gatorman-uf

The sad part is that a #1 seed actually has less time to prepare than a #4 or 5 seed for the first round match in theory. The district champions are decided a week before the last week. If your region has a really good district runner-up type team than they most likely will be the #5 seed, thus the #4 and #5 can probably start preparing. The number #8 seed can often be one of numerous teams from the #6 to the #10 team. As a result, the #1 team actually can start preparing until the results are official.

Both, District Champs automatically qualify (wins and losses), RPI is used to rank them (1-4) and rank who the wildcards are (5-8)

Healthy Franks or not, I don't think the Gators are beating Auburn, LSU, or Georgia. I think the rest of the schedule looks manageable based on how Trask looked. I think a 9-3 record is reasonable. If the Gators can keep the game against the above 3 close and not be blown out (but still lose), I think I could accept that. A random loss to FSU or Missouri won't be the end of the world. I am also a person who enters the season with the idea that that Gators should only be 8-4 and if they don't meet that then I get upset otherwise I am fine.

How would the Paddle not be on the line if the two played a football game? I mean, I get if two teams don't play, but the very nature that they played in a regular season game automatically means the paddle is one the line. Otherwise what is the point of the trophy. Now, if you are saying they are retiring the paddle forever, so be it, but then the game is a just rivalry with no name.

Steinbrenner, Next season, maybe Josh can pay us and we can put together an UNOFFICIAL ranking for the site , but I will say to do one region, I have to look at 270+ teams, it look me nearly 25-30 hours of prep time at a minimum to put together my excel sheet. Every week it takes 2.5 hours to find the results for all 270+ teams. Is it worth it? Probably not. It is a mind numbing task that gives me a little peace and allows me to see how good I am at using excel. It also allows me to double check the FHSAA as they aren't perfect. The worst part of this new system is that every game matters, some game that happened in New Jersey or Maryland or Louisiana or California somehow matters all of a sudden. I don't envy the FHSAA programmers. ____________

It is funny that Lakeland people are saying that they don't recruit when the entire "High School Free Agency" bill that was introduced by representatives of Polk County was because the FHSAA punished Lakeland for a couple of kids transferring for athletic reasons. And the fact that our state legislature hates public schools.

The video is a couple of years old at this point, but my buddies and I have watched it as instinctive of what a coach should generally do on 4th down. It is also the reason why I loved watching Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson's triple option because of how aggressive he was in trying for it on 4th down (except last year). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbgqKHxzTfU A good example of a lack of aggressiveness in hurting the team was the PItt-Penn State game. Pitt on the 1 yard line decides to kick the FG rather than try a 4th attempt from the 1 yard line. The kicker misses the kick and Pitt never really recovers. Pitt was down 7 at the time with 5 minutes left. Interestingly, Denver went for 2 when they were down 1 at home with 30 seconds left and got it and Chicago drove 40 yards in 31 seconds to allow former Gator Eddie Pineiro to hit the game winning 53 yard field goal.

Some people were saying Mullen shouldn't have gone for 2 so early in the 4th and if he hadn't then the worse the Kentucky FG would have been is a tie if the Gators had just kicked the 2 extra points. Today, Doug Marrone (Jax) has a chance to tie the game with an extra point and decides to go for 2 and misses. I truly believe that Mullen made the right call, even early in the 4th. His offense hadn't done much all game, his defense was playing ok, but not lights out and who knows what was going to happen with your back-up QB in. I look at the decision to go for 2 as the right decision even if they didn't get it. Marrone, on the hand, went with the idea win on the road, tie at home. I get it, but as a coach, you gotta see a bigger picture. Your team is 0-1, has lost it's starting QB for half the season at least, you are coming a dreadful season, you have had a shouting match on the sidelines with a star CB, you gotta play to not lose. I don't get the decision here and I am usually on the 4th and short, go for it. 2 point conversion, go for it, but overall whether Fournette makes it or not, I don't like the call. When should coaches go for two? (Any level)

Before this weekend, I was hoping to be able to say Forest Hill as they have definitely be on the verge of a breakout year and I thought with a down Dwyer that they could do it. Unfortunately, they lost to Palm Beach Gardens, who while undefeated hasn't played anybody. So to answer your question, I think it is Atlantic and the 7 dwarfs and nobody we should consider to be good until the end of the year.

St. Joseph (NJ) and those 4 teams are relatively the same size. Additionally, they weren't always in their own conference, they played the large public schools in the area as part of their conference until the public schools all complained to the point those schools got placed in their own conference. Additionally, while NJ does use conferences, the conferences don't determine who gets in the playoffs. All 5 of those teams can play each other and still all end up in the playoffs.

Over the past 3 years, Palm Beach Lakes was 8-4 (2018), 3-9 (2017), and 8-4 (2016). Not really a dominant program. While their win over Glades Central is a good win in general, I don't think Glades Central is Glades Central anymore and is probably a 6-4 team and decent mid-size school, but the days of them producing the talent and teams of the 2000s is gone until they get some coach stability. Coach Hester is in his 3rd year there so maybe Glades Central can get better, but the days of pointing to the Muck as a place of premium teams, I think is over.

Glades suffers 2 losses this week as they lost to Palm Beach Lakes early. Perhaps Glades Central ain't what it used to be.

http://lazindex.com/index.php I would absolutely consider them legit. They have been doing this a long time and their results are definitely more right than they are wrong. @LAZL is on these boards frequently, I believe and he can tell you more about how his formula works.

Is Tampa Bay Tech legitimate this year? I don't think they have ever advanced past the Regional Finals, but the Laz Index has them ranked #5 in the state with a game against an 0-2 Plant. Is this the year that somebody breaks the Plant/Armwood stranglehold on Hillsborough County?

Other than IMG, none of these schools will truly ever to admit to recruiting a player. We can talk all we want about the number of transfers that a school gets (I rarely believe it makes a team that much better, but rather simply just worsens average teams). The reality is that none of them consider themselves recruiting schools. They consider themselves schools with great football programs that people are just naturally attracted to because they are winners or send athletes on to the next level. Again it is why we should push for promotion/relegation. Good teams move up, bad teams move down. Eventually, you end up in the exact situation you are asking for (really good teams (recruiting or not) play against other really good teams).