BTF

It's the Indy Star, so not too surprised. That poll would look a little different in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazzette. At the end of they day, they're all fake news. The best polls come right here off the Gridiron. I enjoy seeing your's posted every Saturday morning.

Bleh

You really need to post more.

I feel like you've been touting Plainfield for the past couple of seasons. Or was that Whiteland?

You opened my eyes to Decatur Central last year when you were touting them. After the 5A title game last year, I made an early prediction that Decatur Central would meet Merrillville in the state title game.............hoping one of those deserving programs would win it. Starting out 1-2 this season dimmed my view of Decatur Central, but I knew they still had something in the tank. I knew they were young last season as the runner-up. Also, I didn't realize how good Columbus North and Martinsville were at the time. At the end of the day, my feelings aren't hurt to see them crowned champions..........even at the expense of the North. They're a pretty damn good team. Loved seeing Warsaw get there too.

My only qualm with the 5A debate is that it was never brought up when Cathedral was accumulating trophies. Is the overall perception that a class must be weak if a northern team wins it? This isn't directed at you, just a general question. Does anyone really consider East Central Decatur Central as pathetic as @Lysander makes them out to be? I happen to think those are two pretty damn good programs. But that's just me, maybe one of my "off the mark" observations.

Huh? I think you forgot about Snider's four touchdown win over DC last year. Warsaw being within a touchdown halfway into the fourth quarter isn't competitive? That's two years running. Geeeesh.

Then stop posting things that make too much sense.

Sorry, but 3A's not much better than 5A pound for pound. But since that's the class your beloved Chatard has stockpiled their trophy case against, it's somehow great compared to 5A. Lol, you're just too much. Lol, he's hard to predict, but I'm a lean toward the Warriors as well.

I mean, Chatard is good, but they're no 6A team. I felt the whole way that they or Chatard were the more than likely favorites to win the whole thing. East Noble impressed me with their 38-0 win over Dwenger to the point of, "hmmm, maybe they are good enough to win this whole thing." I'll never doubt New Pal in 4A or 5A. Does it make you feel better for me to say "New Pal" is aguably the best program in the state for the nineteenth time? I'm not going to say it anymore moving forward. Will I doubt New Pal being one of the best ten teams in the state regardless of class? Yes, more than likely. Sorry.

No, after seeing New Pal play, I don't think Crown Point would running clock them. I'd bet on CP to win, just not sure by how much. Yeah, I think there's a two score gap between 1-9 and 11-20. Ben Davis is a yoyo. They could be Brownsburg one week and lose to Luers the next.

I'm just floored that you can refer to programs like Merrillville, Valpo, Mishawaka, Warsaw, Concord, Plainfield, Bloomington South, Castle, and Whiteland as embarassing. But hey, that's your freedom of speach.

I agree. It's about who's leading the program more than anything. I have admiration for most high school coaches, they put in a lot of work for their compensation. I was impressed with Kyle Enright in how he conducted himself at last year's state finals. I was rooting for them all the way up until state, where of course I'm loyal to the north (unless of course there's somthing about the program worth hating.). Hell, I wasn't even bothered by Heritage Hills beating Luers. It's nice to see a public school get their second championship versus a private getting their thirteenth. I also agree that it's hard to watch kids get their hearts broken in defeat. Kids from the north are no different than kids from the south. Every kid has dreams, every kid has ambitions, every program has a story. Gotta love high school football. I certainly wouldn't refer to a program or an entire class as "embarassing." Kids work too hard for that.

You can't even give Crown Point 1 out of 10? Damn, South Side beat Luers for crying out loud. Ben Davis was up 35-0 over Brownsburg. Shit happens. I would agree that Crown Point over the Flashes by 10-14 points, not sure I stated otherwise. What exactly is "on par?" But yeah, I'd be on board with that spread, maybe even 17. We'll never know.

Good Lord. Okay, here goes. Then I gotta work. Who the hell is Kyle? You know I like to make bold predictions Temp. Bold = "this is risky, I hope I'm right." My biggest fear for Crown Point was them traveling down to Westfield's house knowing the Rocks were probably ready to play their best game of the season in hopes to avenge last year's loss. And that's what happened. It was a one off as @Boilernation already pointed out. I think Westfield wins that game 8 times out of 10, but the blowout isn't indicative of how close those two teams are. But to say Franklin Central is on par with Crown Point? Gimmie a break. I do believe you're referring to the DC/Warsaw game. I like to give credit to good defenses for "forcing" turnovers. Were they forced or were they careless plays by Warsaw? I don't know, I'll have to go back and rewatch. I already gave DC credit for being the best team in 5A, and I stand by that. I've got Crown Point beating Decatur Central by 17-21. And that's not hyperbole. I don't see Decatur Central being any better than Carroll. Giving up 327 yards at 7.3 yards a pop against Warsaw is pretty suspect. But yeah, they're the best team in 5A. I know you want them to be good Temp, you've hyped them up since last season. And they are good, they were good last year. But they're not Crown Point good, sorry.

