Lysander

Just eyeballing both 4A and 5A it looks like roughly 1/3 of the teams are located within Indy or South of Indy with the other 2/3s located North of Indy. It’s problematic in both those classes.....which have effectively exchanged teams when the 4A teams move up.

It’s generally a geography problem but there is the added problem of the historic weakness of the true 5A teams (with the exception of Snider and a Westfield team that was effectively 6A in size when it won 5A) that are unable to send 4A interlopers “back” to 4A. New Pal, Cathedral, Columbus East, Dwenger, Roncalli (for a couple of years).....all are 4A teams that are either currently playing up or have recently played up. 5A has been a playground for the best 4A teams to basically dominate. Once they leave 4A, they rarely come back home which has also greatly weakened the upper end of 4A which used to be the best class “pound for pound” (couldn’t resist that phrase). That said, I saw that coming when the IHSAA announced the whole formation of 5A. The dominance of “true” 4A teams in 5A was to be expected.

2-3 years ago I had lunch with the director of a not-for-profit whose organization was responsible for promoting development among the various municipalities in Hamilton County. I was surprised when he told me that if you combined those various municipalities (Fishers, Noblesville, Carmel, etc., etc.), the population measured only 4-5,000 less than the Ft. Wayne area. It was a bit jaw-dropping to me at the time to learn of this.

Chatard 35 Guerin 0 start of 4th Running clock

Chatard 21 Guerin 0 Half

Dang!

Chatard over Guerin in a close one. Brebeuf by 10+ over Roncalli HC over CC.

You do.....apparently.

I mistyped 9 weeks and couldn’t edit. My point was that because of the conference schedule it’s impossible for the algorithm to rate teams until playoffs. And because of the SAC schedule taking up the entire regular season there is no way for the teams to be ranked until the playoff run. That said, it’s not the fault of Sagarin. Neither is the algorithm faulty, computers stupid (or similar description), etc. Any algorithm is going to require “connections”. In playing a completely internalized regular season schedule (which is fine) by definition you effectively don’t participate in the analysis/algorithm My point is and was don’t whine about a system not ranking your team that can’t possibly analyze/evaluate your teams at this point because of the decision your team(s) made by their scheduling to effectively not participate in said analysis/algorithm UNTIL the post season.

Let me get this logic straight. Fact 1: 10 high school playing schools out of roughly 320 in Indiana have organized themselves in such a fashion that they ONLY play each other for the first 8 weeks of the season. They do not play any other teams in the State of Indiana......PERIOD. In other words, for the first 8 weeks of the football season these schools might as well be playing all of their games in Zimbabwe. Fact 2: A computer program is developed to compare and contrast teams in a given geographic area and predict just where those teams stand in relation with one another. Said program or some form of it is used throughout the country as a means to rank teams in multiple sports nationally at every level of play. The basis of the program is making connections between teams as they play one another and extending those connections throughout all the various hundreds of teams throughout the State. Fact 3: Certain persons from said teams think the rating system is “dumb”, “stooopid” or something along those lines because it cannot properly rank their relative standing among the other 310 teams in the State because they refuse to play ANY OF THE OTHER 320 teams.

Hard for me to take too much away from the game. Southport was down 3 players but Chatard seemed really, really flat. A workman-like performance. For all the talk here, I still think the team to beat is West Lafayette. Loaded with talent and can score In bunches. Chatard is very good.....but they were very good last year as well. The defending champs are still the team to beat.....until they aren’t. Which might not be until next year. Guess we’ll see in just a handful of weeks.

QB did not play. I was told that two of their best D players did not play as well (I assume #1 was one of those).

Chatard 35 Southport 9 Southport was missing their starting QB and 2 of their best defensive players (as I understand). That said, it is probably the flattest I have seen Chatard play so far this year. Guerin 21 Columbus North 7 Two years in a row that Guerin has won this game. Guerin will play Chatard next week at Guerin. This was a very competitive game last year. Currently, Conference Indiana and the Circle City Conference are tied at 2 wins and 2 losses each.

Tango - It’s always reassuring to me when I realize I am not the only Lou Holtz on the GID.

Some of us have long thought (believed) there is a method to the madness when every 3A P&P in the southern 3/4 of the State is in the same Sectional.

Change of subject. The more this season goes along, the more I am thinking Memorial is the 4A team representing the South come Thanksgiving. The team most likely team standing in their way is East Central.

