High school and collegiate football season will be debuting next week with literally millions of athletes across the country suiting up for the most spectacle laden sport in the nation.
Friday night, Sept. 4, the lights will come on across Arkansas with the eight teams of the 4A-1 Conference participating in their first non-conference battle. All 4A-1 teams will have three non-conference games before beginning league play in week No. 4.
Huntsville will take on Green Forest, a 3A school. The Eagles have a 2-0 record against the Green Forest Tigers since 2000 and will probably run that to 3-0 this week. Berryville will take on 2A Decatur in their opener. The Bobcats have a 1-0 mark against the Bulldogs.
Lincoln will take their 4-3 record against 3A Westville, Okla., and likely improve it 5-3. Shiloh will battle perennial power 3A Charleston but Tigers from the south will be without their All-American quarterback who is now on the Razorback roster. The game should be close but with the Springdale school adding some new players, the 1-1 all-time record between the schools will probably swing to 2-1 in Shiloh's favor.
The 4A-1 schools with the toughest rows to hoe will be Prairie Grove, Gravette and Gentry. Gentry has a winning 2-1 mark playing West Fork but the Pioneers have been having it tough lately and the game could go either way. Prairie Grove plays 5A Farmington in their annual neighborhood rivalry shootout. The Tigers have a 9-5 record since 2000 against the Cardinals of Farmington but the Cards won last year and have been improving lately. That game could also go either way. The toughest game will be Gravette's battle with perennial 4A playoff team Pottsville. Located just east of Russellville, the Apaches have been pretty salty since their started their football program. Gravette is 0-2 against Pottsville.
Since 2000, the Blackhawks of Pea Ridge have only a 5-9 record against the Elkins Elks, their opening season opponent. However, the 'Hawks have grown in both strength and numbers with the Elks having issues with both. Having said that, the Elks always play well and could beat anyone that doesn't take them seriously. The 'Hawks will take them seriously and prevail.
What's in a name?
Of the eight schools in the 4A-1 Conference, only one team in the mix has a distinctively individual mascot name. The only team the district with a mascot like none other in the state is the Pea Ridge Blackhawks. There are other 'Hawks around the Natural State but no other Blackhawks.
The most common mascot in the state is the Eagles with 18 schools carrying that moniker including Huntsville. The second most common mascot is Tigers, the mascot of Prairie Grove. Eleven high schools in Arkansas utilize Lions as a mascot including Gravette, with another member of the cat family, Bobcats. having seven school followers including Berryville.
Gentry's Pioneers, Shiloh's Saints and Lincoln's Wolves are all alike in that they and one other school in the state share the same mascot.
The Razorbacks' bad news and the good news
The bad news is that the ascending Razorback football program was ranked just fifth best in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference.
The good news is that the University of Arkansas was also ranked 20th best in the United States with eight SEC schools ranked among the top 25. The number ties the record for the most teams ranked nationally out of a single conference, a mark which is, incidentally, already held by the SEC.
Most football pundits expect the Hogs to go bowling again, likely finishing with an 8-4 mark, an improvement over last year's 7-6 record. The Razorbacks are expected to go 4-0 in their non-conference battles and finish 4-4 in league play. Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss are expected to top Arkansas this year.
Arkansas is a better team than in the past few years, and they did manage to beat LSU and Old Miss convincingly last year. They played with Auburn for a half, and just barely lost to Alabama in a game they probably should have won. Personally, I think the Hogs will go at least 10-2 and have a shot at making the four team NCAA playoffs if they can upset Auburn or Alabama. Time will tell.
The current AP national top 10 with all SEC schools ranked are:
AP top 25 poll
1. Ohio State
2. Texas Christian
3. Alabama
4. Baylor
5. Oregon
6. Michigan State
7. Auburn
8. Florida State
9. Georgia
10. Southern California
13. Louisiana State
15. Mississippi
20. Arkansas
23. Missouri
25. Tennessee
Major league baseball postseason shaping up
With about 40 games left to play in the 162 game major league season, nine of the 10 playoff teams look like they have emerged from the pack to be be likely participants in this year's run up to the World Series.
Major League Baseball runs a probability chart on their website which updates daily the chances for any particular team to make it into the playoffs this year. The National League appears to have all but settled their portion with St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington and Los Angeles looking like probable honorees.
St. Louis in the NL and Kansas City in the American League are rated tops with 100 percent probability of making the playoffs. In the NL, Pittsburgh has a 94 percent chance of making it with Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago having better then even chances of making the cut. A team with a poor record could conceivably make a late season run to slip into the top five but that appears highly unlikely in the National League.
Over in the American, with a huge lead over their AL Central Division foes, Kansas City has bolstered their roster with some late season trades and look set to defend their American League Championship they won a year ago. New York and Toronto both have 95 percent chances of making the playoffs as they are battling each other neck and neck for the AL East title.
Out in the west, Houston has cooled off a lot from earlier in the season but they still have control of the AL West and have a 93 percent chance of making the cut. Since they were a dead last team last year, their performance this year has been nothing short of remarkable.
Outside of the four aforementioned AL teams, the fifth and final playoff spot has no team with better than a 27 percent chance of making it. Texas, Los Angeles (Angels), Minnesota, Tampa and Baltimore are all within one and a half games of each other. One of those teams will probably make it but it would be a coin flip at this point.
While the Cardinals have long had the best record in major league baseball this season, really poor hitting of late has allowed Pittsburgh to creep back to within three and a half games. With their whole starting outfield sitting out with injuries and with their infield position players barely batting a collective .200 the past couple of weeks, the Cards have been breaking a little better than even since July with their outstanding pitching staff carrying the load. They are the only team with a staff E.R.A. under 3.00, a sparkling 2.51.
While the Cardinals poor hitting since Aug. 1 is a bit disheartening, for them to have such a extended hitting slump and still be leading all of major league baseball is perhaps a good sign. Hitting slumps come and go and hopefully, this one will go before too long.
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Editor's note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Editorial on 08/26/2015