Murphy vs Fannin
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I would take Murphy in this one if they were healthy. It's going to be really hard now with #34 out and #20 beat up though.
I think the staff has done a wonderful job the last couple of weeks but it's time to get the Hayesville transfer Cook some reps at OLB in practice this week in my opinion. He's not a DB and he's too good of an athlete comparatively not to utilize in some manner with the injury crisis and lack of depth in this team.
Need to consider sitting #20 until conference play, let him get healed up. Murphy's really going to need him during the conference grind ; don't need him hobbled all year trying to play through injury.
I think the staff has done a wonderful job the last couple of weeks but it's time to get the Hayesville transfer Cook some reps at OLB in practice this week in my opinion. He's not a DB and he's too good of an athlete comparatively not to utilize in some manner with the injury crisis and lack of depth in this team.
Need to consider sitting #20 until conference play, let him get healed up. Murphy's really going to need him during the conference grind ; don't need him hobbled all year trying to play through injury.
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I would use Hedden, Shore, and Stalcup in the backfield, and only use #20 when absolutely necessary until conference play. I think that backfield should be good enough to take care of Fannin and the private school next week.
That's what I would roll with Friday too. Hedden or Shore needs the lion's share of the reps at wing this week with Stalcup at tail now. Fullback is definitely not Hedden's ideal spot but he can handle himself there until #20 is closer to full health and then shift to wing.
He had surgery Saturday morning and got to come home that night
I’m pretty sure they are.
I think it's good that the series is back on with the schools being so close. Wish Murphy and Union would have kept going, too. Murphy and Fannin used to play every year for a while until about a decade ago, but other than Fannin pulling out a close one in a year Murphy started 0-3 then turned things around and won state, Murphy pretty much dominated the series and the games were never really close. But I think it will be more competitive now. Back in those years Fannin hardly ever had a winning record, but they've had 10+ wins and playoff victories the last two years. A lot of factors to their turnaround--to name a few, they got a new coach a few years ago, dropped from AAA to AA, and got lucky with a region assignment the last 2 years that sent them west to play Rome area schools instead of a tougher region to the east with Rabun Co. in it. Fannin seems to be a little down this year compared to what they've been the last few years--they've already lost as many games this year as they did all of last year-- and I've eaten crow picking against Murphy the last two games, so I'll go with Murphy.
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Fannin rebel TV on YouTube is broadcasting this game for those interested
Has nothing to do with Georgia ball, Murphy beat the brakes off Fannin two out of the three years that they played them a decade ago.
A lot of people need to look in the mirror after this one, worst performance I've EVER seen by Murphy and I don't say that lightly
Actually Murphy beat them three out of four times. Wins in 2010, 2012, and 2013. Only loss was 2011 (until tonight). Having said that, tonight is embarrassing.
I don’t see Watson lasting long. Even In down years when Gentry was there, they were at least competitive. This makes 2 times this year that Murphy just seems to lack competitiveness. Thought they were righting the ship until tonight. I know the Laney loss hurt but geez.
You're right nole, got my wires crossed. Embarrassing is an understatement, this a Fannin team that was held to 7 points by Union and a Thomas Nelson lead defense, Murphy has made them look like the '99 Rams.
I don't want to hear anything about this having to do with injuries, the team quit tonight, period. Undisciplined and have been since the staff turnover.
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I've tried diligently to give the benefit of the doubt and from a sheer talent standpoint this was never going to be a contending team... but the devil is in the details as they say and it's the little things that show me this is probably not going to work in the long run. It's time to call a spade a spade.
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Yeah. It’s disappointing I’m sure for Murphy fans. It just seems like he has “lost the team.”
This is also a different Fannin team, Cheatam has really turned things around for Fannin.
Murphy doesn't lack competitiveness. Losing Laney and having Johnson go down more than "hurts". What do you think would happen to Andrews if Isaac Weaver goes down. There are several teams in the SMC that are one injury away from being being on top to fighting for every win. Murphy is missing 4 starters (Laney and Johnson on offense and defense) plus Ledford and Hedden are banged up. Almost every player on the team is playing out of their position. You people kill me that jump on and off the wagon so easily. Things happened in the game tonight that had nothing to do with coaching...just flat out bad luck with injuries and the team trying to adjust to that. You easily forget last week’s win over South Pitt and the win over Commerce and how competitive Murphy looked.
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Better find the consistency. There ain’t a thing competitive about getting beat by a mediocre team the way Murphy did tonight. Gentry’s teams had injuries too, but rarely got the butt kicking the way Murphy did tonight. Making a comparison to Andrews is absurd. Murphy is twice Andrews size. Robbinsville could lose Adams and still be way more competitive than that. Obviously they weren’t going to find Gentry number 2 when Gentry retired, but I’m really not sure Watson and Staff is the answer. They play like that against Andrews and Robbinsville this year, those teams can name their score. Again, I’m not sitting here knocking Murphy just because I’m a Black Knight fan. The SMC as a whole is better when Murphy, Swain and Robbinsville are fighting it out for number 1. It’s even better when you have a team like Andrews in the mix that could take all 3 of them to the woodshed. One thing I’ve learned through the last couple years of posting here is that mbd fan and I haven’t always agreed on a lot of things, but 99.9 % of the things he says are from a very honest POV. He knows his stuff too. If he tends to believe the way he believes about Murphy’s program right now, I tend to believe he is right.
Mbdfan also said Murphy was going to go 0-4 and they’re 2-2. In the first post of this thread, he was also talking about the wonderful job the staff has done the last couple weeks. My point is injuries can be devastating to a team especially when you have no depth. When Gentry coached, Murphy also had enough depth for it to be next man up. Guess what, we don’t have a next man up. We have sophomores playing in seniors positions.
