Week 1 upsets

          Whitefield Academy over Macon County barely qualifies, only because it was in Montezuma.

 

Week 1 surprises

          ACE getting a month’s worth of points in a game is notable. Ditto Crawford County getting 53 in the same game. All that scoring – 123 points – in any game is a surprise.

          GMC getting thumped by 28 at Wheeler County was a little unexpected. The Bulldogs have to prove last year wasn’t a fluke.

          Tattnall cringes a little bit at a good win that turned into a tough loss, 28-21 to GHSA Class A-II No. 1 Schley County. Still, it was a good opener for the Trojans.

          Whoever had Peach County giving 30 is lyyyying. Baldwin, though, yet again is a mistake-prone team, one that really shouldn’t be losing by 30 points to almost anybody.

 

Insanity

          If these big-time programs need  to have – and no, they don’t need to have – dozens of “analysts” to go along with the full-time head coaches, the loads of grad and student assistants, all the video people, all the strength & conditioning people, “quality  control” people in all three phases (or every bleepin’ position group), directors of player development and of speed improvement and skill development, and quality control for personnel (multiple positions), I have one question:

          What the hell do the head coaches now need $10 million a year for and have no time to visit fan groups in their state?

          It’s getting harder and harder to take things seriously. You have 70 people doing stuff when you played for a staff 40 percent that size, and you can’t visit with the people responsible for that salary and for making that job great?

          Look at Florida’s football staff list. I don’t put coaches on much of a clock, but Billyboy, you better be in Atlanta next year with all those bodies doing all that crap when it really, honestly and truly, comes down to work ethic and fundamentals and some smarts.

Plus, recruiting coachable players, which means players who listen and then go do. Overshadows the 4.3 or huge bench of a knucklehead.

In fact, knuckleheads render a director of football logistics – huh? – fairly irrelevant.

 

Loughdmouthings

          There sure are a lot of good matchups – seems like more than usual – early on this season.

          This week, we have Perry-Houston County, Northside-Peach County, Baldwin-Putnam County, West Laurens-Dodge County, Washington County-Swainsboro, among others.

          All are ranked or a win or two away from being ranked.

          Stratford-Westfield highlights the GIAA offerings. …

          Zion Ragins is a speedy wideout at Jones County, but goodness, he ran like a bigger bruiser a fair amount of the time against Northside, and avoided big hits, no mean feat.

          It’ll be hard to take your eyes off him during Jones County games. Be happy you’re not chasing him. …

          Man, the Macon Touchdown Club’s luck sure gets shaky around Kickoff Classic time.

          Yet again, lightning and rain took over the day, to the point of suspending play for the day. A few years ago, weather pushed back the Baldwin-Washington County kickoff to around 11 p.m.

          The doubleheader’s goal is to raise money for the club’s scholarship fund as well as give the schools involved a chance to make some money. Schools get however many tickets they want, and keep all the money they take in, and the club splits the walk-up gameday money with the teams, a complete win-win.

          But this danged weather puts a bummer on an otherwise quality experience. …

          Dear Fridaynightcasters: Rather than have two or three people “watching” the game wonder if there was a flag – stop yammering a bit and watch the game is a start – and then have team speculation, usually wrong, about the call, just watch the guy with the white hat.

          He’s called the ‘white hat’ for a reason. He tells us what the flag was. All the time. It’s his job. Be patient – why in a hurry to be wrong all the time? – and watch him, and it’s amazing how competent folks can sound. …

          To be elaborated on later: The Falcons will be better than last year, and more competitive, and will pull off two upsets, and Marcus Mariota will be better than Falconwhiners can grasp. …

          They said it: “I’m not saying the University of Florida’s brand-new $85-million, 140,000-square -oot standalone football facility is plush and palatial, but LIV Golf just offered the Gators $200 million to buy it.”

          - Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel

         

Polls

 

Division 1

(6A-5A-4A-3A)

1. Jones County

          The Greyhounds weren’t in midseason form against Northside, but they didn’t have many first-game hiccups, either. New QB Judd Anderson didn’t look much like a QB with a new team. Jones County is off to a nice start.

2. Warner Robins

          Losing to a 6A state power by a couple scores is no big deal. What coaches saw on film afterward is more relevant. But again, make no mistake, this is something of a transition year for the Demons.

3. Perry

          The rested Panthers start this week.

4. Peach County

          The Trojans rolled 4A Baldwin, putting up 50. Gee, what might’ve happened if they didn’t get flagged almost 20 times? Peach County will get some running in this week, and should be sharper against Northside.

5. Houston County

          Granted, the opponent was AA Sumter County, a 1-8 team in 3A last year, but cracking 40 with a new staff and new offense on the road is a decent sign for HoCo, which hadn’t cracked 40 since beating Rutland 54-0 early in the 2019 season.

 

Division II

(AA-A-GISA)

1. Northeast

          The Raiders were down 14-12 on Saturday when the game with Mary Persons was suspended, so there’s no reason yet to move them around. Odds are the more balanced Bulldogs would’ve eked out a win, which would have only dropped Northeast a spot.

2. Bleckley County

          So much for a rival game feeling like a rivalry on game night. The Royals hammered Dodge County with a solid, balanced season opener.

3. Putnam County

          The War Eagles get going this week.

4. Lamar County

          A road win at Wilcox County by 13 is impressive. Lamar County led from the start, almost four hours from home.

5. Macon County

          The biggest part of Friday night’s ‘upset’ was that it came in Montezuma. But the loss to Whitefield Academy wasn’t all that big an upset.

6. Washington County

          The Golden Eagles start this week.

7. Dublin

          Nobody expected the Irish, on any year, to have that much trouble with Wilkinson County. For that game to be in doubt going into the fourth quarter was unexpected. Expect major improvement during an off week with Lamar County after that.

8. John Milledge

          *Yawn, stretch*. The Trojans rolled Brentwood, again, to open the season. Lather, rinse, repeat.

9. FPD

          The Vikings scrimmage GHSA 4A West Laurens, and open this week.

10. ACE

          Sure, it’s highly unlikely the Gryphons will make another poll appearance this season, but putting up 70 in the opener with a new staff against an equal team is pretty decent. Then again, about that gave-up-53-points defense …