Football in the Pandemic year

Football 2020 So, Brentwood Academy appears to be one of the top teams in Tennessee, as they have already beaten McCallie at their place. Crestview lost to FWB Vikings and I watched the 2nd half. Could not complete a pass at all. Going to be an awful season for the Bulldogs, as the schedule is too nasty to compete with, if you can’t throw the ball at all. Florida State has only played 1 game, but Georgia Tech pushed them around. Then Tech got boat raced by UCF the next week. FSU may not win a game, or not more than 1 or 2. So, it is going to be ugly with Crestview and FSU looking so dismal. Hopefully the Gators can compete in the East. All that to lead up to my SEC predictions: East Georgia is the top dog with a 3 year run going. Their 4 West foes this year are Alabama, Auburn, Miss State and Arkansas. So, 2 of the best West teams, which can certainly cost them a “L”. Likewise, Florida plays LSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas A&M from the West. LSU and A&M are certainly capable of giving UF an L. Tennessee is my pick for the 3rd best East team, although Kentucky is dangerous. The Vols play Alabama, Auburn, A&M and Arkansas from the West. I think the Vols got the “Nebraska” treatment when it comes to the SEC West foes…3 of the 4 are going to be really hard to beat. At least A&M has to go to Neyland. Kentucky draws Auburn, Ole Miss, Miss State and Alabama from the West. Not quite as brutal. In addition to WHO you play, the when and where are key variables. Although this Corona season does soften the “where” part, as the stadiums will only have fractions of their capacity of fans. Both Georgia and Florida have open/bye date the week before the cocktail party showdown. Georgia’s defense sounds like it will be championship caliber and the recruiting in Athens since Kirby got there is right up there with Bama, Clemson and Ohio State. My hope is that the loss of key players on the offense, will be enough of an equalizer to allow Florida to find a way…BTW, the all SEC schedule is going to be such a grind! Florida/Georgia I WANT Florida to win, but just can’t predict that outcome, so Georgia again… Tennessee Kentucky South Carolina Mizzu Vandy poor Vandy WEST Alabama is so deep. I think Auburn and Texas A&M will be in the mix with the defending SEC and NATIONAL CHAMPS, LSU. I do really think LSU takes at least a step back, Joe Burrow was so special! And, it will be very interesting to see what Leach and Kiffin do at State and Ole Miss. Also, Bama and LSU got the easy East schedule, especially LSU. In addition to every year foe Florida, the Bayou Tigers get Vandy, Mizzu and South Carolina, the 3 worst teams in the East (IMO). Alabama LSU A&M Auburn Miss State Ole Miss Arkansas – just too tough a league to bring a knife to a gun fight – roster wise.

2019 Football Season is Here!

When I started “1 Foot In” it was just to serve as an outlet to my brain processing all the football that I enjoy so much. It still is, but like a lot of other things, making time to capture my thought is not always easy and frankly not always that high on the priority list.

