wabashalwaysfights

Riverton Parke lost a student-athlete yesterday in a single car accident. Please keep the community in your thoughts and prayers.

Yeah, I'm guessing they were the mysterious "7th team" that had hit Harbaugh's agent up...

ANYWAY..... Now that John Harbaugh is available, does this change the calculus at all concerning Steichen? Personally I don't think it will nor am I sure it should, but Harbaugh is one of those guys I mentioned would likely be considered better than Steichen and would warrant kicking the tires on.

Oh no, I got that and didnt take offense at all. At the time, in my head, I was also linking the idea of a broken record to what seems like repeated disappointments for us as Colts fans in recent years and the frustrations that come from that. In hindsight, I probably didnt need to quote your post. As far as coaches go, I'm not sure image Stephanski over Steichen, though I get he hasn't had much to work with at Cleveland, at least as far as consistency goes. That would seem like a lateral move at best. Now if a Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh were available... now you're talking. GM-wise: I haven't the foggiest...

So a thought worth considering: I've often heard it said that when you consider "cleaning house" in the NFL, you need to consider whether or not you actually have any options that are better than what you currently have. In light of that, in this cycle, who would potential options be to replace Steichen or Ballard who would be better?

Yes, BUT you have to also balance that with cleaning up the mess that was left to you, and given the absolute dumpster fire left by Grigson and that Ballard's process is patience, patience, patience, that timeline becomes even more difficult to assess. I would agree though that the clock is nearing midnight for this pumpkin though... This, unfortunately for Steichen especially, is absolutely correct.

I agree on Ballard: I think he gets a bad rap because his approach is not super "flashy" but he has built a roster that is actually pretty solid. Now, not many believed that up until the first half of this year because he, and the rest of the organization, got absolutely blindsided by Luck's retirement, which left them with a massive, Grand Canyon sized hole at the most important position on the roster. He has started to step outside of his "normal" approach by taking a swing at a raw, physical talent like Richardson (which has been a bust to this point) and trading for Gardner (a move the Ballard of 5 years ago would have never even given an initial thought to). As to Steichen and Lou; I am not sure I agree. I listen to the "Heed the Call" podcast, and they were quick to point out (and I think we discussed this here earlier this season) that JT's success is attributable to having a legitimate threat at the quarterback position who can take advantage of your weaknesses on the back end when you load the box up. We actually saw this on display with the Rivers games: teams dared him to beat them with his arm and largely he actually did. That's not to say that I think Steichen didn't move off the running game too early is some cases (because I do) but I also don't think it's as easy as drawing a straight line correlation between JT's numbers and wins and losses. Things are more dynamic than that. As far as Lou goes, for as much attention as the injury to Jones gets, the defense is where the injury bug really bit this year. That said, injuries happen to every team, some handle them better than others. Unfortunately, we are looking at a similar song and dance this offseason: it comes down to the quarterback. Do you run it back with Indiana Jones coming off of an Achilles rupture (assuming he'll be at all ready) or blow it up and start over?

100% agree with everything except the bold. The last few weeks shows that in order to win an MVP a RB needs at least competent QB play, but to say he was never a serious contender is a bit short sighted; he was a contender, he isn't anymore, nothing more, nothing less. Has it become extremely difficult for anyone other than a QB to win an MVP? Yes. Impossible? I don't think it's impossible. DeVonta Smith won a Heisman what, 3 or 4 years ago?

This actually makes a lot of sense. Honestly you could make a good case for prying Frankfort away from the MAC, add Delphi and you've got a decent 7 team league.

Danville to Twin Lakes and Tipton seems like a heck of a drive, but travel time seems to matter less and less these days... Years ago when I was at BC (my goodness, it's been 14 years?), we talked as a coaching staff about getting out of the Hoosier and were always told that BC would never because they were a founding member. I don't know how true that is or if that attitude persists, but I've always felt that BC would be a good fit in the WRC... and not just in football. That said, look at me complaining about drives: BC to SV sounds like torture... I mean, it's a relatively straight shot down 63, but that is a BORING stretch of road...

Honestly, if Taylor keeps this up and DOESN'T win MVP they may as well just rename the award... it would be a slap in the face to anyone who actually pays half a millimeter of attention to football... The Colts continue to be an unbelievably pleasant surprise. Honestly, I thought the ceiling for this team was about 10-7, now it looks like they will be more in the neighborhood of 12-5, maybe 13-4...

A TE as OROY would be a long shot, but consider this: Dart has really only had what, a 2 maybe 3 week heater? What happens if he is only "meh" the rest of the way and the Giants win only 4 or 5 games? The narrative quickly becomes that it was all flash in the pan and we move on. Now of he continues to even remotely ball put then yes, the odds are that it goes to him, but I'd like to see a couple more games before I crown him. Same goes with Skattebo quite honestly. If Dart falls back to earth but Skattebo continues to ball out, then it probably goes to him in all honesty. Not to say Warren wouldn't be deserving (he would be) but that would be the reality.

If I'm being completely honest, I am unsure of what his history was prior to North Vermillion. My understanding was that at one point he was coaching in Missouri, but please do not quote me on that. I really got to know him while coaching track several years ago. We would talk a lot of football and it was clear that not only did he know the game inside and out, but that, as you said, his players loved him because they knew how much he cared not just about them on the field/in the ring but as people.

Agreed. Coach Blank was one of the best.

My understanding is that you would only take the penalty on the succeeding kickoff if it were a dead ball foul, but I may be mistaken.

So far, so good through 6 games. The next 5 look a little more difficult, but not impossible, the last 6 look really difficult though. The Jags and Texans twice, which neither has looked unbeatable, but playing them that close to one another is tough. The other two sandwiched in between are the Seahawks and 49ers... I'm thinking by the end of the season we're looking at somewhere in the 10-7 to 12-5 range? Probably at least one loss in those last four division games, one between Seattle and San Francisco, and at least one loss in those middle three games. Either way, I think they win the division and host a playoff game, which would be sweet.

Thank you. Travel may be an issue for some schools with as few schools as there are, it seems like most of those are in the southern part of the state, but it seems fairly spread out.

This is 1000% true. Do we know currently how many schools are participating in 8 man?

Potential replacements that have been brought in? I've looked around just a little and haven't seen any reporting yet, though I'm sure they've started looking.

Admittedly I have not watched the clip you posted so the answer to my question may lie in there, but why would he have a civil suit against Fox Sports? Against Sanchez, 100%, but I'm not sure how you could spin this into a suit against Fox Sports.

I understand the premise here, but just for context: the 4 schools you list above (Jeff, Harrison, McCutcheon, and WL) are in the Lafayette metro area for lack of a better term, but are spread across 3 different corporations. Very different, at least to my understanding, with what is happening with the Terre Haute schools.

Simple, but effective...

Summer scrimmages can be a good indicator for where you are at as a team and good for experimentation, but as far as those being a fix to the "beefing up" your schedule idea they are a bit more problematic. They are far more controlled than actual games are (typically either a set amount of time or plays on offense and/or defense), have no special teams elements, and in many cases you don't have all your athletes because of family vacations and the like. Again, they have their purposes, but in terms of really "testing" your team, that is debatable at the very least.