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Mavchamp

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  1. None of this is officially substantiated. So take it all with a grain of salt. But the rumor mill is busy this offseason amongst everyone remaining in the American Southwest Conference. ETBU is looking at the possibility of making the big jump from NCAA Division III to Division II. D-3 is the lone division in the NCAA that offers no athletic scholarships. Of course...athletes can get academic scholarships....but they cannot get athletic scholarships. A little background info for those that haven't been keeping up with the drama..... The American Southwest Conference....generally seen as one of the strongest football conferences in all of D3 is on the verge of collapse. Several schools have announced they are leaving the conference as soon as 2024 and heading to other conferences/and or divisions. It hasn't been said publicly... but the driving force behind many of the defections is to escape Mary Hardin Baylor and to a lesser extent Hardin Simmons University. UMHB has ruled the conference for about 20 seasons... and has become a national powerhouse with multiple national championships and several national champion runner up finishes. They have claimed the automatic qualifier (AQ) playofd bid almost every season since 2000. HSU has taken the bulk of the remaining playoff spots when the ASC gets an at-large bid. Well....almost all of them have all jumped ship: Moving to SCAC (D3) McMurry (Abilene) Austin College (Sherman) Texas Lutheran (Seguin) (Non football schools moving are Ozark & Schreiner) Moving to SAA (D3) Southwestern University (Georgetown) joining Trinity (San Antonio) Belhaven (Jackson, MS) Moving to D-2 (Lone Star Conference) Sul Ross (Alpine) UT Dallas and UT Tyler are non football ASC schools that have already moved to the LSC Mississippi College (Clinton) moved to D2 Gulf Coast Conference They have gone from 11 football schools.... to just 4 remaining: The Baptist Four Remain ETBU (Marshall) UMHB (Belton) Howard Payne (Brownwood) Hardin Simmons (Abilene) They will lose the AQ after the 2024 season unless something changes. ETBU has a few options: 1. Remain in the ASC and see if it can be rebuilt by recruiting new members. Possibly Wayland Baptist (Plainview), Texas Wesleyan (Fort Worth), SAGU (Waxahachie), Texas College (Bullard), North American University (Houston). Those are all NAIA schools...would the be willing to go non-scholarship to save $$$??? 2. Remain in the ASC and work towards a merger with either the Coast to Coast Conference or the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). Both would require some huge travel. The C2C conference lives up to its name with schools on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts with several in the middle. But are the Baptist Four willing to increase travel budgets to California and the East Coast? 3. Move to NAIA and join the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC). This would require ETBU to start offering scholarships in all sports. They would have some natural rivals built in like former ASC rival Louisiana College. Texas College is only an hour away from ETBU. And Wesleyan and SAGU are both in the metroplex. The remainder of the SAC is found in Oklahoma. Some see this as a step down...even though it means scholarships. There's some snobbery about the NAIA concerning the NCAA....but the NAIA has proven it can play with NCAA D2 and D3 programs. 4. Make the Jump to Division II. A big jump in scholarship monies would have to be afforded. ETBU would be amongst the smallest D2 schools in the nation with an enrollment of about 2,000. Two choices in conferences exist.... the Lone Star Conference with the bulk of the conference found in Texas.... and the Great American Conference with the bulk in Arkansas. While it seems the LSC makes the most sense by name.... the GAC actually makes the most sense geographically. Most of the GAC schools are much closer to ETBU than the schools in the Lone Star Conference. But are the Tigers prepared to see a massive increase in competition from much larger schools? ------------- What's most maddening about this...... the SCAC schools won't admit it...but they are running away from UMHB and HSU instead of just improving to compete against them. But they are citing political differences as the reasons for wanting to disassociate from the Baptist Four. Take that however you will. The SAA is hanging their hat on academic snobbery for not wanting the ASC schools. They may have a point about UMHB and HSU.... they each accept more than 90% of their applicants (HSU is 91% and UMHB is 90%). Not the case with ETBU and HPU though. In fact.... ETBU is harder to get into than most of their current membership. Most of their institutions accept 80% or more of their applicants. ETBU is about 64%. HPU is 49%. The SAA is avoiding trouble for accepting ETBU and HPU and not accepting HSU or UMHB. ----------- But rumor has it that ETBU is leaning towards the LSC. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me. UT Dallas 31,570 Texas Women's (Denton) 12,465 Angelo State (San Angelo) 10,447 West Texas A&M (Canyon) 10,169 A&M Kingsville 8,783 UT Permian (Odessa) 7,628 Midwestern State (Whichita Falls) 6,093 Eastern New Mexico (Portales) 5,574 St. Edwards (Austin) 5,500 Cameron (Lawton)- 5,449 Dallas Baptist- 5,500 UT Tyler 5,300 St. Mary's (San Antonio) 4,500 Texas A&M International (Loredo) 4,298 Western New Mexico (Silver City) 3,820 Oklahoma Christian (OKC) 2,479 Lubbock Christian 2,100 Sul Ross (Alpine) 2,070 ETBU 2,031 Yikes. Hard to get excited about that. I'm hoping the SCAC will relent and take ETBU and HPU..... that's best. Then the merger would be my second choice. Third would be NAIA. Going D2 needs to be a NO unless they are gong to get real serious about recruiting. Getting kids to come to ETX is a lot harder than getting them to Dallas, Abilene, Austin, San Angelo, W Falls...and other cities that are significantly bigger. At least in D3 and NAIA you are competing against markets of 20-30K like ETBU is. What a mess.
