Yet again, there was no change atop the Big Central Conference power rankings for Week Ten, as Phillipsburg stayed at No. 1, while the last two BCC public schools left in the state playoffs, not surprisingly, moved up into the top three.
The Stateliners increased their SI from 84.69 to 87.46 and climbed back into the state Top 25 this week (more on that below) after a 31-13 win at East Orange Saturday in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 semifinals. They’ll host Passaic Tech (No. 8 in the state power rankings) for the sectional title Friday night at 7 pm at Maloney Stadium.
Moving up to two this week in the BCC is Old Bridge. The Knights’ 35-0 win over Williamstown in the Central Jersey Group 5 semifinals last Friday drove their SI up from 78.56 to 83.66, and puts them back home again this week – Friday at 6 pm – for the title game against undefeated Rancocas Valley, which is No. 2 in the state power rankings this week, up two spots.
And in third is Piscataway, which beat West Orange in the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 semifinals Friday night, 38-35, on a 29-yard field goal by Patrick Novak with :01 left on the clock. Their SI increased from 80.55 to 83.20 with that win, which sends them back home to take on Irvington in the sectional title game at 1 pm Saturday.
Hillside – which was knocked out in the first round – and Elizabeth, which got upset by Passaic Tech Friday night in the semifinals – round out the top five.
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.
Statewide, we have our seventh different No. 1 team as Glassboro jumps up from No. 5 to take the top spot away from Washington Twp, which dropped to third. Rancocas Valley jumped from four to two, while Don Bosco Prep fell on an idle week from three to four, and West Deptford fell from two to five.
As for the Big Central, Phillipsburg pulled up from 28 to 23, joining the state Top 25 this week, while Old Bridge skyrocketed from 60 to 35, and Piscataway went from 48 to 37, climbing 18 spots the past two weeks. Hillside – although their season is done – holds at 43.
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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