{"id":157615,"date":"2022-09-06T03:52:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T08:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=157615"},"modified":"2022-09-06T03:52:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T08:52:31","slug":"random-thoughts-prep-college-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/09\/06\/random-thoughts-prep-college-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: prep, college football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This post-Labor Day edition of Random Thoughts centers around rankings, a winning streak, undefeated teams, Ohio State, an area kicker on the big stage, playoff expansion and a welcome addition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AP rankings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Associated Press Ohio high school football rankings were released on Monday and Van Wert appeared at No. 2 in Division IV, trailing only Glenville, while Crestview showed up at No. 8 in Division VII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no question that Division IV is stacked this year and to put this gently, with no disrespect intended toward anyone \u2013 Glenville is probably going to remain No. 1 in the poll through the regular season. The Tarblooders have knocked off two Division II teams and a Division I team, with the most notable win coming over Avon, a Division II power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be blunt, there is no one left on Glenville\u2019s schedule that will likely come close to upsetting them. Stranger things have happened but I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as Crestview, the No. 8 ranking is a pleasant surprise, one that will be tested by Allen East this Friday. There are some heavy hitters in Division VII, including Mechanicsburg, Warren JFK, New Bremen, Newark Catholic and Arlington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other area teams are ranked in Division VII \u2013 Antwerp (No. 11) and Lima Central Catholic (No. 15), which seems very low, even with Saturday\u2019s loss to Tinora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A streak<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s 36-0 victory over Defiance was the 15th straight home win for Van Wert, regular season and playoff games included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last loss at Eggerss Stadium? October 11, 2019, 48-25 to Kenton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The home winning streak will be put to the test next Friday night when St. Marys Memorial comes to town for a key WBL showdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undefeated<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just one NWC football team is undefeated after three weeks of non-conference play and that one team is Crestview (3-0).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Two WBL teams are 3-0 \u2013 Van Wert and Elida, and two GMC teams remain unbeaten \u2013 Antwerp and Edgerton. Not surprisingly, four MAC teams are undefeated \u2013 Marion Local, Coldwater, New Bremen and Versailles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lima Sr. is also undefeated so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio State<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday\u2019s 21-10 Buckeye win over Notre Dame may not have been pretty but a win is a win, especially against a team that was ranked No. 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the defense did look good. Notre Dame had just 253 yards, and 103 of those came on three plays, including 54 yards on a corner blitz on the first play from scrimmage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the Buckeyes did run the ball well in the fourth quarter, but one has to wonder why they didn\u2019t try to consistently run the ball earlier? By no means am I suggesting OSU go back to the ground-and-pound days of Woody Hayes, but when a defense is consistently dropping eight or nine guys into coverage, it\u2019s time to run the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, if you\u2019re an Ohio State fan, they won and that\u2019s all that matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the kicker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year at this time, Columbus Grove\u2019s Rece Verhoff was kicking extra points and field goals against NWC teams. This Saturday, he\u2019ll be kicking them against Notre Dame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The true freshman is Marshall\u2019s starting kicker and converted 7-of-7 PATs and a pair of field goals during Saturday\u2019s 55-3 win over Norfolk State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a difference a year makes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College football<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From blowout wins to games that went right down to the wire \u2013 welcome back college football. Welcome back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expansion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026the College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams no later than 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m on the record against expansion, at least two any more than eight teams. For at least the last couple of years college football fans have said the No. 4 seed has had no chance against the No. 1 seed, but we\u2019re adding four more teams? It makes no sense, outside of the dollars more teams will bring, which is what it\u2019s all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But 12 teams? Why not make it eight or 16, so no one has a bye week?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12 just seems like such an unusual number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A welcome addition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you know what improvement I\u2019m most looking forward to at Eggerss Stadium? The addition of handrails on the home side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a back condition that can make the trip up and down a terrifying one. Back condition or not, I\u2019m sure many people who go to the games will agree that handrails will be nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have 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 editor This post-Labor Day edition of Random Thoughts centers around rankings, a winning streak, undefeated teams, Ohio State, an area kicker on the big stage, playoff expansion and a welcome addition. AP rankings The first Associated Press Ohio high school football rankings were released on Monday and Van Wert appeared at No. 2 […]<\/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-157615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 18:31:48","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\/157615","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=157615"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157642,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157615\/revisions\/157642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}