The top of the Big Central Power Rankings remains a mish-mosh in Week Eight as we head into the playoff cutoff this weekend, with Phillipsburg regaining the top spot after a big home win over Bridgewater-Raritan Friday night at Maloney Stadium.
The Stateliners climbed from No. 5 to No. 1 and squeezed out last week’s top team, Elizabeth, which dropped to two. Hillside’s big win over Manville drove the Comets up from ten to three, with Piscataway dropping from two to four after a win over Monroe – even though their Strength Index value rose – and Rahway edging down one spot to fifth.
The power rankings are simply based on the state’s Strength Index formula, which helps determine a team’s OSI, and is 60% of the UPR playoff formula. SI values and will change each week as games are played. See the methodology at the bottom of this page.
Rounding out the top ten, Old Bridge rose two spots from eight to six, Sayreville dropped one to seventh, Somerville pushed up one spot to No. 8, New Providence climbed from eleven to nine, and Bridgewater-Raritan dropped from third to tenth.
Statewide, yet again, we have a new No. 1 team: Don Bosco’s win ove DePaul helped them dethrone St. Augustine, which drops to third, while Glassboro edges up from three to take the No. 2 spot. Rancocas Valley jumps from six to four, while Washington Twp. shot up after a mammoth 42-17 win over Winslow, climbing from No. 14 to No. 5 in this week’s rankings.
While there still aren’t any Big Central teams in the statewide Top 25, five are still in the top 50. That’s one less team than last week, as Sayreville dropped from 47 to 64.
- Phillipsburg rose from 45 to 29, making them the highest-rated team in the league.
- Elizabeth held at 30, one spot behind the Stateliners.
- Hillside shot up from 71 to 31.
- Piscataway dropped one place to 33.
- Rahway rose three spots from 43 to 50.
Strength Index Methodology: Team A and Team B are compared to find the difference between their rankings, which provides the Expected Result. The margin of the final score is figured in positive or negative terms compared to the Expected Result. The difference is divided by five, and the teams increase or decrease by the resulting number.
Example #1: Team A has an SI value of 80, while Team B has an SI value of 60. The Expected Result is +20 for Team A. When the game is played, Team A wins by 30. That is 10 points higher than the expected result. Than number is divided by 5, meaning Team A increases by 2 (Team A now has an SI of 82) while Team B decreases by 2 (Team B now has an SI of 58).
Example #2: In the same scenario, Team A defeats Team B by 20. That is the same as the Expected Result, no there is no change. Team A remains with an SI value of 80, while Team B retains its 60 SI value.
Example #2: Team A defeats Team B by 10. That is 10 points fewer than the expected result. Divide by 5 to get 2, but in this case, Team A drops by 2 points to 78 (because Team A “underperformed”) while Team B increases by 2 points to 62.
Out-of-State Opponent SI: Strength Index ratings for non-New Jersey teams are calculated by finding their MaxPreps ranking, then averaging the SI ratings of the next New Jersey team above and below them in the MaxPreps rankings.
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