We’re unfortunately back to early-season temperatures for a bit after two teasing weeks of gloriousness.

          Some teams appear almost in mid-season form, but most are about normal, middlin’ through the early season and the requisite early-season issues.

          But kids, stop jumping offsides. Makes no sense.

Stop jumping before your center snaps it. Makes no sense.

The best plays to make are the simply plays you’re supposed to make. Making the most plays is better than making the “best” play.

Despite attempts to make the game more complex than one-handed and one-eyed brain surgery while flying on a rocket ship steered by WHO and dissecting the GHSA power rating system, it’s really a moderately simple game.

  Tackle properly, like you’ve been taught - belly button or lower - and like you mean it.

Makes Fridays better.

 

So, now we know

          Houston County seems to be about where it was last year, which is good, considering how many starters it lost.

          Perry is still Perry. The state champs through two weeks have shrugged off any signs of overconfidence or a hangover.

          Peach County is getting back. Thumping a banged-up Northeast was a nice taking-care-of-business win, but coughing up nearly half a hundred to Perry humbles.

          The initial guess here was that Dodge County would improve to about .500 under the latest new head coach Phillip Brown. The Indians may be better than that, but being in that absurd 40A/Division I won’t help the record.

          Dublin is Dublin.

This week
* Maxwell Predictions
* Central Georgia state composite rankings
* Who’s going to win this week’s games?
* Central Georgia rankings
* Monday Morning Quarterback: Notes, reviews, Loughdmouthings
* Macon Touchdown Club players of the week

Last week
* Roundup: Rivalry night for Dodge County-Bleckley County; Perry-Peach County slug it out; Pointsapaloozas for Dublin, Westfield, Stratford, FPD; 67-48 & 6-0 games? Northside sweats out Baldwin
* Scouting Reports: This week’s GHSA and GIAA games
* Maxwell Predictions
* Central Georgia state rankings
* Who’s going to win this week’s games?

Preseason and first-week coverage

          Bibb County’s public school teams are 0-6 against non-Bibb County public school teams, with three shutouts. Ouch. …

          That Stratford might have a transition period based on a new staff with different personalities appears off base a little. The Eagles have outscored their first two opponents 83-13, but their numbers last year against better teams was 92-27.

          Like Perry, FPD has put last year’s success in the trophy case, and could be a better team despite fewer – as of now – headliners.

          Central Fellowship is in major rebuilding mode. Gatewood is in some rebuilding mode. Trinity Christian may be ahead of schedule in rebuilding. Ditto Windsor.

And we don’t quite know

          The suspense of Northside observers only grows after being unable to do much with Baldwin. The Eagles started 2-0 last year, too.

          Bleckley County rolled over Rutland, then stumbled – especially at the end – against Dodge County, whom the Royals had beaten three straight times in Cochran.

          East Laurens getting thumped by Dublin after surprising Johnson County was no shock. Progress - which may not necessarily mean wins, considering the region – is likely to start showing more in a few weeks.

          Jasper County fixed its issues from the Taylor County loss with a nice shutout of Hancock Central, but finding consistency is still the key.

          Baldwin’s issues over the years of discipline and playing smart continue. Any remotely consistent fundamental play and avoidance of dumb mistakes, and the Braves would’ve beaten Northside. Still, it was a step forward. Baldwin made a major improvement after being very ineffective against Perry to taking Northside to the wire. But the tradition of mistakes and penalties is still in Baldwin’s way. The Braves can play their way to region contention or out of the playoff picture.

          Rutland has been progressing in its competitiveness, but trailing 35-0 to a lower-classification team that went 6-15 the last two years is an issue.

          Macon County’s optimism was thumped by Bowdon’s 56-7 win. The Bulldogs are in good company against the growing powerhouse, though.

          Upson-Lee’s last shutouts came to AAA Mary Persons (15-0, 2023’s Game 10), and then three straight to end 2022 (54-0, Peach County; 33-0, Mary Persons;  and 39-0, Carver-Columbus). Falling 6-0 to Class A Manchester – a nice team, no doubt – is a step back.

