Footballking16

Cathedral. Big.

30 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Aside from just being a fine coach, I always thought that one of the more interesting (maybe the most interesting) aspects of Strife was his ability to “manage” that bruising schedule through injury (or lack of injury because of great conditioning).  I admit, he had a bigger team with more players than Chatard but, still, I was always a bit amazed as to how his teams consistently “survived” those seasons and were all hands on board for playoffs.

Caught up to him a few times, especially when they were in 6A. Markese Stepp was seemingly hurt every week and missed the regional 2OT loss to Avon and was limited to inside the 20's in the blowout loss to Ben Davis the following year (not sure a healthy Stepp would have mattered). Raw numbers haven't been an issue for Cathedral in awhile, but in the last 3-4 years depth has been unbelievable. Most at Cathedral by now realize that 5A at minimum is going to be a permanent home and they are looking at 6A for the foreseeable future and maybe longer. Will be interesting to see how the Irish next year come the 6A tournament. Going to be losing 17-18 seniors most who have started multiple years. 

27 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Honestly, I love this schedule and hope Chatard can sustain it.  Admittedly, it would have been better to have played it 2 years ago. In any event, I’m not sure how much this schedule matters against the freight train Roncalli is this year, admittedly.  Still, about 10-12 years ago, Rick Streiff (on his return) had Cathedral playing this type of schedule (including Ohio and Michigan powers) and Cathedral often took some lumps.  I’m not saying they didn’t already play a great schedule but he seemed to ratch it up even higher during his time.  I would argue that they are operating consistently these days on a different level than they were 12+ years ago.

Among other things, it allowed them to play some very high profile games (win or lose).  I think it helped to springboard them on a variety of levels.  It made them simply better for it but, more importantly, it drew kids there that wanted that challenge…and visibility.

I honestly believe that the Cathedral team we have seen the last couple of years is a product of that.

While I get that Chatard, under their rules as an Archdiocesan school, can’t do the things that Cathedral can, I still think that this sort of schedule will benefit them over the years and make them even more formidable….just as it has for Cathedral.

 

Nailed it.

I was an incoming freshman the year after Cathedral arguably had their worst season in program history (3-7) with little expectations going into the next year. Cathedral opened up with Ben Davis and Warren Central who at the time were top dogs in 5A and lost both those but in a competitive fashion. Lost in Cincinnati to St. X the following week on a late TD and then again to Chatard in week 4 for the fourth straight time. Varsity was 0-4 heading into week 5 getting ready to play Roncalli (who had also beaten Cathedral 3 straight times) and this was arguably the best team in Roncalli's history. Ended up winning that game and then rattled off 7 straight victories until they ultimately lost to Roncalli in the return game in the sectional finals. I think it was that game that really spring boarded the Cathedral program. 

It took two more years for Cathedral to win a state title after that Roncalli game, but the schedule would continue to get tougher and more and more prolific games against not only Indiana's best, but the best in the Midwest were routine. Coach O'Hara got the program rolling again and Coach Streiff in his second go around really elevated Cathedral to where they are now. 

Setting the over/under at 70 points. 

28 minutes ago, fenderbender said:

If they had only scheduled Lutheran, Luers and CG, the could have hit all the #1 ranked teams.

I wonder what team has played the most #1 ranked teams? (#1 ranking heading into sectionals.)

Cathedral last year played Center Grove and Chatard who were both ranked #1 in their respective classes heading into the tournament. Also played eventual Division 1 Ohio Champion St. Xavier although they may have been #2 going into their postseason but destroyed Pickerington Central who would have been #1 if not St. X and played LaSalle who at the time was #1 in Ohio's Division 2 (lost in semi-finals). 

31 minutes ago, TheDoctor22 said:

Lol not even a conversation.  On the hot seat a season after back-to-back state championships with a team that lost 9 starters on offense and 8 starters on defense? Come on IWG, give me something better than that if you're going to stir pot!  Obviously 0-4 is not the start any Chatard fan wants to see, but they've been competitive through one of the harder schedules in the state.  Roncalli and Cathedral should beat Chatard by 50 this year with the massive difference in size and talent.

Better question, is Peebles on the hot seat if Cathedral doesn't cover the -35 spread with his 10 D1 players vs. Chatard's 0?  I'm obviously joking, I know Peebles is a great coach, but get outta here with that.  Rob Doyle is an awesome coach and Chatard has zero plans of a new head football coach, regardless of how this season turns out.

