Dayton has a favorable schedule to finish 10-0 with what looks to to be its toughest matchups against district opponents Newport Central Catholic and Newport. Those teams are a little down compared to years past.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

How are they up front?

Dayton was tough in 1993 and very good in 1996. How does this team compare to those?

Dan Ridder was an awful good football coach. Jason Skirvin was talented but about as hard nosed as they come as well. Tough kids. Tough team. Physical.

1 hour ago, Bac2369 said:

Dayton has a favorable schedule to finish 10-0 with what looks to to be its toughest matchups against district opponents Newport Central Catholic and Newport. Those teams are a little down compared to years past.

What's your thoughts and opinions?

No. Schedules matter.

17 minutes ago, Builder1214 said:

No. Schedules matter.

What?

If Dayton can stay healthy, I do think they have a shot. Dayton has good size up front, and one of the best backs in the state, plus they have just very good overall team speed as a whole. I think the beat Newport by a few scores, and the NCC game could go either way.

They have a chance especially since it's still a possibility.

It's possible but I see the New Cath game as a hurdle too big.

3 hours ago, ChiefSmoke said:

Dayton was tough in 1993 and very good in 1996. How does this team compare to those?

Dan Ridder was an awful good football coach. Jason Skirvin was talented but about as hard nosed as they come as well. Tough kids. Tough team. Physical.

I'm not ready to say equal or better than 1996, but I'd say better than 1993. This team has plenty of athletes and they play physically on both sides of the ball.

One week/game at a time. I do believe this is Coach Herbst's best team he's had and that this team is better than any team post Ridder.

3 hours ago, Buck2 said:

How are they up front?

They have been good to this point.

That would be a NO.

1 hour ago, futurecoach said:

What?

They won't beat NewCath. Might not be Iroquois. I don't think the Newport game is a guaranteed win. They would not be 4-0 against NewCath's schedule. They would be 1-3 at best. We are at the time of year that some teams have good records because of an easy schedule or bad records because of a hard schedule.

That said, good for them on a great start to the season.

45 minutes ago, Builder1214 said:

They won't beat NewCath. Might not be Iroquois. I don't think the Newport game is a guaranteed win. They would not be 4-0 against NewCath's schedule. They would be 1-3 at best. We are at the time of year that some teams have good records because of an easy schedule or bad records because of a hard schedule.

That said, good for them on a great start to the season.

Out of curiosity have you actually seen Dayton play this year? While you may be right that they wouldn't be undefeated with NCC schedule, it doesn't necessarily mean that aren't a threat to NCC this year. As I think most people haven't actually seen both teams play and just going normal past history.

I have been fortunate to have seen both teams this year. This is not your normal Dayton team, and while I believe coach Brown is going to do a great job at NCC. He wasn't exactly given a normal type of NCC team in regards to talent. For the past 29 years when Dayton and NCC stepped on the field, NCC was stepping on the field as the more talented team. I am not so sure that is the case this season.

I can speak more to this, especially about Dayton. I can get what some might be thinking in terms of strength of schedule and other things, because several think with that mindset now. To that point, Dayton is a 1A school and they have been between the middle and lower end of it in terms of rankings. The last two seasons they won four or five games and may have been one of the worse teams two seasons ago. They have gotten better since that point by getting more experienced and gaining some more players, whom have been good. So, strength of schedule with them means nothing to me based on their last couple seasons.

A couple seasons ago, Sayre had a very good team that didn't play the best schedule, even playing Dayton that season. They went on to win state and several didn't think they would. Point being, strength of schedule isn't always everything.

To the point about Newport Central Catholic, Dayton has not had a team that was better than them and more obviously known to be better since the later part of the 90's. It's been quite a while, but things can change from time to time. I can say that I haven't watched NCC play yet this season, so I wouldn't be comfortable saying who would win right now. I do believe that Dayton and NCC will be a different game than what it's been for a good while now this season.

With saying all of what I have, my thought process is that it's one game at a time, regardless of how good or bad an opponent might appear. It should be this way with all teams in my opinion, but that can be easier said than done when it wants to be.