Division 1 Region 3

[lancaster90]

Whats the deal with needing multiple 1 year contracts?

Gales have had schools back out of the 2nd year of 2 year contracts several times. The reason they played a Canadian team 2 years in a row a few years back. This should not be a problem the next few years with only 3 non conference games to schedule for the next few years.

 

[gcfqn]

Want to see something stranger than fiction?

Of the following three teams, which one would have in theory been the most prepared to be somewhat competitive in Region 3 playoffs? Like if all three teams were hypothetically in Region 3, which one would the money have moved toward to make week 12?

Licking Valley
Watkins Memorial
Licking Heights


Why did I pick those three teams?

View attachment 64588

Licking Valley

 

[ElDuderino]

R3 Power Rankings - Enough data out there to attempt power rankings instead of just listing notes:

Liberty - Provided clear separation over the rest of the region for the time being with the running clock win over Gahanna. Still a very tough schedule ahead, but 9-1 with the SOS here likely gets 1 seed in the region even if someone else goes undefeated. Not a weakness on this team and they are dominating opponents.

Pick North - Will reluctantly add them here, simply because have no idea of the relative strength of the Mich team they played and the throwaway game against St Ed. The south vs north COH data points so far suggest that in general N/NW ball is stronger than S/SE ball, and win over Pick Central def not what it used to mean, given their rather suspect defense. Absolute sleepwalk schedule remains, pending learning a little more about how good Grove City really is. Top 3 region finish likely.

Orange - Finally played a good defensive team last week and were slowed down initially, but stretched their legs in the second half and still ended with an impressive offensive performance. Some defensive questions relative to some of the other strong teams, but this offense is a danger to score at any time. First of many "prove it" games Friday when they go to Gahanna.

Pick Central - Another reluctant placing here until more games play out, they Wayne team they gave up 40 to was shut down by a good IN program, but still need to see more about how good that win actually was. Dropped 2 score game to North, but everyone still seems to think Harvest Prep is a world beater off the win week 1. Clearly some talent on this team, no excuses for losing any other games this year, which should get them a high seed in the region.

Berlin - Many will likely ask, Berlin ahead of UA when UA beat them? UA is a solid squad for sure, but Berlin beat themselves in that game and I would like them in a playoff rematch. Very solid team that does just about everything well, nothing spectacular yet, but as the lines get coached up more during the year this team will only get better. Pass defense likely to be their ultimate undoing. Two very tough games coming up before a soft conf schedule that will hurt them in the computer.

UA - Had trouble putting away Burg until late, though the end result was never in doubt. Solid defensive team can steal a win from anyone by keeping games close and capitalizing on mistakes if they don't make any. Lacking offensive firepower will by why they ultimately fall short. Taking a couple weeks off here, but some really fun strength-on-strength league games coming up when they go against big offenses.

Olentangy - Some exceptional individual players, especially on defense, haven't shown full gel yet as a team. 2 pk6s last week covered up some continued offensive problems for this team, but when the defense plays this well you don't always need an offense. Last week's win over Medina needs more context, as they were blown out again by Wadsworth. Awful schedule from here until week 10 wont tell us a whole lot about whether or not this team can pull off a week 2 playoff win until the showdown with Berlin.

Grove City - Playing very well so far against a schedule that doesn't relate to the upper teams in this region. Absolutely nothing left on their schedule besides PN and Gahanna. Going to steal a higher seed they wouldn't otherwise have gotten in a region round-robin, but give them credit for winning the games in front of them. Need to learn more in their tough games.

Gahanna - Loss to GPM now looks bad after GPM lost by 2 scores to Big Walnut, and the Mason team they beat is having a down year as well. Still several chances to prove themselves and get better, but hard to see them reversing a result on Liberty in the playoffs, so ceiling is limited. Another case, however, of I would like them in a playoff rematch vs GPM, thus the ranking.

GPM - Hoping to get a chance to see the Big Nut game, because this was a shocking loss and would love to understand more about what happened here. Regardless, put in context with Gahanna/Liberty, it starts to paint a picture that maybe we were all over rating both GPM and Gahanna.

