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Factors in scheduling...


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4 hours ago, Hwy17 said:

I'm of the opinion that getting crushed like a soda can by a team that clearly is superior does nothing but demoralized your team, especially the underclassmen. It's clear what went wrong; they (IMG) have way more size, speed and talent than you do. I really feel that you gain more by scheduling a tough Non-District team similar to one you might actually meet up with come playoff time.

A fair point. However, I believe that you are putting too much emphasis on the outcome of the game, instead of the preparation that goes into it. Teams are going to be much more motivated to beat an IMG or STA, rather than a Venice or Vero Beach. As a coach, you have to know your team. You have to give them a reason to win. A victory against IMG would mean home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. A victory against IMG could mean a more favorable matchup in the first round due to point positioning. A victory  against IMG would mean a chance at the National championship. There are many reasons to play a team of IMG’s caliber. Simply playing them could change the entire trajectory of a school’s attitude towards football for the future. Do you really think coaches call IMG’s front office with the intentions of losing the game? No! They schedule them, and tell their kids, “we’re gonna kick their blue and white asses!” It usually doesn’t happen, but I feel that you are struggling to understand the lesson to Be learned from playing them. It isn’t damning to a teams moral standpoint. Playing a team like this is the measuring stick to end all measuring sticks. The test to truly show what a team is made of, and what they need to work on. And remember, HWY, any given Sunday/Friday, any team can be beaten.

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On 5/23/2021 at 10:52 PM, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

A fair point. However, I believe that you are putting too much emphasis on the outcome of the game, instead of the preparation that goes into it. Teams are going to be much more motivated to beat an IMG or STA, rather than a Venice or Vero Beach. As a coach, you have to know your team. You have to give them a reason to win. A victory against IMG would mean home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. A victory against IMG could mean a more favorable matchup in the first round due to point positioning. A victory  against IMG would mean a chance at the National championship. There are many reasons to play a team of IMG’s caliber. Simply playing them could change the entire trajectory of a school’s attitude towards football for the future. Do you really think coaches call IMG’s front office with the intentions of losing the game? No! They schedule them, and tell their kids, “we’re gonna kick their blue and white asses!” It usually doesn’t happen, but I feel that you are struggling to understand the lesson to Be learned from playing them. It isn’t damning to a teams moral standpoint. Playing a team like this is the measuring stick to end all measuring sticks. The test to truly show what a team is made of, and what they need to work on. And remember, HWY, any given Sunday/Friday, any team can be beaten.

I suppose you look at it through the lens of a 7A school that gets a few transfers. I look at through the lend of a 5A school. To me, I'd rather schedule a really strong 5A or 6A opponent to prepare for the playoffs.

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I've always thought that you have to schedule so that you can challenge yourself a few times a year, let the rivalries drive gates and then play games that will make you compete/get better. In order to be a good team, you have to beat good teams. I'm an Osceola County/Orange County guy. The Orange County schools have so much talent it's easy to put together a tough schedule. Osceola has been hoarding talent (not meant as a recruiting-type dig - they've been good and they hold on to their talented players) and can compete with most anybody.

As for scheduling up/down a classification, I think that can be somewhat of a fallacy sometimes. Victory Christian is a private, 2A powerhouse and St. Cloud (7A) fields a varsity team of like 40 and they went down there and won this season after losing 30-7 the previous year. Not all 7A or 8A schools are the same, so it's hard to use that as a justification in some instances. 

Regardless, I agree that you need to have a competitive schedule. However, competitive to a school like Cypress Creek or Celebration might look a lot different than it would to Apopka or West Orange (or insert teams in your counties here).

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On 5/22/2021 at 9:27 PM, Hwy17 said:

I'm not surprised at all you said that. However I look at Lakeland for example. They've been able to win state championships and their regular season opponents were somewhat weak in the years they won it.  My question is, does playing IMG and losing really benefit Venice anymore than Vero?

Aw Hell!  FLAG ON THE PLAY!!!!  Let's discuss why people tend to think Lakeland's schedule are weak.  Using what you stated as a starting point, I will illustrate that most teams wouldn't make it through unscathed if they played Lakeland's schedule.  I'll even include the 2008 schedule, the year STA exorcised those demons on Lakeland's ass.

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On 5/23/2021 at 9:38 AM, VeniceIndiansFootball said:

You have to take into account the mental aspect of playing them as well. A lot of teams lose to IMG before they even step on the field. Lakeland is one of the very very few exceptions to the rule. They have had legendary coaching from Bill Castle within their program. I’m not sure there are many guys around who know as much about the game of football as he does. It’s surprising, too, because Lakeland is in a less populous area than many other schools in Polk county.  Therefore, they “should” have less talent than, say, an STA or Miami powerhouse. As for your original question. I believe that there is more knowledge to Be had from scheduling IMG than a Vero Beach. IMG is so overwhelming that any issues you have as a team are going to be in full display. This gives coaches and players more motivation to work harder, and watch more film to gain a competitive edge over these teams. Simply put, game planning against IMG gives you more insight as to where your program currently stands, and how you can plan and prepare for teams of similar magnitude. Additionally, it motivates players more to win. Imagine what the feeling of getting a victory over a team like that would be? Playing IMG helps a lot of teams prepare for the playoffs, and give teams a more competitive edge and reason to win. And when they inevitably get crushed like a soda can, a good coaching staff will tell their kids, “you gave it your all, now here’s what we can do to move on.” They will move on, analyze the game film, understand what went wrong, and live to play another day. That is why you schedule IMG over other tough teams when building a program. Just my 2 cents, you can disagree with me if you hold a different opinion.

Lakeland is the largest (and densest) city in Polk County.  The next largest city is Winter Haven which is less than half Lakeland's size.  Also, the Lakeland area (suburbs) is around 300K.  Naturally, that leaves the remaining 424K for the rest of Polk County which is spread out amongst smaller cities, suburban neighborhoods and unincorporated areas due to sprawl.  When it comes to talent, a lot of people underestimate how much talent there is in Polk County.  No one talks about or remembers all the years Lakeland dominated cross-town rival Kathleen and during the Red Devils worst years, they routinely had more D1 talent and produced more NFL players than Lakeland.  I digress.  Of the schools playing football in Lakeland, 3 have made a trip to title games within the last 16 years (4 if you count defunct Evangel).  

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6 hours ago, Nulli Secundus said:

Aw Hell!  FLAG ON THE PLAY!!!!  Let's discuss why people tend to think Lakeland's schedule are weak.  Using what you stated as a starting point, I will illustrate that most teams wouldn't make it through unscathed if they played Lakeland's schedule.  I'll even include the 2008 schedule, the year STA exorcised those demons on Lakeland's ass.

From what I see, y'all played a tougher schedule in 2008 than you did in 2018.

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8 minutes ago, Hwy17 said:

From what I see, y'all played a tougher schedule in 2008 than you did in 2018.

Lakeland schedule is tough.  Now baker or blountstown is very soft.  Probably the weakest out of teams that normally finish top in their classification.

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