Ohio Football is becoming irrelevant.

Spartacus1987

Spartacus1987

Well-known member
Hoban just got beat down 42-7. Last season our Divison 1 champion's only losses were to teams from freaking Indiana. In the 247 top 100 early 2024 rankings, there wasn't even 1 Ohio player in their initial list!!! This is getting out of hand and the state I grew up loving and thinking they were the best is becoming an absolute afterthought on the national scene. It's hard to even follow anymore

When is the last time our state had a big out-of-state win?? We haven't had a team that I feel could compete on a national level since early 2010's Moeller.

It can't be because of population because last I checked Ohio has actually gained some population in recent years. Are our kids just deciding to not play football anymore? Do we not have any high-quality athletes?? Trying to figure out what is wrong because it's getting worse and worse every season.
 
 
Ohio doesn’t have the elite types of programs like IMG, Bosco, Mater Dei etc. the best of the best of Ohio cannot compete with those types of teams. There is just too much of a talent difference. Where the best Ohio team May have a half dozen or so high D1 prospects, nearly everyone on these types of teams are d1 athletes
 
I’ve taken notice kids who participate in “aau” 7 on 7 tournaments around the country tend to have more exposure .Aside from rankings, I believe Ohio has the talent but old school play calling from coaches throughout the state tend to not work against teams who are not afraid to open up the playbook and can put up big numbers on the scoreboard.
 
TroyTrojan05 said:
Ohio doesn’t have the elite types of programs like IMG, Bosco, Mater Dei etc. the best of the best of Ohio cannot compete with those types of teams. There is just too much of a talent difference. Where the best Ohio team May have a half dozen or so high D1 prospects, nearly everyone on these types of teams are d1 athletes
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I agree however it's not even those teams who are the problem. Xavier last season lost to two Indiana teams. I would like to think Ohio plays better football than Indiana but maybe not. I mean they didn't even lose to Indiana's best team......
 
ManOWarz said:
I’ve taken notice kids who participate in “aau” 7 on 7 tournaments around the country tend to have more exposure .Aside from rankings, I believe Ohio has the talent but old school play calling from coaches throughout the state tend to not work against teams who are not afraid to open up the playbook and can put up big numbers on the scoreboard.
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Teams like Xavier and Massilon play a more open offensive style so not sure that is the case either. There definitely seems to be a lack of speed and size at the skill positions though compared to other states. This is a problem
 
Massillon beat East St. Louis in 2018.

I would really have liked to see last years Hoban team play whoever they played tonight. That team was elite.
 
I would argue that the stacking of talent in fewer and fewer schools diminishes a state's level of talent more than it increases it.

I also don't consider schools like IMG to represent a state. They are just football factories using college rules to amass football talent and then pretending to be a high school team. I'm not impressed by IMG. Go play college if you want to use their system to acquire talent.
 
Yappi said:
I would argue that the stacking of talent in fewer and fewer schools diminishes a state's level of talent more than it increases it.

I also don't consider schools like IMG to represent a state. They are just football factories using college rules to amass football talent and then pretending to be a high school team. I'm not impressed by IMG. Go play college if you want to use their system to acquire talent.
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This. 100% spot on.
 
Yappi said:
I would argue that the stacking of talent in fewer and fewer schools diminishes a state's level of talent more than it increases it.

I also don't consider schools like IMG to represent a state. They are just football factories using college rules to amass football talent and then pretending to be a high school team. I'm not impressed by IMG. Go play college if you want to use their system to acquire talent.
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Agreed on IMG, they are a national power and the only program that should be compared to them is Mater Dei. St. Thomas Aquinas is a pure Florida team though and honestly is there a team in Ohio the past 5 years who could even compete with them? That's the problem
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Agreed on IMG, they are a national power and the only program that should be compared to them is Mater Dei. St. Thomas Aquinas is a pure Florida team though and honestly is there a team in Ohio the past 5 years who could even compete with them? That's the problem
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Why is that a problem? High Schools play for State Championships.
 
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TIGER27 said:
Massillon beat East St. Louis in 2018.

I would really have liked to see last years Hoban team play whoever they played tonight. That team was elite.
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A team from Illinois? I noticed that they also got blown out by a team in Michigan that same season. Not a big win there IMO
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Agreed on IMG, they are a national power and the only program that should be compared to them is Mater Dei. St. Thomas Aquinas is a pure Florida team though and honestly is there a team in Ohio the past 5 years who could even compete with them? That's the problem
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I have heard that Saint Thomas Aquinas in Florida gets a decent amount of transfers who are pretty good players.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Agreed on IMG, they are a national power and the only program that should be compared to them is Mater Dei. St. Thomas Aquinas is a pure Florida team though and honestly is there a team in Ohio the past 5 years who could even compete with them? That's the problem
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Aquinas is far from a "pure" school. I know coaches there, and they take full advantage of the loooooose transfer rules in Florida. Close all the transfer loopholes and football factory BS and that levels the playing field quickly.

