Sports Line’s Power Rankings, week 5
With week six about to kick off around the Gem State on Thursday night, it’s time to unveil Sports Line’s Power Rankings after a rainy, messy and lightening-delayed week five.
While some schools had a bye week, other played just a half of football before Mother Nature electrified the skies around the Snake River Plain. The Blackfoot-Madison and Rigby-Bonneville games will not count, nor will they be made up. The biggest jump this week came from Bear Lake, who went on the road and beat a school from a larger classification. Otherwise, no real surprises. Perhaps more movement would have happened if those two games had been played.
The power rankings measure all schools in districts 5 and 6, which 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 schools. 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 fifth straight week, the Aberdeen Tigers come in at No. 1 on our power rankings. Aberdeen nabbed 110 points once again in the weekly formula. The Tigers continue to rack up points in our formula, but they aren’t getting nearly as many as they were this season with their road wins. Their average has actually dropped approximately 11 points in the past two weeks simply because they’re playing 2A teams.
Despite a weather cancellation, the Blackfoot Broncos stay at No. 2 in our rankings this week. Broncos coach Stan Buck had to take the first-ever draw between him and his brother, Mitch, who coaches Madison. I’m sure the fact they couldn’t decide who was better this year will be a conversation at family gatherings during the upcoming holidays.
The West Side Pirates remain in third place this week. The Pirates rolled over Soda Springs on the road, giving the Pirates that road-win bonus combined with a nice, big margin of victory. The Pirates have three straight conference games remaining. It won’t be an easy gauntlet to run with No. 1 Aberdeen and No. 7 Malad on the conference schedule.
The Snake River Panthers leap-frog their way into the No. 4 position this week. Snake’s road win over Jerome got them the bonus they failed to get the week before in Preston. But Jeff Dalley and company better keep their eyes straight-ahead this week – Shelley is coming to town. After a playoff loss at home in 2013 to the Russets, I’d be surprised to see anything but a close game from Snake River.
The Highland Rams fall one spot to No. 5 this week. The Rams went into Coeur d’Alene on Friday night and beat the Vikings in a game that was moved up a day from Saturday in the middle of the week. But the Rams only won by three, and the game could have gone either way with CDA driving at the end. That hurt Highland’s ability to get points in our formula because it could have just as easily been a loss. Gino Mariani’s Rams take on Idaho Falls on the road Thursday night. That’ll be a nice bonus for them come next week’s rankings.
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.
