There has been quite a bit of discussion on BGP about the need to have a passing game in order to go deep in the Kentucky football playoffs.

 

Here's a question: at the high school level in Kentucky, how reliable are passing games from week to week? Can teams that rely significantly on passing games maintain the consistency to win five playoff games, games that are often played in bad weather in November/early December? And aside from the occasional "freak" who comes along, like a Couch or a Brohm, how reliable are Kentucky high school QBs at getting the ball to their receivers?

You speak of the passing game as if the Forward Pass was just invented.:lol:

 

Used to the belief was you are in trouble if you are a passing team and have to play in bad weather. That is not the current way of thinking. Teams pass in rain with great success. Our QB threw for somewhere around 250 yards last week in driving rain. I don't really remember a dropped ball that you would have said "it would have been caught in dry conditions".

 

I have seen some great passing QB's over the years in Kentucky. To be successful you have to commit to it, it can't be something you only do when you are in trouble. It has to be something that you practice, something you do all the time.

 

Can it be successful? You bet.

Edited August 29, 201016 yr by Ram

You speak of the passing game as if the Forward Pass was just invented.:lol:

 

Used to the belief was you are in trouble if you are a passing team and have to play in bad weather. That is not the current way of thinking. Teams pass in rain with great success. Our QB threw for somewhere around 250 yards last week in driving rain. I don't really remember a dropped ball that you would have said "it would have been caught in dry conditions".

 

I have seen some great passing QB's over the years in Kentucky. To be successful you have to comment to it, it can't be something you only do when you are in trouble. It has to be something that you practice, something you do all the time.

 

Can it be successful? You bet.

 

I think you are exactly right! Not only does your QB and WRs' have to be involved, but also the O-line. IMO they need to be working on pass blocking nearly as much as the QBs and WRs' work on throwing and catching. You will see great running teams come up short this year because of an inability to throw. You can't just wing a good passing game.

I think you need a passing attack to win in the upper classes & a strong running attack to win in class 1A thru 3A

Air raid or option, it is about repetitions, talent and play calling. Coaches and players must understand strengths and weaknesses of their own team and the opponent. Play to your strengths and exploit weaknesses of the opponent. I don't know that it is a class thing or that a pass attack is a necessity beyond being comfortable in a passing situation that you can convert.

 

Look at teams like Colerain, Lowndes (Ga), Euless Trinity (Tx) or Grant (Ca). They get it done in big classes in football crazy states running 75-80 percent of the time. The school that I coached at last season, Trinity Valley School (Tx), was able to win state with an offense that threw 80 percent of the time. We have 400 kids in our high school. Raceland and Lexington Christian can spread it out with the best of them as well.

 

You can run any offense and be successful if you have the talent, coaching and buy in from your players.

I think you need a passing attack to win in the upper classes & a strong running attack to win in class 1A thru 3A

 

I would say that ST X disproves this theory. They are always in the mix for the title and IMO they have never had an effective passing offense that they relied on in crunch time.

More then a passing game, Kentucky teams just need to be well rounded. It hurts Kentucky football with one dementional teams, that is one of the reasons we lose to out of state competition. Too many Kentucky teams are one dementional. The combination of a good running game, a good passing game, and strong defense should be the focus.

 

I know someone is going to give me an example of a one dementional team that is world beaters, go for it. But, realize that not every team can run every play and win the Milky-way Championship.

More then a passing game, Kentucky teams just need to be well rounded. It hurts Kentucky football with one dementional teams, that is one of the reasons we lose to out of state competition. Too many Kentucky teams are one dementional. The combination of a good running game, a good passing game, and strong defense should be the focus.

 

I know someone is going to give me an example of a one dementional team that is world beaters, go for it. But, realize that not every team can run every play and win the Milky-way Championship.

 

I could not agree with you more!!

Looking at Alcoa High School in Tennessee stats from last year, their 6th straight state championship. They only attempted 80 passes in 15 games which is slightly over 5 passes a game. Defense plays a huge role. Alcoa averages 8.5 yards per offensive play. Their opponents average 3.1.

 

Boss Hog stresses the importance of teams being multi-dimensional He's right. And, judging from the most successful team in the history of Tennessee football, running and defense outweigh passing.

Belfry won the 2A title a few years back without throwing a pass in the title game.

 

Union City Tennessee won the 1A title last year by throwing 51 passes all season, including just three in three playoff games.

When you run for 525 yards in the title game, who needs to pass, right?

 

The Pirates won back to back titles with a total of 1 completion out of about 4-5 attempts.

Ultimately, you have to be able to run the ball effectively to consistently win championships. Obviously, there are aberrations: The Male - Trinity final with Bush vs. Brohm was an obvious exception. But with weather increasingly a factor later in the year, even teams that can throw "well in the rain" face the potential for bitter cold and rain, two factors that may not derail, but do affect the effectiveness of, the HS passing games.

 

The bottom line is that there will be days the passing game just doesn't work; as Vince Lombardi said, there are three things that can happen when you throw the ball - and two of them are bad. Throw in the fact we're talking about teen-agers, and inconsistency is a very real concern. Add to that the ultimate challenge a primarily passing team faces, trying to score from inside the red zone with the defensive secondary lined up tighter and tighter to the line of scrimmage.

 

Note that even when Jared Lorenzen's Highlands team won state over Waggener in 1998 - and I'm sure one of the HHS fans on this board can quote the actual stat for me - he threw less than 10 passes in the final game, after a year of slinging the ball around as if running was out of fashion...

 

I love to see more and more HS teams developing sophisticated passing games. But in the end, you still have to be able to run the ball to win championships consistently at this level.

I like the run the ball and play great defence aproach myself, I think that good passing teams in highschool owe alot of their success to poor pass defence. It's proably the most difficult thing to teach and takes alot of athleticism, thats why it gets tougher to pass as teams get deeper into the playoffs.

Teams with great talent can run and beat anybody. Teams that can't match that talent except at maybe 2 or 3 positions can pass and still compete. It doesn't work the other way around...

Teams with great talent can run and beat anybody. Teams that can't match that talent except at maybe 2 or 3 positions can pass and still compete. It doesn't work the other way around...

 

There's more truth to this statement then most will admit.