  2. They started with the lower classifications a pretty good while ago. It has inched its way up to every class except 6A. 5A separated into Div I and Div II districts with the 2018 realignment. So this will be the 4th alignment with predetermined districts.
  3. Marshall won the 5A "Big School" bracket in 1990 with an enrollment of like 1700. Aldine won the 5A "small school" bracket that same year with 2200.
  4. They divide their schools up by division based on enrollment size. Division I are the largest schools. Division IV are the smallest schools. But they have two titles per division. Select and non-select. If a school is a private school, a charter school, or a public school that has open enrollment....they are places in the SELECT bracket. If it's just a public school with no open enrollment.... it's put in the non-select bracket. So....even as small as Louisiana is.....they have EIGHT state champions. A select and a non-select for each division I, II, III, and IV.
  5. Their heads would explode if you had to explain the playoff system Louisiana has
  6. Obvious mis-type. Hallsville has been the class of the district in baseball for the better part of a decade or more. I'm looking forward to the new district. Should be very competitive in all sports. Seems a lot more level with Longview out. Tyler is still significantly bigger than everyone else in the district, but their athletic department isn't in the same stratosphere as Longview. It's crazy to me that there are 5A schools with almost 1,000 more students than another 5A school and can be in the same district. I guess that's not likely to change until if and when 7A becomes a reality.
  7. UIL could always shock us all and blow the current district up. But it's really not expected now that we know Longview is headed up.... and SS and Lindale are staying down. Here's what's expected: 5A Division II Texas High Marshall Whitehouse Mount Pleasant Hallsville Nacogdoches Jacksonville Football basically goes unchanged for 6/7 spots. But Pine Tree will be headed down to 4A Div I and Jacksonville will likely slide into their position. PT had become an annual playoff contender and occasional playoff participant. Jacksonville has REALLY struggled for a while now. While the bottom of the district will probably be less competitive going forward...it looks like THS, Marshall, and Whitehouse should be battling for 1-2-3 for the foreseeable future. Leaves Hallsville and Nac to battle out for the final playoff berth. ------------------------------- Lots of changes for all the other sports. Pine Tree dropping down and Jacksonville moving up will remain in place....but Longview moving up to 6A is an added detail. Tyler would again join the district for all non-football sports. Jacksonville traditionally has gone South with Lufkin and Nac...but they are expected to stay with us this time around. Again...UIL could do some wild things to shake it up...but this is what's being predicted MOST Other Sports Texas High Marshall Whitehouse Mount Pleasant Hallsville Jacksonville Tyler The loss of Longview and PT and adding only Jax means 4/7 teams will make the playoffs instead of 4/8. Good news for all, especially with the consistency Longview was taking playoff spots across the board. This is going to be a really good soccer district with MP, Jax, and Whitehouse. Tyler has had some strong squads through the years too. Strong baseball district with Texas High, Marshall, and Whitehouse Inconsistent basketball district with Whitehouse, Marshall, Texas High, Tyler, and Hallsville There's always a POSSIBILITY that Lufkin and Nac could be added to the district for a 9 team ALL ETX district. But most are expecting Nac and Lufkin to head south. Looks like a fun 2 years for all involved. Adios to PT and Longview.
  8. No matter how close/competitive the games are...... fact remains..... Texas High is (9-1) against Marshall since 2012. One win....in 2017. THS players don't really ever losing to Marshall. Marshall players don't really remember beating Texas High. IMHO........For the kids to get super-hyped for a rivalry....there needs to be the bad blood of wins AND LOSSES. THS dominating the district has some to do with it too. If 2-3 or even 4 teams were winning the district title from year to year....rivalries would be RED HOT. I remember in the 90's....it was anyone's guess who would win the district title. Might be Lufkin. Or Longview. Or Marshall. Or Tyler. It was a dogfight every single year Marshall, Longview, Tyler, Lufkin, Tyler.....all won district titles in the 90's It was a crazy decade. If we Saw THS win it one year and Marshall another. Whitehouse another. Hallsville another..... those rivalries would be ON FIRE too. But....with two dominant teams almost always in the 1/2 position...... harder for rivalries to grow. JMHO
  9. https://www.marshallmavericks.net/blog Going to start doing some blogs now and again. This first one is about the Marshall-Longview game...and it's possible end. Enjoy! There's a place for comments to be left as well.
