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I have Snider and Merrillville as the top two teams in this class right now (no disrespect to the south, just my opinion). I have the two teams dead even. Maybe the difference in this one is the long bus ride. That being said, Mishawaka, Dwenger, and North Side will be ready to end any talk of a Snider/Merrillville semi-state. Snider is 0 for their last 3 sectionals and were wasted by a sub par Saints team just a year ago. Anything can happen. But the north takes it this year.

I do think an extension and raise was warranted, but you don't give out those numbers especially if your competition isn't a P5 school. I do wonder how much of Allen's contract was leveraged by him and his camp vs IU having an AD who at the time had never been tasked with this kind of situation?

You got Donnie Baker on your back. I swear to God that's the last place you want Donnie! I gotta go.

Think about this - Louisville Male came into the Roncalli game with a strong rush defense. They had given up an average of 76 yards rushing against Kentucky 6A #1 (St. Xavier), Kentucky 6A #2 (Ballard) and Kentucky 6A #5 (Trinity). Remember also that Male defeated Trinity who has wins over Carmel and Center Grove. The Royals rushed for 414 yards against Male on Friday night!

https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/biden-thanks-coast-guard-member-for-hurricane-heroics-before-vax-mandate-firing/ President Biden thanked a US Coast Guard member for saving lives during Hurricane Ian — only for the hero rescue swimmer to reveal he will soon be discharged for not being vaccinated against COVID-19. “I told him how proud of him I was and thanked him for all the work he and his Coasties are doing to save lives,” Biden said Friday of his call with Aviation Survival Technician Second Class Zach Loesch, Fox News reported. The president also spoke with Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Hooper. “The President thanked them for saving lives and asked for a report on the work that continues to rescue Floridians. He also asked if they needed any additional support that he can provide to accelerate successful rescues,” the White House said in a readout. But despite the tribute, Loesch told Breitbart News that he is among the service members poised to be discharged in 30 to 60 days for not following Biden’s mandate making the jabs mandatory in the military. SF is reasonably sure the people these guys rescued in Florida last week and over the weekend probably weren't concerned if their rescuers had been vaccinated for CoVid or not.

2020 is looking more and more like a fluke with each passing game, but 2019 also happened and IU was a botched onside kick away from beating an SEC team in a bowl game to win 9 games for the first time in forever. It's pretty clear Allen is in over his head, and he hasn't yet recovered from the loss of offensive coordinator Kalen Deboer and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack who are both doing extremely well as head coaches on their own. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter who IU hires until IU decides they want to play big boy football, and that won't happen until IU decides to pony up and not only hire quality assistants, but pay the necessary money to retain them.

It’s actually benefitting Carmel already because in a couple of years they’ll play 6 home games in the regular season (I’m 90% positive) which means for a larger gate and means they can pay teams to come to Carmel who provide the right competition, while maintaining teams such as CG and BD. The athletic staff remains very good friends with many MIC administrators and teachers, but the Carmel team knew that going to the HCC would benefit their students much more in the long run. What (imo) they didn’t realize is that by being independent, it benefitted them way more than conference affiliation. I predict Carmel will not be affiliation with a conference any time in the next decade, at minimum.

I would argue that two years ago doesn't equate to 2022 and Mishawaka was never really the #1 team in the class.

Snider’s sectional is a meat grinder. If Snider gets out of the sectional, I like their chances to go to State, if North Side beats Snider, I would like their chances as well.

I was waiting

C'mon man, I gave him TWO hints. Give him a chance to guess! lol

Charlestown JV 40 Corydon JV 0

Awfully comparable. # 109 Perry Meridian 27/32 class 6A #169 Tech 29/32 class 6A #216 Southport 31/32 class 6A ........................................................................................................................................... #139 Hammond Central 22/32 class 5A #224 Munster 31/32 class 5A #238 Hammond Morton class 5A

Interesting how the scheduling worked out prior to the showdowns the following week.

Actually, Southwood was carved out of the woods adjacent to White's, thus the "Southwood" reference. The geographical center of MSDWC is, in fact, south of the river -- albeit in a rather remote location near the river southeast of Paradise Springs. Maybe they could call it Riverside High! Erecting a brand-new building to house the contraction of NF and SW just a stone's throw from Wabash High School looks a little silly on paper. I predict an enrollment increase for both Manchester and Oak Hill schools if this passes.

Sectional 7 in 6A is a joke actually. All four teams are below .500. A very mediocre Warren Central team will win it

If the DE stays home and waits on the QB, NJ is getting 4 yards a pop on you every play.

