From here I can see the finish line.
There are only two weeks until the start of the IHSA prep football season. To celebrate, we are counting down the days week by week until August 30th.
We’ve rounded up seven of the region’s season openers to watch, six of the best senior signings, five notable coaching changes, four of the toughest schedules and three bold predictions.
This week we remind you of two important things to remember for the 2024 season.
Conference restructuring
It seems that conference jumping has been relatively quiet in recent years.
That changed at the start of this season. I can’t believe I’m writing this, but the DuPage Valley Conference no longer exists for football. And the Upstate Eight Conference has expanded to 14 schools in two divisions.
The DuPage Valley’s six teams — DeKalb, Metea Valley, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley — had trouble filling their schedules for years. To solve the problem, they merged with the Southwest Prairie Conference for football, creating a 27-school megaconference.
There are five divisions, which include the schools Plainfield, Oswego, Lincoln-Way and Joliet, Romeoville and Bolingbrook.
It’s a shame the former DVC schools are in separate divisions, but at least some of the matchups between the Valleys and Napervilles remain. The only notable absence, however, is Neuqua, and Waubonsie will not play.
The demise of the Metro Suburban Conference and West Aurora’s triumphant return allowed for an expansion of the Upstate Eight. The five U-46 schools – East Aurora, Glenbard East and South, West Chicago and Fenton – were joined by the Blackhawks, Elmwood Park, Ridgewood and Riverside-Brookfield.
The new schedule of the Upstate Eight Conference, which is divided into an East and a West Division, mirrors the West Suburban Conference – two divisions of seven each with one crossover and two non-conference games.
This is a nice change from when the UEC was a closed conference where teams only played each other during the regular season.
An early start
Illinois will follow the example of ten surrounding states and will allow scrimmages between schools for the first time in the week before the start of the regular season.
The Week 0 idea was overwhelmingly supported by IHSA member schools in a nationwide vote. The practice game is designed to provide teams with high-quality game simulation without having to rely on their understaffed or underqualified scout teams.
Smaller programs may not even have enough players for an 11-on-11 scrimmage game in practice, and using freshmen or sophomores for that isn’t the best idea.
For the scrimmages scheduled for August 23 and 24, IHSA officials will be present for four separate periods of 12 games each. There will be no special teams the day before or after the scrimmage, and there will be no contact between teams at practice.
For various reasons, not every school will participate in a practice game. Many teams have had a taste of competition this summer in 7-on-7 games and joint training camps.
For other schools, however, it is an opportunity to gain insight into reality.
It will be interesting to see how the training game option evolves. Will more schools embrace it or will the idea fade away?
