In college basketball,one of the staples which has developed over the last 20 years is the conference challenge - where one week in late November or early December all the schools from conference A play the schools in conference B. Prime examples would be the Big 10 - ACC Challenge, or the Missouri Valley - Mountain West.
As scheduling seemingly becomes more and more difficult for high school football, might the conference challenge concept be viable for some conferences? Some regular playoff opponents might benefit from playing a regular season game against each other, improving their schedules and filling schedule slots they might otherwise have problems filling. Games like St. Joe Ogden at Wilmington a couple years ago might be easier to schedule in this format...Sure, the concept doesn't work with a 10 team round robin conference, but some of the 6 & 7 school conferences might benefit....
Even better, some of these matchups might benefit from a neutral site...I've always thought that the opportunity to play in a big stadium shouldn't just be for a state title. Maybe do the Challenge at one of the big U's...kind of like the Kickoff at NIU/previously at Soldier Field...Six games at NIU or ISU on Labor Day Weekend perhaps if the U is on the road?
Some possible matchups, probably poorly thought out and perhaps even dumb:
DuPage Valley v. Catholic Blue...2 five team conferences with scheduling issues
Big Northern v. I-8...regular playoff opponents; at NIU?
Illini Prairie v. I-8...again, regular playoff opponents; at ISU?
(Of course, problem no. 1 here is that Big Northern & Illini Prairie are 10 team round robins...)
As scheduling seemingly becomes more and more difficult for high school football, might the conference challenge concept be viable for some conferences? Some regular playoff opponents might benefit from playing a regular season game against each other, improving their schedules and filling schedule slots they might otherwise have problems filling. Games like St. Joe Ogden at Wilmington a couple years ago might be easier to schedule in this format...Sure, the concept doesn't work with a 10 team round robin conference, but some of the 6 & 7 school conferences might benefit....
Even better, some of these matchups might benefit from a neutral site...I've always thought that the opportunity to play in a big stadium shouldn't just be for a state title. Maybe do the Challenge at one of the big U's...kind of like the Kickoff at NIU/previously at Soldier Field...Six games at NIU or ISU on Labor Day Weekend perhaps if the U is on the road?
Some possible matchups, probably poorly thought out and perhaps even dumb:
DuPage Valley v. Catholic Blue...2 five team conferences with scheduling issues
Big Northern v. I-8...regular playoff opponents; at NIU?
Illini Prairie v. I-8...again, regular playoff opponents; at ISU?
(Of course, problem no. 1 here is that Big Northern & Illini Prairie are 10 team round robins...)