Bigger IS better

Maybe bigger is better. If you look at the results from the 2008 high school football season you will find that Class 6A and Class 3A came away with the most winning teams. Class 6A of couse features most of the Louisville area teams and the bigger Lexington teams. Class 6A and Class 5A along with Class 3A led the pack when it came to winning teams. Class 6A had 19 winning teams out of the 36 in that class thus the laregest division in the state had a rate of 52 percent.

Class 5A had 18 winning teams in a class of 37 teams, so they dipped below the .500 mark with 48.6. Whitley County was one of 18 winning teams. The Colonels were 5-0 against teams their size and 4-1 against teams smaller then themselves.

Athough Class 4A had two undefeated teams, the group itself had only 15 winning teams out of 35. But, traditional powers Boyle County and Bell County led the way with 10-0 marks. Class 4A finished the season with 42 pecent over the .500 mark.

Another mountain team led 3A with a perfect record (Belfry 10-0) but the class as a while had 19 winning teams out of 39 for 48.7 percent.

Corbin was the only team to finish unbeaten in 2A. But, there were only 13 teams out of the 33 that had winning records. That was just 39 percent if you are counting. How did the Redhounds do against schools larger, of course they were 3-0 against teams larger and 5-0 against teams about their size and 2-0 against smaller schools, one of which they did not play.

And in the smallest class, well looks like they struggled. They barely made it over 30 percent. Of the 41 playing just 12 teams had winning records. Williamsburg was lucky enough to be one of them. The Yellow Jackets were 9-1. Everyone was larger than Williamsburg because they are one of the smallest public schools playing football. And I can brag on my high school, Eminence, who might be the smallest. They were 8-2 losing to bigger schools, Henry County and Frankfort.

So, bigger does seem to be better on the football field. If you take the three snallest classes, there were 44 winning teams out of the 111 for 39.6 percent. In the top three classes, 53 teams of the 108 had winning records for 49 percent. Almost half of the teams.

So, the next time coaches are scheduling, it might pay to check out the size of the new opponent. Then we all know you are not going to get any better playing people your own size.