Cooper vs Weatherford - Good News and Bad News

By Andrew Silva
September 3, 2006

I have good news and bad news regarding the Cougars heartbreaking loss to Weatherford last night. First, the bad news. That was not a good Weatherford team that the Cougars lost to last night. I know people would like to argue that with me, and actually I look forward to hearing some good arguments as to why you disagree. However, I am not basing my case on what other websites or publications have ranked the Kangaroos. I maintain that the Cougars faced a sub par football team last night based solely on the game that I watched. Here is why I maintain that Weatherford is not a good football team, at least the team I saw Friday evening. First, Weatherford did not display a consistent offense. The Cougars had their backs broken by the big play. The Kangaroos first score was on a 70 yard run and then they relied on blown coverages by the Cougars and several “trick” plays to move the ball. I guess it can be maintained that you do whatever it takes to win, but Weatherford’s halfback passes won’t work deep into the season when opponents have scouted them. Also the Kangaroo’s shot themselves in the foot several times, whether it was pass interference to give the Coogs another shot right before half or a foolish off-sides penalty on fourth down to give the Coogs a free first down. The Coogs can be sure that as the season wears on they will see more disciplined defenses who will not give them free yardage. So the bad news is Weatherford was not a great football team. The Coogs lost to a fairly good football team, who will probably make the playoffs but the Cougars can be sure that 3 to 4 of the teams that they face in district play will be much tougher than the Kangaroos.
Now for the good news. The good news is that this is high school football not college football. Let me explain. In college football, one single loss, regardless of what week it occurs in or to what opponent, pretty much assures a team of being out of contention for the championship. Every game counts in college but in high school not so much. As much as it stings to lose the ball game last night, the truth is that last nights game didn’t count for much as far as the Coogs chances for a successful season go. Personally, I would like to see the Cougars get back to the playoffs this year. I think that is a reasonable goal and it would do much to put Cooper football back on the right track to being a force to be reckoned with. So with the goal of playoffs in mind, a team could technically lose every non-district game and still be in the playoffs. Actually with four teams from each district making the playoffs, a team could have a losing record for the season and still make the playoffs. Do I want the Cougars to roll over for non-district opponents and back into the playoffs with a losing record? Of course not, but my point is that this game does not set the Cougars back nearly as much as it feels like it does. With a brand new head coach and new offensive and defensive systems being implemented, the Coogs can chalk this one up to a learning experience. They need to go back to practice next week, and work on continuing to put in Spradlin’s spread offense. The Coogs can spend some time breaking down film and correcting the little things that make good teams great. I look forward to seeing the Coogs peaking at just the right time, specifically about week 7 when the Cougars open district play.

Comments

Unknown
September 25, 2006 6:51 PM

I think you are wrong about weatherford and you are just mad that you got beat. This weatherford team is a excellent team unlike cooper, and you cant judge some team with the first game of the season!

Situ
September 25, 2006 11:13 PM

Wow, where do I begin. First off, if you are gonna attempt to comment, albeit extremely weakly, at least have the guts (lack of a better word on a public blog) to leave a name. Second, if Weatherford is an "excellent" team as you claim them to be then why are they 1-2? I would define an excellent team to be a team that is at at best undefeated or state ranked and at least they have to have a winning record! 1-2 is hardly excellent. Thirdly, unfortunately your observation that I would be upset that Cooper lost is hardly that astute. What true fan isn't upset when their team loses? Finally, how can you contradict yourself so blatantly and not even notice? You maintain that one cannot judge a team with the first game of the season, yet you proceed to do just that by saying Cooper isn't an excellent team and Weatherford is! (I would however agree the Cougars aren't an excellent team as I reserve the term excellent for a team that has proven themselves better than Cooper's 1-2 record). Also I disagree that you can't judge a team by one game. I assume you aren't really as aberrant as your comment, but just in case I must clarify that this post was written directly after the Cooper/Weatherford game was played and neither team had played any other games. Since that was the case, what else was I supposed to judge these teams on, seeing as how they only had played this one game? Surely not past seasons as they don't count for anything in the present and surely you wouldn't want me to simply comment based blindly on what I guess will happen later in the season. Then again, you probably don't disapprove of randomly labeling teams regardless of what their game-play says. So I conclude by saying, it was cute of you to try to punk Cougar fans on their own blog but in the end, you just don't come out looking too "excellent".

Sarah
September 26, 2006 3:27 AM

How long ago was this game? Let me start by saying you thought wrong. There really is no arguement, you completely contradicted yourself. Oh, and it's okay you did not leave your name, it's perfectly clear you are young and have limited knowledge of football. Leave the sports talk to the adults and you can try to talk trash about the Coogs on your MySpace.

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