St. Joseph’s LB Mark Fossati returns in interception in the Green Knights win over DePaul.
So, it is a new dawn for the roundtable, I will be the new moderator for a little while, now that Andy is spending his days in Brooklyn with Jason Kidd.
And first up, some new questions for our distinguished panel on the NJSIAA and best 7 out of 8 to make the playoffs.
Question: Do you understand the whole best 7 out of 8 power points thing? or has t
he NJSIAA messed up the football playoff structure again? Why can’t we
 just play 8 games and be done with it?
Keith Idec, Staff Writer/Boxing Maven
I understand, to an extent, why the NJSIAA
 created this new system for power points. Encouraging traditional public p
owers to play at least one non-public power, without a potential loss
 affecting positioning for the postseason, might make for some more i
nteresting matchups in the regular season. And you don’t want to p
enalize teams with especially strong schedules too much. Ultimately, t
hough, it made the formula more complicated, isn’t really necessary, and, h
asn’t made a huge impact on seeding in most brackets. I have a bigger
problem with the expansion to five public groups, when we already had
 entirely too many teams throughout New Jersey that can call themselves
 “state champions†come December. The fact that bad 2-6 teams can make
 the playoffs in certain sections also is a bigger issue. Some of these t
errible teams that qualify in weak sections have no business playing in
 the postseason. If it’s only about filling out brackets, wouldn’t good
 teams be better served by rewarding those teams with first-round byes, r
ather than subjecting the favorites and the huge underdogs to games
hat have no chance to be remotely competitive? Bergen Catholic could’ve b
een an exception, of course. If BC reached the playoffs in Non-Public,
 Group 4, you at least could argue that the 2-6 Crusaders could pull off
 an upset against a higher-seeded team in the first round. They did, a
fter all, take Don Bosco to three overtimes Saturday night and lost to St. Peter’s Prep, 25-18, in a competitive game. But again, that’s an
 exception. Most times, teams with losing records have no chance to win f
irst-round games and shouldn’t be rewarded for not playing well during
 the regular season.
Jim McConville, Staff Writer/Bergen County football statistician
Basically, the NJSIAA has adopted a golf strategy, play-eight, count-seven. A mulligan. It’s ridiculous. Here’s what it essentially does. It makes every 7-1 team the equal of an 8-0 team, and actually gives the 7-1 team an advantage. Here’s an example. Team A is 8-0, so the game they get to drop is a win. If they are a Group 3 team, that means a minimum of 9 points lost (6 for the win, 3 for the group). Say that lowest total comes from beating a 2-6 team. That’s six more lost (3 times each win), so it’s a total of 15 points gone. Team B is 7-1, and they lose in an upset to a 3-5 team. That’s the game that gets tossed. It means they lose TWO points (1 for each win by the opponent minus the one they got from beating Team B). That’s a 13-point swing and it can easily make the difference when the two teams are in the same Group. Keith, you’re correct. This was the “I’m Pascack Valley and I have to play DePaul†rule. Problem is nobody played out the possibilities for harming other teams that end up being penalized for excellence. I’ll be honest, I’m not a big fan of sub-.500 teams making the playoffs, but if it means less consolation games, what the heck. I know if I was a coach I’d rather tell my team you made the playoffs and you’re going against the number one seed than say, guys, we’re playing a game against an equally matched opponent that means absolutely nothing. Will there be blowouts? Yes. There are blowouts even with .500 and up teams because in some casses #8 is far inferior to #1, but you play the games for a reason; it’s the old on any given day theory, so let’s let ‘em play, but stop toying with the power points.
Darren Cooper, Local Sports Ice Cream Hog
I see what Keith is saying, yes, this was done with the idea that maybe a few big public schools might be more inclined to schedule a Don Bosco or a Bergen Catholic because they essentially have nothing to lose and everything to gain with a win. 
However….no one has risen to take the bait, nor will they. At least, in my opinion. Ridgewood (for example) still doesn’t want to play Paramus Catholic. Elizabeth (for example) hasn’t called up Don Bosco. I dont see why the first eight games just can’t all count.
But then I remember Thanksgiving and its just a big mess. Because the schedule is not equal because of traditional Thanksgiving Day rivalry games. It’s not even a league thing, because usually you are playing a league game on Thanksgiving. So even playing 8 straight isn’t really going to work either. 