WvNorth - As mentioned last week, too many ppl looking at their one "close loss" in the playoffs against Bradley and not enough at all their other games, which essentially tell us they would struggle quite a bit in a round robin with the top 10 teams in this region. No excuse to lose any remaining game, if you want to be talked about as one of the better teams in the region. Great improvement from prior baseline. Long way to go to be a top 5 team in the region.

R'Burg - Playing better ball this year and looking respectable in losses. GPM and Pick Central games will tell us whether there is actually any playoff danger here or not, in the meantime program has a chance to build some momentum with some mid-level wins coming up.

Hayes - After beating up on tomato cans, the rest of their schedule suddenly looks a little tougher than it initially did. Let's check back in a couple weeks and see if the Drew50 computer is thinking about this team the right way (as a 12-ish seed) or if there is actually some substance here.

Lancaster - Off to a good start, but opponents have no wins and a looming schedule that could be tough for them will start providing nerves if they drop the next 3 games. A win this week should guarantee playoffs, otherwise things start to get dicey, although this team has shown they are capable of a surprise win in the past. Either way, going to be a lower seed for them in the playoffs and likely 1st rd exit.

Newark - Team keeps winning the games they should, and standout WR makes them much more dangerous than they usually are. This week is a real test to see where they fit, a chance to move up the ladder here with a good showing. Return to playoffs all but guaranteed at this point, but hard to expect much beyond that.

WvCentral - Difficult schedule remains for this team who seems lost without their starting QB. They need to steal a win somewhere (and beat CC) for any hope of making the playoffs. Game this week against JeromeCC represents their only chance until week 9 to potentially do that.

Watkins - Pain train continues for this team, whose fans seemed to think 2 returning all-state players in D2 meant they would be good this year. Haven't seen them play, so not sure what's going on here, but they only have to win 2 games to steal the playoff spot most likely, and have a couple 500+ Drew50 opportunities later in the year. The Sheridan team they lost to by 10 is ranked 318 in the Drew50 computer. Not good.

YOTW - Are clearly missing the couple recent D1 athletes they had who graduated, and have slipped to the 500 range in the Drew50 computer. Just have to hope for safe games where no one gets injured and be ready to play lots of kids against them, which can be fun.

 

[watty1991]

GPM - Hoping to get a chance to see the Big Nut game, because this was a shocking loss and would love to understand more about what happened here. Regardless, put in context with Gahanna/Liberty, it starts to paint a picture that maybe we were all over rating both GPM and Gahanna.

Or this means Big Walnut is very good and Watterson is VERY VERY good------ Which is my hope!

 

[ElDuderino]

GPM - Hoping to get a chance to see the Big Nut game, because this was a shocking loss and would love to understand more about what happened here. Regardless, put in context with Gahanna/Liberty, it starts to paint a picture that maybe we were all over rating both GPM and Gahanna.

Or this means Big Walnut is very good and Watterson is VERY VERY good------ Which is my hope!

I saw them scrimmage Berlin live, scrimmages are always tricky reads, and while they accounted for themselves fine playing a game where neither QB is going to run, and can likely have success vs much on their schedule, they would not win more than 2 or 3 games in a round robin in this region top 10. Open to the idea they are improving, let's see what happens next 2 weeks and vs North.

Watterson is definitely very, very good. Drew50 has them 18 in the state now, which they deserve.

 

[The Dock]

Good morning to all of my fellow Central Ohio Football fans.

My 2 cents on Lancaster this season. The Gales started a lot of sophomores last season and a lot more saw significant playing time throughout the season.

We should see significant improvement at almost every position from last season to this one.

They have some good speed on both sides of the ball and might be the biggest I’ve seen them in the trenches in the last decade.

Could very well see them with a 7-3 to 8-2 regular season.

My only concern is depth and if enough players have developed to eliminate their better players from having to play both ways.

Alright @sportfan97 , let’s check back here for a good tune-in and evaluate what can be gleaned from Friday the 13th in Ashville.

