[More Cowbell]

Thats not how you get better. Your team improves by playing competition better than you are. So its not about playing cup cakes or even teams equal to you. That might make the regular season record look good but who cares about regular season records. Pikeville has took some lumps already this year but they WILL be ready come playoff time because of their schedule and the level of opponents theyve played. While Im not an SV or Saunders fan I do applaud them for playing that level of talent.

I never said anything about making your regular-season record better. That means nothing come playoff time, everyone knows that.

And of course you don't get better playing cupcakes, I wouldn't want SV to schedule a bunch of them either. But neither does playing a team way above your level. It's one thing to play a team that's somewhat better than you, but that you might have a chance to beat if you give it your best shot. Even if you lose but keep it relatively close, not only do you learn but you gain confidence in your ability to hang with better teams.

But it's completely different to play a team that is so far above you that you have no chance of beating. Not only is your confidence shaken, but it's hard to learn anything when the other team pretty much has their way with you. I'm sorry, but I just don't see a benefit to getting throttled by 40+ points.

Incidentally, I wouldn't mind if SV scheduled Pikeville. Even though they got spanked by Ashland, the Panthers are still strong and would still be regarded as the more talented team. But they aren't as far above Valley as Belfry is, and I while I do believe Pikeville would win easily, the score would be a little closer than the annual humiliation dropped on SV by the Pirates.