With that caveat, I am excited that August is here and football will be played soon. In fact, I plan on going to watch Noah Josey and Brentwood Academy play on Friday night, at Lipscomb Academy, where Trent Dilfer is the new coach. Going to be fun watching Noah finish out his prep seasons (he is just a Jr) with every top school/team in the country already having offered him (EVERY, including Alabama and Clemson). My football fever starts with the Crestview Bulldogs. After a run to the 6A final four last year, they are in a newly aligned district which includes: Lincoln, Godby, Leon, Chiles, Niceville and Navarre! Also have Escambia on the schedule, so it will not be easy. I do think coach Hatton has the program in good shape, so while matching last season’s success will be a stretch, I do think they can win a bunch of games against a brutal schedule. The Gators may have been slightly ahead of schedule last year and now carry pretty high expectations – top 10 in most polls and the team in the East most likely to give Georgia a run. I think Georgia is so far ahead of everyone else in the East, it is a lot like the ACC. Clemson and a bunch of way behinds. Schedules matter. The SEC plays 8 conference games, 6 against their own “side – East or West”, one perm foe from the other side and a rotational foe from the other side. The West is stronger than the East right now and who you have to play matters. Ask Tennessee how much fun it is to have ALABAMA as your permanent West foe every year! Last season, they also had to play Auburn (big W for the Vols). One of the reasons Mizzu is getting so much love this preseason is their West slate of Ole Miss and Arkansas. Compare that to S Carolina’ getting Bama and A&M…or Florida having LSU and Auburn. Kentucky has Miss St and Arkansas. These types of schedule imbalances can mean the difference in bowl eligibility for teams or even a better or worse chance to get to the SEC champ game. When you play team also is a variable. When your bye week comes, or when your opponent’s bye week comes. So I’ll start off with my sense of expectation for the Gators this season. That opener with Miami is exciting and I’m really looking forward to it. A lot more pressure on Florida, given their nice season in 18, capped off by routing Michigan in the bowl. A UF win builds momentum, while a W by the Canes puts a bunch of pressure on Mullen and company. Gonna be optimistic and put a W on this one. UT Martin – W. At Kentucky in week 3. The Cats broke the 30 something year streak last season, but it is time to start another one – W. Then the Vols come to the Swamp. I do expect UT to be much better, but man the Gators have their number – even in years when Tennessee should win, they often do not. W. Towson W (boring). Auburn comes to the Swamp on Oct 5 and that one will be a dandy. Honestly not sure what to expect from Auburn, but they historically give Florida fits. Think I will go L here, but hopefully I’m wrong. At LSU is next and on paper LSU in Baton Rouge is a L, but Florida plays well most of the time against their perm West foe. L. At South Carolina is dangerous because they have a solid QB and Gators may be coming of 1 or even 2 losses…W. Then the cocktail party and unfortunately Georgia is loaded. L Vandy W. At Mizzu. W but with VERY low confidence. FSU – W. So, 8-4 regular season and a runner up in the East spot. A good bowl game. Long term UF is trending up, but only as high as the Georgia Bulldogs will allow. Dawgs rule the East and don’t appear to be willing to share anytime soon.  FLORIDA STATE crystal ball: Opener in Jax with Boise State. Wow. No warm up with a directional school, which frankly the Noles need coming off their worst season in 40 years or so. L but I HOPE I’m wrong. At North Carolina where Mack Brown is the new coach. W. At UVA – L. Then Louisville at home – W. NC State comes to Tally – L. At Clemson big L. At Wake – W. Syracuse – L. Miami is the game that will determine the season. It is at home so W. At BC – W. Alabama State W. at the Swamp – L.\ The math says 6-5. Wow how the mighty have fallen. The sad thing is that the ACC is pretty mediocre. Clemson is the best or one of the best teams in the country (old FSU) but after that, Syracuse or UVA? Those teams would be 6th or 7th in the SEC East or West… All these predictions can change on injuries, coaches getting fired, and a number of other season changing variables, but it’s fun to think the season through at the beginning, and then watch it unfold. Some expectations will be spot on, while plenty of surprises always happen. Now about Tennessee…I don’t want them to beat the Gators, but in every other game I will be pulling for the Vols. Great fan support and I really do thin Jeremy Pruitt will build them back up to give Georgia another strong East foe to deal with, over the next few years…As for this season, BYU is a terrific non -conference team to play out of the gate! As mentioned previously, getting Bama EVERY year out of the West is cruel and unjust, and this season the other West foe is Miss State. That is going to be a big / important game for UT. Georgia State a W. BYU..whew I’m going to go W, but it is more hope than evidence. Chattanooga is another W for a 3-0 start going into the game at the SWAMP. Probably pretty close talent wise, but the history suggests Florida has UT’s number – L. A bye week before Georgia L and then Mississippi State. This is why this game is so crucial for Vols. Have to stop the slide (2 L’s) because the following game is Alabama. W against the cow bells but L vs Bama. Getting the Gamecocks at Neyland is key, because South Carolina has an exceptional QB, with a lot of experience. Could go either way, but a W. UAB aint no slouch, but W and then a trip to Kentucky. W. At Mizzu feels like a Loss and then the TRI STAR showdown with Vandy, who has been bullying the Vols for the last few years. W! If that plays out, 8-4. That may be a tad optimistic, so 7-5 would be reasonable but we will see. Some fantastic out of state and in state Prep games this weekend! Ft Lauderdale St Thomas Aquinas heads out to California to take on De La Salle! In the Charlotte area Mallard Creek plays Dutch Fork SC for metro bragging rights. On Saturday, St Frances, a Baltimore powerhouse plays the Miami Central Rockets. DeMatha goes out to Cali to play John Bosco. Bring it! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Monday Morning over reactions! First, my brother Marty won the Masters World Championship in Jiu Jitsu at a huge event in Las Vegas. SO proud of him. He is a tough hombre… Crestview rolled 1A Vernon, but it was SLOPPY. August football games often are sloppy, but Dogs better have some “A game” this week as the travel to Escambia, the home of Emmit Smith! St Thomas Aquinas beat the California power De La Salle, and it was a pretty high quality game. I saw where BA spanked Huntsville, Al and where Shannon did not think highly of the Refs down there. BA, BTW, is in Atlanta this week playing a small and weak Florida opponent – it will not be close! In other OOS match ups, St Frances of Baltimore crushed the Rockets of Miami Central. St John Bosco of Bellflower CA, crushed DeMatha, a Maryland power. Mater Dei rolled over a strong Cali Centennial. The battle of Charlotte was tied when the called it off because of lightning. High School football is so deep in my person and fabric. My fav is the flavor of small town schools battling other small town schools. It is community building and the local pride is a wonderful thing. The BEST teams now a days, are the private (and some public) schools who snag the allstar players from a wide geographic area. There are even the unapologetic factories which take kids from all over the world with the promise of better coaching, visibility and scholarships. I don’t blame those kids, their parents or anyone, would likely consider that route if I had a son or daughter in those shoes. It is indeed all star football and I cannot resist the match ups. IMG, STA, JaxTrinity in Florida, DLS, the catholic schools in Cinci, the New Jersey teams, and now the rise of Baltimore and DC powers. It obviously is not the same caliber or “innocence” of small town football, but the caliber of athletes is tremendous. The # 5 team this week by Max Preps is St John’s DC. This season they will play one of the very best teams in Texas – Duncanville, one of the very best teams in Cali – Mater Dei, and Florida’s semi pro IMG Academy. That is not Milton vs Pace or Crestview vs Niceville! But, these teams are loaded with the SEC, ACC and Big10 players of next year… This week’s slate of games include: Don Bosco New Jersey vs St John Bosco Cali. St Joe Philly vs Marietta GA. BA goes to Atlanta and get Central Catholic of Clearwater. Horrible match up, as BA is 10X stronger that CCC. BA is ranked 48 in the nation while CC 1,179 and vastly over rated! Just wish BA could have found a more respectable team from Florida, but Bryan told me that next season (which he expects them to peak) they hope to play some stronger OOS foes. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Well there were a couple of week zero college games. The Gators bout gave me cardiac arrest, with their sloppy play, but managed to beat Miami in Orlando. The defensive line was stellar and the skill position players look explosive. Franks is worrisome. I heard a quote once: “A quarterback Is not about how great he is, but how great he can help his team be”. He has to love his team unselfishly, to be the best he can be for the TEAM. He’s got the body/physical tools, but football IQ is weak, as are his insecure taunting antics. He may be Mullen’s most challenging “project” for the QB whisperer…the defense did not tackle well, and looked unwilling to tackle at times. Had 4 or 5 awful DPI penalties, which kept giving the Canes chances to win the game. All that to say, it was a big W! The Gators, in their last 3 games have defeated Florida State, Michigan and Miami…guess we can live with sloppy… Hawaii beat Arizona, but catching Khalil Tate at the one yard line on the last play of the game! We move on to Week 1 as this Labor Day weekend is finally here.