Don't forget the North Judson-LaVille game is the TV46 game of the week. It airs Friday night @ 11 and again Saturday morning @ 9

6A: Hard to say at this point but Brownsburg has been extremely impressive. What they did to Zionville this week was eye-popping. But I think many of us are still skeptical of them because they've looked impressive in previous years only to falter come tournament time. A Sectional rematch with BD and likely Cathedral in the Regional and then CG in Semistate projects as an absolutely brutal path to LOS. 6A South is always a meat grinder, but this year feels like it is even more so than usual. In the North, hard to bet against an Indy donut team but I'm looking forward to seeing how CP/Carroll/Penn fair in the semi-state. There's a possibility of an all-HCC 6A title game, or no HCC team making it at all. The most parity we've probably seen in 6A since its inception. 5A: The deeper we get into this season the more-strongly I think whoever gets out of Sectional 12 will win this class. Snider looks to be the best team but a potential rematch with North Side will be tough. In the South, I think Whiteland is the best team by a pretty decent margin. The most disappointing class in the state by far. Give me Snider to win it all. 4A: I think the only team that can beat New Pal in this class is Roncalli. But I think if Roncalli beats them in the Regional then a team like East Central could potentially give the Royals trouble in the Semistate. NorthWood seems like it is by far the best team in 4A North but only beating Mishawaka by 8 makes me think that they're not anywhere near the level of whoever comes out of 4A South. When will a public from 4A North win state again? The last to do so was Lowell in 2005. 3A: Chatard was penciled in as champions by nearly everyone (including me) before the season started, but now that isn't looking so clear. Their sectional isn't the Sectional of Death anymore but with Guerin and Oak Hill in it the Trojans likely won't coast through it. Norwell has been incredibly impressive, even though they haven't played the best competition they've ran roughshod through it and have only given-up an absurd 28 points so far this season. I think they'll give Chatard all they can handle in the Regional. A date with West Lafayette for the right to go to LOS likely awaits the winner of that match-up. In the South, I picked Tri-West before the season but no denying Gibson Southern has been very impressive so far in their defense of their 3A title. At this point I think they're the best team in 3A South. However, I think the 3 best teams in this class reside in the North, so whoever out of WL, Norwell, and Chatard makes it out I'll go with to win the whole thing.

IndyStar references it, but I do remember when his name was being thrown around for Florida State. This was a concern given his historical Florida HS connections. https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2019/11/04/iu-football-coach-tom-allen-line-pay-raise-athletic-director/4160874002/ Also, SI article https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/indiana-football-concern-tom-allen-florida-state-opening

Frankfort

Anyone have Mark Cuban's number? I got a new phone and lost my contacts. The concern now is the bigger picture. Do guys in the locker room pull the team together? Or is it falling apart? The rah rah stuff, while it is genuinely who Allen is, can become noise with the way this is going. Just like a coach who tries to be a hard ass. I am not sure either extreme is good for long term success of a program. Losing on a regular basis creates a level of doubt. Just like a virus, that doubt can spread quickly.

Seems to be a lot of uncertainty in Madison. If Leonhard is just an interim solution, I do think UW is a program that could attract some really good coaches. Crazy to think that when I was in college, IU and UWM were regularly competing for bottom spots in the conference and just as crazy to see what Alvarez did with that program. I have LONG (Long before Allen or even Wilson were named HC) said someone in Bloomington needs to at least be consulting with Alvarez on how he built that program, and sustained it for so long.

That's really my point. I don't think it matters who IU hires as head coach (unless they can pry a huge name from a stable program) if they can't hire and retain quality assistants. Deboer and Wommack really masked Allen's deficiencies as a head coach and game managing abilities. Allen trying to split head coaching and defensive play calling duties has really back fired and while Walt Bell is an upgrade from Sheridan, he's nowhere close to Deboer.

Ah, the annual Parkhust kiss of death. A tradition like no other. While you may be right, if I were associated with Merrillville this comment would actually make me feel MORE nervous based on your past success rate. Might wanna double check the roster at Mooresville. You also said Merrillville was going to "out athlete" Crown Point...

Observations from last Friday and this Fridays' predictions: The Concord / Northridge game turned into a good one! I feel for the Soph. quarterback from Concord spiking it on 4th. Chaulk that up to a learning experiance as up to the point, he did well for his 1st start on varsity. Kuddos to Northridge to come back and win that game. Warsaw / Wawasee: No suprises with that game. Goshen / Plymouth: Man, Goshen cant catch a break this year. They won with who they had left on the roster...im optimistic for the upcoming years for Goshen. Plymouth...its been a ruff year (s)...but on a plus side, they did win a Freshman game...so possibly will be a bit more competative in the upcoming years. NorthWood / Mishawaka: Great game this past Friday. NorthWoods defense stepped up and won this game for them. Mishawaka did a great job of shutting their passing game down (other than the 1st series). In my opinion, Mishawaka overall preformed better than NorthWood (i know the score says different). Fun fact, the young man who scored both TD's for NorthWood (receiving and special teams) was a transfer from Mishawaka to NorthWood last year. At the completion of the game, he went last in the line and about 97 percent of Mishawaka players gave him a hug (they must have been sad to see him go). Mishawaka's drives were taking upwords of 8 to 9 minutes...NorthWood's defense bent but did not break and capitalized on a couple of Mishawaka's untimely mistakes. I would assume that NorthWood's potent offense would have began producing...if they were ever on the field. I am a strong believer that both teams will represent the North in both 4A and 5A come November. This weeks games: I dont think there will be any suprises...or close games...this week in the NLC. For the teams that have a chance to win some post season games, this week will be a nice week to rest some banged up starters. Goshen V. Warsaw: I dont see Goshen being very competative in this game with all of their injuries. Warsaw will have its way with the Red Hawks. Warsaw by 40 Mishawaka V. Concord: Will probably be the best game of the week. I didnt watch the Northridge / Mishawaka game, however, they were able to keep up with Mishawaka and take them into 2 ots. If Concord can figure out that formula...they may make it competative. I dont see that happening. Mishawaka by 27 Northridge V. Plymouth: Northridge should win this easily. Plymouth just isnt there this year and depending what team shows up for Northridge, this could be very one sided. Ill take Northridge by 21 Wawasee V. NorthWood: I dont see Wawasee being that much of a threat to NorthWood. I feel like NorthWood's starters may play a quarter maybe two before a running clock starts. A lot of younger guys will see the field this week. NorthWood by 45.