[Context: After defeating Jesus Wept 38-8 in week 1, the Gales F game burned their buns against a respectable NNJ public who may go .500. The Gales experienced some challenge riding the bus to Union County, but defensive scores set early momentum akin to gale force winds as the Golden Domers advanced to 2-1 in a city where the only pride this fall seems to be at Benny’s.

I didn’t think we’d see the day where “Teays Valley stands to be a useful mid-season gut check for the Gales” would be seriously discussed, if ever. As circumstance would have it… this game is apparently going to only one of three on the schedule where a) the qualitative and what our eyes saw is coupled with useful data, and b) we can meaningfully engage with it.

AN (what’s understood doesn’t need to be explained)
WV (can’t pair to any data)
Marysville (it absolutely has the data; there’s no just point in engaging with it if MV’s Level 2 value ends up reading “0.0” on Joe’s page come November, LMAO)
TV (only imperfection with this one is we don’t discuss TV in the context of R3 as a D2, let alone a D2 with zilch competitive reputation against schools of similar or greater size, along with the fact almost everyone else in the OCC-Buckeye scheduled at least one intraregional except for Newark and obviously LHS.)
G-M (no brainer)
PC (saying no because Pick Central conceivably would’ve beaten Wayne Valley to the tune of a generally comfortable Sharrett snoozer as PC more athletic, deeper and bigger; HP beats Lancaster; should be self-explanatory how it came about that the two Fairfield County teams who were home in the OCC wk2 played two opponents who traveled 14 hours combined one way.)
Logan (head hurts to think about how Pick Central will christen them into the OCC)
Reynoldsburg (makes too much sense. As more games come in, we’ll have more of a read on the Raiders. Neither Dublin will be useful and UA game is in ‘misleading score’ territory. It is impressive though that their new coach (late hire) has to this point managed to generally improve a ‘Burg that was bad last year, a ‘Burg where the glimmer of hope turned left onto Refugee at the light on Hill.)
CW (yes but significantly limited in scope.)
Newark (I’ll say yes but, similar to Canal, limited. Not due to classification obviously but the non-league. I also am saying yes in the anticipation that this is the year they make that step forward, and that it’s not one of those years where the first twelve minutes of OCC play casts the writing on the wall.)

Pass D need shored up? Clean it up, get rhythm going? This doesn’t seem to be a ‘set the tone’ type game (neither of these teams seem to be that way tbh.)

 

[ElDuderino]

Some incredible action tonight, I think @The Dock got his money's worth for the trip to Berlin, though it was a very ugly game for most of the first half. Surprising results all around, just when you think you are starting to figure things out, they get more confusing.

For those who don't listen to The Fan, Nori called into the show and said he did not want to go for 2 but the OC/DC/SpecialTeams coaches all told him "we gotta go" and he decided to let them choose.

Orange another surprising result, cant wait to read more about that one.

 

[The Dock]

Liberty, Berlin and UA comprising the Holy Trinity of a region where the other 13 entrants will be holy hell to various degrees.

I can’t decide if Liberty is firmly the 1A with Berlin 1B and UA 1C, or if it’s Liberty and Berlin with UA close behind.

 

[The Dock]

For those who don't listen to The Fan, Nori called into the show and said he did not want to go for 2 but the OC/DC/SpecialTeams coaches all told him "we gotta go" and he decided to let them choose.

From what I could tell, the missed FG got hooked really badly due the kicker rushing it. On the FG it seemed like Liberty got either a hell of a really good jump or there was a breakdown on the wing.

When the TO came in, I was pretty convinced it was still the intent to kick it — but that something got caught on the missed FG, the timeout is to address it and get ducks in a row on what happens if they have to scuttle the PAT. Ballsy playcall, great call. Great game.

 

[Mike4]

Alright @sportfan97 , let’s check back here for a good tune-in and evaluate what can be gleaned from Friday the 13th in Ashville.

[Context: After defeating Jesus Wept 38-8 in week 1, the Gales F game burned their buns against a respectable NNJ public who may go .500. The Gales experienced some challenge riding the bus to Union County, but defensive scores set early momentum akin to gale force winds as the Golden Domers advanced to 2-1 in a city where the only pride this fall seems to be at Benny’s.

