Cougar14.2

If my reference went over your head like that, then It’s truly not even worth me even attempting to explain.  

So a black man calling another black man whose last name is Graham, Graham cracker, is a racial slur? Dude stop it!

I guess I'm in the minority? I liked the uniqueness and colors of the old format. This feels very "big box" like our board has fallen in line with other around the state. I'm sure it's for the best though. 

That's how it goes in Barbara's Hill.   

You don't lose by 44 points in a semi-final game if you match up with your opponent. Katy lost to North Shore three years in a row in playoffs from '17-'19, the next year in '20 when they didn't have to face them they went to the title game and beat Cedar Hill by 37 points. Oh yeah, they also have more titles than SLC. Katy doesn't match up with NS physically which is why NS dwarfs them in the number of D1 recruits they produce. So yeah, with 9 state titles to their name it's safe to say Katy matches up with anybody in the state too.  
SLC doesn't match up with Duncanville physically either. Not only does Duncanville have about 2k more kids than SLC they also dwarf them in D1 prospects just like North Shore does Katy. It took the #1 prospect in the country for SLC to mitigate that advantage in '20. Recruiters don't even view the athletes at the schools in the same light. For instance, Owen Allen ran for 1,266 yards as a sophomore and 2,063 yards as a junior last year for SLC and only has two FBS offers which are both from academy schools. Caden Durham is a '24 running back at Duncanville. He's the same size as Allen, has played one year on varsity and only rushed for 649 yards yet he's already up to 9 FBS offers including 4 from P5 schools. 
You don't have to agree that SLC physically doesn't match up with Duncanville, the guys that makes $100's of k's on top tier staffs around the country do though. 

It's going to be an interesting dynamic in the opener. PAM is going to have to defend an unfamiliar offense outside of what they'll see on film from the PNG scrimmages and PNG is going to have to defend PAM's speed with players who will probably still be unsure of exactly what their assignments are. Could make for a closer game than it seems to be on paper, especially playing at The Reservation where you're already down once you step off the bus. 

I could see Tascosa over Cooper, just saying 2-5A D1 goes 5 deep..someone that's pretty good is going to miss....
Manvel needs to keep an eye on Angleton, I think they are going to be sneaky good...
College Station's stud backup RB transferred to Decatur, they'll still be good but I'm not sure top ten good especially against that schedule...they will more than have their hands full in the opener against Lovejoy

1. Longview
2. Denton Ryan
3. Aledo
4. College Station
5. Frisco Lone Star 
6. Crosby
7. A&M Consolidated 
8. Manvel 
9. Mansfield Timberview 
10. Amarillo Tascosa 
 
 

I was/am worried about the trenches too. Somebody pointed out to me the other day though that we bring back something like 60 career starts on the o-line between the three returners. Was also told that 4 of the 5 current starters squatted over 500lbs during Spring workouts. I think the problem to us is that they don't look as imposing on the hoof as some of our other o-lines have in past. I think our three primary ball carriers are going to help with that though. 
I've been worried about the d-line every single year except like maybe '14, '15 and '21 but we always seem to sufficiently reload there. It's going to be virtually impossible to replace the Coop and Casey combination but we're so good at linebacker this year that we don't really need the kids to do that. They just need to keep our linebackers clean so they can make plays. That Summer Creek transfer is a game changer at the 2nd level. Keep in mind that we didn't see LaRive much this Spring either because of how well the baseball team was playing. We may not have Coop and Casey but I think we'll have a more talented defense overall. Definitely think they'll be faster which I think Coach Poth prefers over size anyway.  

I kind of thought so too but for example, who out of 7-9 would you for sure out in front of us? You knew Consol. was going to be good because they had a freshman QB and sophomore RBs when we played them last year but they also lost some of those huge trench guys that gave us issues.
 
Results are a direct product of your play so you can’t say there should’ve been an alternative outcome in the Manvel game but you’re probably one of the ones that walked out of Randal Reed thinking “There’s not a lot of daylight between these two teams, if any?”. They lost both RBs and a bunch of Power 5 kids on defense. 
 
Not too many years ago we used to complain about be disrespected and overlooked, for better or worse I think we’re getting the benefit of the doubt now. 

