Divide and conquer: Time for suburban football to rethink schedules, conference alignments

When the Central Suburban League switched from the traditional two-division setup to three four-team divisions for football this season, it seemed a little odd.

And frankly, it didn't really help. There were a large number of lopsided games in the CSL this fall.

With more time to think about the possibilities, though, it struck me that the CSL has the right idea. It just needs other conferences to join in.

So this is an official call for suburban high school football to scrap the traditional conferences and form four-team divisions.

The idea is basically to create sort of a tiered system, which already exists in the Chicago Catholic and Chicago Public leagues. People love to complain about private schools having no boundaries. Sure, that's an issue, but strength of schedule is an other important factor in high school football, a concern the suburbs have generally ignored.

The No. 1 reason to make this move is to help schools that are struggling to stay competitive. That's not meant as pushing teams aside, it's about giving the student-athletes a positive experience. I've noticed too many games this year that had no business being played, that were over halfway through the first quarter. Let's try to eliminate those.

This plan would also benefit stronger teams by giving them an opportunity to play a tougher schedule, which will help during the playoffs. In general, teams would be playing most of the same opponents they are now, but with some flexibility.

To offer one quick, real-world example: In Week 6, Hersey was scheduled to play Wheeling, while Maine South faced Niles West. Wouldn't it benefit everyone involved if we simply switched that to Hersey vs. Maine South and Wheeling vs. Niles West?

Now that 48 teams per class make the playoffs, schools don't really have to fret about missing the postseason due to a rough schedule. Remember, Mount Carmel, Loyola and Brother Rice play a round-robin every season. If the suburban squads want to compete, they should increase their degree of difficulty.

So here's a sample. Let's take the Mid-Suburban, Central Suburban, North Suburban, West Suburban, Northern Lake County and Upstate Eight — a total of 68 teams. They could be mixed into 17 four-team divisions. I chose to do 14 four-team divisions and two six-team divisions, just because it made sense.

The DuKane seems like the ideal conference setup — very competitive, while every school has a realistic chance to hold its own. Hard to improve on that, so let's leave the DuKane as is. There's probably room for the Fox Valley or DuPage Valley to join in here too.

In theory, you could simply split up the leagues and keep every team within its current conference — the MSL and CSL would be three divisions; North Suburban and Northern Lake County two; West Suburban and Upstate Eight could each split into three divisions, one with six teams.

We're going to mix them up a bit. So here are new divisions, according to this one-person proposal:

Division A: Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Stevenson, Warren.

B: Antioch, Mundelein, Wauconda, Zion-Benton.

C: Evanston, Glenbrook South, Maine South, New Trier.

D: Barrington, Fremd, Hersey, Prospect.

E: Grant, Grayslake North, Grayslake Central, Lakes.

F (six teams): Deerfield, Glenbrook North, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Niles North, Vernon Hills.

G: Elmwood Park, Leyden, Maine West, Niles West.

H: Elk Grove, Riverside-Brookfield, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg.

I: Buffalo Grove, Conant, Hoffman Estates, Palatine.

J: North Chicago, Round Lake, Waukegan, Wheeling.

K: Downers Grove North, Glenbard West, Lyons, York.

L: Downers Grove South, Hinsdale Central, Oak Park, Willowbrook.

M: Maine East, Morton, Proviso East, Proviso West.

N (six teams): Addison Trail, Glenbard East, Glenbard South, Hinsdale South, South Elgin, West Aurora.

O: East Aurora, Fenton, Ridgewood, West Chicago.

P: Bartlett, Elgin, Larkin, Streamwood.

Some of these groups have teams that might aspire to win a state title and are still matched with their current conference mates. With just three division games, it provides a chance to cross-schedule with other upper-tier divisions and improve strength of schedule.

They'd also play crossover games against current conference opponents. Ideally, there will be no more mega mismatches. Any coach should love the chance to compete every Friday night.

This setup should help teams like Antioch and Wauconda play a tougher regular-season schedule and maybe make longer playoff runs.

Aligning a new grid wasn't difficult. One puzzler was finding a spot for Riverside-Brookfield, a school without any similarly sized neighborhood rivals. Flipping R-B and Addison Trail was one thought. Then shouldn't Palatine be in the MSL's top tier? It's a fair question.

But the beauty of this plan is it doesn't have to be set in stone. The divisions can be reevaluated every year, every two years maybe. Teams should be able to move up or down the tiers when it's appropriate.

The most challenging part is making the schedule. You'd need a schedule committee to set the entire thing, with schools willing to accept they may not get exactly what they want. Maybe leave Week 1 up to the schools, whatever works for them.

The basic idea should benefit every school, though. The good teams will play tougher schedules, the struggling teams will have more competitive games. Most every team will face familiar opponents.

Let's make it happen by 2027.