Poor Duke gets Alabama in football…ouch. On Thursday night, Clemson and Ga Tech play on the new ACC network while UCLA and Cinci go and then there is the HOLY MORMAN WAR, BYU vs Utah. Colorado and Colorado State is the other EARLY cross state rivalry game. Ole Miss and Memphis are close to that kind of neighborhood brawl. Ohio State and FAU…Northwestern vs Stanford. South Carolina and North Carolina and an SEC opener with Georgia vs Vandy. Virginia and PITT, and USC vs Fresno State. Tennessee warms up for BYU with Georgia State, and on Sunday night, Houston and Oklahoma…Auburn and Oregon will be fun. Florida State plays Boise in Jax, and named Blackmon the starter over the Wisconsin transfer. Then Monday night Notre Dame gets to embarrass Louisville and be crowned national champ after just one game.

A few updates after some uninspired weeks October 7th: I watched Crestview beat an over matched Milton team, as part of Homecoming on Friday night. 61-20. Bulldogs have firepower, but are still a bit porous on defense. The poor Vikings are next, but it will come down to the game with Niceville for the District (as expected). I am anxious to see the playoff matchups in the 6A Panhandle, with Crestview, Niceville, NAVARRE, Pine Forest and ESCAMBIA, all really good. Until Navarre lost to Escambia, I had the Raiders as better than really good.