And the two St. X losses to Indiana teams were to a loaded Brownsburg team on a fluke fumble and long td pass, and to a very good Cathedral team where X lost their all state QB in the first quarter, and the game was played pretty much in a cow pasture.

And lastly, why is this even important? It's high school football for f's sakes. Who cares how the state stacks up? Seriously, what does it matter? God forbid we kids that play football for great Ohio teams and have a sense of perspective about really how important playing a game is.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Hoban just got beat down 42-7. Last season our Divison 1 champion's only losses were to teams from freaking Indiana. In the 247 top 100 early 2024 rankings, there wasn't even 1 Ohio player in their initial list!!! This is getting out of hand and the state I grew up loving and thinking they were the best is becoming an absolute afterthought on the national scene. It's hard to even follow anymore

When is the last time our state had a big out-of-state win?? We haven't had a team that I feel could compete on a national level since early 2010's Moeller.

It can't be because of population because last I checked Ohio has actually gained some population in recent years. Are our kids just deciding to not play football anymore? Do we not have any high-quality athletes?? Trying to figure out what is wrong because it's getting worse and worse every season.
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How many Ohio kids are on power 5 rosters ?
How many Ohio schools would rather beat a team from California or win a state championship ?
Ask a college HC if Ohio doesn’t have great high school football, is it the best ? Of course not and probably hasn’t been the absolute best ever, but is always in the Top 7 in State rankings based on kids that get power 5 full rides.
 
shifting population centers in the US leaving the Rust Belt for the Deep South and Southwest are a major part of this. The continued decline of Youngstown, Cleveland, and Akron are playing a major role in this. Rural communities are losing young families and a lack of industry, the effects of collapse of the Rust Belt, Crack and Opioid epidemics, and now COVID-19 has hit Ohio hard the last 40 years.it’s starting to show in football and you see a greater discrepancy between the haves and have nots.
 
bomberinmonroe said:
Aquinas is far from a "pure" school. I know coaches there, and they take full advantage of the loooooose transfer rules in Florida. Close all the transfer loopholes and football factory BS and that levels the playing field quickly.

And the two St. X losses to Indiana teams were to a loaded Brownsburg team on a fluke fumble and long td pass, and to a very good Cathedral team where X lost their all state QB in the first quarter, and the game was played pretty much in a cow pasture.

And lastly, why is this even important? It's high school football for f's sakes. Who cares how the state stacks up? Seriously, what does it matter? God forbid we kids that play football for great Ohio teams and have a sense of perspective about really how important playing a game is.
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Not "pure" in the sense of morality but all of their kids are from Florida is what I meant. Also, if Ohio keeps playing out of state teams and LOSING then I am going to care. If you didn't care then obviously you are not a competitor and don't care about your high school football's state pride or success.
 
I would put the best school in the Midwest Athletic Conference up against any school of comparable size anywhere. I don't think Ohio has a problem. Ohio doesn't play some states that much to give a real judgment.

I would love to see Ohio go back to six divisions and then have a match up of Ohio's six champs against Pennsylvania's six champs. That would be interesting, and it wouldn't be hard to do. The states do share a border.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Not "pure" in the sense of morality but all of their kids are from Florida is what I meant. Also, if Ohio keeps playing out of state teams and LOSING then I am going to care. If you didn't care then obviously you are not a competitor and don't care about your high school football's state pride or success.
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Do you think if Hoban wins the state title this year that it minimizes it at all because they lost to a NJ team ?
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Not "pure" in the sense of morality but all of their kids are from Florida is what I meant. Also, if Ohio keeps playing out of state teams and LOSING then I am going to care. If you didn't care then obviously you are not a competitor and don't care about your high school football's state pride or success.
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What Ohio HS did you graduate from ?
 
One big thing most are overlooking is school size. Ohio's schools are alot smaller. As one of the largest schools in Ohio, St Xavier has about 1500 boys, which translates to an equivalent enrollment 3000 if it were coed. Most of the large schools in FL, TX, CA and other states are 4000-5000. Even the largest schools in Ohio wouldn't play in the largest divisions in the other states. I still assert that Ohio will do well against other states if the enrollment numbers are similar.
 
Spartacus1987 said:
Not "pure" in the sense of morality but all of their kids are from Florida is what I meant. Also, if Ohio keeps playing out of state teams and LOSING then I am going to care. If you didn't care then obviously you are not a competitor and don't care about your high school football's state pride or success.
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Dude, I envy you. If your biggest concern is about your state's high school football success, you must have a pretty great life. I mean here I am judging my success on my kids being successful in life, my family having what they need, having a nice house in a safe area, and my career. Sounds like I've been missing the boat all along.
 
bomberinmonroe said:
Dude, I envy you. If your biggest concern is about your state's high school football success, you must have a pretty great life. I mean here I am judging my success on my kids being successful in life, my family having what they need, having a nice house in a safe area, and my career. Sounds like I've been missing the boat all along.
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Yet here you are on a message board dedicated mostly to high school sports lol
 
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