2 Conferences??

Let me start off by saying that I love the new three Division format that Football has gone to this year.  I think it is great for the sport, for the kids and most importantly the fans  .  I do have to wonder though should it be two conferences instead of 4?  We look at the playoff picture coming up. . . If Bedford, a team that has been ranked 2nd in the state the entire year loses to Central, they do not make the tournament with a 7-2 record, yet Londonderry, a team that played the exact same schedule, with 4 losses would manage to get in.  To make the case more interesting Bedford beat Londonderry head to head.  I know that not everything can be perfect in year one and that no matter how they set it up someone will find something wrong with it, but this seems like a pretty easy fix.  If half the teams in D1 are playing the same opponents shouldn't they just be in the same conference?  Then, like other D1 sport, rotate the schedules every couple of years keeping East, North, South and West always together so you don't lose any rivalries.  Keene looks like they could be another tough luck team if they can handle South, which is a HUGE if. If they pulled off the upset they would still be on the outside looking in as Spaulding, Winnacunnet and Exeter, all of which have an additional loss playing the same schedule, would be competing for 2 spots.  
I know that we should be content with the fact that the NHIAA made this drastic change which I think has brought a resurgence to high school football in New Hampshire, but I can't help but wonder if the NHIAA should change from 4 to 2 conferences next year.

I think you could get the same argument with 2 conferences depending on how they are split up. Check out how d3 is split for fairness - 4 very strong teams in one conference.

I do like the 4 conferences but I think they messed up the playoff format. Win your conference for automatic berth and be a next best 4. Rank the teams 1-8 and have at it.

Unfortunately the nhiaa has never quite figured out a ratings system that works.

I agree with JAF - as long as there are any conferences, regardless of number, this could remain a problem. I'm not a huge fan of the conference championship round either--either Concord or Bedford, or South and BG/Keene will be eliminated first round, knocking off potentially two of the top 4 seeds (assuming South, Concord, and Bedford win out AND BG wins out and Exeter/Pinky loses 1 more). Does anybody know how the later rounds work out? For instance South and Concord win out the regular season and their conference games, are they forced to play one another in the semis? If so, how is home-field worked out?

I'm not sure how D1 works, but in D2 and (I believe) D3, the top 2 teams in each conference play each other (with the higher seeded team the home team). When there are 4 teams remaining, they are seeded 1-4 based on the NHIAA rating system. The higher seeded team is the home team for the division semi finals and finals.  In D2, if Monadnock wins out and finishes the regular season undefeated at 9-0, they will still end up with a lower rating than Portsmouth (assuming Portsmouth wins out) at 8-1.  The ratings system in rather simple to figure out.  A team gets 10 points for each win of their own, and they gets 2 points for each win by each of the teams they defeated.  Total points divided by games played (9) equals total rating.  Monadnock has beaten some fairly weak teams, while Portsmouth has wins over St. Thomas, Merrimack Valley and Plymouth, who are currently a combined 18-3.

In what convoluted world is that equitable? Given that math you could potentially have a 2 or 3 loss team ranked ahead of an undefeated one. Strength of defeated teams schedule should only be used as a 3rd or 4th tier tiebraeker. Monandnock should not be penalized for defaeating everybody you ask them to play. 9-0 is better than 8-1 end of story.

Monadnock should have played a tougher out of conference schedule. Unlike d1 the d2 & d3 teams were allowed to attempt to schedule whomever they wanted out of conference. Some went with a harder schedule, some easier, and some perhaps natural rivals. It's a crapshoot but if you're good enuf you will be in the championship game anyway so does it matter who you play? Only if you care about home field perhaps or maybe attempt to limit injuries by scheduling weaker teams thus having less time for your better/starters to get injured... Of course they won't be battle tested...

Wasn't aware of that. I'll stick to basketball.

SeacoastDad wrote:I'm not sure how D1 works, but in D2 and (I believe) D3, the top 2 teams in each conference play each other (with the higher seeded team the home team). When there are 4 teams remaining, they are seeded 1-4 based on the NHIAA rating system. The higher seeded team is the home team for the division semi finals and finals.  In D2, if Monadnock wins out and finishes the regular season undefeated at 9-0, they will still end up with a lower rating than Portsmouth (assuming Portsmouth wins out) at 8-1.  The ratings system in rather simple to figure out.  A team gets 10 points for each win of their own, and they gets 2 points for each win by each of the teams they defeated.  Total points divided by games played (9) equals total rating.  Monadnock has beaten some fairly weak teams, while Portsmouth has wins over St. Thomas, Merrimack Valley and Plymouth, who are currently a combined 18-3.

Slight clarification: In D2 and D3, the seeding of the top 2 teams in each conference is also based on the point rating system, but in D1 it is based on overall record. As others have noted, this is because D1 teams in the same conference play the same out-of-conference schedule (East plays West, North plays South), but D2 and D3 teams can play out-of-conference games against any of the other three conferences.

Something needs to be done to fix the format. In Div. 3 it looks like you will have a 2 win team make the playoffs and possibly a 6 win team not make it.