1A Playoff Predictions

[Money05]

With the regular season coming to a close and playoffs beginning, 1A football appears to have two clear projected favorites to make an appearance in Starkville. Leflore County would be my clear favorite for the North representative, and Simmons would be my pick from the south. While both teams seem to be the clear powers in their respective geographical regions (even though both teams are from the Delta but split between North and South), here are a few questions to discuss regarding possible shakeups we could see occur in the coming weeks to impact these projections:

 

1. Will Tupelo Christian’s strength of schedule catch up to them, or do they have what it takes to compete with Calhoun City and Leflore County down the stretch?

 

2. Is Lumberton at home good enough to scare Simmons and potentially send them home early assuming both teams meet in the 3rd round?

 

3. Can Junior Graham’s Ethel Tigers make a run to the South State championship, or will Stringer or South Delta end their historic season prior?

Edited Saturday at 02:58 PM by Money05

[pancho]

good explanation on the north 1A

[s1nglewing]

7 hours ago, Money05 said:

With the regular season coming to a close and playoffs beginning, 1A football appears to have two clear projected favorites to make an appearance in Starkville. Leflore County would be my clear favorite for the North representative, and Simmons would be my pick from the south. While both teams seem to be the clear powers in their respective geographical regions (even though both teams are from the Delta but split between North and South), here are a few questions to discuss regarding possible shakeups we could see occur in the coming weeks to impact these projections:

 

1. Will Tupelo Christian’s strength of schedule catch up to them, or do they have what it takes to compete with Calhoun City and Leflore County down the stretch?

 

2. Is Lumberton good enough to scare Simmons at home and potentially send them home early assuming both teams meet in the 3rd round?

 

3. Can Junior Graham’s Ethel Tigers make a run to the South State championship, or will Stringer or South Delta end their historic season prior?

What's "historic" about Ethel this season?

[Money05]

54 minutes ago, s1nglewing said:

What's "historic" about Ethel this season?

Ethel upset Nanih Waiya and won a district title for the first time since 1995. They also have not won a playoff game since 1991, but that should change when they play West Lincoln next Friday. For a program with a 36% all time winning percentage, this has been a great year for them. Definitely wouldn’t be considered “historic” for the blue blood programs in the state, but in comparison to their recent history, this has been a great year for them.

[doyouevencoachbro]

1 hour ago, Money05 said:

Ethel upset Nanih Waiya and won a district title for the first time since 1995. They also have not won a playoff game since 1991, but that should change when they play West Lincoln next Friday. For a program with a 36% all time winning percentage, this has been a great year for them. Definitely wouldn’t be considered “historic” for the blue blood programs in the state, but in comparison to their recent history, this has been a great year for them.

I agree with this statement.  For Ethel this is pretty impressive.  I don't think they will beat Stringer in the 2nd round but, I think they will at least get to play them. 

[ccbulldog]

why are there so many more 1A schools in the north than south that Simmons has to go play in the south.?

[Rebel Bert]

43 minutes ago, ccbulldog said:

why are there so many more 1A schools in the north than south that Simmons has to go play in the south.?

3 regions in the Tupelo to Columbus  area and 10 or 12 non football schools is one reason.

[Money05]

3 hours ago, doyouevencoachbro said:

I agree with this statement.  For Ethel this is pretty impressive.  I don't think they will beat Stringer in the 2nd round but, I think they will at least get to play them. 

You know if you really break it down I think Ethel has a better chance than people might expect. Ethel only gives up around 11-12 ppg, where Stringer is 1-3 this season when they score under 30 points. Ethel has held an 8-2 Eupora team to 14 points, and a banged up Nanih Waiya to only 6 points. Although Ethel has experienced offensive struggles most of the year, I think they could pull it off at home assuming their defense can match Stringer’s offensive physicality. 

[MSSportsGuy]

It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid.

 

Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? 

[Rebel Bert]

54 minutes ago, MSSportsGuy said:

It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid.

 

Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? 

Forest dropped the Raleigh game. Coach called 3 other coaches and got a no response.  Bay Springs  coach dropped us because our boys hit theirs so hard they can't take the pain. Coaches are playing their buddies now in some cases orcoaches they went to school with.

[Rusty Shackleford]

1 hour ago, MSSportsGuy said:

It’s ridiculous there are three zero win teams in the “playoffs”. Go back to 4 regions for 1A or take the top 2 teams because this is stupid.

 

Also so, so many teams aren’t playing ten games anymore. Why? I see a lot of nine game teams and some who played eight. What would the reason be? 

With most districts only having 5 teams, every team has a week once district play starts where you don’t have anybody to play in district. So in order to find somebody, you are limited to only the teams from other districts  who also happen to not have a district game that week. It’s a lot harder to find people to play because the majority of teams are locked into a district game. You just have to hope your non district week lines up with somebody else’s that is willing to play. Like Bert said. When Forest dropped Raleigh in the middle of the two year cycle. It was impossible for Raleigh to find anybody 

[Rebel Bert]

2 hours ago, Rusty Shackleford said:

With most districts only having 5 teams, every team has a week once district play starts where you don’t have anybody to play in district. So in order to find somebody, you are limited to only the teams from other districts  who also happen to not have a district game that week. It’s a lot harder to find people to play because the majority of teams are locked into a district game. You just have to hope your non district week lines up with somebody else’s that is willing to play. Like Bert said. When Forest dropped Raleigh in the middle of the two year cycle. It was impossible for Raleigh to find anybody 

7 others in MHSAA were open including Scott Central  and Hazlehurst. 

[pancho]

I know football coaches who are now dropping competition because they know the opponent will be a very good team the next few years.   just weak and running from good comp

[Rusty Shackleford]

45 minutes ago, Rebel Bert said:

7 others in MHSAA were open including Scott Central  and Hazlehurst. 

Yep. Both turned Raleigh down. As did Ittawamba AHS