BTF

You beat me to it. Good stuff, as usual.

It's almost comical how much "The Bear" doesn't like Notre Dame. There was a good point made about ND's strength of schedule compared to other teams in the Top Ten. And The Bear would never dare mention that ND was still trying to find it's identity at the QB position when they played Cincinnati. Things will work itself out over the next couple of weeks. It's going to be fun to watch. I feel like the committee has done a real good job up to this point. I have no complaints with the rankings. Everyone keeps talking about whether or not Alabama makes the playoffs as a two loss team if they play Georgia close. What about Ohio State? What if they lose to Michigan close in a raucous environment at the Big House? I find it interesting that no one is talking about that. I still don't think a two loss team should make the playoffs. Like I said in an earlier thread, if you lose twice in one season, you're not a national champion. I'd rather see a one loss Oklahoma State get a crack at Georgia rather than a two loss Alabama team.

A minor downturn could put them back in 5a. But I agree, they can be as good as they want to be. And kudos to the coaching staff for putting a team like that together. It's just nice to hear some of the Cathedral faithful admit to having some advantages over their public school counterparts. The "were a small school" talk makes me want to vomit.

My stance has changed. I was one of those posters who felt that they should bump up. But I also felt my hometown teams of Bishop Luers and Snider should have bumped up as well. Luers for the same reason as Cathedral and Snider just for the sake rumbling with the big boys like old times. Clearly, there are no AD's or head coaches who are going to volunteer to do this, so why should anyone. Mishawaka did it, but as I said in an earlier post, they more than likely did it to avoid better competition. I'm looking forward to seeing Cathedral play in 6a (making 6a stronger) next year while 5a crowns a new champion. If the Irish don't succeed, then back down they go. The system will take care of it.

I don't think Cathedral should elect to play up. No one else does, so why should they. On the outside looking in, I think it's easy for a fan to make that claim. But when you are a coach or an AD, it's pretty clear that the trend is to just go where the IHSAA puts you. Let's see what they do in 6A the next couple of years. If the competition is too stiff, they'll move back down.

Yeah, but with the metro area that they have to draw from, isn't their football program comparable to a school with a 5000+ enrollment? Great program for sure. Much respect for the Irish, but we have to acknowledge that their resources are more than abundant in terms of the quality of kid that comes to play for their program. It's pretty hard to intelligently compare them to 4a public school.

Lol. Comparing Cathedral to Mishawaka? Both comical and disgraceful.

No wonder they opted to play up. Why would they want to be in the same class as Dwenger, Roncalli, and Cathedral? Lol, poor little Cathedral.

I'm not sure we ever bet anything. I would have put money on it, good thing for me I didn't.

So the refs got that wrong?

I had to laugh at that as well, so thanks for that. But if you want to get right down to it. He was at the game. Imagine playing a game with no crowd. So it's not unreasonable to say "us."

I think coaches over commit and develop personal relationships with their quarterbacks more so often than other positions. I could be wrong, just an observation.

Didn't even realize that. My focus has been on the Top 25 this year. So Tom Allen shouldn't take TOO much heat for this season?

No clue what you said two days ago and certainly not enough time to search.

I don't think a close loss to Georgia gets Alabama in. Clemson was close to beating Georgia, but it doesn't mean they are a playoff team. Losing to a three loss Texas A&M team, almost losing to a pitiful Florida team, barely beating Arkansas at home, and a close loss to Georgia will eliminate them from the conversation. Besides, I don't care how good your conference is. A two loss team shouldn't jump a one loss team from a Power Five school or a one loss Notre Dame team. If you lose two games in the regular season, you blew your shot to call yourselves national champions. A two loss Bama team in the playoffs would be a crime. I'd rather see a one loss Oklahoma State team get a shot versus a two loss Alabama team.

And they should get praise. What I remember from the Michigan State game was Michigan pulling out in front by two touchdowns on the Spartans home field. Only a pretty good football team does that. Unfortunately, the final score turned into their only blemish on the season. They definitely pass the eye test. Even if they lose to Ohio State, they are still as good of a football team as anyone not named Ohio State and Georgia. Meaning they are playoff worthy regardless of what happens on Saturday.

I laugh every time some idiot on tv says that ND doesn't have a chance. They must have gotten pushed through math class in high school and college without having to do a thing. The odds of ND making the playoffs is better than 50%.

I gave up on IU after after a few weeks and quit following. I was told today that they had 15-20 guys out all year from either covid or injury. Any truth to that? Didn't mean to quote Irishman on this statement. Just adding to the topic.

I agree. And ten years ago this schedule would more than prepare SAC 6A teams for the tournament. There was always that one team in Indy that was a roadblock. Out of all their mega schools, at least one would put together a team that was untouchable. Ten years later, and now you have 4 or 5 teams of that same quality making the challenge even more difficult. The key now to deep tournament runs for the big schools of the SAC is the ability to schedule a couple of non-conference foes. Heck, I'd settle for one at this point.

Ohio State absolutely should be #2 after today. 1. Georgia 2. OSU 3. Bama 4. Cincy 5. Michigan 6. ND

Not much stopping ND at this point but themselves. If they look solid against Stanford, then they are in. As it stands now, the Irish are #6 in the rankings. They'll move ahead of the OSU/Michigan loser. They'll also move ahead of Alabama after Georgia gives them their second loss. Hell, if Houston can pull the upset over Cincinnati, Notre Dame could end up being a 3 seed. Let's face it, Notre Dame is an annual 10 game winner and the recruiting is only getting better. For anyone out their that doesn't like the Irish, you might want to just pass on watching college football in 2022. Next year is looking pretty good..............and the year after, and the year after.

Does Center Grove return many starters or is their two year run on talent over? Sixteen losses between 2017 & 2019 tells me that being nationally ranked won't be an annual occurrence.

The point was to give the HCC credit for how far they've come. And what top notch competition can do for a program or an entire conference. I have no doubt that the HCC will take over the MIC as the top conference in the next five years as Temptation suggested. That being said, I'm glad my post humored you.

I don't doubt that. Seeing how Carroll and Homestead have grown in the Fort Wayne burbs, the Indy burbs are even bigger.

8. I'm not sure one year is enough for the entire 5A north to take a big hit. Let's not forget it took a miracle for Zionsville to beat Dwenger at home last year. Not to mention, Zionsville will be in 6A next year, leaving the north with schools of similar size. 10. Agree, both programs are playing at high level. Should be fun games to watch. Should be...........we'll see.