Vero Beach destroyed Cocoa.

Vero Beach 38 Cocoa 3
Lake Mary 28 Vero Beach 27
Lakeland 32 Lake Mary 13
Raines 51 Vero Beach 3


Would Lakeland have looked like a juggernaut vs that  Florida schedule?

I think

Northwestern
Lakeland
Aquinas
Lakeland


Etc all look like world beaters with Mooney's schedule


Bolles wasn't anything special either. 

But that's the classic "daisy chain" fallacy. And one of the reasons it's a fallacy is because the final scores, by themselves, often mislead. In the case of the Lake Mary portion of that chain, those two scores are very misleading. Vero controlled the game and had it won...if not for terrible clock management at the end and perhaps the most improbable game-winning play in history. Lakeland, predictably, was locked in a defensive struggle with LM and got two very late scores to make that score look more convincing than the game really was. I maintain that Raines was nationally elite last season, and that you're wrong about them because their style of play/QB is not visually appealing to you.

Every year, there are teams that cruise through unremarkable resumes and are just granted high rankings uncritically because of name recognition. De La Salle spent all of last season ranked no worse than top 30 (higher before the open bowl loss). Did they really, definitively prove to be that good? Because of my own bias I'd like to think so. But, in truth, I'm not sure. Creekside beat DeSoto worse than they beat Seminole, which had a losing season. Why was 3-loss DeSoto ahead of unbeaten Raines? The answer is personal bias, reputations etc. There is no other sort of argument one can make that leads to DeSoto being ahead of Raines.

Point is, the rankings are not reliable or authoritative in any meaningful way. Anyone who's ever been paid money to publish rankings lists, like myself, will tell you this if you catch them in a candid moment.

But that's the classic "daisy chain" fallacy. And one of the reasons it's a fallacy is because the final scores, by themselves, often mislead. In the case of the Lake Mary portion of that chain, those two scores are very misleading. Vero controlled the game and had it won...if not for terrible clock management at the end and perhaps the most improbable game-winning play in history. Lakeland, predictably, was locked in a defensive struggle with LM and got two very late scores to make that score look more convincing than the game really was. I maintain that Raines was nationally elite last season, and that you're wrong about them because their style of play/QB is not visually appealing to you.

Every year, there are teams that cruise through unremarkable resumes and are just granted high rankings uncritically because of name recognition. De La Salle spent all of last season ranked no worse than top 30 (higher before the open bowl loss). Did they really, definitively prove to be that good? Because of my own bias I'd like to think so. But, in truth, I'm not sure. Creekside beat DeSoto worse than they beat Seminole, which had a losing season. Why was 3-loss DeSoto ahead of unbeaten Raines? The answer is personal bias, reputations etc. There is no other sort of argument one can make that leads to DeSoto being ahead of Raines.

Point is, the rankings are not reliable or authoritative in any meaningful way. Anyone who's ever been paid money to publish rankings lists, like myself, will tell you this if you catch them in a candid moment.

Didn't you use a daisy chain to say that Cherry Creek was underrated?

How many teams kick the crap out of Cocoa and Bolles in the country?

Raines needed a miracle to beat Northwestern. If we put Bosco who didn't win their championship vs Raines and I ask you how much do you want to bet straight up(No points given). You wouldn't take that bet.

Yeah that's great and all, but it really comes down to where they finished in the Red Zone Navy Seal top 9 poll. At least from a street cred perspective.That poll is the standard bearer from what I've read.

True. Nothing compares to that poll! Any poll put out by a trailer park Cajun redneck swamp turd will destroy all others out there.

Didn't you use a daisy chain to say that Cherry Creek was underrated?

How many teams kick the crap out of Cocoa and Bolles in the country?

Raines needed a miracle to beat Northwestern. If we put Bosco who didn't win their championship vs Raines and I ask you how much do you want to bet straight up(No points given). You wouldn't take that bet.

No, I wouldn't take the bet. But, 1) I wouldn't take the bet with any team over Bosco.  I wouldn't bet more than like $5 (which I'd be willing to waste for the entertainment value while watching the game) on any team against Bosco, Mater Dei or Bishop Gorman.  And 2) that wasn't the claim in regards to Raines anyway. My claim on them is they belonged in or very near the top 10 nationally. And that's the same thing I'm claiming with Cherry Creek. Physically, CC resembles a top tier Trinity league team.

No, I wouldn't take the bet. But, 1) I wouldn't take the bet with any team over Bosco.  I wouldn't bet more than like $5 (which I'd be willing to waste for the entertainment value while watching the game) on any team against Bosco, Mater Dei or Bishop Gorman.  And 2) that wasn't the claim in regards to Raines anyway. My claim on them is they belonged in or very near the top 10 nationally. And that's the same thing I'm claiming with Cherry Creek. Physically, CC resembles a top tier Trinity league team.

Sorry pal. Barely beating a 2A team by 3 points who didn't beat one high quality team all year doesn't catapult you into the national top 20.

No, I wouldn't take the bet. But, 1) I wouldn't take the bet with any team over Bosco.  I wouldn't bet more than like $5 (which I'd be willing to waste for the entertainment value while watching the game) on any team against Bosco, Mater Dei or Bishop Gorman.  And 2) that wasn't the claim in regards to Raines anyway. My claim on them is they belonged in or very near the top 10 nationally. And that's the same thing I'm claiming with Cherry Creek. Physically, CC resembles a top tier Trinity league team.

Beating Northwestern in a 50/50 game isn't top 10 material last year. Top 25 at best.

Beating Northwestern in a 50/50 game isn't top 10 material last year. Top 25 at best.

Agreed. The top 10 would dismantle MNW. It's not the same type of football. SFL publics can out-athlete all their local counterparts, but nationally ranked teams have just as many athletes as well as the coaching, discipline, execution etc to make games a blowout.

They are just built different. Raines and MNW are mirror images of each other. That's why the game was so close. Both would get blown out by the top 10.

Agreed. The top 10 would dismantle MNW. It's not the same type of football. SFL publics can out-athlete all their local counterparts, but nationally ranked teams have just as many athletes as well as the coaching, discipline, execution etc to make games a blowout.

They are just built different. Raines and MNW are mirror images of each other. That's why the game was so close. Both would get blown out by the top 10.

I think that area can produce top 10 teams, but last years Northwestern wasn't one of those teams nor was Raines.