If the NJSIAA held playoffs in high school football this year, North Plainfield wouldn’t be in any danger of missing them with a perfect record.
But they wouldn’t get a very good seed.
In the latest unofficial UPR numbers calculated by Central Jersey Sports Radio following Week 4, undefeated North Plainfield (4-0) sits in 14th in the standings for the North Group 3 supersection.
Despite the perfect mark through four weeks – with South River (2-1) and South Plainfield (1-3) the last two teams on the schedule, and likely both wins – North Plainfield has been hurt by a relatively week schedule compared to its supersection peers.
According to the traditional power points, North Plainfield’s average ranks 8th in North 3, which would give them a top four seed in hypothetical sectionals, and a guaranteed first round game at Krausche Field. But their OSI rank is 17th.
The NJSIAA rules say no undefeated team should be left out of the playoffs, so if the Canucks ran the table – and they should – they’d be in the “hypothetical” tournament. But one loss could change that, as it would further damage their OSI ranking.
The Canucks are not alone. Tenafly – also 4-0 – sits one spot behind North Plainfield in 15th, one spot out of the last position. They actually rank 4th in power point average, but 20th in OSI.
Below are the current UNOFFICIAL standings for the North Group 4 supersection.
The Top 16 teams would be qualifiers, designated in bold.
Please take note that all calculations are unofficial, and no mechanism exists to check or confirm these numbers and standings. Strength Index and OSI are not being calculated publicly. Only records have been confirmed. All standings are purely hypothetical.