  10. Bally Sports has been a colossal failure for many fans nationwide...including those in North Texas. No deals with the majority of streaming services (Hulu, Youtube).... unavailability on many cable outlets. Rangers, Mavericks, and Stars games have been difficult to find for a lotta folks. UIL state championships are no exception. Anyone that doesn't have Bally on their cable....or doesn't have Fubo or Direct streaming is left out in the cold. Now Bally is saying they will likely cease operations next September with the conclusion of the MLB season. What then? Who picks up the state championship games then? Will another RSN step up? Or could it go back to the way it was back in the day when a local DFW station distributed Ranger and Mav games. Same with the state championships. I don't have Bally since I switched to Youtube (I dumped Direct because of the Fox51 debacle). Now....I have the Dallas games.....but nothing for HSFB. Very frustrating.
  11. TBH......I'm going to miss Pine Tree. As the Pirates have improved through the years they have been evolving into a pretty good rivalry with Marshall in spite of our domination. The games were generally competitive. Hallsville hasn't been much of a rival. Mount Pleasant hasn't. Nac really hasn't. Texas high game generally seems competitive....but the Tigers have owned us for a while now. I hate to admit it...... but Whitehouse has become our "most heated" rivalry for the last 5-6 years. Game always seems to be a "must win" for one of us. Been a very even series. Mav Record Vs. District rivals since dropping in 2002 Lindale (3-0) Pine Tree: (19-3) Nacogdoches: (11-2) Mount Pleasant: (13-3) Hallsville: (16-6) Jacksonville (8-6) Whitehouse (7-7) Texas High: (3-12) I have a feeling 2 of our non-district games will go to Longview (ugh) and Pine Tree. I think a third will go to Tyler. If we get a fourth.....anyone's guess. Lufkin? Kilgore? Shreveport school?
  12. So would I. But it gets complicated (of course)....... If Lindale gets put in 5A...Sulphur Springs gets in too since they have identical enrollments (1,289). Where do they go? Do they put both of them in an all East Texas district...which would actually make a 9 team district. Texas High Marshall Whitehouse Jacksonville Hallsville Nacogdoches Mount Pleasant Lindale Sulphur Springs That would mean only 2 non-district games. OR.... they could put Lindale with the ETX 5A district....and send Sulphur Springs to the DFW 5A District DFW: Anna, Denison, Greenville, Lovejoy, Melissa, Mesquite Poteet, Sulphur Springs, Terrell ETX: Texas High, Marshall, Whitehouse, Jacksonville, Hallsville, Nacogdoches, Mt Pleasant, Lindale Seems a long-shot that either will move up though.
  13. I saw an abysmal offense struggle to beat Louisville. Nothing about last night's game told me FSU would beat any of the teams ahead of them in the final standings. Availability matters. It's literally in their bylaws.
  14. 1. A healthy QB and FSU is in.....no question. But player availability MATTERS. FSU's offense was abysmal last night. It MATTERS. Are the KC Chiefs still a Super Bowl team without Mahomes? Eagles without Hurt? Why do some think FSU is somehow immune to the same fate when the gas that makes their car go is out? I hate it..... and if we had a TRUE playoff system in place it would be irrelevant. But every single AD, president, and coach in a P5 has NOTHING to gripe about...this is the system they chose unanimously. Sit down and shut up. Should have had a 12-16 team playoff in place 30 years ago. 2. The committee should have dropped FSU from the top 4 immediately after the injury. Keeping them the additional weeks was ridiculous to begin with. If they had been dropped weeks ago....last night's lackadaisical showing by FSU would have been expected and being left out even more so justified. Stringing this out is the real reason FSU is ticked. Never should have been there after the injury. 3. I'm no fan of Ohio State....but I find it interesting that they weren't even a part of the conversation.... literally NO ONE talked about them. If that's the case... then why were they #5 to begin with. Clearly they weren't valued enough to be considered moving up....therefore doesn't that mean they were overrated? Otherwise SOMEONE would have been talking about them sliding into the top 4. Didn't hear it once all day yesterday. 4. Every single one of these teams is beatable. None of them are perfect in all phases of the game. All of them are vulnerable in some way or another. Any combination of them could end up in the championship and no one should be shocked.