By the way, did I tell you guys I got an email from a lady saying she was new to the area and didn’t understand why some schools played Thanksgiving Day games and some didnt. I was like….do you have a couple of hours? 
And Jim is right, there will be some 8 vs. 1 blowouts, but those 8 seeds are probably a lot happier to have made the playoffs than not. And they don’t get a consolation game. Speaking of consolation games, did you know that Bergen Catholic may not get a consolation game, since there are only 8 teams in Non Public Group 3? Or, they might have to play a Non Public Group 2 school? That’s right, we could get Bergen Catholic vs. Montclair Kimberley (Come on Brian, you know you have some thoughts on that) as a consolation game.
What is the purpose of the consolation games? Please, please someone tell me.
I think the NJSIAA was trying to do the right thing, and maybe, just maybe sowing the seeds for an 8 game regular season next year….it could happen. Remember, New Jersey HS football could be about to change drastically.
Jim McConville, Happy Jets beat the Saints
Darren, consolation games were the answer to schools wanting to increase from a 9-game to a 10-game regular season schedule. Because of the same problems that increasing the playoffs create (earlier start dates, later end dates), the addition of another week of regular season games didn’t work. So, lo and behold, the consolation week, which gives all teams not in the playoffs their 10th game with playoff teams guaranteed the 10th game and possibly more. Certainly not a perfect system; how do you juice your team for a consolation game unless your 4-5 or 5-4 and it means a .500 or a winning season? I’m still a proponent of week zero and no byes for 10 games, but I know that five out of every seven years it means starting Labor Day weekend and that’s not going to fly.
Also, from what I hear from some coaches, they don’t expect the proposal for expanding the playoffs to pass. The length of the season sentiment will win out over the single Group champion concept. Call it the good of the many vs. the good of the one.
Mark Czerwinski, Fisherman/Sports Writer
Here’s my problem with the NJSIAA. They keep tinkering, and tinkering with the rules, trying to make things fair and even for everybody and make everybody feel good. Guess what? You can’t legislate that, no matter how hard you try. There’s always been one or two good teams that just miss the playoffs, but that’s sports. Heck, that’s life. The power point system was complicated enough without adding this 7 of eight games thing. Even some coaches didn;t understand how that worked, especially early in the season.
Ed Mills, Sports Writer/Sense maker
I’ve seen all your replies on the seven or eight or seven out of eight
games counting for power points. It should be eight games, should be
 only four groups (instead of five in the publics) and I always liked the 
four-team structure, not the eight-team before 1998 or so, I think. I 
remember when Barringer and Passaic both protested after they each went
 undefeated and were left out of the playoffs one year, and that created 
the initial impetus for the original power points changes after Frank 
Verducci for Barringer and Dr. Manlio Boverini for Passaic made a
successful request for relief for urban schools — which set in motion 
the first conference changes putting city and suburban schools together 
instead of just having a Newark City League for Newark schools, a
 suburban league (say the old Suburban Conference with Caldwell, New
Providence, Summit, Madison, Springfield, West Orange, Verona,
Millburn), etc. Suburban sort of merged together with old Skyline 
Conference (or at least non-Sussex County schools in that league, some 
of them) to become Northern Hills Conference that later transitioned 
into now Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference and some teams in NJIC and
 Big North in our area in North Jersey). Just make it simple — four
 teams make football playoffs, no consolation games, four sections, four
 Groups, play down to a Group champion. In Non-Publics could even go to
 just two Groups (the only Parochial A and B) and they could play
through, too, one for the bigger schools in A and smaller Group 1-2 
schools in B. Less teams would make the playoffs, but with loss of that 
quarterfinal week and maybe starting season on Labor Day could get to a
 Group final by early December. Schools, especially the ones that never 
really compete for a championship, would never let this pass — but
 that’s why New Jersey is New Jersey and most of the other 49 states go 
all the way to either one state champion or something a lot closer than 
we have.
Darren Cooper, mad about Saints and Jets
My last point on that Ed is, New Jersey is now the only state in America that does not play HS football down to single group champions. California has a complicated system, but it still manages to do it, and Massachusetts is playing it down to the end for the first time this season.