This coming Friday night, the top 2 ranked prep teams in the country play each other in an all California affair. St Johns Bosco and Mater Dei. Hope I can find that on TV or the internet. Oh, BTW, I saw where Brentwood Academy lost, first time in a couple of years. They will still win State. The Florida Gators beat LSU on Saturday. LSU was ranked #5 and since the loss to Kentucky, Florida has been improving every week. I still don’t think they can hang with Georgia, but there is certainly reason for optimism for Gator fans. Some polls have UF ahead of Kentucky, which is wrong. Maybe by December, but for now, the Cats dominated in Gainesville. Florida State jumped out to a 27-7 halftime lead, which had me texting family and friend with excited surprise. FSU did not score another point, and Miami put up 21 to win 28-17. Moral victory? Maybe only because they looked more like a team with some fight and potential than they have so far this season. Alabama is king of the hill. I hate to concede that I think Ohio State is the next strongest team. Georgia is up there, but has shown some vulnerabilities. Clemson is the class of the ACC, but not the same overall strength…at this point in the season. By December? Maybe so. With the Longhorns taking down Oklahoma and coach Riley firing Mike Stoops, I think the Sooners are done. It is early I know, but…West Virginia appears to be explosive enough to win the big12, but have plenty of tough games yet. Auburn laid an egg in Starkville and man, I think Tennessee can hang with the Beagles… Would love to see UCF get a shot, if they keep up the impressive W’s. I loathe Notre Dame, but they are on their way to the CFB Playoff. My only hope now is that they get paired with BAMA and the tide just humiliates them. Oct 14 update: Crestview humiliated FWB and I say again, not a fan of running up the score on over matched high school teams. Dogs are set to play Niceville in 2 weeks for the District championship. Out west, St John Bosco beat Mater Dei in a #1 v #2 matchup that wasn’t that close. Gators rallied to be Vandy, and now get a bye to get ready for Georgia…who got whacked by LSU. Ah the SEC…Tennessee beat Auburn on the plains, as big win for the Vols! October 22, 2018: Ohio State lost to Purdue! It wasn’t even close  WHOOP! Kentucky squeezed by Vandy. FSU looked good, but get Clemson this week OUCH! Alabama killed Tennessee, but then they kill everybody. Nebraska won. Washington State hosted Game Day and beat Oregon. Good day for them and Coach Leach. Titans went for 2 against the Chargers and threw incomplete – TWICE. Ugg. So, enough about that. This coming weekend is huge. Friday night the Fishheads come to Crestview. District title on the line and high seeding for the playoffs. BTW, 2 of the top 5 teams in Alabama play on ESPN2 that night, Thompson (little Tua) and Hewitt Trussville. I will be multitasking. Florida v Georgia in the Cocktail party, along with ESPN and College Gameday in Jax. Don’t think the Gators are quite ready for this, but I sure hope they find a way!! Noles vs Clemson will be hurtful to watch. I JUST NEED SOMEONE TO BEAT NOTRE DAME!!#$%$@ ANYBODY! Another thought to document before the Cocktail Party: I think Georgia will win, but of course will be pulling like Crazy for the Gators to prevail. Then, I want Kentucky to win out (not an easy ask I know) and win the SEC East AND play Bama in the SEC Championship game. That would have the Gators finishing 10-1 and not getting humiliated by the Tide in Atlanta. It could possibly even open the door for a coveted CFB Playoff spot, should Notre Dame get beat! Winning the East is prestigious, but having to play Alabama at any time prior to the playoff, is NOT something to hope for! Even if the Gators didn’t make the playoff, that would certainly be a New Year’s Day big 6 Bowl!

The AGONY of DEFEAT(S)

The AGONY of Defeats Well, it was quite a weekend for “my teams”, one that I sat through painfully. Painfully because both my knees still hurt as I recover from the surgeries. Painfully, because it was as dreadful a set of performances and outcomes as I can remember in a single weekend. Now, the pain is higher because the teams I am a fanatic for, are usually pretty good, - it is not like I am a Kansas Jayhawk football fan. The Seminoles, Gators and Crestview are usually above average, so that elevates my expectations, which in turn leads to more emotional let downs when they play so poorly.