I do agree with your other assessment.  Cathedral's front 7 is nasty, and that O'Neil kid is going to be a defensive nightmare for the next 3 years.

I've said since before the start of the season that Chatard is going to be a player in 4A THIS year and their game against Roncalli last week only reinforces that opinion. Extremely young and inexperienced teams like Chatard tend to get better as the year progresses especially playing better teams. Schedule softens considerably after this week and if Chatard can rattle off 4-5 wins heading into the postseason and build some confidence, they are definitely a team I wouldn't want to see. 

There's a lot more stuff behind the scenes and off the field going that may force LSU's hand. He's got a great personality but thinks he's just an ok coach. Tough to squander the amount of talent he had in 2019. Seems something only Bob Stoops is capable of doing. 

1 hour ago, Bash Riprock said:

I don't know what that means....does that mean bleachers can't be assembled on the current running track?  Or that bleacher capacity can't be expanded on one side to facilitate everyone?

Did Howe not play there in the past?  

It's been awhile since I've been there, but pretty sure there is a creek that runs alongside one of the sidelines. Last time I was there, and it's been over 10 years there were only bleachers on one side. 

16 minutes ago, temptation said:

Still pegging this as a 6-7 win outfit.  The Cincinnati game will tell a lot in determining the rest of the season.  Win that one, and they could be right back on track.  Lose it and who knows.

I know its only one week but the Maryland/Michigan State/Rutgers games could possibly be more difficult than anticipated.  Minnesota, on the other hand might be a bit easier now that their stud tailback is done for the year.

I never had them beating Michigan, Penn State or Ohio State to begin with but the possibilities are endless in the other games.

I had em 9-3, split Iowa/Cincy (thought Cincy would be tougher game), losses at Penn State, and Ohio State. Beat Cincy and they're still on track. Tall task though, IU going to need to score a ton against Cincy to win that game and have little confidence. Michigan looked good against a pretty decent MAC team but still think jury out on them. 

Rutgers/Maryland/Michigan aren't slouches but games I still think IU should win. 

This is more times than not Chatard's Super Bowl and sitting at 0-3 doesn't really change that. This will be an extremely physical game and closer than most think. Chatard will go down swinging until the end

Cathedral 21-6. 

Also lost in all this is how unprepared IU looked from the very first play. IU gave up a pretty decent kick off return to start the game and were completely unaligned on the long touchdown run a few plays later. Love what Tom Allen has done to turn the program around and to this day has deserved every penny he's gotten, but #LEO and all this rah-rah is only going to last for so long. It's a lot easier to ruin 12 months of momentum than it is to create. 

15 minutes ago, temptation said:

I tend to agree.  The pick sixes make the final score look much more lopsided than it was, but to counter that there were 2-3 other passes that could have been picked off.

Feel good week for the Hoosiers with Idaho coming to town.  Then the big one against Cincinnati.

Need to get up big this weekend and give Tuttle some more snaps...the might need him sooner than they think.

I love Penix to death and he has the arm talent to stretch defenses like no other QB on the roster can, but he's useless if he's relegated to the pocket and can't complete a high percentage of passes. Add in turnovers and it really doesn't matter what the defense does.

I don't think Tuttle is a QB who is going to go out and win you 8-9 games, but he certainly isn't going to lose you that many either. Unless IU has an epiphany on the offensive line, going to need a QB who can make plays with his legs and keep the chains moving with his accuracy. 

First time in awhile I've seen a non-Clemson or non-Alabama team win the LOS against the Irish. That just doesn't happen a lot. I was impressed with Notre Dame's athletes, #4 is a good receiver, #23 is great in space, and the TE is a load down field, but both sides of the line got beat up against Florida State. 

On 9/4/2021 at 6:55 PM, Irishman said:

That said, I was not really impressed with either Penn State or Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Iowa game will be for the West title. Iowa played very well today. 

That's what scares me, I don't think Iowa played all that well. Iowa had one big offensive play early, and then after that only accumulated 230 yards of offense. Petras completed < 50% of his passes and they were only 4/12 on third down. Take away the two pick sixes and the third INT right before half that gave Iowa the ball in field goal range, defense only gave up 17 points. Defense did more than enough to keep IU in the game.

Penix was bad and the offensive line was worse. Not a good combination for a guy coming off his second ACL surgery. Footwork is terrible on his drop backs and I don't think he's over the mental aspect of really planting and stepping into his throws. Everything came off his backfoot and throws were high and wide. 

