BTF

Lol, I've thought that for years. Meet me in the Next Level room. I'll be posting a new topic, Is the SEC Overrated, in about an hour or so.

Not surprised. Homestead is hit or miss. The girls are another story.

Score?

Not a fair fight. I always take risks and I think you are a professional handicapper on the side. That being said: Homestead/Cathedral tomorrow will be a good one. I'll take Homestead. How about Homestead's Lady Spartans traveling down to Indy to take on North Central on January 4th? I'll take the visiting team.

Dante..........he knows I'm just being playful.

Lol, almost worked dickhead 🙂. Happy Holidays!

From an outsider's perspective, that's what I've observed.

I'm just counting state championships. Snider's been there seven times, but only have credit for two. No one's studying them. I get what you are saying about Westfield, but to me, they aren't any different than any other team that has gotten there and failed. The same four teams win it every year. Sure, the Rocks might be better than three of them this year. But in any given year, one of those four teams will put together a team that will be better than anyone in the state. And enrollment has a lot to do with it.

Throw Westfield out of the equation. Many teams have made it the state finals. Carmel, Ben Davis, Warren Central (three largest schools in the state), and Center Grove (certainly not among the smaller 6a schools) are the only ones that win it.

Lol, how long ago? Educate me. No time to look it up myself.

Temp.............elaborate on your reaction. I'm not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing. An SAC all star team would be the equivalent of a high school with an enrollment of 17,000. Game over my friend.

I would love to see Jeff and Harrison play an HCC type schedule. No doubt it would amp up their level of play. There's some pretty darn good football in Lafayette. They're just limited by their competition as you suggest.

I thought of that myself. But that would be unfair to Indianapolis. No one would want the mercy rule in play by halftime of the 6a state championship.

When I have time, I'll find the receipt. Actually, I won't. Too many threads to go through. I think it was 2019, not 2020. It's when Luke Goode was still playing football. Unfortunately, they lost their all everything offensive weapon (name is failing me) just before the playoffs started. Ended up surrendering to Carmel, not Westfield. It went something like this............."I'm actually jumping on the Homestead bandwagon." It was sometime around week 7. Who knows what that meant. Maybe it meant that they would be defeated by Carmel. What I took from it was that you thought they had a legitimate chance to get down to state and win it. Quite frankly, everyone up here in the northeast was pretty optimistic as well. Regardless. Homestead and Carroll both brought hyperbole over the last two years. Until they win regional, that's all it will ever be.

With the exception of you? I remember you stating last year that you were jumping on the Homestead bandwagon as a state title contender. I don't see you making that mistake again though. Until one of those teams wins regional, it's all just hyperbole.

Over the course of 6a's nine year existence, all state titles have been brought home by the same four teams..........Carmel, Ben Davis, Warren Central, and Center Grove. Three of those teams just happen to rank 1, 2, and 3 in terms of enrollment. It's not an equal playing field. The IHSAA knows it. The AD's know it. The coaches know it. The players know it. And the fans know it. Gone are the days of the northeast, the northwest, and the southern part of the state putting their footprint on the state title at the highest level. It's been 22 years since anyone outside of Indianapolis has brought home the hardware. That was Penn in 2000. They also did it in '97, '96, '95, and '83. Bloomington South did it in '98 & '93. Snider did it in '92. Before the year 2001, big boy state titles were common place in other areas of the state. But damn, that was over two decades ago. Things are different now, and something needs to be done. Is it a matter of the IHSAA stepping in and splitting 6a into two divisions? Or is it a matter of programs around the state stepping up their game and doing what they need to do to "get the job done." The fair thing to do would be to split into two 16 team divisions as HHF suggested in another post. Since that probably won't happen, I guess we'll have to take the "get better or get used to it approach." The SAC knows what it needs to do to amp up their level of play and get Carroll and Homestead to a 6a state title game. It's also a matter of getting Snider back there. It's pretty simple. Restructure the conference and give those three teams an opportunity to taste Central Indiana football before running into that wall when the tournament starts. Does the Region have a plan in place? What about Southern Indiana? Will they implement a plan? Or will they just settle for the status quo like the SAC does?

I can assure you that every high school football fan in Fort Wayne is waiting as well. We have the mentality up there that if Center Grove can do it, then so can Homestead and Carroll. I think the closed conference schedule hurts them. The SAC needs to be restructured. And if it never is, then that tells me that the conference doesn't care much about winning a 6a title.

Leo was in the 4a discussion (title contenders) this year. Carroll was in the 6a discussion this year. Homestead was in the discussion in '19 & '20. Do discussions count? It tells me at the very least that they are relevant. But that's not what my comment was about. It was more about the fact that they are solid programs competing with traditional SAC powers Snider, Dwenger, and Luers. Therefore making football in Northeast Indiana exciting enough for the media to pay attention to.

On that note, I knew it would be a matter of time until one of the other eleven topics would be brought to the table. I'll be the first: 4. New topic coming soon. 11. Were spoiled in Northeast Indiana with high school football coverage. The media eats it up. What's not to like? You have Snider, Dwenger, and Luers with their many state titles. Homestead, Leo and Carroll have top notch facilities and threaten to be a statewide player year in and year out. Throw in the occasional Concordia and Wayne, and you have some pretty interesting football up here. Not to mention other teams in the Fort Wayne viewing area. South Adams, Adams Central, Eastside, and East Noble. Then you have Summit City Sports that provides every SAC game every Friday night. Again, pretty lucky here in the Summit. As far as interviews go. Didn't you get a response from Snider and Carrroll?

Add Penn and Bloomington South to the list. Indiana has been well represented over the years considering we're a "basketball state."

At the end of the day, it's fun to see your team ranked high in the USA Today Top 25. That's where we're at with Center Grove. Warren Central, Ben Davis, Carmel, Cathedral, and Snider have been there. Some finished 1st, some 4th and 5th, and others 15th. It's a fun poll, that's all that it is. There is absolutely no way to determine where a team falls in the Top 25 without playing one another. Again, it's a fun poll, and that's it. Maybe Center Grove is 5th, maybe they are 25th, who cares. They are state champs and that is what matters most. Center Grove will go down as one of the better Indiana teams of all time, and that in itself is a major compliment.

I believe Carmel was Top 5 in 1986. And they weren't even the best team in the state. Take it with a grain of salt. Ben Davis 1991? I thought they finished 1st that year.

Agree. But I would bet any kind of money he doesn't duplicate the success he had at Florida or Ohio State.

When I first saw it, it looked brilliant on the part of the quarterback..........and it actually kind of was. But also b---s--- at the same time. He was basically telling the defenders.............."hey guys, I'm about to slide, please don't hurt me." They defenders clearly let up in order to protect the guy. Good rule change.

Correction, Michigan came in at #12 (not including this year). Hardly reason to fire a coach.