  15. THSFB posted their mock alignment....looks just like the one for Texas HS Sports minus Lindale. Texas High Marshall Mount Pleasant Hallsville Nacogdoches Jacksonville Whitehouse District got weaker losing PT, who has either been in or at least competed for a playoff spot of late. Jacksonville has really struggled for a while. Mount Pleasant will have some studs back....but they lost their QB, who really seemed to make things go for them. But they will have some playmakers back. Esp on defense. Hallsville was a complete dumpster fire in 2023 (as predicted). Nac might have been the biggest disappointment in 2023...and they are losing their stud QB. Texas High, Marshall, and Whitehouse should be top three front-runners. All three have plenty coming back....and all three have some important peices to replace. Tigers will be the favorites.....again. And Marshall and Whitehouse will be a toss-up again. Altho Marshall has won 5 of the last 6.
  16. I'm going to make it to this game. Looking forward to it. Should be a good one. Will be cheering for our former rivals.
  17. The last cutoffs: 1,300 and up for 5A 2,225 and up for 6A That put 249 schools in 6A and 251 in 5A. With current reported numbers...... There are currently 503 5A/6A schools. There would be 504 with a cutoff at 1,280. 500 schools at 1,290 497 at 1,330 495 at 1,340 494 at 1,360 If the UIL wants to stay in that 250/250 number....then the bottom of 5A could actually drop from 1,300 to 1,290. No one says they can't decide to d0 252/252 or some close variation to help 4A out. Texas High 1,833 Nacogdoches 1,752 Mount Pleasant 1,562 Marshall 1,512 Whitehouse 1,490 ish Hallsville 1,480 ish Jacksonville 1,394 ---------------------THINGS GET IFFY here Lindale 1,289 Sulphur Springs 1,289 --------------- Probably dropping Pine Tree 1,270 If SS stays 4A....they will likely stay in the district they are in. If they move up...I would guess they would be placed in the district with Lovejoy..... IMHO...if PT drops....Lindale won't move up. But if PT stays up...then Lindale is a possibility to move up. And they more than proved themselves worthy back in 2013-2018-ish. I don't think they ever beat Lufkin, Marshall, Texas High.....but they weren't easy. They were always a playoff team. They just weren't district title material. Jacksonville REALLY struggled in 5A..... and I remember people saying their move to 4A would serve them well....and I wasn't buying it. Not with the likes of Chapel Hill, Kilgore, and Lindale...amongst others. I had a feeling their struggles would continue. But we also have to consider some neighbors Crandall 1824 Corsicana 1790 Mesquite Poteet 1532 Terrell 1502 Denison 1372 Melissa Lovejoy Greenville Princeton Ennis For some reason the mock alignmet guy moved Crandall all alone into a DISD district. I don't think that will happen. Add these schools to the ETX schools and you have a total 19 potential. So many possibilities: East: Nacogdoches, Marshall, Hallsville, Texas High, Mt Pleasant, Whitehouse, Jacksonville, Lindale West: Mesquite Poteet, Terrell, Kaufman, Crandall, Corsicana, Ennis North: Denison, Melissa, Lovejoy, Greenville, Princeton, Anna, Sulphur Springs or ETX 1: Marshall, Texas High, Mt. Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Hallsville, Greenville ETX 2: Nacogdoches, Whitehouse, Jacksonville, Crandall, Corsicana, Ennis, Lindale DFW: Mesquite Poteet, Terrell, Kaufman, Denison, Melissa, Lovejoy, Princeton, Anna or DFW 1-30: Tex High, Mt Pleasant, Sul Springs, Greenville, Denison, Lovejoy, Princeton, Anna, Melissa DFW: 1-20: Marshall, Hallsville, Mesquite Poteet, Terrell, Kaufman. Lindale South: Nacogdoches, Whitehouse, Jacksonville, Crandall, Corsicana, Ennis Possibility of Nac going south is always there....which complicates things. Sulphur Springs and Lindale not moving up actually makes things a little easier.
  18. He has PT dropping down and Lindale and Jax moving up into district 8. He has Sulphur Springs moving up into district 7. I don't agree with his numbers. If Lindale and Sulphur Springs moves up....then Pine Tree will stay up from what I understand. If Lindale and Jax move up...and PT stays up..... that's a 9 team district. I think Lindale and SS stay down.... PT drops...and Jax takes their place. We remain a 7 team district. Although...I'd be OK with PT and Lindale joining us for 9. The more the merrier.
  19. Tbh… if we never played a certain school southwest of here again I’d be fine with it.
  20. I was hoping they would split us like they did in 2012 and 2014. Send Nac, WH, Jax, and Lindale with Ennis and Corsicana Send Marshall, Texas, Mp, Hallsville, PT to Sulphur Springs and Grenville. Lovejoy and that group can go with Poteet and DFW schools
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