Friday night was epic, as I looked forward to the showdown at Navarre all day, heck all week. I thought I could get the broadcast on JockJive and listen to the Navarre radio announcers, instead of the Crestview crew. The Crestview crew are most likely fantastic human beings, but I do not appreciate their “approach” to football coverage. Since I don’t like all the mean spirited and negative attacks that I see on social media and the internet, I will not say any more. JockJive was problematic, but I did hit a homerun by finding the TV coverage on a Pensacola station. Excellent broadcast and coverage! Crestview looked like Alabama playing Arkansas State in the first half. Four touchdowns of over 50 yards, and most of the “drives” were less than 5 plays. A 75+ yard run by Stanton and then 3 amazing pass plays for TD’s. On the other side, the Defense bent a little, but did not allow Navarre a single point in the 1st half. 28 – 0! We fans cannot help but get excited with a half like this, even when it is (hindsight) likely fools gold. Navarre gave up big plays, but there were not being pushed around on either side of the ball and that # 5 they have, wow. In the 2nd half, the Raiders played far more physical and hungry. They slowly but surely took over the game at the line of scrimmage, while CHS just hoped the clock would run out. It did not. With about 2 minutes to go in the game, Navarre had scored THIRTY FIVE unanswered points, to lead 35-28…Then, the team that had dozed for the 2nd half zipped down the field to score and pull within 1 point with less than a minute. GO FOR TWO I am saying through clenched teeth. No way you want to give them a shot in OT, as they were picking up 8 – 15 yards per play in the 2nd half! But nope, the Dawgs kicked the PAT to tie the game and send it to overtime. On the 2nd play in OT, Navarre intercepts for a pick 6, that was “nullified” because FHSAA rules don’t let defenses return interceptions for TDs, in the Kansas tie breaker OT format. Didn’t matter, their offence scored in 1 or 2 plays, game over Raiders 41, Bulldogs 35. I can’t help but be torqued at CHS, but I have to say that Navarre earned all my respect. They were so impressive and so determined and play a physical brand of football that is NEVER fools gold. Hats off to them. Crestview has more of the “3 and 4 star” kids, but with all the skill position fire power and a college size line, they are IMO, a finesse team. Many finesse teams are just that out of necessity, as they don’t have the big strong line to have a power running game, so they toss the ball around in an attempt to get into open space and let the athletes do their thing. The thing is, Crestview DOES have a huge and experience line. As with most high school teams, several key player are used on offense and defense, but dang. It looks like we are wasting the best roster we may have ever had, because maybe “we” have read all the press clippings, posted all thy hype tweets and have not been ready to play down and dirty smash mouth football. That is the hard part about this…I don’t have much confidence that this “intangible” will be corrected well enough to make a deep run. I do think Crestview will win most of the rest of the games on the schedule. West Florida Tech, Niceville and Thompson, AL are games that we can certainly lose, and I expect the Thompson game to be an ugly rout. They are just on a different level of talent, depth and everything else. They did lose to Hoover by 10 on Friday, so they will not come to Crestview that first Thursday in November undefeated. Crestview gets a lay up this week with the International School of Broward. Those poor kids. They go around the country every week playing top teams in every state, getting pummeled.

Noah Josey and Brentwood Academy showed some humanity on Friday night be keeping it under 60…OH, and this is potentially very exciting. In the NWFlorida Daily News today, coach Hatten was quoted as saying that Crestview is trying to set up to play Brentwood Academy next year! BA is the best team in Tennessee and according to cousin Bryan are very young, so they will likely be even better next season. My Bulldogs are a good prep team and this year’s squad may be one of our best in decades, but they ARE NOT IN THE BA league! Still, it would be a blast. I have documented that one of my first memories of high school football was when my Uncle Harold played for Crestview. It would be awesome for his grandson Noah, on a great team in Nashville to play Crestview! I will go, whether it is back home or here in Tennessee!

In other Prep notes: St Johns out of DC beat Hoover soundly a few weeks ago. This weekend they beat Miami Central in FIVE OVERTIMES! Impressive team out of the national capital and this week they play our semi pro team IMG Academy, so that is a hellavah schedule and a wow match up. Lincoln plays Lowndes and Niceville plays a Mississippi team. I have to hand it to the fishheads, they do play a tough schedule every year. Got crushed in Alabama last week. Maybe that helps my Crestview loss just a little. Now, on to Saturday night misery. Florida had beaten Kentucky 31 years in a row. Every year since 1986. The winning (or losing) streak is over. Kentucky out played the Gators in the swamp. They were the stronger more physical team and would not be denied. The Cats do not have a good passing game, but that QB is greased lightning running the ball. With his fleet feet and Benny Snell, UK simply punched Florida in the mouth and we had no answer. I was disappointed, but not shocked and not even angry. I have a lot of Kentucky fans that are friends and I was glad for them. Florida still has a higher ceiling (I think) in football and I do think Dan Mullen will get them moving in the right direction over the next couple of years. They “should” find the capacity to fight for #2 in the East, along with South Carolina and Tennessee, and maybe Kentucky. Hard to say exactly what Mullen can do short term to make this year’s team competitive and finds ways to improve. Without being too negative, I am not sold on Felipe Franks as the signal caller in Gainesville. Long wind up motion is slow. Decision making is lagging. Big and fast but VERY tentative when he keeps the ball. Most important, he gives me the vibe that his leadership is well….selfish. The balance between competitor and prima dona that all QB’s have, seems unbalanced at this stage and I hope Dan can help him. Or, we give the true freshman a shot.

