BLACKGOLD2007

While a couple of players on the CP team can handle the pressure, they cannot block, catch, run, pass the ball and they cannot take on blocks, guard or tackle every player on the field. These two guys have to rely on the other 9 to not be overwhelmed by the moment. Another note... CP has found ways to win, in very tough games. If BD can throw the ball downfield and give CP more than one formation to look at....I think BD will control the game via the air. Penn ran at most 5 formations against CP... (that is I believe over by 3 formations) CP really struggled when Penn went 5 wide.

Until the 2017 Ben Davis team came along that was the best football team to play in Indiana. Snider would have probably been a better match up for Warren that year, however they just got womped by Penn the week prior. It sucks, it sucked watching the game, but it is what it is.

Those teams help when it comes to adjusting to speed and physicality. I agree 100% with all of this.

I am good with that.

go back to 5 classes and still have some sort of understandable success factor system. You will see which schools want to compete in the biggest class and which teams don't.

I did not pay attention to high school basketball at that time.

Makes sense I was 10 at the time.

Interesting, I don't remember that. When did Indiana go to the class system in Basketball?

It should be an invitation not a mandate. I don't think you should have to play in this tournament if you don't want to. According to some fans on the EC v Northwood thread would find it to be worth the challenge. Most of these teams are highly rated nationally. There is a legitimate chance that the winner could end in the top 10 of the national rankings. Some years this tournament would have resulted in a potential "national title" Most of the teams that would be considered for this tournament would be repeat invitation recipients. BD, CG, Cathedral etc would likely be considered or up for consideration yearly.

The reason I was hesitant to give CP the full on push into the final 8, was because of the unknown at the end of the regular season. Now, yes easily they are in the final 8. I kept Cathedral in because, even though they had 3 losses their largest loss was by 14 to Brownsburg. Even though their record doesn't show it, they are one of the best 8 teams in the state. You do have a point that regular season results have to mean something....I didn't consider Penn to even be near this group, they played a good non-conference schedule but their conference situation is poor. their 8-1 finish is a little bloated. Now, they played 2 top 25 Sag rated teams and went 1-1 against them. They played 1 top 35 sag rated team and won that game. To me that does not scream worthy of being considered in the discussion. Valpo and The Ville I would have look at separately.

That was my Freshman year. If you had asked me, I never thought we would score that much on Snider. Heck an onside kick returned for a TD. Everything went our way that night. 1994 is a great example of Penn going 10-0 and runs right into Snider in the sectional final. Gives up 24 points, in their first challenge of the season. Sorry Decatur Central...We will stop fawning over the good old days. lol

@whiteshoes in the EC thread, there is a huge debate about Ben Davis or EC being the top team in the state. I think this is a great idea. You want to know who the overall champion of the state is, you get invited and win the elite tournament. Then yes there will be default winners of the other 6 classes, but you will get some interesting matchups. 6A might actually be won by a team from the North part of the state....well.... that is open for discussion. Who would be the 8 teams in? my thoughts: 1. Ben Davis 2. East Central 3. Center Grove 4. Cathedral 5. Chatard 6. Brownsburg 7. Westfield 8. Snider or Crown Point you could make cases for HSE and or Fishers

Back when they would play in the sectionals. Snider had our number for soooo many seasons...

I know there are sectionals where teams are at least 2.5 hrs away from one another....such as Tippy Valley and Chatard (that is the one that comes to mind). The IHSAA could break the 1-4A divisions up, like they did with 5 and 6A, this gives everyone a week off before the playoffs start, and reduces the number of games to just earn 1 success factor point. Your could group your sectionals better based on geography, and this cuts down on the insane traveling some smaller schools are having, just to play each Friday night. Personally, I say either cut down the number of teams that make the tournament each year or seed the tournament. Or the IHSAA could have Regions like the NCAA basketball tourney. Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest.

Well, I am always pulling for Snider. Unless, you are across the field from us that given Friday night. Win, so we can be in 6A together.

I think that the first three need to be moved up, no matter the outcomes. Cathedral should stay in 6A permanently. I personally cannot stand SF, I think they did a poor-man's relegation system. I would rather see a yearly movement of teams based on overall performance. Jeffersonville while is enrollment wise a 6A school...it is not competitive against 4, 5 or 6A schools. Terre Haute North has not had a winning season since 2013, they went .500 in 2017. Drop them and give way to East Central (which is finally happening due to SF) or even New Pal. I think we will find that there are schools that can compete two maybe even three classes higher than what they are right now. Plus, once they get to the 5A and 6A format, they get out of these enormous sectionals that take almost a month to get through.

I feel like everyone in the 4A state champ game thread just needs to look this over. In this ranking and in your overall ranking EC has been sitting in the #2 spot for weeks.

Heck yeah

That is a reasonable line of thinking. When you have Georgia on the other sideline my money is going on them....it just so happens they ran into Bama.

I did curb it by saying pretty accurate....However you look at his picks throughout the season, his record was good.

And, this is a good point, unless he thinks that all three teams play out to similar outcomes.

Temp is on that EC Kool-aid. I don't know enough about them to criticize. I just know that he is pretty accurate with his picks from week to week. Maybe they are the real deal, unfortunately we will never know.

@Bobref in your opinion is this likely to be a defensive game or wide open offensive shootout like the Snider v New Pal game?

Central Indiana is the equivalent of the SEC, the top schools in this area of the state stand above the rest of the state, because they are the Buzzsaw. The Giants wont walk into LOS starry eyed and just happy to be there. They are going to be like Georgia standing in the tunnel of Neyland this past weekend, ready to exert their will. Even though BD hasn't won a state title since 2017, they have seen the deepest water this season multiple times. CP has finally peered into deep water after Penn and Westfield took them to their uncharted waters....BD was in those waters in weeks 4&5, they went further in week 8, and this playoffs there were times it looked like the Giants were going to be pulled under. CP, is good and will fight hard. But, like every team from up here, when we travel south, the Buzzsaw always wins.

They have a couple schools, for the most part they are bad.