Maybe so. But there isn’t an excuse losing the way they last tonight regardless.
Boys let me say something, I’m not too fond of Fannin county myself but it’s ridiculous what Watson did to them young guys from fannin tonight I get putting some points on the board to give you something good to talk about but I would take zero pride in throwing all over 9th graders with every healthy starter still in the ball game. That onside kick makes me shake my head. I wish ole cheatham would’ve hung 70 on watson personally. No hard feelings towards you fans I’m sure most of you guys would agree.
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To lose this game under the circumstances was an acceptable and likely outcome even, I pretty much intimated as much at the beginning of the thread. It's the nature of the loss that was/is problematic. This game was already way way out of hand before Will went down (which I hate, great kid). I know things can snowball quickly on a bad night but I saw a squad that pretty much laid down when things started not going their way in the 1st and that's the part I can't reconcile.
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Watson led Murphy to the fourth round of the state playoffs last year during his first year of head coaching, so obviously he can do it. People have unrealistic expectations. You're not going to win state every year and you're not going to win every single game. You are going to have rebuilding years and you're going to have to deal with injuries. As far as the game last night, Murphy had several players out there that are sophomores and several have never started a game. Murphy doesn't have a back up quarterback and is down to one healthy running back. Murphy isn't going to lay down and quit playing no matter what the score is.
Murphy had several sophomores and inexperienced players out there in the second half, for instance (#12). Players were also out there due to injuries that haven’t had many balls thrown to them (#23). There isn’t a back up quarterback, so he had to keep playing. Murphy isn’t going to roll over, take a knee and quit playing.
Not having a backup QB is very risky. With a roster like they have you would think they would have at least one backup
Well, we do have a backup and he’s our only healthy running back right now. We aren’t going to put him at QB unless it’s an emergency. I don’t know what roster you’re looking at.
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People might have those expectations but I'm not one of them. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge and intelligence knew this year was going to be a step back from a talent standpoint. I consider myself a realist when it comes to what Murphy is capable of in a given season, I was under no illusions that this was a conference or state title type of team. With that said Franklin was a very winnable game and last night didn't have to be the worst beating I've ever seen Murphy take, that wasn't Chattahoochee or Rabun on the other side of the field.
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It was a beating and I'm not saying it wasn't and you're right they should have beat Franklin. With all your knowledge, you should also know that Ty Laney was the heartbeat of the team and a dang warrior on the field. Not having him out there is a devastating blow that's going to take some time to adjust to. Not having Laney out there moves several people out of their position. We don't have anyone that can step right in and take his place on offense or defense and now add Johnson to that equation. In the first quarter, Murphy had a punter take a knee on the 20 and two interceptions (one of which was a fluke) and all three resulted in a touchdown. When you're already beatdown, then that's a lot to overcome from the first quarter. I don't care what you say, Murphy is competitive and will get better. If you've got a better solution, then I'm sure the coaches would appreciate you showing up to watch film and be there at practice on Monday. However, that may involve you doing more than watching from your couch and blowing up the computer screen.
I’ll say this and try to refrain from saying anything else. EVERYONE knew Murphy was gonna be par for the course this year with Andrews and Robbinsville being the top dogs. It’s not a secret. I don’t know if Gentry has everyone spoiled or what but for me it always seemed that Murphy would be due for a down year and somehow win a state championship. Yeah I’m sure there was more talent than they have this year. It just always seemed like Coaching was the difference. I just don’t see that from this staff. I cannot see them bridging the gap when talent is down. Like I said, it’s a competitive thing. I have never seen Murphy get beat like a rented mule to a team that most thought should be a win before the game. As mbd said, if it were Rabun Gap or someone of that caliber, we could see a similar score. But it wasn’t. For a team that plays in the best conference in the state and a team that has been a staple within that conference, you should expect more. Period.
By the way, it's Rabun County, Georgia not Rabun Gap that's been an elite program. You forget that Watson was Gentry's right hand man for 20 years, and he was a huge part of that "Coaching" that you keep referring to.
Rabun County and Rabun Gap both really but you’re right I was referring to Rabun County. My mistake. It doesn’t really matter if Watson was his right hand man. Doesn’t always translate to being a good head coach. You ought to know that surely. Things are a whole lot different when you’re the one calling the shots. I understand what you’re saying about all of this but surely you can see what a lot of us are referring to……
First I've never said they won't get better and that they haven't been competitive (besides last night's game). I've been to half a dozen practices when work and time permitted and yes there are few things I would like to see different or mixed up personnel wise but I'm not going to criticize players. You talk about a lack of depth and dearth of talent this year, well that just highlights why a kid like #33 needs reps and #4 needs more reps, Murphy doesn't have the jimmy's and joe's this season for potential solutions to be left by the wayside. My 2 cents aren't worth much at all, anyone can be an armchair analyst, its irrelevant anyway because I'm not the one being paid to figure it out.
You're right you're opinion isn't worth much. High school coaches get paid pennies for the time they put in June-December. They actually get paid less than the person that pressure washes the stadium. However, people like you expect them to be Nick Saban. Murphy coaches will figure it out, but you have to remember they can't get out there and play the football game. There were mistakes made like taking a knee, interceptions that have nothing to do with coaching....just costly mistakes. The players are also going to have to dig deep and want to win.
Wanting to win should NEVER be a problem at a school like Murphy.
It's not a problem as proven in the win last week at South Pitt when most teams would've quit in the second quarter after what happened to Ty. I meant that it takes both the players and coaches wanting to win. Making mistakes doesn't mean that you don't want to win....you just have to clean it up. Doesn't mean it's a coaching issue like you and mbdfan are always quick to assume.