Boilernation

ZERO excuse for a coach in Year 3 at ND to allow Northern Ilinois to come into South Bend and walk away with a W after only scoring 16 points.

more speed?

Random thoughts: I am more conidant then ever that this is Brownsburg's year to finally win the 6A Title. That Sophomore QB who looks like Johnny U is good. Huge lines. Speed all over the skill positions. Great team. I'm not sold on Westfield at 2. Something just seems off with them. I would put them at 5. The defense is still solid. Zionsville's offense moved the ball on them fairly well, but Westfield didn't break. Twice they kept Zionsville out of the EZ when the Eagles had 1st and Goal from wthin the 10. Westfield's offense just isn't great. Until they get there I think 2 is too high. Noblesville just can't get out of it's way. Forever trying to get into the HCC Top 4 and they had Fishers beat. The Millers took a 14-0 lead with 5:48 left in the 4th and couldn't put the game away. Within 4 minutes they gave up a 48 yard TD pass, went 3 and out, allowed Fishers' offense to easily move 50'ish yards down field for a TD, went 3 and out again and didn't even try to go spread and throw the ball. They brought the Power T out from their own side of the field and about 1:30 left int eh game. Fishers got to within the vicinity of game winning FG. They went for the TD and threw an INT. Noblesville then proceeded to fumble on 3rd & 6 at the 2 yard line. It looked like the RB would have landed in the EZ with the ball if he held onto it. Fishers ended up kicking the winning FG. I think you're being very fair with Crown Point at 4. I too am impressed with the Merrillville beatdown. It's what I would expect from a Top 5 team. I'm just going to cringe if they're now receiving too many 1st place votes over it. Is LN the Sectional 6 favorite? Whether or not Evansville Reitz is the class of the SIAC will be determined. But, I think Memorial is a Top 25 team. Their offense is very good. And they throw a lot of looks at you. They'll go old school and run the option out of the I formation or they'll spread the field with an uptempo passing attack. Fun to watch. How would you say they compare to last year. I thought last year they were elite on the lines and LB'ers. Secondary was atrocious. WR's were decent. Goot catchers and route runners. Not much speed. Same for RB. Very good QB with the Miami (OH) bound Ehrlich.

Ok. if four losses is hyperbolic, what does it take for you to get uncomfortable with Moore? Franklin and Riley are irrelevant. What would it take just to say Moore is meeting your expectations after 3 years?

Looking at the Top 15: Georgia, Texas and Ohio State are machines. Bama once again struggled with USF. Tide heads to Camp Randall on Saturday. Love seeing an SEC team come North. Would have been funner if they came in November, but it's still cool to see. Ole Miss and Mizzou both have scary offenses. Can Kiffin ever break through against the best of the SEC? Mizzou feels like a 10 win ceiling. Tennessee went into Charlotte and beat the crap out of NC State. I find that respectable. I also believe in Heupel who somehow morphed into a former OL. I would not be the least bit surprised to see Tennessee among the top 4 seeds. Penn State and Oregon. Penn State at least had a solid showing in Morgantown, but the Bowling Green game and Oregon's 2 games have been blah. Both teams are capable of a Top 4 seed, but neither are close to being there at this point. Miami got the complete opposite of ND out of the portal. Cam Ward is legit. Miami is way undervalued at 10. Lincoln Riley appears to have finally found a defense. That makes the Big Ten more interesting at the top as USC has an offense. Utah is the class of the Big 12 Oklahoma State and Kansas State provided a preview of what's to come in the Big 12: High scoring and close games. Typical Big 12. Oklahoma is overrated even at 15. I don't think Venables is long for Oklahoma. I think he's destined for mediocrity in the SEC.

I know someone who saw Dead and Co. there and he said it will forver change his concert experience. Nothing will be the same. I need to see the place.

Agreed. Everyones favorite villain. Anyways, Riley Leonard is not a very good QB. Live by the portal, die by the portal if you pick up a bust or just completely made a bad evaluation on talent. It's a shame for ND. They have a legit defense with an elite Secondary. They're cooked though. Zero chance they get in with 2 losses and it's unrealistic to think they'll win out. The schedule if fluff, but there's enough teams good enough to get ND at least once if USC doesn't. Moore was a bad hire by Michigan in terms of resume vs. the field, but they had no choice but to hire him. Not saying he can't win at Michigan and exceed expectations, but Michigan should cut ties quickly if they see a string of 4 loss seasons. You're not just competing with Ohio State and Penn State anymore. You can't give an unproven HC a long leash if you end up falling years behind Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon and USC.

I heard all summer long that the defense was far ahead of the offense and it looked that way today. Williams missed some throws downfied that he should have hit, but he was spot on in the short passing game when given a chance to throw, IMO. Allen dropped a TD on a nice quick throw from CW and the O-Line couldn't handle the pressure from the Titan D. The amount of QB hurry's he received had to have been high. Wouldn't be surpised to hear the C and Nate "I don't practice" Davis being the ones abused the most. And please, please, let that have been the LAST time Verdell Jones is ever sent back to return a kick. Not only did he dropped a return again, but he managed to kick the ball up field nearly 15 yards to the kickoff team. Unreal. Defense was spectacular. The pickup from Seattle practically lived in the Tennesee backfield today. Loved seeing Gervon Dexter beat 2 OL to get a sack. He worked out with the DE's over the summer. Nice to see Jalen Johnson with the game deciding INT. He was paid well in the offseason.

