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A look at the strength of each football playoff division and regional grouping

10/16/2018, 5:00pm CDT
By Travis Wilson

Pecatonica/Argyle and senior quarterback Colton Schraepfer went 8-1 and finished second in the Six Rivers but received a six-seed in the Division 6 playoffs

Each year one of the most-talked about items the first week of the playoffs is the perceived strength, and lack thereof, of each of the seven divisions, as well as the 32 regional groupings.

It is certainly a relatively subjective argument, but there tend to be patterns that do start to form. Looking at win-loss percentage of the teams in each division and each 8-team grouping is an imperfect way to judge the relative strength of a group of teams, but it does provide an objective measurement to consider.

Of course, this data does not factor in the strength of the opposition for each team or account for variances in enrollment ranges. A Division 4 team that goes 9-0 against mostly D5 and D6 competition isn't necessarily better than a 7-2 team in D4 that played against D3 and D4 foes.

We tabulated the win-loss percentage of the teams in each 8-team grouping as well as each of the seven divisions, and it yielded some surprising results.

Full results of the analysis are below.

There was an assumption by many that with defending champion Saint Mary's Springs moving up to Division 5, the Division 6 field was considerably weakened. There's no doubt many would have considered Springs the favorite in D6, but even without the Ledgers, the teams in Division 6 have the highest combined winning percentage of any division at 0.735.

Division 2 is close behind at 0.733. 

The lowest combined winning percentage can be found in Division 7, by a good amount. D7 teams had a combined win-loss percentage of 0.654, which is perhaps not surprising, as those schools have no smaller teams to play, they can only play like-sized or larger squads, making things tougher. Division 3 was the second lowest at 0.684, which matches up with what many observers felt all season.

Had Saint Mary's Springs qualified in Division 6, they likely would have been a part of Group D. However, even without the Ledgers, that D6 Group D has the highest combined winning percentage of any grouping at 0.806.

It perhaps isn't surprising when you consider that the five- and six-seeds in that group, Lourdes Academy and Pecatonica/Argyle, each have just one loss this year. The worst record in D6, Group D is Dodgeland's 5-4 mark.

The weakest pod in win-loss percentage is Division 3, Group A. Defending state champion Rice Lake received the top seed in that group with a 7-2 record, while second-seeded Ashland is the only team with one loss. Three teams, 4-5 Sparta, 4-5 La Crosse Logan, and 3-6 Hayward, had overall records under .500. 

What does all this mean? Perhaps nothing, but it is always fun to give some context and data to the "best division" or "best grouping" conversation.

COMBINED WIN/LOSS % BY REGIONAL GROUPING

Div Group Group W Group L Group Games W%
6 D 58 14 72 0.806
3 C 57 15 72 0.792
5 D 56 15 71 0.789
2 A 56 16 72 0.778
2 C 55 17 72 0.764
4 C 55 17 72 0.764
6 A 54 17 71 0.761
4 D 51 18 69 0.739
1 B 53 19 72 0.736
5 A 53 19 72 0.736
7 D 51 19 70 0.729
2 D 52 20 72 0.722
5 B 52 20 72 0.722
1 A 51 20 71 0.718
1 D 51 21 72 0.708
1 C 50 22 72 0.694
3 B 50 22 72 0.694
6 B 50 22 72 0.694
6 C 49 23 72 0.681
5 C 48 23 71 0.676
2 B 48 24 72 0.667
3 D 48 24 72 0.667
7 A 48 24 72 0.667
4 A 47 25 72 0.653
4 B 46 26 72 0.639
7 B 45 26 71 0.634
7 C 41 29 70 0.586
3 A 42 30 72 0.583

COMBINED WIN/LOSS % BY DIVISION

Division Win/Loss Percentage
1 0.714
2 0.733
3 0.684
4 0.698
5 0.731
6 0.735
7 0.654

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.

Tag(s): News Archive  News  Travis Wilson  Football Playoffs