Please help my simple mind understand.
SLC is simply not a complete package. They score alot, but no more than Colerain. And, they give up points. Significant points. And not necessarily just to the best teams they play in that strong schedule of theirs.
But we are asked to believe that they would score big points on Colerain???
Keller and Fossil Ridge held them to 33 and 28 points, respectively: SLC's lowest point totals for the year. I look at the results for these two teams and can tell you categorically that their defenses are hugely outclassed by Colerain's. Jamie - can you possibly disagree with this??
So just how many points do we think SLC's offense could put up on Colerain in all seriousness? If Keller and Fossil Ridge can hold them to 28 and 33 with much lesser defenses, I'm guessing we could reasonably expect SLC to score much fewer points.
Now on to SLC's Achille's Heal: defense. I just about laughed out loud when the claim of SLC's defense winning their last game was made. They coughed up 30 points and are made to sound like they held Abilene to a field goal in garbage time. And the 35 they gave up to 3-7 Haltom City? Lord help us. Colerain gives up bupkus to any and all comers. SLC drops 30 points last week and 35 to a 3-7 team, and everybody in the world has an excuse (errrr...explanation) for it. Get real, people.
In contrast, Colerain's most serious scare this year was when Moeller scored the one and only touchdown Colerain has given up in the first half this year. The Cardinal's reaction to that TD? They blocked the extra point and shut out Moeller for the rest of the game. Moe had been averaging 34 points per game up to that point. THAT is defense winning the game. Just like holding four Ohio D1 tournment opponents to 3 ppg is "defense winning the game" (just for :rant2: and giggles, forget the 35.5 the offense put up). Giving up 30 points like SLC did last week means your defense needs work, you'd better have a heck of an offense and you'd better hope the other team's defense has the same problems yours does.
The fact is that Colerain's defense has not been challenged AT ALL this year. Not by Elder or Moe, who averaged 34 ppg each. Nor by 11-0 Centerville, which was averaging 37 ppg and had logged over 550 ypg on at least one occasion. If you look at their box scores, you will readily see that if Colerain had left their 1st string defense in all the time, the most points they would have given up is 6 (I refer you back to the Moeller game I mentioned).
But, alas, magically we are to believe that SLC has the secret sauce to score significant points on Colerain. And we are to believe that somehow, SLC's undersized and not-so-speedy defense will somehow be able to hold a big and physical Colerain offense, despite the fact that ever since week one, no team has held them to less than 34 and they are averaging over 40.
So, could somebody please explain again why SLC is #1 and Colerain isn't? Because what I've heard so far just doesn't fly.
"Well, I don't think Colerain has faced a passing attack like SLC's". And Southlake Carroll HAS faced a defense even close to Colerain's???? Please.... And I guess we are to overlook this little defensive problem they have and assume that a big, strong Colerain offense wouldn't push them up and down the field all night?
Edited by Super B, 30 November 2004 - 08:01 AM.