Capitalism at it's finest. If an 18 year old tech nerd who creates an app can make millions for his talents then why shouldn't the 18 year old QB make millions for his talents if someone is willing to pay it? Do we tell the tech nerd to wait until he graduates and gets a professional job before he starts receiving just compensation? Do we tell him the academic scholarship he's on IS his compensation like I see some who are against NIL do with athletic scholarships? 
If the consensus #7 QB in the country can get this type of money that tells you the emphasis college coaches place on getting the right guy at that position, just like they do on Sundays. Tennessee's QB commit got $8M for his commitment earlier this year. If rich boosters/collectives want to spend their money on kids for their entertainment then so be it. Unless the NCAA places guidelines on NIL deals then you're going to see this a lot, especially at the QB position which has the most impact on if a staff gets fired or not. 
NIL has basically turned college athletes' scholarships into one year deals with a player option at the end, which is totally fine with me. If a player outplays the "value" that one team sees them in then they're allowed one free transfer to another team that may see greater value in them, same for adults when they switch jobs. It also makes college coaches a lot more culpable for the lies they tell kids on the recruiting trail to get them on campus which IMO is the best part of the new NIL structure. 
The only downside I see to the current NIL structure is that it hurts a lot of middle to lower tier kids initial high school recruitment. If a program has 20 scholarships available in a class they're a heck of a lot more likely to take 15 high school kids and 5 transfers than they were a few years ago when those transfers would've had to sit and lose a year of eligibility if they transferred up or laterally.
Some people don't like the fact that NIL has taken some of the "amateurism" away from college sports, which I totally agree with, but why place stipulations/limitations on when a kid can receive financial compensation that may change the course of their lives just because they play sports?  

1. Longview
2. Denton Ryan
3. Aledo
4. College Station
5. Frisco Lone Star 
6. Crosby
7. A&M Consolidated 
8. Manvel 
9. Mansfield Timberview 
10. Amarillo Tascosa 
 
 

I know the McNair’s don’t own the stadium, very few pro sports franchise owners do own their stadiums/arenas. They lease them from the city/county but Bud Adams moved the Oilers because the city wouldn’t build him a new stadium. He was also a huge proponent of football at every level. That’s why we would play 1st round games all the way through the state championships. What I’m saying is that if Cal wanted games at NRG they would be playing games at NRG. You can read their lease agreement below and see how much stroke he has over the decision making. Cal and his dad have always been more skewed to the business side of things though. 
 

This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up

I don’t like playing at Abe either. It’s an old venue in need of some upgrades but I can assure you Coach P isn’t going to agree to play y’all in Nac and make the Crosby fans travel twice the distance. Sounds like it would potentially be in Waco then. We did hammer Texas High at SFA a couple of years ago though. 

Capitalism at it's finest. If an 18 year old tech nerd who creates an app can make millions for his talents then why shouldn't the 18 year old QB make millions for his talents if someone is willing to pay it? Do we tell the tech nerd to wait until he graduates and gets a professional job before he starts receiving just compensation? Do we tell him the academic scholarship he's on IS his compensation like I see some who are against NIL do with athletic scholarships? 
If the consensus #7 QB in the country can get this type of money that tells you the emphasis college coaches place on getting the right guy at that position, just like they do on Sundays. Tennessee's QB commit got $8M for his commitment earlier this year. If rich boosters/collectives want to spend their money on kids for their entertainment then so be it. Unless the NCAA places guidelines on NIL deals then you're going to see this a lot, especially at the QB position which has the most impact on if a staff gets fired or not. 
NIL has basically turned college athletes' scholarships into one year deals with a player option at the end, which is totally fine with me. If a player outplays the "value" that one team sees them in then they're allowed one free transfer to another team that may see greater value in them, same for adults when they switch jobs. It also makes college coaches a lot more culpable for the lies they tell kids on the recruiting trail to get them on campus which IMO is the best part of the new NIL structure. 
The only downside I see to the current NIL structure is that it hurts a lot of middle to lower tier kids initial high school recruitment. If a program has 20 scholarships available in a class they're a heck of a lot more likely to take 15 high school kids and 5 transfers than they were a few years ago when those transfers would've had to sit and lose a year of eligibility if they transferred up or laterally.
Some people don't like the fact that NIL has taken some of the "amateurism" away from college sports, which I totally agree with, but why place stipulations/limitations on when a kid can receive financial compensation that may change the course of their lives just because they play sports?  

Free market! 

