[grimsrud]

Thanks for the links! I have not actually seen this site but it is very helpful.

Is there a specific ranking system you put more stock into then others? Nationally it seems that USA Today's Super 25 seems to be the Holy Grail.

On a "state" basis I have always been a fan of the Massey Ratings (although his site isn't nearly as navigable as it used to be). Kentucky primarily has 3 ranking systems (Lit, Cantrall, and AP) and all three are severly flawed due to either human error (AP) or a skewed "magical number" in the computer ratings. Massey seems to take the bias out that causes the inherant problems with the other systems.

I think Massey is the best, too. Any of them can have holes that can be poked, but such is the nature of ratings. I mean, if there is controversy surrounding the BCS for 120 college teams, there is going to be uproar about the ratings for 10,000+ high school teams on a national basis. My contention about national polls/ratings is, while the Top 25 (or whatever number) across the country can easily be questioned, they all do a pretty good job of identifying the best teams in each of the states.

The one thing that can be said about ratings, though, as they have to be getting better, given the increase in number of intra-state matchups. You have your natural border wars (such as TN-KY) that have always occurred, and now we have events like the Herbstreit Ohio vs USA Challenege, made-for-ESPN games (e.g., Hoover vs. Nease, De La Salle vs. Evangel Christian), etc. With all of these teams playing each other, it gives the ratings a little more credibility, as the relative powers of each state can be quantified by such matchups.