Brownsburg vs. Franklin Central: Not sure how I feel about the dual QB system at Brownsburg, but they seem to compliment each other well. The Sophomore who resembles Johnny Unitas lit up Cathedral in the passing game. Brownsburg once again wins the August State Title and once again has large lines with speed all over the skill positions. I'll take Brownsburg 41-17 over FC HSE at Avon: The BD win was a possitive step towards returning to relevance, but BD isn't the Ben Davis of last year. I'll take HSE to win comfortably: 31-14 Noblesville @ Fishers: A majority of Mt. Vernon's points were scored in garbage time and Homestead didn't to much either against Noblesville's D. This will be their first true test. I'm confidant the Miller O can move the ball on Fishers. Not so confident the D can contain Hall and Co. I'll flip your score and go with Noblesville 24-21. Zionsville @ Westfield: Zionsville's offense came alive in the 2nd half against Pike and moved the ball with ease against LC. The Eagles have a QB who can throw the ball in the portal transfer from Carmel and Eugene Hilton is the major benefactor of the passing game. He tore apart the LC secondary last week and broke their hearts with the go ahead TD on a 4th down jump ball thrown to the end zone with about 20 seconds remaining. I think the Zionsville passing game can move the ball on the 'Rocks and keep their offense off the field. I think this one will be closer than expected: Westfield 35 Zionsville 26.

I doubt that happens as well. Their defense is shaky and they have no run game. Still wouldn't be surprised if they lost to Nebraska and Colorado State.

I was hoping to see NDSU pull off the road win in Boulder, but at least it's enjoyable to watch Travis Hunter play. Whoever drafts him would be foolish not to play him both ways. He also has a 4.0 GPA. Impressive kid.

Haha. I didn't even though that area code existed until your post.

Speaking of FCS, the pecking order in that division is interesting. Here's their AP Top 5: South Dakota State North Dakota State Montana Montana State South Dakota Chattanooga at 8 and Furman at 9 are the only SEC footprint schools in the Top 10. Maybe that's why North Dakota State doesn't jump up to FBS. Their area of the country runs the FCS.

Agreed regarding early '00's. IIRC, the DAC offered Penn and Mishawaka but they wouldn't go without Elkhart Central, who the DAC wouldn't take. Do Penn fans want to be in the DAC? Or just have a "meh" feeling about it? It seems like we've gotten to the point that Penn is on a majority of schedules in all sports for DAC teams.

Elkhart feels llike a bigger version of Hammond Morton to me: They'll look good physically and roll out a few D1 recruits, but they're not beating anyone of significance. I would swap them with Merrillville. All jokes aside on the Pirates and how they fit into my first sentence, but they've at least proven at both the 5A and 6A level they can win true North Sectionals and Regionals. Yes, ignoring the logistical nightmare, that would be an ideal setup. I have a feeling we'll eventually get close to it when the NIC finally folds and the DAC expands east to take Elkhart and Penn.

Agreed. Which is why I will continue to hold out hope somebody can figure out how to turn Lake Central around. There's zero reason they're not knocking on the 6A non-Indy North door with Crown Point and Carroll. Penn and Snider should be up there as well.

Do you think the 'Dogs are better this year? The secondary was atrocius last year. I would guess the offense will be better this year as Ehrlich is now a Sr with a lot of experience going back to his Hobart days.

I don't think it does either. most of time these kids are now traveling in chartered busses.

Plymouth had 2 wins last year coming off of back to back Zero win seasons. Not sure it's fair to say pasting anyone should be expected for Plymouth.

I haven't seen Heritage Hills or Gibson Southern play. Are they considered to be at Memorials level by those in the SW part of the state? I thought Evansville Memorial's offense looked very good on Friday night.

Are you referring to true Northern or are you lumping the Hamilton County schools in with that distinction? Snider's defense is great. I get that WC's defensive front resembles a college size line; however, Snider's O still didn't look very good on Friday night.

Yeah, as a former Duneland player I'm pullling for Crown Point and The Ville. But, Crown Point at #2 with 6 first place votes and The Ville at #1 with 14 first place votes is eye rolling to me. I think your rankings of Crown Point have been very fair. Merrillville is very likely a top 5 5A team. But, an overwhelming favorite at #1? That hasn't been earned.

Good info. Thanks. A, C and D make sense. B is just the reality of not having your own stadium. The market will dictate the price. Seems like an odd request by Brownsburg. Personally, and this is just my opinion, I would play at Tech whenever the option is available. Large old school stadium in a nice urban setting just outside of downtown. The gentrification of the Cottage Home neighborhood makes parking safe for all.

Were a lot of fans left to be SRO? I woudn't be surprised if some of the teams who travel well will stop agreeing to home and "home" with Cathedral if the Irish can't find stadiums to use with ample visitor side seating.

Not at all and perfectly reasonable. ND State is going to be ready to go Thursday night in Boulder.