[EKUAlum05]

Alright..I am sure I will run my mouth some more by the end of the week...but I do want to make my first points after a weekend of anticipation:

Much has been made of Breathitt's Strength of Schedule, and I want to expound on that a bit.

First and foremost, when people criticize Breathitt as having "played noone" or "not being tested like Belfry", I think there is a little bit of inaccuracy in this statement that needs to be addressed before I go deeper.

Breathitt has been challenged. In fact, Breathitt may very well be in the select company of teams who have not only played, but defeated, two teams who are favored to be playing at Bowling Green for their respective state titles (Somerset and Hazard), on top of that, both wins came on the road.

I feel confident saying Breathitt has 2 good wins all on the road. I think those 2 games alone are enough to quantify the Bobcats as being legit and worthy of being respected. Hell, Belfry only has a good win to speak of, and that was against a team who is sitting at home after getting shelled in Round 2...whereas their 2 losses came to teams who met similar fates.

My issue with the Breathitt schedule and where I think Belfry has a significant advantage is not about "who" but instead about "when". When Breathitt played Somerset the Bobcats were the consensus favorite based off the fact of returning talent, addition of pieces by transfers, and a general matchup edge against a Somerset offense that was struggling not to trip over itself. The Bobcats though had not played a team with a pulse to that point, and it seemed it took them a Half to acclimate to the speed of the game, higher skill level of their opponent, and the physicality of the game. By no means was Breathitt in awe..as they moved the ball well and came up with the stops when they needed them, but mental errors, turnovers, dropped passes, and missed tackles that were "out of character" reared their head and made the game much closer.

Belfry had similar "WTF" moments against Henry Clay, Ashland, and to a lesser extent Johnson Central. The key though is 2/3 of those three teams came at the back end of the schedule whereas Breathitt's heart of their schedule came in the middle of the season on 9-21. Their last 6 games have been against weak teams, whereas leading up to that Somerset game they had played 4 straight weak teams. Consequently, the two best teams Belfry has played came two and 5 months after Breathitt's game against Hazard.

Does this ensure Belfry is going to shock and awe a wide eyed Breathitt team? Not at all.Frankly speaking it may not mean anything at all.

What I can't help but come back to though was last year's game at Jackson, when an undefeated Breathitt tem playing essentially the exact same schedule, with essentially the exact same results, lost a game by what nearly every Breathitt fan chalks up to "their own doing". A Breathitt team who made uncharacteristic turnovers, missed defensive assignments, special teams gaffes, missed opportunities, and unseen fatigue at the end of the game. Even in this very thread Breathitt fans insist they were the better team, they just beat themselves. I think they may have a point to some extent, and I also think that thanks to their schedule over the last two months of the season they are prone to do it again as they have re-acclimate.