Central Should Crack the Power-Ranking Mystery

Winning District Cures a Multitude Of Power-Ranking Ills, Deficiencies

CENTRAL — After the win against Scotlandville, the Central High Wildcat football team moved up from 37th in the state to tied for 32nd in the State 5A Power Rankings.  Only 32 teams will go to the state playoffs.

Power rankings are based on a complicated formula under which each team gets points every time it wins or loses a game.  The team gets more points when it wins than when it loses, but the number of wins throughout the season of your opponents adds to your totals, even if they beat you.

After Central’s 2-4 start, its power rankings were far below where they needed to be to make the playoffs.  However, after three straight victories, Central’s rankings have come back strong.  A win over Live Oak would probably catapult the Wildcats to somewhere between 26th and 29th in the state.

Regardless of that, if Central wins Friday night, it will own a share of the District Championship and automatically go to the playoffs, according to Central schools athletic director Sid Edwards.

On the other hand, if the Wildcats lose Friday, there is no mathematical way they could make it to the playoffs.  Ultimately, winning or tying for the District Title cures a multitude of sins when it comes to power rankings.  If Central does make it to the playoffs, two things are certain:

• First, because of its low ranking, Central will play one of the top five or six teams in the state.

• Second, Central will play that game on their opponent’s home turf.  They will have to win in the first round in order to return to Wildcat Stadium.

An analysis of the top six teams in the state shows that Central stacks up much better against some than against others, Edwards said.

You hope your first round opponent is weak in those areas of the game where you are strong, he said.  A very balanced team such as St. Paul’s would be the worse possible draw, Edwards said.

The popular coach said he would be happy to pick a playoff opponent or two for the Wildcats but he said “they” wouldn’t allow that.