I believe this year's team is better in most ways. They lost a great D lineman, but I believe their line play is even better on both sides this year than a year ago. QB play improved from last year. Defense is really, really good.
Stable of running backs with some lightning and thunder. They lack the one big play threat in Grigsby, but he was dinged up and largely a nonfactor in last year's Morris game. Overall, most of the impact players in last year's quarterfinal victory over Morris are back this year.
That said, last year was a drubbing. But just about everything went right for JC that day. Even though JC's lines were dominant, I don't believe the teams were really 40 plus points apart.
I know Morris is better than earlier in the season and peaking right now. The metrics tell me JC favored by a fair amount. The many turnovers by MP today and only capitalizing on some is interesting. The Rochelle-Naz and SF-Sycamore results were interesting and all mounting evidence for why JC should be favored.
But this is a real rivalry and all those metrics pointing to JC being favored somehow make me more uneasy. Last year I expected a slugfest and we saw JC drive Morris off the line of scrimmage. This year the metrics tell us JC should be favored by a few scores. But just like last year and many years in this rivalry, I expect the actual on field production to not look anything like anyone projected. Hoping the Hilltoppers play their best game, they may need it.
