GCHS

I disagree on seeding... 3s get through fairly regularly in most years. That said, I think the 4 team districts are awful. We aren't big enough for 6 classes. However, I am one who didn't love the 4 class system... There is just too big a difference between highest/lowest enrollment. Go to five, and it will be a good compromise. I think the ideal would be 4 public classes and a private class, but that isn't going to happen - so just make it five, and be done with it.

How have you watched every game of both teams, this season?

Sound to me like a lot of people are buying into a common misconception about both teams. Boyle is a power-running team & Central is a finesse team. None of it is true. Boyle's offense is predicated on the pass this season. They have run it well, at times, but Josiah is their best athlete - they have thrown more than run most of the season. Central is not, nor has it ever been while coached by Scroggins, a finesse team. They don't mind physical play one bit. I don't know if the look of the teams confuses people, but Central has battled Belfry for years in the state finals, they are not going to shrink from Boyle's running attack. That said, I wouldn't bet a nickel on this game... I think either team could win going away, or that it could be a tight game. Just don't know who or what it will be.

IMO, the answers to the following three questions will dictate the game: 1) Can Garrard cut defensive mistakes that lead to big plays? 2) Can Catholic stop the run? 3) Who wins the turnover battle? If either can answer in the affirmative on two of those items, they win. If it is Catholic, they could win big. If it is Garrard, they could squeak one out.

This.

1) They will make it out of Round 1... And it will be a crooked score. 2) IMO, if they score a defensive TD, I think they will win against anyone in the playoffs - Boyle included.

Josiah is fast, but he is not faster than most of Central's skill guys. That is not a knock, it is just the truth. Doesn't make him any less of a great player - just not as fast as those guys.

I think that is probably a fair statement. Better receiver, not faster.

I already stated that maybe "pad the schedule" is not accurate, since I obviously don't know the particulars of Adair's scheduling process... A better statement is probably that Adair hasn't played very tough schedules, lately - which makes it hard to gauge the likelihood of playoff success.

That game looked like it was going to be a blowout early on. Give Coach Scroggins a lot of credit, the toughness (mental & physical) that they play with is impressive.

Ogbugu is really good, but I don't know if he is a lot faster than any of Central's WRs. He is probably a better receiver, but I don't think his speed is much better. The problems for LexCath if they meet Central are more about having the time to throw downfield AND stopping the run.

Central's pass rush is outstanding... In a matchup with Boyle, a healthy Josiah Robbins could be a little an X-factor. He isn't going to outrun many Central defenders, but if Boyle is able to have a healthy Robbins, their rollout game is tough to defend. He can extend plays. I think it will be a great game, either way.

I think the rule used to be that you could do drills together, but now full team scrimmaging. That may have been changed after the flap over a few teams before last season. I am honestly not sure. I really can't answer you about whether or not it is an advantage - I suppose it is a matter of your coaching philosophy. You could make the argument that live reps against an opponent are superior to drills, but you could also make the argument that it just gets you beat up. It just seems like it would be better for everyone to play by the same set of rules, one way or another. I also don't know if schools have to report camps to KHSAA or not.

If you don't think scheduling is used "strategically," I don't know what to say... I do know that Adair was 8-2 last season, winning by an average of 34 points, but lost the two by an average of 33 points. In the playoffs, they squeaked by a 3-7 Fort Campbell team by 4 points, then got beat by 50 at Tilghman. I get what you are saying about travel, but Breckinridge, for example, is 2 hours away from Adair. If a coach doesn't have an idea what his will look like in any two year period, he probably needs to have a better handle on his program. Perhaps the "pad the schedule" comment was a poor choice of words, but they certainly haven't played very good competition week-in-and-week-out.

Like I said, I don't know how much of an advantage it is, but some of these teams are scrimmaging every evening at camp - sometimes in a grid format against two or more other teams. I can understand the idea that those extra reps are an advantage, and I also can see the argument that it doesn't do anything but beat your kids up... It probably depends on the program/team/roster/format. You are right that it probably didn't help the teams in question - though that may have more to do with the fact that they were scrimmaging each other. What you can never know is how they would have done without the scrimmages. I will say this - there are plenty of top-level programs that do it... Apparently, the coaches who do it think it is an advantage. Regardless, it is sad that the KHSAA is so lax in their enforcement, and depends upon outsiders reporting to investigate. I guess if I had office spaces as nice as they do, I wouldn't want to leave that cushy set-up to go to some camp in the sticks with the mosquitos, heat, and bad food.

A lot of the 3 vs. 2. In fact, I would think that while seeding might say otherwise, a lot of the 3s are actually "favored."

I pretty much agree with this... If an HC is not doing the things necessary to build a winning culture, then he needs to go. To me, it isn't even necessarily about the scoreboard and/or final record. If a coach is building a culture of commitment, respect, & accountability, as well as providing a positive experience for student-athletes, I think he is doing everything he can. That said, if he is doing those things, then wins will probably follow. However, as many on here have alluded to, what "winning" looks like for schools/programs differs from place-to-place. In some places, 6-4 is a great achievement, in others 8-2 is the low end of the expectations scale. As far as administrators, that is a little trickier... Their first accountability is to academic culture, in most cases. And while I (and most BGP posters, probably) think that athletic/academic culture are tied together, I don't think most admins probably truly understand that connection. As a result, admins often hire what they believe to be a solid, hard-working head man, fewer and fewer commit to hire enough assistants, provide in-school weights, or a host of other commitments that are necessary to build a football program. Most administrators are content to have a football team, rather than a football program, because they don't understand the difference. However, admin are never going to be judged solely on athletics hires - nor should they, IMO, unless they have ignored dangerous behaviors.

By best do you mean most competitive? If that is what you mean, I think Casey & Breathitt, maybe. Waggener certainly has the athletes to give ANYONE a game, I just think Boyle's discipline & execution will overwhelm them. Garrard & Henry could be a good one, though I honestly don't know a lot about the Wildcats. The only thing I know about Adair & Union is that Adair seems to pad their schedule every year.

When stuff comes out about scrimmages at camps, I am not sure that people really know what that really means... We aren't talking about ONE extra scrimmage. Most of the teams that do this kind of stuff are scrimmaging every evening at camp, often against multiple teams. So, in effect, you are sometimes talking about the equivalent of 3 or 4 extra scrimmages, if not more.

I think arguments about how much of an advantage it is misses the point, entirely. It is illegal, plain and simple. Follow the rules.

Maybe all of the attention SOME of these teams have been getting will even the playing field. Heck, there was a player/parent posting on one of these threads awhile back talking about all the scrimmaging they had done & I still haven't heard anything about them.

I understand that, but he is also basing it off of TWO games, without seeing any of the other 8 teams on Rockcastle's schedule. Even for a coach, that is a small sample size.

I would say that, for better or worse, the label exists for most coaches who are teachers. I don't buy into it... In fact, in my life, some of my best teachers were coaches. I agree with you that you have people in all sorts of positions, but if it is a coach, it is a problem for some reason. Of course, this usually comes from people who beat the buses out of the parking lot in the afternoons.

That is tough for any program.

I would also challenge any poster to prove that "most" head coaches teach in PE/SE now. I think that probably is an assumption that may not be supported by fact.