Parrott

Indiana by at least 2 touchdowns. Bama cannot run the football in the second half of the year, and is too one-dimensional to beat really good teams. Rushing yards in their last 6 games against FBS opponents: 72, 56, 80, 158, -3, 28. Average of 65 yards rushing per game in that span.

Raceland Scott County Belfry Frederick Douglass Moeller (OH) 50

Highlands Madison Central Manual Glasgow Belfry 58

Bell County Apollo South Oldham Raceland Ryle Tie Breaker: 47

The topic of underrated/overrated fascinates me, mainly because I follow ND, and everyone says they're always overrated. I did a little research to see how final rankings have compared to preseason rankings for most of the big-time programs (AP Poll). Finishing with a better ranking than preseason is underrated, finishing with a worse ranking is overrated, and then some teams finish the same (often indicating that they started and finished the year not ranked, but were ranked at some point during the season). Results over the last 10 years, indicated by underrated-overrated-finished the same: Most Overrated: In many years, Nebraska hasn't been ranked at all, but when they have, they have finished better than they started only once since 2006. USC 2-7-1 Wisconsin 2-7 (1 year not ranked) LSU 3-7 Oregon 2-6-2 Texas A&M 2-5-2 (1 year not ranked at any point) Texas 3-4-2 (1 year not ranked) Most Underrated: Notre Dame 5-4-1 Florida 4-3-2 (1 year not ranked) Miami 4-3-1 (2 years not ranked) Oklahoma St. 4-4-2 Michigan 4-5-1 Clemson 4-5-1 Penn St. 4-5 (1 year not ranked) Some conclusions: 3 teams are difficult to categorize: Bama, UGA, Ohio St...because they are so consistently ranked highly in the preseason poll. All of them have a poor "record", but often that means something like starting at #2, and finishing at #4, which I wouldn't really consider "overrated". ND isn't perennially overrated at all. They used to be, but not in the last decade. The same 20 or so teams get ranked every preseason, and then you sprinkle in a few wild cards.

Mayer got absolutely robbed of the Mackey Award last night. Probably one of those things that angers fans more than it does him, but still, hate to see it. Besides leading in just about every statistical category, and being a superior blocker, one stat that really says it all: Mackey Award Finalists against AP Top 25 opponents: Mayer: 31 REC, 346 yds, 5 TDs Bowers: 5 REC, 65 yds, 0 TDs LaPorta: 11 REC, 79 yds, 0 TDs

Their offense is a complete disaster. Last week, I tried to convince myself that it was because Ohio St. actually had a good defense, but it turns out, it's a huge mess. I feel sorry for Mayer, and really hope he doesn't get hurt, for the sake of his future.

Pacman and Video Pinball on Atari. Tecmo Bowl on Nintendo.

Looking forward to this game. Both teams replacing some key players. If ND can win in the trenches, they've got a good shot.

I saw that Miami Central beat IMG last night. Love to see it. Anytime I've ever watched them play, Miami Central, regardless of talent level, always plays HARD.

Carmel (IN)ManualLexington CatholicSouth WarrenHazard

Had In-N-Out Burger for the first time this summer, and while the burgers were nothing extraordinary, the sauce w/fries was really good.

Kelvin Sampson is so good. I still dream about what he could have done at IU if the program had not been annihilated because he made too many phone calls to a recruit.

I definitely eat Skyline the most, but they're all very similar to me, minus Gold Star, which is a little lacking in the flavor department. The best single chili item I've had is the 6 way at Blue Ash with the jalapeño caps. Pretty amazing. The worst is the 6 way at Dixie, with the garlic. I'm a garlic fan, but I can't understand that dish at all.

I feel pretty confident it's going to be Freeman. It's just taking some time to get all the details ironed out, and to see how much of the staff is staying. It's earlier than they planned, but I think he was always part of the plans for next HC. The support for Freeman from recruits, and current/former players is amazing.

Really, really strange hire. I appreciate BK re-establishing the program as a consistent Top 10 team, but am not that upset about his departure. LSU seems like one of the weirdest fits I could possibly imagine for him. USC or Oklahoma seemed like a much better match. For replacements, Fickell is the obvious choice, though I think part of the deal in getting Freeman was a commitment that he would have first dibs when Kelly left. No idea beyond that. I've always felt deep down that Urban would finish his career at ND, but if there was even any remote possibility of that, I'm sure it was completely destroyed by the ordeal in Columbus a couple months ago.

There's going to be a lot of chaos in the next couple of weeks, but for the top 7 teams (including UC), if they win out, they're in. Obviously, not possible for all of them to win out, since some of them play each other. ND's chances rest on the fact that their final 2 games are against bad teams, and there is a high probability of at least 3 of the 7 teams above them losing a game before the end of the season.

David Bell is an absolute stud at WR.

Wake and Michigan St. are definitely on upset watch today. I would almost be surprised if Michigan St. doesn't lose to Purdue.

Congrats to UC on the win. I was pretty confident going in, but the 3 first half turnovers really set the stage, and UC definitely were the better team, and deserved the victory. Is ND overrated? Since 2017 they have been as consistently good as any team not named Bama, Clemson, or Ohio State. I don't know of any ND fans who think they've been on the same level as Bama and Ohio State. Are they overhyped? If people are still talking about them, after a game when they played like garbage, then the answer is no. They're a national brand, and win or lose, people respond. Texas, Miami, Tennessee, Nebraska, USC, Michigan...all these teams get more attention than their results on the field deserve.

I feel like the D took a big step forward for the Irish on Saturday, and for that matter, the previous week against Purdue. Also, even though the ND crowd is usually not that great, in my opinion, 26 straight home wins is pretty substantial, and should count for something. I very much wish this was a night game. At the start of the year, USC and UNC also looked to be potential big matchups, so they got the nod on the night game, but obviously, this is now the marquee home game of the year. As has been mentioned, the OL is embarrassingly bad at this point, and by far the weakness on this team. Ironic, since they've typically been so strong there. On the flipside, this is one of the best D-lines Notre Dame has had in a long, long time. It's going to be a lot of fun to watch!

Carmel (IN) beat ML King (Detroit, MI) 42-40 on a hail mary as time expired, in a great matchup that featured 2023 5-star QB Dante Moore for King. In the last 2 minutes, with King up 33-29, Carmel was stopped on downs inside the King 10 yard line. On King's first offensive play following the stop, Carmel recovered a fumble for a TD to go up 36-33. On the ensuing drive, King marched down the field to score the go-ahead TD with 9 seconds left, taking a 40-36 lead. However, a short kickoff, and good return, gave Carmel the ball at the King 35 with one play remaining. From there, this happened:

There are definitely several reasons, and as mentioned, population is a big one. Having grown up in Indiana, and now living in NKY for about 13 years, I would agree with those who said it's just a bigger deal up there, for whatever reason. Just 3 years ago, I went to the New Castle Fieldhouse (cap. 9,400) for a first round sectional game between a top 10 4A school, and a 4A school with 2 wins on the season. Both of these schools were about 45 minutes from the sectional site, and I would say there were at least 6-7,000 in attendance. In regards to the large gyms...this originated mainly in the 50's and 60's, when schools would build giant gyms, in hopes that they would have the biggest gym in their sectional, and be selected to host. Some of the enrollment to gym size ratios are absolutely crazy, like schools with 3 or 400 students having a gym of 3-4,000.

Fleming County Nicholas County South Warren Owensboro Catholic Bethlehem Pineville

Scott Wayne County Madison Southern Simon Kenton Logan County Shelby Valley