2015 Final Dark Side Rankings

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
Thanks to all you subscribers. With the Dark Side we try to give you a different flair when it comes to rankings. We start after week 2, we average votes from a number of individual rankers, we use SoS as a guide as best we can, we punish for bad wins and reward for good loses.

Season recap: It was a interesting year for one real reason, in the previous years, ultimately deciding the number 1 team was a challenge and a debate. This year, in the end, the DS paneel overwhelmingly found LA to be the top team be the end of the year, but had difficulty with the bottom half of the list. There was a strong argument for GW, but a few factors ultimately weighed in LA's favor. LA and GW provided as strong as a 1 and 2 as we've seen in a while - probably since GW and MC a few years back. I think IL had two elite teams this season.

In reading the DSR i always encourage onlookers not to look at the list in as a whole, but in tiers - it tells a story. When considering there are hundreds of teams that compete, in a list of ten, little would separate the 9th ranked team from the third. However, after doing this now for 4 or 5 years, I've come to learn that the tiers in our rankings tell a story. IMO, this final set of rankings is a quintessential example. I don't always draw them out - sometimes i do to make clear a particular, subtle point. I do so below this time for those who have not caught this subtlety in the past.

Lastly, as always we encourage your criticism. We miss thinks, we overlook things, and we have made week-to-week changes by points argued to us.

Here is your final DSR of 2015: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...L5z68Ho28KTUUHfGk/edit#gid=1263828911&vpid=A1

10.6 - Prairie Ridge
10.2 - Joliet Catholic

8.7 - Palatine

6.8 - Phillips

6.1 - Nazareth
5.1 - Homewood Flossmore
4.6 - Libertyville
3.6 - Montini

1.9 - Glenbard West
won.1 - Loyola Academy

----

I let voters make their points on their own rankings. Here are a few of mine.

I watched Philips three times this season (complete games). Was most impressed with them in the final. They're the first 4a team to be ranked in the DSR, and in the end, its hard to say they did not only deserve a spot, but also a very respectable one.

HF...ugh...they really were either the second or third best team in 8a. The slip to Brook is the reason they are not higher. The poopy thing about the loss to brook was that had it not happened, GW ends up in 8a (i think), giving us for the first time since, ironically, brook v LA, a title game between 1 vs 2.

Naz might seem too low. However, I myself put them at 5. They end up at the five spot because their two loses (both to 5a teams) show some vulnerability/ No doubt, IMO, Naz down to LA would make a great tournament that, played out many times, would have numerous winners. I think Love was the defensive player of the year.

Palatine: There were a lot of schools vying for these last few spots. Palatine gets in because of how they finished in the state's largest class: Wins over Rice, OPRF, and then a two point loss to LA (LA's closest game).

That's all I got. Thanks for reading. We'll do it again next year.

As always, i ask you to just ignore my grammar, but point out substantive mistakes.
Peace in the middle east.
 
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ramblinman_rivals165935

All-Conference
Jul 18, 2001
9,102
2,802
0
First of all, JCHill, thanks for doing this and for the stock game. If Tim isn't paying you for this content, he should. It's a ton of work, and it's very well done.

As to the overall rankings, I think they are pretty good in general. Two things stick out for me though.

The first is that there are only three 8A teams in the top 10. I'm not sure I disagree with that, but I just think it's noteworthy.

Secondly, I think MC was overlooked by the voters. All MC did was compile a 10-3 record, with two of those losses coming at the hands of the 7A and 8A champs. If you give props to Palatine for their close loss to LA, then I think you have to do the same for MC for their close playoff loss to GW. Someone gave 9-5 Marist a vote, but nobody gave MC a top ten vote. MC beat Marist and had a better overall record with better losses.

As to the individual voting, I have but one comment which I direct to gooms: Really?
 
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Goomlah

Junior
Jul 29, 2011
3,127
312
83
Of course all of you picked LA #1.

BTW, Maine South would have been 8A not GW.

OK here's my reasoning:

GW has the better resume for me and they were #1 to start with.
LA is an obvious 2. All their big games were still at home except a 3 loss Palatine team which they almost lost to.
Montini is undefeated and they're #3 above Libertyville.
Libertyville is really good. A shame they were 2nd.
Here's where it gets real tricky. I treat Naz as a 1 loss team since they beat JCA when it mattered.
Phillips is #6 but did they beat anyone? Meh, they dominated everyone.
HF would be higher except for the stupid loss to Brook.

