started top 10 in 1A and Lloyd made both look bad. Lloyd's roster isn't far from quadrupling both of those 1A schools. Lloyds defense has been tested pretty much 0% and neither opponent could capitalize on the slim opportunities that they had, players got to make plays when the opportunities arise. Lloyd didn't let Newport breathe a bit and that's exactly how they were suppose to handle that. I would say that was an improvement in their mentality from week 1-2 because they did get lax and let NCC breathe a slight bit. Can Lloyd's defense maintain that mentality? I don't want Lloyd to forget they got knocked out in round 2 last year after being up 20-0 at half. A certain type of mentality doesn't let that happen. You got to dominate every snap when your suppose to. That's what great teams do. Did Ryle relax and let Conner get some points because the game was over in the 2nd quarter? No they made sure they put up a goose egg on the visitors side of the score board.

Noel Rash, I think I have heard of him. Just for clarification, this is the same Rash that I'm pretty positive has never started a season 0-3? Same Rash that I know has never lost to a Lloyd Memorial team? Same Rash that's a Lloyd alumni and grew up watching Lloyd State Championship football as a kid? Same Rash that...yeah it's him. Something tells me he will not let his team be lacking confidence coming into this one. Conner has some good athletes, big, strong kids and they have a some speed themselves. I expect them to be fundamentally sound and not bouncing the ball all over the turf like NCC and Newport did wasting drive after drive. Have they struggled so far? Yes. But they are thirsty to redeem themselves and showcase what they really have. Someone told me this was Conner's game to get on track and to start rolling off a few wins and I can't say I debated on that with them. They have taken some licks but a wounded Cougar is the most aggressive Cougar.

Conner's going to be looking to get their lick back that they took the past 2 weeks and I look for them to come out and force their will in their first home game of the year and honor Trosper with their play. I look for them to have a productive run/pass ratio. @DRKARK said he looks to see Conner air it out and I do not think they will have an issue there if the QB does not force the ball and has some time. He has a nice arm. Lloyd is green in the secondary and I know if I noticed it Rash has too. NCC didn't make the plays and Newports QB couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a rock so they couldn't capitalize on the windows that were there. Conner's #1 Dion Abernathy may be the fastest kid on the field and is electric if he gets space. Conner has a talented QB and some receivers who can make plays if the opportunities are there. Lloyd does have the depth to fix it though if they are to get exposed it will be interesting to see if Lloyd makes the necessary adjustments. Rash will have Conner's players prepared to sieze the moment when their opportunity arises.

Lloyds offense hasn't been challenged yet. They have made it look effortless to score at will and have made a lot of highlight reel plays. They really haven't even been able to open up their offense yet due to short fields and long scoring plays so I don't think they have come close to hitting their ceiling which could be scary for their opponents. I don't even know if Lloyd totally knows what they got. Lloyd's skill positions are deeeeeep. Lloyd is loaded with talent and especially the underclassmen. A couple of their most talented kids are underclassmen that don't even get to see the field on O or D and it surprises me they didn't go to other schools where they could have seen tons of playing time early. There is a lot of schools that would love to have and could use talented athletes like that. That's different this day in age where athletes stay put and wait it out but I could see them being else where next year. Conner is an example of being hit hard over the years with kids that geographically should be going to school in Hebron but went else where.

This week should be the first actual ball game for both teams. It will be interesting to see if Lloyd can put drives together vs a defense that shouldn't get ran off the field every couple plays and leave them with a short field. It will also be intriguing to see what Conner really has on offense. 

Conner should have the advantage in the trenches and coaching. That's a nice recipe. No disrespect to Lloyd coaches but Rash's resume speaks for itself and he probably is doing some soul searching right now to straighten his team out. It's hard for me to see Rash going 0-3. I'm taking Conner to show what they are really about in a breakout game and for Lloyd to get a positive out of actually being tested. Cougars 28-20.

@theguru any live stream links for this game?

I thought the score would be worse. Has Lloyd  been tested yet?

Conner definitely has some good athletes.