I didn’t think we’d see the day where “Teays Valley stands to be a useful mid-season gut check for the Gales” would be seriously discussed, if ever. As circumstance would have it… this game is apparently going to only one of three on the schedule where a) the qualitative and what our eyes saw is coupled with useful data, and b) we can meaningfully engage with it.

AN (what’s understood doesn’t need to be explained)
WV (can’t pair to any data)
Marysville (it absolutely has the data; there’s no just point in engaging with it if MV’s Level 2 value ends up reading “0.0” on Joe’s page come November, LMAO)
TV (only imperfection with this one is we don’t discuss TV in the context of R3 as a D2, let alone a D2 with zilch competitive reputation against schools of similar or greater size, along with the fact almost everyone else in the OCC-Buckeye scheduled at least one intraregional except for Newark and obviously LHS.)
G-M (no brainer)
PC (saying no because Pick Central conceivably would’ve beaten Wayne Valley to the tune of a generally comfortable Sharrett snoozer as PC more athletic, deeper and bigger; HP beats Lancaster; should be self-explanatory how it came about that the two Fairfield County teams who were home in the OCC wk2 played two opponents who traveled 14 hours combined one way.)
Logan (head hurts to think about how Pick Central will christen them into the OCC)
Reynoldsburg (makes too much sense. As more games come in, we’ll have more of a read on the Raiders. Neither Dublin will be useful and UA game is in ‘misleading score’ territory. It is impressive though that their new coach (late hire) has to this point managed to generally improve a ‘Burg that was bad last year, a ‘Burg where the glimmer of hope turned left onto Refugee at the light on Hill.)
CW (yes but significantly limited in scope.)
Newark (I’ll say yes but, similar to Canal, limited. Not due to classification obviously but the non-league. I also am saying yes in the anticipation that this is the year they make that step forward, and that it’s not one of those years where the first twelve minutes of OCC play casts the writing on the wall.)

Pass D need shored up? Clean it up, get rhythm going? This doesn’t seem to be a ‘set the tone’ type game (neither of these teams seem to be that way tbh.)

Friday the 13th will certainly help Teays build the lack of reputation you speak of… With a starting lineup full of sophomores due to major injuries, Teays may be a problem for Lancaster in the coming years as well.

 

[The Dock]

Friday the 13th will certainly help Teays build the lack of reputation you speak of… With a starting lineup full of sophomores due to major injuries, Teays may be a problem for Lancaster in the coming years as well.

No complaints here eating the postgame crow. Fair play.

Congrats to the Vikes, and Brian Cross.

 

[MitSulHer]

I posted this on the D1 state thread as well.................

Seems like R3 is wide open.
I have:

#1 Liberty
#1 Pick North
#1 UA
#1 Berlin

UA beat Berlin, Berlin beat Liberty. UA and Liberty play in a few weeks.

#5 Orange - still to play Berlin, UA and Liberty
#6 Pick Central (should go 7-3)
#6 Groveport (should win 7 or 8)
#8 Gahanna (not sure how good they are)

 

[The Dock]

I posted this on the D1 state thread as well.................

Seems like R3 is wide open.
I have:

#1 Liberty
#1 Pick North
#1 UA
#1 Berlin

UA beat Berlin, Berlin beat Liberty. UA and Liberty play in a few weeks.

#5 Orange - still to play Berlin, UA and Liberty
#6 Pick Central (should go 7-3)
#6 Groveport (should win 7 or 8)
#8 Gahanna (not sure how good they are)

I personally would have PN in that second tier, at this point.

I know that St Ed isn’t the strongest of ‘eye test’ benchmarks, but the defense has followed it up with…

• a hemorrhage versus a wing-T team (albeit a very talented one that runs it similar to the some of the Texas regional powers who prioritize the ground game.)

• an alright but not great game vs PC

• letting Coffman get back into a game they were as good as dead in.

Four of the remaining offenses (YOTW, WC, CC, and NA) are not good, Gahanna appears to be helter-skelter to this point and Grove City will only tell us so much.