This is where this gets ridiculous:

OK to everyone who has PR ahead of CG, you realize CG did beat PR correct? I don't care if it was week 1.

Marist has 5 losses and their best wins are ND twice and Barrington. Then they get Running clocked by LA. So they're out.

NC lost to WV, a team with 4 losses at the time. Sorry, they're not in either.

Rice lost to Palatine and Palatine lost to Stevie(who LA running clocked) and 5 loss Fremd. You're both out.

CG and PR both proved their worth in the playoffs and gave my #1 and #3 really tough games (in #3's case the toughest). So CG 8, PR 9, and JCA 10 for winning conference and being the 2nd best team in 5A, state system be damned.

I really don't think there are any other legitimate challengers.
 
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greatgig13

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2014
2,369
2,754
0
Explain to me PR over CG. Because they gave Montini a good game? CG did hold GW to 21 points and don't tell me it was because of the snow. SB still ran for almost 300 yards.
 
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mchsalumni

All-Conference
Sep 24, 2008
5,702
3,531
0
I had CG 9 and PR 10. Both put forth valiant effort in the semi's to get the nod over JCA and MC.

I finally flopped on GW and LA and put LA 1. Too dominant. Naz lower than most for 2 losses. Just not presidential enough to overlook Phillips, who dominated every team on the slate.
 

pjjp

All-Conference
Aug 26, 2001
5,618
2,877
113
Explain to me PR over CG. Because they gave Montini a good game?
CG had the bad loss against Huntley, but by the end of the year, they were hitting on all cylinders. I'm not sure how PR can be ranked above CG either. After all, head-to-head (even in week 1) has to be the ultimate deciding factor. I had CG (#8) ahead of PR (#10).

A few other final thoughts. I overrated NC all year. You just can't lose to WV twice.

I under ranked Montini until this last version. I was leery of their schedule. But, they were very good.....great defense and team speed.

I had HF third. Many would not agree with that. They did lose to 5-5 Bolingbrook, but there is not a team in the state who is traditionally more up and down than the Brook. They typically have the talent to play with anyone. You just never know what Brook team will show up. I was impressed with HF's defense against Loyola. I knew their offense was outstanding, but their defense was greatly improved since early in the year. I'm not sure Loyola beats them if the game is at HF. Also, there were a couple key calls that did not go HF's way that swung things in favor of the Ramblers in that game. Not saying they were bad calls, but they were borderline.
 
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Bowie50

All-Conference
Aug 3, 2013
2,806
2,657
0
Of course all of you picked LA #1.

BTW, Maine South would have been 8A not GW.

OK here's my reasoning:

GW has the better resume for me and they were #1 to start with.
LA is an obvious 2. All their big games were still at home except a 3 loss Palatine team which they almost lost to.
Montini is undefeated and they're #3 above Libertyville.
Libertyville is really good. A shame they were 2nd.
Here's where it gets real tricky. I treat Naz as a 1 loss team since they beat JCA when it mattered.
Phillips is #6 but did they beat anyone? Meh, they dominated everyone.
HF would be higher except for the stupid loss to Brook.

This is where this gets ridiculous:

OK to everyone who has PR ahead of CG, you realize CG did beat PR correct? I don't care if it was week 1.

Marist has 5 losses and their best wins are ND twice and Barrington. Then they get Running clocked by LA. So they're out.

NC lost to WV, a team with 4 losses at the time. Sorry, they're not in either.

Rice lost to Palatine and Palatine lost to Stevie(who LA running clocked) and 5 loss Fremd. You're both out.

CG and PR both proved their worth in the playoffs and gave my #1 and #3 really tough games (in #3's case the toughest). So CG 8, PR 9, and JCA 10 for winning conference and being the 2nd best team in 5A, state system be damned.

I really don't think there are any other legitimate challengers.
 

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
Nice work, JCH.

Surprised at the inclusion of JCA.

i was a little, too. I was confident in my ranking of them...and of course was happy to see as the votes came in, that they were included.

As I wrote, that bottom tier was tough (per comments on the ballots submitted). I think in the end, you see JCA had wins over two teams in state title games.When nitpicking, that counted for me, and I think others as well.
 

