There was no change atop the Big Central Conference power rankings for Week Nine, as Phillipsburg, Elizabeth and Hillside remain the top three teams in the league by SI value after Cutoff Weekend games.
Piscataway’s loss at Sayreville dropped the Chiefs to No. 6 behind Old Bridge, which moved up two spots to No. 4, while the Bombers jumped up from seven to No. 5. After that, New Providence climbed two spots to seven, St. Thomas Aquinas jumped four spots after a win over St. Joseph-Metuchen from 12 to eight, while Rahway dropped from five to nine despite a Cutoff Weekend win over Edison. Bridgewater-Raritan held in the tenth spot.
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.
And we have yet another No. 1 team in the statewide Top 25: Rancocas Valley. They jump from four to five and dethrone Don Bosco Prep, which lost 13-10 this week to St. Peter’s Prep. Glassboro holds at No. 2, while Washington Twp. pulled up two spots from five to three. West Deptford jumped from nine to four, and Old Tappan rose from eight to five.
And this week, two Big Central teams cracked the top five: Phillipsburg and Elizabeth. The Stateliners rose from 45 to 29 last week; this week they climbed five more spots to land at No. 24. The Minutemen were right behind them at 25, climbing up five spots from No. 30 last week.
Among other teams in the Top 50, this week or last:
- Hillside dropped one spot from 31 to 32.
- Old Bridge jumped from 58 to 36 after a road win at Ridge.
- Piscataway’s loss at Sayreville dropped them from 33 to 55.
- Rahway dropped from 40 to 67.
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 #3: 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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