You're a pretty reasonable guy. It's been implied by other posters, clowns if you will. I do sometimes hate your posts though. You always bring facts into the equation to debate me.........makes my brain work a bit harder to come up with a rebuttle. I say that all in good fun. I also owe you an apology. I made some accusations about you a couple of months ago that I don't believe to be as valid as I once thought. I think I was confusing you with another poster. Are you finally going to tell us who your preference is? I still think it's Indy. We all know I'm NE Indiana, @temptation is all in on Indy, and @Rodney, well he's all over the map. He's gone from Dwenger, to Merrillville, to South Gibson.

Couldn't have said that better myself. Good stuff, agree 100%. And if I didn't say it already, congrats to Decatur Central, the best team in 5A. They earned it.

I love it. You absolutely hate it when I'm right. Give me some substance that proves I'm wrong. Not "keep hanging on, love your dedication." I don't recall saying the words "at least." Do you work for CNN? I said, "for those of you who use Sagarin to support your opinions." "Crown Point is going to win 6A," was a bit of hyperbole. One of my notorious, bold, "wishful thinking," predictions. I'm here to tell you right now that I was wrong. I still think they are the 5th best team in the state, so sit and spin on that if you want. Love ya Temp, keep throwing material my way. Can't wait for the day you @Rodney and I have a beer together.

It really just just depends on the which team you're rooting for. For 90% of us, when your team turns the ball over, it's because you did a lousy job of protecting it. If you're team is on the receiving end of the turnovers, it's because the defense forced them. Human nature at work. Ten percent of us are in that category that says, look, the better team put more points on the board, plain and simple. No matter how you look at it, Decatur Central is your state champ. The better team won. All I'm saying, is that predicting Warsaw to win wasn't "wishfull thinking." I mean damn, the Tigers rushed for 337 yards on 7.3 yards per carry. It's not like they were "outmatched." There's too much petty talk on this board about how the North stinks. For those of you who use Sagarin to support your opinions, they have 3 of the top 4 teams in 5A coming from the North. And 4 of the top 6.

Don't sell yourself short on 5A. You never would have predicted Warsaw turning the ball over five times. What surprised me in that game was how bad both defenses were. It was one of those games where the team with the least amount of mistakes was going to win the game.

Probably the easiest change the IHSAA can implement. It makes so much sense that it's head scratching as to why it hasn't come to fruition yet.

It wasn't easy for me to put fourteen Indy teams in my Top 17, eighteen in my Top 23. But I'm trying to be as objective as possible. Large Indy schools have just taken this state over.

First game of the season. You said it yourself. If you plan on upsetting a team, you may want to do it in Week 1. I gave a lot of credit to Avon for the final three weeks. My poll doesn't reflect body of work through the whole season near as much as how I think teams are playing right now. Some people may think I'm nuts for having Ben Davis at #10. But if the games were being played tomorrow, that's exactly where I would have them.

Tough call, but I had to leave them out. They were one of my favored teams throughout the season, but barely hanging on against McCutcheon and losing to Warsaw by three scores left me with a lessor opinion of them. I can't see them beating Elkhart, whom I have at #25. You really think Jeff would finish in the middle of the pack in the HCC? Fifth of nine teams?

Not a fan of the computer ratings. Sagarin has North Judson over Penn, Carmel, Homestead, Leo, and Luers. From what I saw, that rating is way off the mark. Look, I'm not taking anything away from New Pal, I'm just a believer that 6A programs are on another level. I could be wrong. Lot's of posters keep going back to 2019 & 2020. Being deadlocked with DC at halftime just reassures me of my ranking of them. It also took overtime to beat Chatard. I don't think Chatard is anywhere close to being the #4 team in the state. It is what it is, it's all subjective. Hopefully the New Pal kids are enjoying their moment with a "come one, come all" type of confidence. If they want to tout themselves as the best team in the state, no one is stopping them. They're a good team.