It is only one game but not a huge vote of confidence going forward. Defense in my opinion is good enough to keep IU in most games this year, but they don't have a prayer if they turn the ball over at that rate and are that ineffective offensively. 

37-0 at half. Running clock entire 2nd half. Penn ran 19 plays for 21 yards in first half.

1 hour ago, DACNUT said:

Are all the kids playing on the P/P teams from outside Indianapolis. 

No not even close. But P/P's pull more from the Marion County Twp Schools than they do IPS. It's not that uncommon at all, especially at schools like Brebeuf or Cathedral, to see a kid go their local township public school grades 1-8 and end up going to one of those schools. But I think it's pretty rare to see a kid go IPS grades 1-8 and end up at a P/P. Large majority of the IPS kids leaving after 8th grade are going to charter schools. 

16 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/hoosier/recarea/?recid=41554

One of Indiana's Gems.  Too bad it is getting "loved to death".

 

Never would have guessed that was Monroe from the picture. 

15 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

lol, no bears.  More a place like this:

 

Where is that Muda? Looks nice.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/5684336001
 

Appears that Bishop Sycamore wrote bad checks at the hotel in Canton in which they were staying the night of the IMG game. This might make for a better ending than Catch Me If You Can.

18 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Those rosters don't really tell anybody whether or not an OMG! Athlete on the Chatard,  Roncalli, or Ritter rosters resides within an geographical area defined as "inner-city Indianapolis",  but thanks for trying.

 

Sure it does. The deanery schools aren't located in inner-city Indianapolis and the OMG athletes to which you speak of aren't going to those high schools anyway. It's myth. The non-deanery kids that attend Cathedral are being pulled from Hamilton County and Lawrence Twp predominantly, none of which is considered inner-city, and Brebeuf is also pulling from Hamilton County as well as Washington and Pike Twp, also neither of which are defined as inner-city. Try again. 

I challenge you to attend Roncalli/Chatard this week and report back as to which "OMG inner-city athletes" catch your attention.

I think this would be good for you. 

19 minutes ago, temptation said:

Indiana’s box scores every Friday night prove my stance.  

I've yet to see a box score account for enrollment and socioeconomic factors. 

16 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Links please.

 

Because I know the dynamics of each of those schools and they aren't getting the inner-city OMG athletes sans Cathedral who occasionally gets some. But the deanery schools (Chatard/Roncalli/Scecina/Ritter) are nearly exclusively parochial feeders. 

Chatard roster listed with junior high

https://bishopchatardathletics.org/wp-content/uploads/FB-Roster.pdf

Roncalli roster

https://www.roncalli.org/athletics/fall-sports/football/rosters

Ritter

https://gocardinalritter.org/teams/2716478/boys/football/varsity/roster

15 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

The likes of Heritage Christian, Cathedral, Chatard, Brebeuf, Roncalli, Secina, Ritter, etc. acquire most of the Indianapolis inner-city OMG! Athletes?

  

Absolutely incorrect. Most of the inner-city OMG athletes are going to the township schools. 

17 minutes ago, temptation said:

Are kids (regardless of address) flocking TO those programs in Detroit and Miami?

I don't think kids are flocking to King or the Miami schools necessarily. However I do think King, Cass, the Miami schools, etc have committed resources to their football programs, have good enough coaching/leadership structure, vision for D1 prospective to keep their homegrown kids in district. That isn't the case in IPS and why you see so many inner-city athletes end up at private schools or the township schools. 

21 minutes ago, temptation said:

Once again, I'd like to remind folks reading this thread that we have a poster who publicly backs CATHEDRAL speaking to the specifics of socioeconomics.

Never trust a skinny chef nor a poster who backs a P/P to lecture you on the impact that socioeconomics has on athletics.

So continue to "trust" someone who continuously flip flops their stance to fit whatever narrative they like? Thanks but no thanks. I'll continue to call it like it is, you need to come up with new material. 

25 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

If you have some "exceptions" to your theory, you need to post them so we all can see.  It seems like you change your theory when its convenient.

To be fair, it's no longer a theory when it's been disproven. It's just an opinion without merit.

25 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

"Schools with lower enrollments and higher % of free lunches can't compete with the big boys.....unless they are a football factory...."

"Football factory" is the key word, the rest is smoke. We all know that football factories come in all shapes and sizes as well as enrollments, socioeconomic demographics, etc. The one constant however is culture. Won't find many successful football programs that don't have longstanding and rich cultures. 

25 minutes ago, Bash Riprock said:

Seriously??

He's dead serious. He's going to post the same drivel again, someplace, somewhere.