 

[ElDuderino]

R3 Power Rankings – Some shakeup up top, bottom half unchanged. A lot of parity in the upper half of the region and likely some wrong placings/razon thin margins still:

Liberty (0)– Tough loss where both teams made some giant mistakes, but have to remember “they are just kids” and look at whether what happened was a fluke and/or correctable or if the team was just outmanned/outclassed. Got half their yardage for the game on 3 plays with pass coverage busts. Are the Picks better? Because of their defensive flaws I say no. Lets see Liberty against UA and HD defenses to confirm whether there are true offensive problems here. This is still a very good team capable of beating anyone on this list, anywhere, anytime.

Pick North (0) – All gas, no brakes with this team, which still shows defensive issues that may ultimately be their undoing. Still completely unsure about where to place them in this top 5, and wont know for sure until Gahanna, if then. Inability to score at all vs St Eds starting to stand out as a negative, with Elder putting up 17 pts last week. Might be one of those teams that can beatup on overmatched teams but cant do anything against a good defense. Time will tell.

Berlin (+2) – This team continues to be their own worst enemy with ill-timed penalties and coverage mistakes, yet when they put everything together they are one of the best defensive teams in this group, shutting out a very good Liberty squad in the 2nd half last week. Must figure out a way to stop the chronic 1Q/1H under-achievement, cost them the game vs UA and nearly cost them Liberty. The mistakes this team is making are correctable, and if they clean it up by the end of the year they will be a regional final contender. Dangerous game vs Orange this Friday, then smooth sailing until Tangy.

UA (+2) - Had the week off last week, will again this week. No real sense how they fit relative to the Picks yet. Defensive teams usually have the upper hand when both teams are good, and UA definitely has that. Offensive weapons slightly less capable than Liberty or Berlin. Difficult league schedule awaits to validate their placing in the region.

Pick Central (-1) – Have to start dropping this team based on outcomes of opponents, Wayne only scores 6pts in a bad loss to Springboro, PC gave up 40 to Wayne. Harvest Prep loses, PN will not get any measure on their true regional relevance until late season. No excuse to lose any remaining games, GPM game the only one that tells us anything about top 5 relevance.

Gahanna (+3) – Surprisingly convincing win hosting Orange last week has to make you wonder if the GPM game was a fluke, just an off night for an otherwise talented team. May belong a few notches higher here, but a decent game against Coffman this week provides some more clues prior to 3 easy games and then a difficult last 2.

Orange (-4) – Got exposed for their defensive problems last week and deserving of a significant drop here. Their offense was still good, but not superlative enough to come back in the game when they fell behind. Some even stronger defensive challenges await, starting this week. Dangerous team never out of any game, but may not have that “top 4” makeup just yet. Lots of good players back next year, however.

GPM (+1) – May not fully deserve this separation from Gahanna after beating them, but still feel like they would not win a playoff rematch against Gahanna and would definitely like Orange and maybe even Tangy vs them. 8-2 record will get them a nice playoff seed, and still don’t really know what to expect out of Pick Central. Not really sure where this team belongs, lots of mixed signals.

Olentangy (-2) - Have to drop them here considering what’s been happening around them, team clearly has some offensive limitations and the win vs Medina keeps looking less and less impressive. Will likely pad stats here the next 5 weeks and get ppl talking about them. Still a dangerous team with one of the best defenses, this rating may be too harsh but have to understand the S/SE teams better first. Could be capable of beating the teams above with questionable defenses.

Grove City (-2) – Feels strange dropping this team, but no choice based on what’s happening around them and the complete lack of any kind of decent opponent to learn how good this team actually is. Will get their chance to prove it week 8/9 and can move them up if they over-perform expectations then.

WvNorth (0) – Empty the bench week against 500+ ranked FH last Friday, that strangely (stupidly) gets them Harbin computer points because of the FH wins over 582 Bexley and 451 CC. Should certainly win Friday vs Hayes, then a string of 3 interesting games against WVS, a resurgent Westland, and Big Nut. Still convinced the placing of this team here is correct, if they shine in these next 4 games will have to reconsider.