Misery – my teams part 3 of 3. Florida State had a cupcake to help rebound from the CRUSHING that Va Tech put on them. SAMFORD came down from Birmingham to pick up a big check and get rolled. Uh, no they did not. They came down and beat the crap out of FSU for 3 quarters. Beat them in EVERY facet of the game – in Tallahassee. SAMFORD, not Stanford. It is hard to imagine how inept the FSU offensive line is. All these guys were very good recruits. The elephant in the room question for Noles fans is the coach. Is Willie Taggert this bad? Is he in over his head? How much time will he be allowed before panic creates the pressure to cut losses? I think we have to give him more time, but wow, what an ugly start. Not just the results, but how poorly the team looks in trying execute and do the basics…At Syracuse this Saturday AM… Clemson survived a pumped up Aggies team in College Station. A&M is ~5 or 6 in the SEC pecking order and they gave the top ACC (BY A HUGE MARGIN) team all they could handle. It is one game, but it reminds me that the ACC is NOWHERE the league that the SEC is, and that FSU should be able to fight for the conference crown most years.

The games to look forward to this weekend: Vandy at Notre Dame. Dores will get crushed but I will be rooting for them with all I got. Auburn and LSU should be a slugfest SEC West style. I will pull for TCU against Ohio State, just like I will pull for every team that the buckeyes play. I get how teams have hated on FSU when Jameis was pulling his despicable shenanigans. I do like some OSU fans, but loathe the program now. Boise and OK State should be a good shoot out. Duke at Baylor, with the starting QB done for the season. Man, Cutcliff is a great coach! Washington and Utah should be good. Southern Cal and Texas is blue blood but Horns are limping out of the gate. Bama will roll Ole Miss. Houston and Tex Tech will be like Boise and OK State, first one to 60 points…or 70. Maybe BYU hangs with the Badgers for 3 quarters…

NEXT weekend is going to be an exciting one, but time for that in a few days.

Overreaction to Week 1 of college and the prep recap

Since FSU played last night, the Noles are front of mind. Loved the energy pre game and was super excited. Not crazy about the uniforms, especially the helmets, but I guess that is me getting old. The Seminoles have more – far more – of the 4 and 5 star recruits than Virginia Tech, but no one would have guessed that last night, as the Hokies DEFENSE just dominated the FSU offensive line. It looked like a number One D, playing against their 3rd team offense at practice, but only worse. We have terrific skill position players at RB, TE and WR. Francios has a great arm and if given time, will absolutely pick apart any secondary. Half the time last night, defensive lineman raced him back to his drop back spot and beat him! Unopposed, most college d linemen can hurt a QB! FSU defense was mostly heroic, but could not withstand the offensive ineptitude that kept going 3 and out and losing field position. A couple of horrible calls by the refs hurt too, but FSU was WAY too sloppy to beat a decent team last night. The texting between myself, Roger and cousin Mark reflected our disappointment.

Coach Taggert has a lot of work to do. Even if we get things straight, the ACC belongs to Clemson, much like it did FSU for decades. And give Miami’s performance against LSU, I think VA TECH will be the team to face Clemson in the ACC title game – I know it is just one week!

Tennessee got whipped by a very good West Virginia team. I think that says more about WV than it does the Vols. Coach Pruitt will get UT to improve, the only problem is a MURDEROUS schedule – wow. I did see improvement with Guarrantano, so that is a positive. The biggest upset was Texas losing to Maryland. Bama, Georgia and Ohio State did what the top teams are supposed to do – rout. LSU looked much better than expected. Hawaii beat Navy, one week after routing Colorado State on the road. Safe to say the Rainbow Warriors are pretty dang good this year. Ole Miss looked good beating Texas Tech. UCF rolled UCONN. UCLA fell to Cincinnati and Arizona lost to BYU, so new coaches had struggles all across the country. Penn State SURVIVED App State in OT. Michigan State survived somebody they were expected to rout, so we can back off this “Big 10 East rules the world” stuff. The best big game was Auburn’s win over Washington. Both team brought big time defenses to Atlanta, but the beagles managed to get the W. Auburn did beat both Georgia and Alabama in the regular season last year, so they really are “that” good. Notre Dame beat a good Michigan team for a quality win, dang it. The Gators looked great against Charleston Southern, as well they should. Franks looked good – or improved I should say.

Florida plays Kentucky this week to open SEC play and that leads me into the list of what we can look forward to the rest of the weekend: UCLA and Oklahoma means it doesn’t get easier for Chip Kelly. USC and Stanford in a real meaningful Pac xx game. Clemson goes to A&M and so does GameDay. FSU gets a cupcake. Georgia at South Carolina should be fun and meaningful in the SEC East. Nebraska and Colorado in a throw back to big 8 days. Duke and Northwestern in the academic bowl this week, Navy and Memphis, yikes…So, a good weekend coming up.

