foxbat

I would say yes for Faith as they had a really good/cheap deal using Jeff's stadium, which is very nice especially for a 1A school for 8-on-8, yet they decided to finance and build their own field/stadium and move to 11-man ball. That move to 11-man was after taking an 80-2 beating at the hands of Indiana Deaf in the previous season of 8-on-8. Incidentally, I just listed two that didn't match the statement being tossed out that were on the extremes, but there are plenty others that I'm pretty sure make football a priority, or at least play it competitively, Of course it's necessary. If it's always a necessity to exclude p/p with general talking terms that don't apply to all, then it's probably a good idea to be qualified. See below for examples of p/p teams that wouldn't be in a discussion of pound-for-pound; especially if you just labelled the teams Team A and Team B and didn't know whether there was tuition or not. Scecina's a 2A school by enrollment too, although they were SF'd for a season or two. They too have not put together enough points in the twelve years that they've been in 2A despite having 2A enrollment. Heritage Christian is another. Won a title in 2008 in 2A, have 2A enrollment, and haven't cobbled together enough points to be pushed up in the last decade and a half. Ritter's another one that doesn't fit pound-for-pound for the last decade either. Couldn't do it in 3A with enrollment and even when moving back down to 2A by enrollment. Culver Academy in 3A and 4A by enrollment is another. With that said, I'm not sure any of these teams would be in a pound-for-pound discussion for the last decade; however, they are to be excluded before the consideration even starts. Very true. Oh dear God, I'm agreeing with Muda!

You mean like Faith Christian and Noll?

Would agree mostly, although I would say that Jeff has almost always had the POTENTIAL to go further, but typically hasn't. In watching them at the Jeff-Harrison game, they have a bigger line than they've had in the past and they have a couple of really good players in Vanostran, on offense, and Aytch, on defense. They also have a shorter scat back ... he's actually a running back, but moves like a scat back ... I think it might be Adkins or maybe Fernandez. Man that kid can fly when they get him on the outside. I think part of what's getting the attention is that they are now down in 5A vs. 6A. For me, seeing them every year, the main thing I see that's different about them is the line size. I mean, if we go back to the Maximums Grimes years, there was lots of talent on those teams that should have gone far, but realistically Jeff, like just about most of the bottom 16 in 6A was destined to bow out early. Again, I think a really big part of why there's the perception of something different is decently attributable to their odds in 5A vs. their odds in 6A when they were there. Again, they have talent this year and the line size seems bigger, but having followed Jeff for a quarter century, I think the teams of the last decade, since Moore turned things around and Shanley has kept them turned around, have all had the potential. Perhaps this year's team may have a little different feel to them, again, I think it's the line that's the factor, but I'm not sure I think it's a big enough item to take them into a pound-for-pound top 5 ranking.

Too high on the list; especially if Chatard's not on the list. If Jeff's #4 as a 5A (nee 6A) school, then Chatard as a 4A (nee 3A) should be on that list too. Still not really sold on Jeff. Granted, didn't get to see them play Chatard in person, but did see them play Harrison and, given where Harrison is this year ... their three wins have come over teams that are 5A, 4A, and 3A with a collective W/L of 4-14 ... I wouldn't put Jeff in a list of 10 pound-for-pound or at least not in the top half. May change my mind when I see Chatard up-close-and-personal on Friday, but I'm thinking we'll have to wait until regionals to see where Jeff shakes out as the remainder of their season won't provide any real measurement points since the remainder of games left to play are against teams that are currently a collective 6-12 with Muncie Central , a 4A team at 3-3, being the strongest of the remaining. The sectionals won't help on data points either as Sectional 12 is really weak, even before the season started, outside of Jeff.

It was ... hence the smiley face as I played along.

?? Obama was president last time GS played Chatard. 😃

I thought I saw Rudolph Valentino in on one of those plays.

North Central 41 - Harrison 28 Final. North Central has more wins this season than in the previous four seasons combined. Harrison off to its worst start since 2018 when they went 6-6, but won a sectional.

West Lafayette 34 - LCC 27 Final. Last time LCC was 1-4 at the start of a season was Nay's first season back in 2018. Last time West Lafayette was 2-3 was back in 2005.

How long do they normally take to show up as approved?

For all teams in the state, I'd match their gates and concessions for the regular season as a donation to their schools. Maybe it'd be a way to get communities to increase folks coming to the games. Increased gates and concessions would help football, not to mention butts in seats, and the added matching could go to schools to help them in non-sports areas too. For every school, I'd upgrade their sports facilities/equipment, with a realization that an endowed maintenance fund would also need to be established for upkeep, and also put an equal amount into non-sports activities for the schools. Additional stipends to round out coaching staffs for schools that were limited, plus equal matching for academic area personnel for the schools too.