R'Burg (0) – Another respectable loss to a decent CW team, but overall confirmation that their placing here in the ranking is likely correct. Drew50 has them in an evenly matched game with TV this week, let’s see what happens.

Hayes (0) – Yet another textbook of example of good record does not mean good team, as they drop a 3 score game to D2 Big Nut. Had this team properly placed last week, see no reason to change it. Another tough game for them this Friday, yet 3 games with Drew50 rankings of 250+ still remain to pad the record.

Lancaster (0) – Things starting to look bleak after dropping game to TV last Friday and 2 tough games coming up. Will secure a playoff spot but little chance of drawing a game they can compete in. Last 4 games will determine how this team will feel heading into next year. Will get a chance to prove they are better than Newark to close the reg season.

Newark (0) – Big time wakeup call against a GPM team who hadn’t shown much offense this year, emblematic of the gap between the schools in the region that sits between WVN and Burg. A morale-boosting .500 year still possible though, a win this Friday is needed for any hope.

WvCentral (0) – No match for Jerome CC last week is definitely not an encouraging sign. Must win last 2 games of the season and hope Watkins continues to struggle if they want to make the playoffs.

Watkins (0) – First of 4 games coming up, of which they need to win 2 to hopefully secure a playoff spot against Liberty. Might be better off just dropping the games? I would like WVCentral against this team, the way they are playing.

YOTW (0) – Really no hope of playoffs because even if they beat Marysville, Watkins has 2 games that they just shouldn’t lose. Tough placement for a program that has earned the right to play down in D2 for competitive balance.

 

[JABanksSr]

I posted this on the D1 state thread as well.................

Seems like R3 is wide open.
I have:

#1 Liberty
#1 Pick North
#1 UA
#1 Berlin

UA beat Berlin, Berlin beat Liberty. UA and Liberty play in a few weeks.

#5 Orange - still to play Berlin, UA and Liberty
#6 Pick Central (should go 7-3)
#6 Groveport (should win 7 or 8)
#8 Gahanna (not sure how good they are)

PC hasn't been at 100% yet this season. Starting OL (Harden) hasn't played yet. Starting DE/OLB (Landrum) hasn't been 100% since week 1. Standout DE/OLB(Harrison) was injured at the end of 2Q against PN (Taylor had 70 yds rushing before Harrisons exit) , and Teams leading rusher thru 3 Weeks (Banks) has been out since week 2. RB (McCoy) didn't play until week 3 due to injury. All of the pieces minus Banks will be back and healthy by week 6. Banks will return week 8. These Tigers are better than the 2-2 record reflects. When fully healthy they'll be competing at the top of D1R3 ..

 

[iam416]

With PC falling off considerably over the past few years, this region is always so wide open and fun. You could tell me that any one of 7ish teams wins this region and I wouldn't be surprised. And then the winner gets steam-rolled by Ed's. But the Region 3 playoffs will be great.

 

[ElDuderino]

D1R3 Regular Season wrap up - listed in order of the last power ranking (week 4) and in parens where they finished the season with Harbin seeding.

Liberty (0) – Defense was solid all year and offense made some significant improvements over the second half of the year, culminating in putting a running clock on a very good Orange team. Tremendous coaching job. Solid favorite to win the region

Pick North (-5) – Despite a win over PickCentral, L2 points came up light relative to the rest of the region and they fell to 7th seed after a bad loss to Gahanna. Failure to score TDs against a couple of good defenses is a concern, but a looming rd2 game against a Pick Central team they already know they can beat may get them into a semi vs Gahanna/Berlin.

Berlin (-3) – Dropped a bad game to Orange after our last ranking and now has some injury problems on both sides of the ball. At full strength, this team has a chance to beat anyone in this region, but Gahanna on the road will be a tough task for this team in their present state with some key kids missing. Solid coaching and line play can get you a long way in the playoffs, but at some point lack of playmaker depth on both sides of the ball is likely hurt them.

UA (-1) – Very solid team with a similar makeup to Liberty, maybe just a tad less dynamic. A rd2 rematch with Orange gives them a chance to avenge their only conference loss, but Orange remains a difficult matchup for them and it all depends on which Orange team shows up, the focused one or the keystone cops. Unfortunate draw for them ending up on the same side with Orange/Liberty.

