ESPN2 is going to show Southlake Carroll vs Denton Ryan at 8:30pm CST. Very unusual to show Texas high school football on ESPN2. Right now I'm watching Midland Lee playing Odessa Permian on FoxSports Southwest. And despite Permian's movie Friday Night Lights, so far it's more like Thursday Night Lightsout for them. It's 21-0 Midland Lee 7:11 left in the 2nd quarter. That Midland Lee QB is destroying the Panthers' defense.
Now it's 28-0 Midland Lee. Their QB has already scored 3 TDs. Where's that MOJO spirit? BTW there are soccer lines on that field turf stadium.
Mike Renfros' son is playing for Southlake Carroll! And he scored that 83 yd TD. Denton Ryan have the ball in Carroll territory. 7-0 Carroll 7:57 left 1st quarter.
Ryan scored a TD but miss the PATD. 13-10 Denton Ryan. 3rd quarter just started in Midland Lee - Odessa Permian game.
The Midland Lee QB (McCoy) scored his 4th TD. He must have Eddie Johnson's MOJO. 35-0 Lee. This is downright embarrassing for Odessa Permian.
Great thread. I'd like to see ESPN do more in-depth coverage of high school ball in Georgia, Alabama and Florida as well. Those three states are almost as worthy of coverage as Texas. Valdosta (GA) HS has 23 state and (IIRC) 9 national championships. Saw current GA Tech QB Reggie Ball play against them in the second round of the playoffs a couple years ago. I read Friday Night Lights, and loved the book, despite some reality checks it contained about race relations in rural areas. I was thinking about the USA Today poll for high schools, and trying to figure out how some sort of real national championship playoff could be worked out for high schools. Probably wouldn't work in any case, because there's just too many schools, but since they do have a poll, they may as well try to get it right. Otherwise they should scrap it altogether. The current poll consists of (last time I checked) one guy who cannot possibly watch video of every game he needs to see to make a wise decision. Some programs are bound to be overlooked.
Permian scored a TD. 9:22 left in the 4th quarter. 44-7 Midland Lee. And Carroll's QB scored a TD. 24-13 Southlake Carroll.
I agree that there are too many high schools to do a national championship playoff. I would like to see also California and Pennsylvania high school football as well.
3rd TD for Clint Renfro. Papa Renfro would be proud of that awesome catch by his son. 31-13 Southlake Carroll.
Divide the country up into 6 regions of 8 states each... Northwest: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota Southwest: Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico Midwest: Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas Southeast: Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana Northeast: Maine, Connecticut, Massachussetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey Mid-Atlantic: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan The champion of each region goes to the national championship, along with the California and Texas champions. Downsides are that it could extent some teams' seasons by as much as 6 games, and that there's a competitive imbalance between the regions (Southeast and Mid-Atlantic are far stronger than any of the others), but it could be doable if there was the desire. (And yeah I know that there are 9 states in the Mid-Atlantic region, it's because I listed somebody twice but can't figure out who it is. The math works out: 8x6=48,48+2 (California and Texas) =50)
Years ago, I passed on the work you just did because: 1) As you said, the schedule would be too long, considering the number of multisport athletes in high schools. They'd cut deeply into b-ball season with six more weeks of games. 2) You might not be able to keep it at six more. You'd have to deal with school classification (size), and valid debates about whether the 6A runner-up or semifinalists could beat the 1A or 2A champion. But the best team I've ever seen personally was a 2A team from Town Creek, AL. Dressed 100 players for road games in the middle of a six-year reign as state champs. They'd have beaten most, if not all, the champions in the other classifications some of those years. Point is, you'd almost have to play those games on the field, and in a six-class state like Alabama, that would increase the total by at least three games (take the six champs and add two more...but which two?) even before any regional tournaments could be held. Then the private schools would want in, and even tho they don't deserve to be included in any activities involving student-athletes they wouldn't share a classroom with, they'd get in. That might increase the number even more. Also, I'm not sure California even has a state championship. Neither they nor Texas deserve to be in a region by themselves. CA is a huge state, and they're both huge football states, but they don't have any more tradition than Georgia, Florida or Alabama (or perhaps even Ohio or Pennsylvania). What they do have is publicity.
Fun thread and all, but it is high school we are talking about. The Polls are there in USA Today, but the idea of having a national high school playoff system is never, ever gonna happen. It would be cool to imagine it, but if they cannot get a playoff system in Division 1A College Football, I do not see how they would ever make one for High School Football.