Per DC's district finish predictions the playoff paths for the four 8-5A-D1 teams would be:  
Crosby: 1st - McKinney North, 2nd - Frisco Wakeland, 3rd - Longview 
PA Memorial: 1st - John Tyler, 2nd - Mansfield Timberview/Frisco, 3rd - Frisco Lone Star  
Barbers Hill: 1st - Lancaster, 2nd - Frisco Lone Star
Kingwood Park: 1st - Longview 
*DC's has Baytown Lee 4th but I think KP will finish in that spot 

Per DC's district finish predictions the playoff paths for the four 8-5A-D1 teams would be:  
Crosby: 1st - McKinney North, 2nd - Frisco Wakeland, 3rd - Longview 
PA Memorial: 1st - John Tyler, 2nd - Mansfield Timberview/Frisco, 3rd - Frisco Lone Star  
Barbers Hill: 1st - Lancaster, 2nd - Frisco Lone Star
Kingwood Park: 1st - Longview 
*DC's has Baytown Lee 4th but I think KP will finish in that spot 

DCTF's District 6-5AD1 prediction
1. Frisco Lone Star
2. Frisco Wakeland
3. Frisco Reedy
4. Frisco
5. Frisco Heritage
6. Frisco Liberty
7. Sherman
8. Frisco Centennial
9. Frisco Lebanon Trail

I'm high on PNG because of what they have coming back but it's just hard to predict anything with a first year coach? On one hand I feel like with what they're returning anything less than 10-3 would be somewhat disappointing. On the other hand I feel like 9-4 with a first year coach is dang near as solid as it gets. 
1. FB Marshall - Most pedigree in recent years, most talent and the best proven head coach to date. I have a feeling they'll be out to prove a point this year and their non-district schedule of Klein, Crosby and Alief Taylor should have them more than ready for district play. I think they'll play Liberty Hill in the semis 
2. Texas City - If they could score they might be in the conversation to battle for the region. Expect a lot more of the same of what you saw from them last year. The only real impactful loss they had is their QB and according to the TC fans his little brother is better anyway. 
3. PNG - Like those old BH teams, PNG is still struggling to defend on the edges. We'll see what the new offense looks like but picking them 3rd really should matter since they went three deep from the three-hole anyway last year. 
4. Dayton - It will only be the 5th game of the year but I think they go over to Mid-County and play the Dogs for a playoff spot. Biggest question I have is if Dayton can stem the tide of being beat down at the line of scrimmage the last several years? 
5. Nederland - No doubt their biggest game is MCM but if Ned can't beat Dayton at home week 5 they might be on skates the rest of the season. The 27.5ppg they averaged last year won't get it done this year either. Ned needs several pieces but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up with the best statistical defense in the district. 
6. Galena Park - Went to their playoff game with PNG last year and was pretty surprised with how decent they were at the line of scrimmage. That being said, their skill guys left a lot to be desired. They're going to give a couple teams some tough nights with that style of offense but that about all they'll probably do. 
7. FB Willowridge - They have a new coach and those Mo City athletes are nothing to sneeze at but it's hard to see them putting it together enough to really cause any trouble in the district. I will say though, be careful going over there to play them as it will be a long ride to an unfamiliar place which usually causes some discomfort. 
8. Bye Week - most teams should be able to go undefeated against them.
9. Santa Fe - Situation is borderline HISD level as far as competition. No explanation needed as I'm sure it's tough enough for them. 
I would not at all be surprised to see three of the top 5 teams in the region come from this district. I think other salty teams in the region will be Austin LBJ, Leander Rouse and possibly Bryan Rudder. 