Pick Central (+3) – By my calculation, 93.5 of their 236 L2 points can out of D2 or lower schools, they played an incredibly bad schedule relative to the top 8 here but did exceptionally well in the computer based on lower division teams in their orbit. Drew50 has them 6th. Another perfect example of Harbin injustice here, but they will at least get a chance to avenge an earlier loss to PickN in rd2.

Gahanna (+3) – Definitely penalized them too much early season for the aberrant game vs. GMad earlier in the season, and the respect part here is for what their defense has done, when I think most ppl expected to be talking about their offense this year. Shutting down Orange and PickNorth are as impressive a defensive resume as anyone in COH has put together this year. Not sure if their QB is lost for season or not, but seems they can still win without him which is the sign of a good team. Drew50 has them 2 in the region and I agree.

Orange (+3) – Got exposed in a big way in 2 games, yet in other games against good teams like UA and Berlin looked like they could contend for a title. Should easily dispose of Tangy in Rd1 setting up a rematch with UA, always difficult to beat a good team twice. And with Liberty waiting in the semis, this is easily the toughest path thru the region of any of the other teams. With QB back next year, they may have to wait until then for a significant result.

GPM (??) – Going to land at 8 or 11 based on their Canal game today, which is pretty much where we had them to begin with. Win over Gahanna was clearly a fluke game, this team fell apart bigtime in the weak D2 laden conference they play in. If they can pull off a win today (not favored to), their defense may be good enough to win a rd1 game against Delaware, but definitely a rd2 ceiling for this team.

Olentangy (-4) – Definitely an offensively limited team despite having an all state WR and several other good athletes, I think they may have had 50 yards at halftime last night and 150 for the game, if that. Have to raise some OC/coaching questions for inability to develop a cohesive team with all the individual athletes and future college players that team has. An incredible Harbin injustice here, as they would beat most/all of the teams in the 8-12 range, but some very bad scheduling cost them in Harbin despite the 8-2 record. Would be shocked if they can beat Orange, it would take multiple defensive TDs or turnover margin.

Grove City (0/-1) – We had this team properly sized up from the word go, while all the newspaper/radio talking heads were signing their praises, said let’s wait and see and nothing has been proven yet. I’m guessing they would prefer a rd1 matchup (pending GMad game) with Berlin as opposed to PickN, who they already know they have no chance against.

WvNorth (+1/+2) – GMad game makes a tremendous a tremendous difference in opponent for them, Delaware or PickN. Again, had the proper placing for this team all year, have to ignore the noise when it’s not done against good teams. Delaware certainly a winnable game for them again, PickN would be a complete shock, there is a large gap in ability when we get past the 7th seed.

R'Burg (-2) – Respectable season from this team, who overachieved relative to what many were expecting. I still think they are capable of beating any of the teams below them here in the original power rankings, but none of that really matters now based on the rd1 matchups down at these seeds.

Hayes (+5/+4) – Said all year, good record does not mean good team. Another Harbin score chock full of D2 and lower points. Will be an underdog in either rd1 opponent they draw, and a 0% chance to win any rd2 game should they pull off a win.

Lancaster (-2) – Tough break winning 3 games but drawing the 16 seed, but this is an extremely deep region. Likelihood of beating Liberty similar to Blutowski’s GPA.

Newark (+3) – Great story and season for this team, got their first win in a long time against several opponents and should be feeling great. Newark fans should definitely make the trip to UA despite the running clock, one of the best facilities in COH.

WvCentral (-1) – May have beaten a couple of the teams down here in a round-robin, but pretty inconsequential talking point there, as they were never getting out of rd1 anyway. This team badly needs to recapture some of the old glory.

Watkins (+2) – Disappointing season from a fan base who came in chest-thumping over returning all-state D2 players. Guessing they may not have anyone in the D1 lists. At least they drew a short travel game for the playoffs.

YOTW (0) – Picetti is a great dude, and not sure anyone else will do any better here, but it’s probably time for a new look from this team.