ESCC Week 4 Predictions
- Thread starter ESCC fan
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I've seen some suggestions that the ESCC is down this year. JCA is clearly down, but I'm not sure I'd say the overall conference is down. I don't think Marist, Naz or Benet are as good as was expected. I wouldn't say any of them are down, though. Naz has small numbers in their Sr. class and has a young roster. They may yet develop. Marist got handled pretty well by BR in Week 1, but then had a nice win over Simeon. They are young in the offensive skills, so they may show marked improvement as the year progresses. Benet is the one I can't figure. Did not expect them to lose to Laurence. They supposedly had more speed in the skills than previous New-coached teams. However, they've struggled to score.
Where the conference is stronger than expected is Pat's, ND and MCC. Pat's is clearly much better than expected with an impressive win over Rita and an explosive offense. ND lost a lot on offense, but has two impressive wins over Thornton and Naz, as well as a close loss to Benet. And, MCC played Benet tough last week. The strength of these three teams mitigate the mild disappointments of the top three, IMO.
Benet 24 Viator 14
Marist 28 MCC 7
Pat's 49 Marian 7
ND 35 JCA 14
Naz 17 Carmel 3
Where the conference is stronger than expected is Pat's, ND and MCC. Pat's is clearly much better than expected with an impressive win over Rita and an explosive offense. ND lost a lot on offense, but has two impressive wins over Thornton and Naz, as well as a close loss to Benet. And, MCC played Benet tough last week. The strength of these three teams mitigate the mild disappointments of the top three, IMO.
Benet 24 Viator 14
Marist 28 MCC 7
Pat's 49 Marian 7
ND 35 JCA 14
Naz 17 Carmel 3
Benets o line has really struggled to start the season. No where near the level of play from the last few years. Skills on offense are about the same. Still playing good defense. Points will be at a premium for that group against good teams.
IMO, STL could be one of the best teams in the state no one is talking about.
I'd say the conference is down from the last 4-5 years, when there was a contender in multiple classes. I don't see a team in the ESCC contending for a title in 2016. Now the bottom is coming up, which is great for overall health of the league but the top is way down. I'd say the ESCC is middling this year, but time will tell, right?
Maybe, but if they fall in 6A absolutely no chance. And 5A won't exactly be a gauntlet this year.
I happen to think that with all the youth on Naz at some point in the season they will start to get it and it will look like a whole new team. At that point you can call them a contender. What hasn't been said about the ND game was that ND ran a handful of trick plays to absolute perfection. You don't run those plays if you think you are better than the team you are playing.
Everyone was talking about them, until they gave up 63 points in a loss to a 3A school.
Was at the Benet, MCC game last week and my assessment on Benet is that there wasn't the team speed that people talked about in the preseason.
Interesting thought on STL. Question is then how good is 3A, IC after beating STL?
Underdogs get to run trick plays at weird times... when powerhouses do it it looks like piling on lol
To be fair, in the past, I've seen ND run trick plays against teams they have been overwhelming favorites against. I think Coach Hennessy just has a penchant for running them.
Notre Dame is suffering some severe growing pains themselves on offense. The three TD's were scored by an exciting soph. ( he also fumbled twice inside the 10) but like I said growing pains. The game winning touchdown was a screen play not the trickiest of plays. I agree and stated earlier that I think Naz will be a contender come playoff time from what I saw Friday and what I've read on this forum.
Sadly that Happened and if you want to be one of the best in the state you can't have that Happen. However it's how you come back from that can be just as important. Well played game V. Mac now you have to show your worth against a CCL Blue team to start getting noticed again
Haven't seen IC on tape or in person. Would want to see them in either fashion before I make a true assessment. Is 3A any better than usual? Probably not, just that the presumptive favorite to win the 3A title looks better than other 3A title team's in the past so far (still alot of football left to play).
Problem is that it is a 3A school. I don't care if IC wins state, you cant be considered a top team in the area if you lose to a 3A school.
Did they run trick plays on defense too? Thinking you only give up 17 points you should win most games.
QB went down in the 2nd half made Naz 1 dimensional. Not taking anything against them but you don't see teams run QB throwbacks, Double reverse passes, return reverses all in 1 game and just run their offense
Saying "Not taking anything away from them but..." is a cop out for taking some credit away from a team. It's akin to saying "I'm not racist but.." or "I don't mean to be rude but...". It's basically a signaling device that the words that follow are exactly what the speaker is saying that they are not.
The fact is, ND lost two fumbles inside Naz's 5-yard line and another one in the redzone. They've run return reverses in games against far inferior competition. It's just something they do on special teams. ND was the better team on the field, in my opinion.
ND beat NAZ! Naz didn't play with any emotion or urgency. Played undisciplined and selfish. Players didn't do their individual job. ND was a better TEAM on that night. Naz will struggle with growing pains this year and they will need to want it more every week. Every team they play with play inspired and motivated football against them. They better grow up fast or there wont be any playoffs.
Agreed eireog. escc fan
Not to be an A-hole (wink, wink), as Naz fans get used to their program being the hunted instead of the hunter, they'll get less defensive.
They will realize that they have made it to where every program hopes to be..,relevant every year in Illinois HS Football.
They will realize that not every loss will toss them back to the anonymity they felt prior to this great Racki run. They are legit.
Soon after a tough loss, they'll tip their cap as a sign of respect to the winning team and say, "well done chaps, well done".
Until then we may have to hear about bad refs, ifs and buts, injuries, trick plays etc. etc. lovesPops gets it.
Not to be an A-hole (wink, wink), as Naz fans get used to their program being the hunted instead of the hunter, they'll get less defensive.
They will realize that they have made it to where every program hopes to be..,relevant every year in Illinois HS Football.
They will realize that not every loss will toss them back to the anonymity they felt prior to this great Racki run. They are legit.
Soon after a tough loss, they'll tip their cap as a sign of respect to the winning team and say, "well done chaps, well done".
Until then we may have to hear about bad refs, ifs and buts, injuries, trick plays etc. etc. lovesPops gets it.
Just curious what the relevance of brimging up the fumbles is? Is this a "they played even better than the final score" type thing? Because TOs are just as much part of the game as trick plays, and neither really needs qualifiers to determine who the better team was. Thats why they keep score!
Other than the rare case of a rules misinterpretation by a ref, any attempt to sort out who was better and by what margin other than the scoreboard is pointless.
Let's just group everyone together and generalize, that works.... because I haven't excused a thing.
ND beat the crap out of Naz, out-worked them, and played better disciplined football. They deserved the game.
ND beat the crap out of Naz, out-worked them, and played better disciplined football. They deserved the game.
All that matters is the final score.
Notre Dame 22, Nazareth 17. Officials, weather, injuries, trick plays - don't matter.
Notre Dame 22, Nazareth 17. Officials, weather, injuries, trick plays - don't matter.
I just posted above that what mattered in that game was none of those, but technically you are wrong.
A football game is like a giant equation. The final score is what COUNTS, it's the result. However every part of the equation matters.
Isn't this thread supposed to be about picking week 4 games or do we need to beat the hell over Nazareths loss any more?
Heaven forbid they lose another game this year. The whole board will shutdown
Heaven forbid they lose another game this year. The whole board will shutdown