Last year the Circle City Conference won 6 games and lost 4 games in inter-conference play. So far this year, Conference Indiana is 2-0 versus its Circle City Conference rivals. This weekend features two more inter-conference games: Chatard v. Southport and Guerin v. Columbus North. In those games last year, Chatard defeated Southport and Guerin defeated Columbus North in what I thought was one of the bigger upsets of the season last year. Any predictions on these two games specifically or how these two conferences will fare overall against one another this season?

If I’m not mistaken it happened for years in the Sectional containing LCC and Pioneer.

It’s down for me. Retried 3 times. Is there a radio broadcast?

Congrats to the Irish. It was a hard fought game played at a high level and they never gave up. Neither team did....it was a big play game (had to be since neither team was allowed to develop any rhythm). Got to give credit to Peeble’s call for the onside kick. Ballsy move intended to be a dagger. I think Coach L must have called in the pitch-toss (last seen on a milk carton noting it’s disappearance since 2009) that went awry at the beginning of the 3rd Q. Cathedral deserved the win - let there be no doubt but I really would have liked to have seen the game without all the flags against both teams (apparently Chatard has a phantom lineman who jumped offsides about 6 times). I don’t think any football fan would have been disappointed about the action on the field - really wild game. BTW, it was really cool to be at Arlington again. edit - agree with PBJ’s use of the word “strange” regarding the officiating. One official actually had to have a leg cramp treated.....surprised he didn’t get it in his throwing arm...

Hoping to watch the livestream of this. Supposed to be finishing a patio/firepit in the back 40 but since the trailboss is away this afternoon I think I might be able to take it in. Hell, love to actually go to this game.

No call on Trojans v. Irish. Wimping out like I always do. As to the rest of the games: Golden Eagles pick the bones of the Braves (I expect the Golden Eagles to play 4 out of 4 quarters...which might be 2 more than the BJs) Bulldogs maul Rebels (Indy Animal Control has been called in advance) Royals “crown” Eagles (“crown” as in “club over the head”) Redskins scalp Warriors (go figure...) - I’m done picking Covenant.

In another sport, my oldest picked up his official’s license his Senior year in HS to earn a few extra bucks. His first games were a pair of 5th and 6th grade games. Going into that game, he had been selected as a HS All-American coming out of his Jr. Year. He ended up leading the State in scoring that same year and then went on to a College playing career followed by coaching. I watched the game (since it was his first) and was stunned at the abuse hurled at him and the other official (there was one particular toad-like dad just in front of me sprawled in a lawn chair I wanted to step on). Even then, one of the coaches yelled and screamed at them the whole game....this coach was and still is a HS Coach, btw. Again, we are talking a 5th and 6th grade game. Following the game, my son gets home and tells his Mom not to bother washing his stripes. He told her, “I’m done”. He never officiated another game. For the record, he’s no shrinking violet. He was a tough, bruising player in HS and college. Equally tough businessman these days.

Contraction. Its time.....

Heh.....I don’t usually have much of anything to say either before or after this game. God knows, I never try to predict it. That said, I agree with your comments elsewhere about Cheek. He seems to have slotted in very nicely after Nondorf. My sense is that the skilled positions are even more experienced than last season (excepting Cheek....but, as stated above and by you elsewhere, I feel like it’s almost a “reload”). Again, my sense is that the Defense is equivalent (maybe better) than last year. Still, not having played Lawrence Central this year (NorthWood is a worthy opponent...but they aren’t Lawrence Central) and playing what appears to be a very down Roncalli, I still find it hard to compare teams. Brebeuf is typical Brebeuf - not ready for prime time the first game or so (although it really felt like they quit before the half this year - which isn’t typical). This is a good Chatard team of that I have little doubt. How good remains to be seen. I simply haven’t seen Cathedral this year (and don’t know the kids coming out of CYO like I used to), I don’t have any sense of the team other than the results so far of their schedule and some of the catfighting comments I’ve seen here. They beat Noblesville by about the same as Carmel. Beating Moeller is huge....I don’t care if Moeller is up, down or sideways it’s still huge. Playing Elder at The Pit to a stand-off is a big deal. Obviously, there has been much written here about how good they are and how they are a top 4-5 team in the state overall. I’ll defer. I do hope it’s a helluva competitive game with no serious injuries that Chatard finds itself somehow winning in the end.