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
First of all, JCHill, thanks for doing this and for the stock game. If Tim isn't paying you for this content, he should. It's a ton of work, and it's very well done.

As to the overall rankings, I think they are pretty good in general. Two things stick out for me though.

The first is that there are only three 8A teams in the top 10. I'm not sure I disagree with that, but I just think it's noteworthy.

Secondly, I think MC was overlooked by the voters. All MC did was compile a 10-3 record, with two of those losses coming at the hands of the 7A and 8A champs. If you give props to Palatine for their close loss to LA, then I think you have to do the same for MC for their close playoff loss to GW. Someone gave 9-5 Marist a vote, but nobody gave MC a top ten vote. MC beat Marist and had a better overall record with better losses.

As to the individual voting, I have but one comment which I direct to gooms: Really?

Ramble - thanks also for your investment in the thread.

As for MC, there I really wanted to rank them. I just felt obliged to slot Rice in ahead of them. There is very little to differentiate JCA, PR, MC, CG and a few others. In my ballot, I went JCA and Rice. JCA for their win over Naz and Rice due to their victory over MC. There was little more analysis than that...otherwise I think I would have fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole trying to figure it out.
 

JCHILLTOPPERS

Senior
May 29, 2001
10,371
791
0
Explain to me PR over CG. Because they gave Montini a good game? CG did hold GW to 21 points and don't tell me it was because of the snow. SB still ran for almost 300 yards.

i did not rank either. It is a tough one and yours is a good question.

if you look at the ballot, CG got an 8 while the highest vote PR got was a 9. What happened is simply more people ranked PR than CG and the law of averages resulted in what you see. Week 1 is a long time ago and CG's 7 point win over PR was probably forgiven.

That's my best guess. Not sure how i would have gone.
 

BretEpic

Heisman
Jan 27, 2005
16,866
22,189
113
In the here and now, PR seemed the better team. I finally said, who is just the better team in head to head right now? Week One, meh, call me Condoleezo.
 

DeanOfSelection

All-Conference
Sep 24, 2002
118,578
1,834
0
MC I had 13. u MUST have Cary over PR because head to head. I would have had Cary 11 PR 12 MC 13. Rice u MUST have ahead of MC. Rice lost at #1 for only regular season loss finished 10-2 losing close 1 to Pal who gave LA a game. top 4 in 8A were LA HF Palatine BR. JC body of work did beat Naz regular season and 8A finalist. Obviously the playoff loss at Naz was the title game as well.
 
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DeanOfSelection

All-Conference
Sep 24, 2002
118,578
1,834
0
LA 49, MC 21
GW 7, MC 0

Yeah, real obvious.
Comparative scores a little dicey . Some teams just different style of play etc. But to me no doubt LA is best team and would win head to head. Had GW been 8A my opinion is they finish 12-1 lose in semi to either HF or LA. However I must hold the Brook loss vs HF and cant rank them over GW.
 
May 18, 2015
1,666
845
0
Thanks to all you subscribers. With the Dark Side we try to give you a different flair when it comes to rankings. We start after week 2, we average votes from a number of individual rankers, we use SoS as a guide as best we can, we punish for bad wins and reward for good loses.

Season recap: It was a interesting year for one real reason, in the previous years, ultimately deciding the number 1 team was a challenge and a debate. This year, in the end, the DS paneel overwhelmingly found LA to be the top team be the end of the year, but had difficulty with the bottom half of the list. There was a strong argument for GW, but a few factors ultimately weighed in LA's favor. LA and GW provided as strong as a 1 and 2 as we've seen in a while - probably since GW and MC a few years back. I think IL had two elite teams this season.

In reading the DSR i always encourage onlookers not to look at the list in as a whole, but in tiers - it tells a story. When considering there are hundreds of teams that compete, in a list of ten, little would separate the 9th ranked team from the third. However, after doing this now for 4 or 5 years, I've come to learn that the tiers in our rankings tell a story. IMO, this final set of rankings is a quintessential example. I don't always draw them out - sometimes i do to make clear a particular, subtle point. I do so below this time for those who have not caught this subtlety in the past.

Lastly, as always we encourage your criticism. We miss thinks, we overlook things, and we have made week-to-week changes by points argued to us.