Perhaps, but Jeff currently lacks the consistency and the discipline right now. Watched them play against Harrison this last Friday. Harrison is definitely not the Harrison of the last half-decade, but still has a little spunk. Jeff spotted Harrison two TDs on the first two possessions with both of their first two possessions ending in interceptions. Jeff's clearly bigger and faster than Harrison and one of their players had like six sacks on his own. At the same time, Jeff must have had at least 5-6 personal / unsportsmanlike fouls in the game, including three on a single play. They also had the "Jeff special" offsides plays that Harrison, and other teams, have consistently caught them on for over the past half decade plus. In addition, they had at least an additional 3 or so offsides that were on their own without any help. Toss in a few holding penalties and even a 15-yard OFFENSIVE facemask call and you have part of what was seen last Friday that just diminishes their output potential. I didn't see the penalty stats for the game posted, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me that Jeff had close to 130-150 yards in penalties. The stats will show that Jeff had some 600 yards of offense, but on one series alone, Jeff ended up having to reclaim the same 20-yard stretch of turf like three times due to penalties in a series. They have the weapons, but they still end up being their own worst enemy in getting 100% out of their resources. They looked good against Chatard, at least on paper, but the performance was choppy against a clearly outmatched Harrison offensive line. Harrison also provided some short fields with play calling that also allowed Jeff to make sure that Harrison never got close in the game after being spotted the initial 12 points. Of the first four games, I'd say that Harrison was the third "best" of the teams Jeff faced. The rest of their schedule provides them no help either getting ready for the post season in 5A. Yes, they have an easy sectional with McCutcheon, Kokomo, and SB Adams ... the best of which, Kokomo, posted a 5-5 record last season, and which are a collective 4-8 so far this season ... so they should easily make it to regionals. The remainder of their regular season has them playing 4A Richmond, 5A in name-only Anderson, 5A Kokomo, 4A Marion, and 4A Muncie Central. Those five teams are a collective 4-16. Best plan of attack for Jeff moving forward is to realize that there's no resistance in the next five games, so the performative chest-thumping, pointing on first down, etc. need to be less of the focus and more tailoring the game to limiting self-inflicted penalties and mistakes. Jeff will clearly dominate those five games, but the score on the board should be less an indication of victory as very limited penalties, zero turnovers, and extremely limited mistakes. Jeff facing off against New Pal, playing them like they played Harrison, with spotting New Pal two TDs on the first two possessions, multiple personal fouls, multiple self-inflicted offsides/procedure calls, three interceptions, and a scoreless third quarter won't likely be anywhere close to close. That may be true of many post-season opponents after sectionals. Jeff's biggest opponent for the next seven games is themselves.

Harrison still fighting. Converts on 4th and 10 with 26 yard reception to the 1. Quick score. Jeff jumps offside on PAT. PAT good. Jeff 47 - Harrison 26. Harrison recovers their own onside kick.

Jeff with another TD. Up 47 - 19 over Harrison with 4:25 in the game.

Jeff opens up the 4th with a TD. Harrison blocks the PAT. Jeff leads 40 - 19. 11:05 Q4.

Jeff with 3 personal fouls on one play. Harrison scores from 2 yards out. Jeff with another personal foul on the PAT. Jeff 34 - Harrison 19. 3:23 left on Q3.

Jeff picks up and under-minute score at end of Q2 to widen the gap. Now up 34-12 with 34 seconds left in half.

After about 45 yards worth of personal fouls against them, Jeff is finally able to score. PAT is no good. Jeff 27 - Harrison 12. 4:33 in Q2.

Harrison punt goes into endzone. 2 plays later Jeff scores on 80-yard pass Leads 21-12 with 9:48 in Q2.

Harrison stopped on 4th and gives Jeff a short field again. Jeff capitalizes and takes the lead 14-12. 11:09 left in Q2.

Jeff with a shorter field due to a good return on kickoff puts together a quick score. PAT is good. Harrison 12 - Jeff 7. 3:35 in Q1.

Jeff's second possession also ends with an interception. Harrison drives 60+ yards for another TD. 2-point fails again. Harrison 12 - Jeff 0 with 5:29 in Q1.

Harrison blocks Jeff's pass on first play from scrimmage and ricochets to the other rusher for an interception. Harrison capitalizes with a 1-yard TD dive. 2-point attempt fails. Harrison 6 - Jeff 0 in Q1.

Talk about a blast from the past! Grew up in Houston when UofH was just doing this stuff. We were running it as early as middle school. Had a crazy defensive coordinator who always showed you the "proper" tackling technique of driving your facemask through the sternum, but he went full speed without a helmet. By second week of practice, he'd opened up a big gash on the bridge of his nose and you could tell who he demo'd the technique on because they had a huge blood spot in the middle of their chest on their jersey. He devised a way of turning the veer into a single option. Usually involved about 2-3 personal fouls in the first half, but by the second half the QB had no desire to even get close to attempting a second read, much less getting to the pitch component. Wouldn't work nowadays as defenders would be called for spearing.

"Alex, what is a phrase I thought I'd never see on GID?"