It’s hard to get high school coaches to agree on just about anything … unless you ask who they think is going to win Monday’s college football national championship game between the Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes.

“Indiana,” says Captain Shreve’s Jeremy Wilburn.

“Indiana,” says Calvary’s Rodney Guin.

“Indiana,” says Airline’s Justin Scogin.

“Indiana,” says Northwood Austin Brown.

“Indiana,” says Haughton’s Matthew Sewell, who quickly added “but I think it will be close.”

“Indiana,” says Booker T. Washington’s Gary Cooper, who may have the most profound reason of all for his selection. “That’s because I’m a Florida State guy. I hate Miami. Can’t ever pull for them.”

Granted, Cooper’s reasoning may not be the most practical of them all but never stand in the way of a man’s passion.

Coaches – not matter what the level – see a different game than the rest of us. Sure, it all comes down to blocking and tackling, but it’s a little more nuanced that simply which team is the betting line favorite. (By that way, that would be the Hoosiers, who are something in the neighborhood of a nine-point favorite. Depends on your neighborhood.)

Local coaches arrived at the same place in regard to picking Indiana, but they come at it from different directions.

“I think they (the Hoosiers) are getting more out of their guys than any other staff is,” Wilburn says. “And I’m really not sure what the recipe is but they have obviously figured it out. These guys are playing above their paygrade, both individually and as a unit.”

“They are a veteran team with a bunch of older guys,” Guin says. “I think that makes a huge difference.”

But Sewell isn’t ready to start engraving the trophy for Indiana quite yet. “Miami is so physical and talented,” the second-year Bucs coach says. “They have NFL guys all over the place. And in watching their games the last couple of weeks, their style of play lends itself to playing in close games. They are just going to line up and pound you and on defense, I think they can create some negative plays.”

Says Scogin: “Indiana is older and a little more prudent.”

That may be the first time the word “prudent” has been used to describe a college football team. Nevertheless, he says there are plenty of reasons to like what Miami does.

“I love how they control the line of scrimmage,” Scogin says. “And it looks they enjoy doing it.”

“Indiana makes less mistakes, but Miami has got that swagger,” Brown says. “Being in Miami, they (the Hurricanes) will keep it close, but Indiana is just too well coached. They are methodical and an almost psychopathic resilience.”

Wow, we just entered into “psychopathic resilience” territory. We are diving deep into the language pool.

“As a coach to get your team and your whole organization to that level, I don’t think the general public knows how good of a job (Indiana coach Curt) Cignetti has done,” Brown says.

“I really like Indiana’s coach,” Cooper says. “He’s a program builder and it’s great to see.”

As for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Guin doesn’t hold back. “He’s the next Joe Montana,” he says. “He’s something else. It’s his accuracy just how fast the dang ball gets out there.”

All the analysis in the world won’t matter when they kick it off Monday night. And Cooper isn’t really all that concerned about the Xs and Os involved.

“I just can’t have Miami win,” he says. “I won’t be able to handle that.”

Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com