Rez Ipsa

PNG’s D is actually slightly better in PPG. With yesterday’s win, we average 14.5 points per game.

I smell a tough game. Hope the team doesn’t look past Leander to Montgomery LC. Leander seems pretty good. Some size. No gauge on the comparative strength of their schedule, but that’s unreliable analysis most of the time anyway. We need to play our best game so far to get past them. We looked great against Brenham, but we can’t ignore how much Brenham’s mistakes helped us out (short punts, fumbles). We benefitted from short fields all night. This isn’t to take credit from the team for capitalizing on (and sometimes creating) those mistakes. Our defense got an anaconda grip on them from the beginning and never let go. Here’s hoping we do the same next week.

I hate the cowbells . Not as bad as those stupid drums Stephenville has

I got to talk to some Brenham fans after the game. They might be the nicest people in Texas. I wish we played them every year.

Well, I was wrong. I had Texas City making it to the third round.

[Hidden Content]

Brenham #17 RB is very good. Slippery in these wet conditions. Brenham D-line showing up, but png is probably averaging 5 yards a carry.

Agreed - I’m 50/50 on who wins between FBM and Randle (I think we’re looking at a 3-point game either way), but in the playoffs, defense is everything, and that’s advantage FBM. We see teams who average buckets of points all season lose to much more boring teams that just play good defense, every year in the playoffs. I’m a big Coach Faircloth fan (he gave a lot to the program, took us to the next level from where we had been, made us far more consistent, and won tons of games) but I don’t miss the “We’ll have to score 50 to win this game” days. All that to say, FBM looks “weaker” this year, but to paraphrase a quote Dave Campbell’s Matt Stepp yesterday, “Fort Bend Marshall has the best defense they’ve ever had.” That’s going to be a huge problem for Randle.

Didn’t they make the playoffs in 2021? I have trouble finding Nederland football history

They’ve GOT to start blocking for him. Or at least trying to.

Same year. Nederland was D1, PNg was D2

Ok - So, that goes to my point. West Orange was better than a lot of teams that made the playoffs across the state that year. Would they have made it to state? Who knows. But, it wouldn’t have hurt to have West Orange in, and they might have shaken things up.

Thanks - I thought it was West Orange that made it, not Nederland.

(1) UIL collects revenue from playoff games. More games = $$ (2) I like four teams in, and more teams solves a couple problems while not depriving the playoffs of what makes playoffs great. In the old days, teams were often punished for being in good districts. In 1999, state-ranked Nederland team sat at home because West Orange and PNG beat them. Both West Orange and PnG made good playoff runs, and it’s reasonable to expect Nederland would have as well. Far weaker teams than Nederland across the state made the playoffs because they were in weaker districts. I see the dilutive effect of adding more teams, but only if “making the playoffs” is the prize I’m protecting. But, our goal isn’t to see who can make the playoffs. Our goal is to arrive at the best team in the state via a single-elimination tournament. More teams doesn’t hurt that, and there have been four seeds who made it really far (I want to say some have made it to state because I remember hearing that from Dave Campbell’s, but I don’t know for certain).

Disregard, there’s already a thread on this below, I just missed it.

I don’t see a thread for this one yet. This is likely going to be the most competitive first round game between two really good teams in 5aD2, Region 3. Randle’s offense vs FBM’s speed, size, and defense. Randle has only lost to undefeated Lake Creek. FBM averaged just over 10 points a game on defense. I have a hunch FBM has a little more in this game. I’ll take FBM by three.

Right- I mean actually play.

Any word on whether Shae Adams will play this week? If so, in what capacity? It seems a waste to have a perfectly capable qb already and put him on the sidelines, when you could have Shae all over the field terrifying defenses and defensive coordinators, with Bailey at QB.

Texas City will roll in this one.

His speed would be killer in the playoffs. Scary. Especially paired with Chatagnier’s bruiser-style running. In Mid County Madness, I almost found myself wanting him to get more big runs just because it’s cool to watch that level of speed and agility. But (and not to kick Nederland while they’re down) there was hardly any blocking for him. He was on his own, and the confusing part is some of the plays seemed designed to put him on his own. No Rb can overcome that.

He’s already chewing up yards - But imagine him behind PNG’s o-line

Someone ask Hubert what he thinks about the color purple.

I think PnG will be ok. Brenham is soft on defense, and doesn’t have a lot on offense. Not to mention being pretty mistake-prone. I expect a comfortable 42-21 PNG win.

I’m going with West Orange. They aren’t what they used to be, but they’re not pushovers either.

Hoping for Nederland … The Bulldogs can do it.