I'm high on PNG because of what they have coming back but it's just hard to predict anything with a first year coach? On one hand I feel like with what they're returning anything less than 10-3 would be somewhat disappointing. On the other hand I feel like 9-4 with a first year coach is dang near as solid as it gets. 
1. FB Marshall - Most pedigree in recent years, most talent and the best proven head coach to date. I have a feeling they'll be out to prove a point this year and their non-district schedule of Klein, Crosby and Alief Taylor should have them more than ready for district play. I think they'll play Liberty Hill in the semis 
2. Texas City - If they could score they might be in the conversation to battle for the region. Expect a lot more of the same of what you saw from them last year. The only real impactful loss they had is their QB and according to the TC fans his little brother is better anyway. 
3. PNG - Like those old BH teams, PNG is still struggling to defend on the edges. We'll see what the new offense looks like but picking them 3rd really should matter since they went three deep from the three-hole anyway last year. 
4. Dayton - It will only be the 5th game of the year but I think they go over to Mid-County and play the Dogs for a playoff spot. Biggest question I have is if Dayton can stem the tide of being beat down at the line of scrimmage the last several years? 
5. Nederland - No doubt their biggest game is MCM but if Ned can't beat Dayton at home week 5 they might be on skates the rest of the season. The 27.5ppg they averaged last year won't get it done this year either. Ned needs several pieces but it wouldn't surprise me if they end up with the best statistical defense in the district. 
6. Galena Park - Went to their playoff game with PNG last year and was pretty surprised with how decent they were at the line of scrimmage. That being said, their skill guys left a lot to be desired. They're going to give a couple teams some tough nights with that style of offense but that about all they'll probably do. 
7. FB Willowridge - They have a new coach and those Mo City athletes are nothing to sneeze at but it's hard to see them putting it together enough to really cause any trouble in the district. I will say though, be careful going over there to play them as it will be a long ride to an unfamiliar place which usually causes some discomfort. 
8. Bye Week - most teams should be able to go undefeated against them.
9. Santa Fe - Situation is borderline HISD level as far as competition. No explanation needed as I'm sure it's tough enough for them. 
I would not at all be surprised to see three of the top 5 teams in the region come from this district. I think other salty teams in the region will be Austin LBJ, Leander Rouse and possibly Bryan Rudder. 

Seems like wherever Rio goes he produces high quality talent on the offensive side of the ball. All the way from Tyrik Rollison at Sulphuric Springs to the Brisbane kid he has now. Crazy part is that if he didn’t have to kick his starting qb off the team he’s probably playing for a state title last year. Dude can flat out coach offensive football. 
 
I think a healthy Chapel Hill is a title contender this year too though. Riordan has basically proved if you give him the guys he can beat your guys. Very impressed how fast he’s gotten CH there against that level of competition in that area. 

I'm surprised Chapel Hill didn't start #1.
 
I know that offense will be even more potent this season if they stay fairly healthy. 

Ryan didnt have much depth last year and its even less this year...You are correct abour Ryan's defense still being strong but Longview did put 33 up on them in the playoffs so clearly the Lobos took big steps forward primarily IMO due to improvement on the OL, which returns mostly intact. I'd give Longview the edge over Ryan at WR, I'd give Longview the edge over Ryan at RB (each team has a 4-star stud, but Longview is much deeper there)...obviously Longview's OL gets the edge over Ryan...Longview's QB played a lot last year and struggled, mainly because I think he had a senior looking over his shoulder, he seems much more confident this year and according to the staff he's made major strides....Ryan's front seven gets a big edge over Longview IMO (thats where Longview has the most questions), but the gap between the two secondaries isn't as big as one would think...Longview's back four has some really talented young kids...
Teams dont beat Longview four times in a row often, I'm playing the odds here in my personal rankings and giving Longview the edge over Ryan in a potential semifinal....and at least in the pre-season rankings, the computer agrees

As a Lobo fan, I tend to agree more that Longview should not have the nod over 1-2 possibly 3 other teams for the number one spot.  My reasons are pretty simple:
O-line: I know we return a lot but are on the smaller side.  That is not historically a problem for Longview to have smaller O-line because they are masters of using strength and leverage to their advantage.  That has definitely not been the case the last two years.  If that changes and they get back to true form, they will be a force.
QB: Potential starter - Great kid, hard worker, completely committed to his team/program.  His skillset the two previous years underwhelmed but he has looked his best this spring and qualifying for the state 7 on 7.  How he plays this fall will be the key...doesn't have to be a world beater but has to cut down on the mistakes in a major way.
Games versus elite teams: As previously mentioned we are 0-5 the last 2 years against the best (elite) teams on our schedule.  Until we can get over that hump, it is a wait and see for me.
I personally think that Lonestar-Crosby-Longview will be the Region 2 favorites.  The biggest issue for both Longview and Crosby will be their really weak schedules.  I think Longview has 2 solid teams on its schedule and Crosby 1-2.  That could be an issue for both teams once the playoffs start.
Going to be a great season.  Can't wait to see what happens.