Here is your final DSR of 2015: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...L5z68Ho28KTUUHfGk/edit#gid=1263828911&vpid=A1

10.6 - Prairie Ridge
10.2 - Joliet Catholic

8.7 - Palatine

6.8 - Phillips

6.1 - Nazareth
5.1 - Homewood Flossmore
4.6 - Libertyville
3.6 - Montini

1.9 - Glenbard West
won.1 - Loyola Academy

----

I let voters make their points on their own rankings. Here are a few of mine.

I watched Philips three times this season (complete games). Was most impressed with them in the final. They're the first 4a team to be ranked in the DSR, and in the end, its hard to say they did not only deserve a spot, but also a very respectable one.

HF...ugh...they really were either the second or third best team in 8a. The slip to Brook is the reason they are not higher. The poopy thing about the loss to brook was that had it not happened, GW ends up in 8a (i think), giving us for the first time since, ironically, brook v LA, a title game between 1 vs 2.

Naz might seem too low. However, I myself put them at 5. They end up at the five spot because their two loses (both to 5a teams) show some vulnerability/ No doubt, IMO, Naz down to LA would make a great tournament that, played out many times, would have numerous winners. I think Love was the defensive player of the year.

Palatine: There were a lot of schools vying for these last few spots. Palatine gets in because of how they finished in the state's largest class: Wins over Rice, OPRF, and then a two point loss to LA (LA's closest game).

That's all I got. Thanks for reading. We'll do it again next year.

As always, i ask you to just ignore my grammar, but point out substantive mistakes.
Peace in the middle east.

Top notch work this year guys. It was fun toying with you on the dangling of glory, ever so tantalizingly, in front of our nose when, deep down, you knew you were going to pull the rug.

I will not make false claims. I do think GW v LA would have been a helluva game but I'll take the ring and the memories of an epic performance by my boy Brods.(1,065 yards and 17 TDs in the playoffs alone).

But I do think Hetlett schemed to do just enough to win all the key games. If you review the MC tape, GW ran about five different plays all game as I'm pretty sure he was not worried about the comparison to LA. We did not have the overwhelming forces to dominate 12 out of 14 games on our schedule like LA, and played catch up on most of the tougher non-conf games along with HC (who IMO was a bada$$ football team when we beat them).

Cheers Dark Side Staff. Cheers Loyola. Cheers again to Libertyville
 

BretEpic

Heisman
Jan 27, 2005
16,866
22,189
113
MC I had 13. u MUST have Cary over PR because head to head. I would have had Cary 11 PR 12 MC 13. Rice u MUST have ahead of MC. Rice lost at #1 for only regular season loss finished 10-2 losing close 1 to Pal who gave LA a game. top 4 in 8A were LA HF Palatine BR. JC body of work did beat Naz regular season and 8A finalist. Obviously the playoff loss at Naz was the title game as well.

Disagree on the musts only for the final ranking.
 

ramblinman_rivals165935

All-Conference
Jul 18, 2001
9,102
2,802
0
Comparative scores a little dicey . Some teams just different style of play etc. But to me no doubt LA is best team and would win head to head. Had GW been 8A my opinion is they finish 12-1 lose in semi to either HF or LA. However I must hold the Brook loss vs HF and cant rank them over GW.

I get that common opponent scores are dicey. But, I can't think of a better measuring stick to use to compare two teams that did not face each other. My comment was more in response to gooms' statement that LA at #2 was "obvious."
 

DeanOfSelection

All-Conference
Sep 24, 2002
118,578
1,834
0
I broke it down really by class 5-8A. Phillips is in as 4A is going to very rare to get in but they overwhelmingly romped. 8A: LA,HF,Pal, BR, 7A GW, Lville, Cary, MC, 6A Montini, PR, 5A Naz JC .4A Phillips. took those 13 and slotted.
 

DeanOfSelection

All-Conference
Sep 24, 2002
118,578
1,834
0
It is tough most every team has a major blemish on the resume';. Naz its MCC, HF its Brook, Pal its Fremd, Cart its Huntley.With Cary and PR each advancing to semi with same record I just had to slot Cary over PR.
 

BretEpic

Heisman
Jan 27, 2005
16,866
22,189
113
It is tough most every team has a major blemish on the resume';. Naz its MCC, HF its Brook, Pal its Fremd, Cart its Huntley.With Cary and PR each advancing to semi with same record I just had to slot Cary over PR.
Completely understand.