As for the high school action, I sat through Crestview’s close win over St Martin, Miss. Bulldogs did not play with the hunger and fire that they should have, and their opponent was pretty good. It was a lucky escape with a W kind of night. This is a team that CHS routed 32-0 last year…Now, the show down with Navarre is on deck. This game, along with Niceville and West Florida, really does help determine the king of the hill for the panhandle (although Escambia already beat WF, so I should include them). We will see. On paper I like Crestview’s chance, but not if they play like they did in Mississippi. The picture of Navarre playing Tate, reminds me to mention - not only was cousin Bryan a star at Tate before Vandy, my mom also went to Tate for a while! Just for balance sake, cousin Frank is a renowned teacher at Navarre these days!

Wekiva, still a fairly new school, beat a good team from Georgia. Deerfield Beach also held up the Sunshine State pride, beating Buford GA. Hoover, fresh off a rout of one of the best team in Alabama, got SPANKED by St John’s of DC. I did not see that coming! Most of the other top team wons, but Bergan Catholic, NJ whipped Grayson Georgia pretty soundly. Two solid wins by easten/yankee teams over southern powers. One game last week that I failed to mention is where Maryville beat Oakland in a very close game. These are considered the top two public school teams in Tennessee. Brentwood Academy keeps rolling and we need a cage match at the end of the year between them and Maryville!

Counting down to the real start of college football

Well there were a handful of games this past weekend, with Hawaii’s victory over Colorado State the most meaningful. Speaking of Hawaii, they won the Little League World Series yesterday. Little League makes me remember why I love sports and as long as the parents are out of the picture (and broadcast), it is still innocent, or at least less tainted. I will have to spew some college football predictions in this post, but first let me recap what was a cool weekend of prep football. Crestview beat Bay 68-0. It was 55-0 at the half. I didn’t watch much of it and don’t care to watch any game that is so one sided. Also think some mercy needs to be shown and call the Dawgs off when it is out of hand, and maybe they did play the 9th graders in the 2nd half, I don’t know. Better save some of those points for the trip over to Mississippi, where Ocean Springs St Martin is waiting. A 2-0 team who was a playoff team last year, I expect they will not get rolled 68-0. Even with my distaste for massacre games, CHS did look like the talented team that we have been expecting. Stay humble boys and go win a big out of state match up for Florida.

Niceville fell to Lincoln. St Thomas Aquinas whacked DeMatha. Mater Dei wacked Bishop Gorman. Hoover whacked Pinson Valley. Maybe the best game I saw was the comeback Warren Central pulled to beat Louisville Trinity. Gutsy. Dr Phillips got spanked by a good Georgia team. This weekend, including the Crestview game, here are some others I will be keeping an eye on: St Johns from Washington DC area will go down to Birmingham to take on Hoover. Hoover does not lose very often, in state or out of state. Last week they SPANKED Pinson Valley with Auburn QB commit, who seemed to try to do it all by himself – a very bad idea. Bergan Catholic New Jersey will play Grayson Georgia and it should be a dandy! Deerfield Beach FL, will take on Georgia power Buford (smaller classification, but Georgia’s top team can PLAY). Another FL GA game is Wekiva vs N Gwinett. There are also a couple FL vs AL games with Dayton Mainland and Chaminade playing Huntsville schools Bob Jones and Muscle Shoals. Couple of big match ups in Ohio. Colrian and St Xavier in the Cinci area and St Ignatious vs Mentor up near Cleveland.

College time and the first thing is here is a great site to bookmark: http://www.gameviewingguide.com/ OK, the best programs in college football are: Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Washington, Wisconsin and Georgia. Penn State is there and Auburn is close. Miami is close. Texas is coming. USC is talented, Notre Dame is talented. UCLA under Kelly will get good. Nebraska under Frost will get good quick. Mich State should be good this year, and I think South Carolina is close…kind of. Florida has good football players, but the first year under a coach is iffy most of the time and the SEC is not nice. The Tennessee game is huge for the Gators, as I expect the Vols to be much improved. Maybe not improved enough to beat West Virginia on Saturday, but still.

Florida State also has a 1st year coach, so again, I don’t feel as sure of what to expect. Like UF, FSU has plenty of good football players. Do not expect them to be good enough to beat Clemson, but for the Noles, the Miami game is key. As it has been so many times over the years. There are hundreds of media predictions out there, so I don’t get points for having special insights, but here are my picks: Miami and Clemson to play in the ACC Championship Georgia and Alabama in the SEC Texas and Oklahoma in a rematch for Big 12 Wisconsin and Ohio State in the big10 Washington and Utah in the Pac. The Playoff will have Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia, as much as I hate including the Urban Liar’s team. Clemson is my pick to win it all, and it will be the long hair true freshman who is the QB when it counts. Last night, Northwestern and Purdue was worth watching. UCF demolished UCONN and look to be a force again this year even with Scott Frost gone on to Nebraska. Tonight, Duke vs Army will be watchable only because I like Duke and not too many other good games on. Western Kentucky at Wisconsin will be close for about 59 seconds, not because Western is bad, but the Badgers are huge and legit. Will just out physical the smaller team. Colorado and Colorado State has some value just because in state rivalries are “throw out the record books” sometimes. Don’t think Bobo has a long future with the Rams, but I remember him as a high school QB in Thomasville GA! Then on Saturday it is a FEAST of football! The best early games are Ole Miss v Texas Tech and FAU vs Oklahoma. Oklahoma should win, but Lame Kiffin’s Owls will make them work for it. The early afternoon slot has Tennessee and West Virginia playing in Charlotte. Hope the Vols can get Will Grier to throw it to the Orange team a few times, and establish power running game. The Marquee game is Auburn vs Washington! Hot diggity dog! Gators play Charleston and I hope our QB from Wakula has improved a bunch! SEC play will get here fast.