NJ fullback is a monster! Especially for a sophomore! Triton attempted to stop the dive play with a 3 front which didn’t work at all and never adjusted the entire game! I’m sur NJ would then begin to feed #40 if you stop # 48 but we never really got to that point. NJ is extremely good on offense and you had better get #89 blocked on defense he is an elite pass rusher.

Channel 46 picked a whale of a game to highlight Northern Indiana small school football! This should be a great game!

Who would NOT want to sit down and have a few drinks with Mike Leach. This is classic https://twitter.com/AlyssaLang/status/1576583051114876928?s=20

No. Then giving up 30+ a game to the real competition on there schedule is what’s concerning because none of those teams have the speed/athletes that FW(snider,north)/merrillville do.

The run game is still solid. The passing game is still out of sync. It is too late into this season for the QB and receivers to not be on the same page. The deep pass game is still non existent; not sure why they try so often to go deep any more. Props to the best in the business in Bellichick. Outstanding game plan on both sides of the ball.

Roncalli has ducked Cathedral for over a decade. Fairly positive they are the ones who dropped Center Grove way back when as those teams always used to open up with each other.

*their*

All of the arguments on this topic are good. Fortunately for Roncalli, New Pal, and any other school that feels there strength of schedule is holding them down have a GOLDEN opportunity to add CG, Carmel, Cathedral, and probably a couple other MIC schools to there schedule starting next season. But I’m willing to bet none of them will. Hard for me to understand why you would schedule a 6A team from out of state when there’s plenty of schools locally looking for games.

It is hypothetical. Rankings are always the fun of the season to debate. But you are right, nothing matters until the dust is settled and someone is crowned king of the hill at LOS. I love that two 4A schools are in the discussion though. 6A and 4A are going to be fun to watch come playoff time.

That is so frustrating! Athletes and families don't get to enjoy the fullness of the game at WC because as soon as the buzzer sounds security and everyone is being herded out of the stadium immediately.

anyone thinking Northwood can play with WC for 2 whole quarters is out of their minds, what am I reading.

So since in a power ranking I don't do head to head strength of schedules (doesn't make sense to do so) but rather head to head match ups and related games here is what I see so far. If you want to argue class schedules against each other then I guess there is nothing to discuss. HSE 26 Westfield 21 - New Pal 42 Westfield 28 - New Pall should be ranked above HSE Louisville Trinity beats CG 29-28 2OT and Carmel 17-7 Louisville Male 23 Louisville Trinity 21 Roncalli 28 Louisville Male 7 - Roncalli should rank above CG, and yes at this point probably New Pal as well, especially if they beat Cincinnati Elder next week who beat St Xaxier (KY) who also beat Trinity. I know it is "7 degrees of separation" argument but Roncalli handle a good Male team (though it was close into the 4th quarter) that beat a good Trinity team that beat both CG and Carmel. Question is could Roncalli beat CG and Carmel. I think so. There is an argument there to put them ahead of CG, especially since Roncalli is undefeated.

That is not correct. Any time the defense possesses the ball in OT, the play is over. OT rule 5-1-1: “If the defensive team gains possession, the ball becomes dead immediately and the offensive team’s series of downs is ended.”

I want to give a shoutout to the gentlemen on the Goshen football team. Basically nothing has gone right for them luck-wise this season. They lost their D1 recruit lineman to injury after two games. They lost their first-string and second-string QBs to season ending surgery in the same week. They've had so many injuries and departures from the program that they've had to cancel the rest of the JV season. (All of this came from Coach Wogomon on the postgame radio show tonight.) But despite all that, they managed to pull together after a crushing loss last week where nothing went right and heads were hanging and gut out a last-minute win. Doesn't matter against who or where or how, winning in a situation like that takes guts. Hats off to them and I pray that next season, they avoid injuries and can continue to build.

You have never learned to appreciate small school football, apparently.

Bremen has a legitimate chance to finish the regular season 6-3. That's a lot better than the "glad we have Clay on the schedule or we wouldn't win a game all year" outlook after week 1! 😄