{"id":105677,"date":"2018-08-09T04:25:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T09:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=105677"},"modified":"2018-08-09T04:33:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T09:33:09","slug":"random-thoughts-polls-preseason-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/08\/09\/random-thoughts-polls-preseason-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: polls, preseason & more"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s random thoughts center around football, mainly at the high school level.<\/p>\n

NWC coaches poll<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to thank each of the eight NWC football coaches for participating in our preseason poll, which was published on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

It was a close vote, with Crestview edging out defending champion Spencerville for the preseason nod, and honestly, I\u2019ll be surprised if one team or the other doesn\u2019t win the conference title. That\u2019s not a knock on any of the other teams, I just think there\u2019s some separation between the top two teams and the others.\u00a0 Of course, anything can happen.<\/p>\n

WBL preseason rankings<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This one didn\u2019t work out as planned, because some of the coaches declined to participate. However, as I mentioned on Wednesday, the coaches provided plenty of team information to help formulate a set of rankings.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell you how difficult it was coming up with a predicted order of finish, simply because there are so many good teams this season. I do think St. Marys is the top team by a slight margin, but there are four or five other teams have a legitimate shot.<\/p>\n

Kenton and Celina should be very good. Never count out Wapakoneta or Ottawa-Glandorf Shawnee has a very good quarterback and a proven coach in Jerry Cooper.<\/p>\n

I wanted to put Van Wert higher than fourth. I really did, and I hope the Cougars prove me wrong and finish higher than predicted. In any other year, I probably would have picked them higher, but with such balance in the WBL this year, it was tough to do. It\u2019s a year where a team (not just Van Wert) could go 6-4, but in any other year have gone 9-1 or 8-2.<\/p>\n

In the end, it won\u2019t be shocking if there are co-champs or even tri-champs.<\/p>\n

Defense anyone?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With all of the talented quarterbacks in the Western Buckeye League, it\u2019s very possible scores will be on the high side this season. Defenses certainly will have their hands full every Friday night.<\/p>\n

Old vs. new<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I still think it\u2019s somewhat ironic that in the day and age of quarterback centered offenses, St. Marys still gets it done the old fashioned way \u2013 on the ground. There\u2019s nothing flashy or fancy about that offense. It kind of hits opponents like a sledgehammer.<\/p>\n

Preseason<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Some people seem to base how the season is going to be on scrimmages, or even 7-on-7\u2019s. That\u2019s not exactly the best way to judge what\u2019s coming up. Coaches are tinkering with lineups, trying to test certain plays in certain situations, and trying to see who can contribute during the season.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen teams go 2-0 or 3-0 in scrimmages, then go 1-9 during the regular season. Conversely, it\u2019s not uncommon to see a team go 0-2 or 0-3 during scrimmages, then go on to a 9-1 regular season mark.<\/p>\n

On some level, a scrimmage is just a practice against another team.<\/p>\n

Urban Meyer update<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m not privy to what\u2019s going on (very few people actually are), I\u2019m starting to get the sense that he won\u2019t be dismissed as head coach of the Buckeyes. It\u2019s just a hunch.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see a short suspension involved, but outside of that, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going anywhere.<\/p>\n

One thing is for certain about this ordeal \u2013 either you\u2019re on his side or you\u2019re not. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.<\/p>\n

As always, if you have any thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s random thoughts center around football, mainly at the high school level. NWC coaches poll I\u2019d like to thank each of the eight NWC football coaches for participating in our preseason poll, which was published on Tuesday. It was a close vote, with Crestview edging out defending champion Spencerville for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 11:50:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}