North Carolina plays Cal in an ACC vs Pac whatever match up. Heels are declining… Then the night time slate has MTSU v Vandy in a local game. Alabama will over power Louisville. Michigan vs Notre Dame should be a good one to watch! LATE late we have BYU Arizona and Navy at Hawaii. I hope to watch some of those games before passing out. Don’t stay up as late as I used too, and I had BOTH knees operated on Thursday, so I’m gobbling pain pills for a few days. Then on Sunday night, LSU and Miami go at it.

Finally, the Monday Night Football – college style is Virginia Tech in Tally to tangle with the Seminoles. Like the Hokies young coach, but sure hope FSU can hold serve at home and get Willie Taggert’s legacy started off right. Deondre should find some open receivers and Cam Akers should be able to get some nice stats against a young Foster defense. LIFE IS GREAT! Go Crestview, Go Gators, Go Vols and Go Noles.

Well, it was a fun start to the football season, the prep level anyway.

I watched Crestview on Facebook, and am so thankful for the broadcast on this vehicle! I cannot abide the “local” announcers, so I usually have the audio muted, at least until the band take the field. Crestview looked very good offensively against Madison. They scored 42 points in this scrimmage with some different format with possessions, at different yard lines. The left handed QB made some good throws and the starting tailback is a good one. The back up QB came in several times and looked shaky with the ball, but boy is he quick! Line is huge and skill position players are legit and abundant. The defense was good but not great. I think this era of Bulldog football is so offense minded, that the defense will probably be good by not great. Will have to out score the better teams. Madison brought some excellent athletes and while they are a 1A school (less than 500 students, which is about how big Crestview’s band is) they field a team that can line up with 95% of the teams in the country. At least 3 D1 kids on the Cowboys this season, with FSU going after 2 of them. The real season starts this week with the Bay High tornados out of Panama City. They won big in their classic, so Dawgs better take them seriously. I noticed an update to the Crestview schedule. The Tampa Catholic game has been replaced by International School of Broward. That absolutely helps Crestview! BTW, ISB plays here in Nashville against Noah Josey and Brentwood Academy the week before they play Crestview.

After the Crestview/Madison “scrimmage”, I watched one of the best teams in Arizona play a very strong team from California. Just like last year, Centennial (Corona, Ca) beat Chandler Az. The numbers usually win out. California, like Texas and Florida have so many schools/teams, that the best from those states typically are stronger than the best from smaller states – not always, but generally speaking. At the same time I was watching Folsom Ca, try to end De La Salle’s NoCal win streak, on my phone. DLS won 14 – 0 to keep their streak going and the national reputation high.

This coming weekend, many other states get their prep season going and ESPN is having a big splash of inter-state match ups and a couple of key in state showdowns. Probably the biggest as far as national rankings go, is Mater Dai vs Bishop Gorman. Warren Indiana matches up with Louisville Trinity, Our Lady of Good Counsel (Maryland) plays Marietta, Ga. IMG semi pro team plays Pine Richland out of Pennsylvania. Colquitt Ga, takes on Trinity Catholic St Louis. Cedar Grove GA bumps heads with Hewett Trussell AL. Also in Alabama, to top 5 teams Hoover and Pinson Valley play at lunch time on Saturday on ESPN. Grayson GA is touted as the top team in the peach state, and they get tested by Tucker. Out west, Centennial CA, fresh off a whipping of Chandler AZ, gets Orange Lutheran. Finally, the state of Ohio has a big one, when Hoban (Akron) plays St Ignatious. The late game Saturday night is St Thomas Aquinas vs DeMatha – should be a good one. BTW, IMG the semi pro team out of Bradenton, get pushed around by Lake City Columbia in a preseason game. Not sure if that is more about how good Columbia is, or how unimpressive IMG was…

theOhioState proved that they are just as greedy and that football rules, as all the other power schools, even the ones I pull for in Florida...sad but true