 

Loughdmouthings

          A change in the routine: The Central Georgia polls, Division I and II, will be posted separately each week. …

          There’ll be the hype this week about the greatest rivalry around – aren’t allllll rivalry’s hyped by those at mics by the best ever on the planet, whether they’ve been or not? - but let’s be honest.

          One team is way down, and support has been dropping. And one team has been really, really good but plays at home in front of really, really unimpressive crowds, despite being the city’s namesake and on a hot run.

          Rarely when the people near mics blather about packed houses and great atmospheres are there really packed houses and great atmospheres. Great games make for great atmospheres, but folks have to show up, too. …

          Dabo Swinney is catching a lot of heat for abandoning live callers for his weekly radio show. Um, somebody not far away did the same years ago, and has a show in a comfy confines surrounded by nothing but huggers.

          It’s a lot more common than people think. And it’s kind of predictable. Has anybody paid attention to “fans” the last 30 years? They’re worse every year. Dumber, more petty and paranoid and hateful, and dumber. Technology at their fingertips doesn’t matter.

          Really and truly, it’s OK to be lucid, realistic, objective, complimentary of the other team, and it’s fine to try to be knowledgable about something, go to bed a little smarter than when you got up.

          Really and truly.

          Conversely, coaches worrying about “fans” or taking criticism too seriously – let’s just skip the farcical clown show in Colorado – and being unable to just fire off a quick one-liner is a little concerning.

          We’d have no comedians if they ran at every heckle. And they’re not making $10 mil a year in a bubble. …

          Answering a question: Westside, enrollment 1,000, rode nearly 10 hours to face First Baptist Academy, enrollment 280, 6-12 enrollment 492.

          First Baptist did win a Class A state title in 2022. 

          An interesting schedule decision, yes, as is Mary Persons welcoming a team from British Columbia this week.

          Mary Persons head coach Brian Nelson opened an email, and all of a sudden, his second game of the year is a team from British Columbia.

          “I basically responded to an email,” Nelson said. “They do this once every four years, so thought the career of a kid in high school, he can come down here and play one time. It came down to us, some school in Texas and some school in Illinois.”

          The team arrived in the state Tuesday and is staying in the Sandy Springs area. It’ll head to metro Forsyth on Thursday. School hasn’t started yet in Canada.

          Wow. Late August and they don’t have almost a month of classes behind them? What a concept.

          Canadian high school football has all the same rules as in the U.S., so the adjustments will be the heat, a pretty good crowd, the heat, and whatever else crops up.

          All Nelson wants out of the weekend is a win, and no more injuries. …

          Hope all the simpleton Florida State fans who spent months whining about Kirk Herbstreit’s proper take on the playoffs realize that opinions based on knowledge will always anger keyboard clowns whose opinions are based on no knowledge, only fanaticism.

          Reasons why some of us can like teams or coaches or players and wish pain and agitation on fan bases, 98 percent of whom are exactly the same.

Kinda like the one that whined when the former star defensive lineman did his job on ESPN and was professional and intelligent and objective. How dare he? Then he got fired – a braindead move – and they rushed to love him again.

Don’t hate people for being bright and right. …

          McConnell-Talbert seats more people than Herb St. John, but not a whole lot more. Perry and Houston County have played only 12 times, compared to 66 times for Warner Robins and Northside.

The actual attendance Friday will be very close, with more people standing at Herb St. John – and paying attention – than McConnell-Talbert.

Nope, the Demons and Eagles ain’t what it used to be. Perry and Houston County is much more than it used to be. …

          It’s kind of amazing that Perry’s Casey Hayward and Twiggs County’s Darqueze Dennard aren’t employed by an NFL team. …

          Funky stat: Back in 2016, Northside welcomed alum Mike Chastain back to the rivalry when he took over at Warner Robins, and won 55-3, the biggest margin in the series.

The Demons have won every game since, including a three-game stretch of 39-0, 47-0, and 49-7.