2014 rankings week 4
Week four of the high school football season brought some changes in Sports Line’s weekly power rankings. Perhaps the biggest surprise is Shelley’s loss to Bonneville, which dropped the Russets outside of the top five. Two of the best performances over the past two weeks have come from Blackfoot (up five spots) and Skyline (up eight spots).
The power rankings measure all schools in districts 5 and 6 that play 11-man football. Points are gained or lost based on performance each week. The mathematical formula is designed to measure how each team plays against its competition, giving us a tool to measure smaller schools against larger ones. A plus or minus sign next to each school’s name indicates a gain or loss in its ranking from the previous week.
For the fourth-straight week, the Aberdeen Tigers come in at No. 1 on our power rankings. Aberdeen nabbed 110 points in the weekly formula. That’s a great result, but it’s actually down from the Tigers’ absurdly high numbers from earlier this season. The 110-point week actually dropped Aberdeen’s season average by seven to 130. The Tigers continue to score a lot of points, rolling up 64, along with a defensive shutout, on Ririe Friday night. The Tigers right now are the best team in our power rankings and in a three-horse race for the District 5 2A crown.
The Blackfoot Broncos jump up to No. 2 this week. Over the past three games, Blackfoot went from a tie in seventh place to a tie for fifth. That’s a five-spot jump to their current spot in second. The Broncos handled business with care against Century. That could have been more difficult with Madison coming to town this week for the Buck Bowl. I think the Broncos will continue to play good football, and a win over Madison could propel Blackfoot into the top spot
Coming in at No. 3, the West Side Pirates whooped on Melba 56-20 Saturday. It’s the second-straight week West Side has dominated its opponents after struggling, but winning, in the first two weeks. West Side begins its string of four-straight conference games this week, beginning by visiting Soda Springs. It won’t be an easy gauntlet to run with No. 1 Aberdeen and No. 7 Malad on the conference schedule.
The Highland Rams make into the top five at No. 4. The Rams absolutely are one of the best teams in the state, but the formula didn’t like their relatively easy schedule to start the year. Even though the Rams haven’t played a game outside the dome, their win over conference rival Madison on Friday night was enough to give the Rams an extra boost in the strength of schedule category. Now Highland will face its toughest test of the season by traveling to Coeur d’Alene to take on the Vikings in a rematch of last season’s 5A state title game. In the past four meetings, Highland has won both regular season match ups while CDA took the 2012 state semifinal and last year’s championship. If I’m Gino Mariani, I don’t want to win this game Saturday up north.
Rounding out the top five are the Snake River Panthers at No. 5. Snake went on the road and lost by two points to Preston. The Panthers’ offense struggled in a 14-12 loss, a stark contrast from the 112 points Snake River scored in its first two games. The Panthers take to the road again Friday night as they visit Jerome. This could be a trap game with the Russets of Shelley ready to come to town next week.
Some other notes of interest: The Shelley Russets have fallen four spots in the past two weeks while the Rigby Trojans have dropped six. It shouldn’t be doom and gloom for the Russets or Trojans just yet. Shelley is 1-0 in conference play while Rigby still have two weeks until conference play begins. South Fremont’s win over Firth actually hurt them in the rankings. Although the Cougars didn’t move up or down, the one-point victory dropped SF’s average by more than two points in our formula. That could be the difference between a few spots as we see teams are getting points close together. And finally, West Side’s neutral-site victory over Melba last week at Burley did not give the Pirates a road-win bonus. The Pirates would have needed to win that game on their opponent’s home field to get the extra points.
Remember, these rankings are based solely on math. As the season rolls along, the math will average out, and teams will improve or fall back to Earth. But until we have state champions decided for each classification, it’s always fun to debate.
