While Bakersfield made a case for the No. 1 ranking with a 31-0, home-field rout of then-No. 5 Centennial, Clovis has been playing too well to deserve a demotion. The Cougars, since escaping 28-22 in overtime at Centennial Sept. 16, have beaten five teams by a combined score of 189-28. They'll close the regular season against ranked opposition in Clovis North and Clovis West. Bakersfield will finish against Stockdale and Liberty-Bakersfield.

If ever an 0-7 team is accompanied with an asterisk and intrigue, it's Stockdale. The then-No. 4 Mustangs went 2-0 with star running back D.J. Martin, forfeited the wins because of his academic ineligibility, went 0-5 without him and now get him back this week for Frontier, which nearly knocked off Bakersfield last week.

For those caught up in records – as opposed to competition – please note: Frontier lost 21-17 to Liberty-Bakersfield, which is 5-1. And that's the same Liberty team that was rocked 35-7 on Sept. 16 by Clovis East, which is 1-5. That's why Liberty remains unranked and Frontier (3-2) is a suspect No. 15.

It'll be a Fresno Unified chest-thumper Friday at McLane Stadium, with No. 3 Bullard opposing No. 6 Edison in a County/Metro Athletic Conference opener and sure reference for Central Section Division I seeding Nov. 12.

Marty Martin returns to Fresno on Friday, and on a roll. The former Clovis West and Kerman coach arrives this time for a nonleague game at Memorial with Mt. Whitney, which is 3-1 with a couple asterisks.

The County/Metro Athletic Conference – with three of the top six teams in No. 3 Bullard, No. 4 Memorial and No. 6 Edison, in addition to No. 19 Madera – appears to have unseated the Tri-River Athletic Conference as the Central Section's strongest league. The CMAC, which also includes Sunnyside and Sanger, is a combined 14-5. That includes a 3-0 mark against the TRAC, which is 11-9 overall.

For all the advantages in enrollment (4,000) and talent, Central remains a fragile program three years after going 1-9 and a coaching change. This was reaffirmed in a 46-7 loss Saturday at Palos Verdes, which entered the game 0-2. The Grizzlies, then ranked second in the Central Section at 1-0, had no business playing a game that required the team to depart at 4:30 a.m. and bus 240 miles to the SoCal coast for a 3 p.m. kickoff.

It's obvious now that Clovis West coach Mike Parsons wasn't sandbagging when he questioned his team's No. 14 state preseason ranking by Cal-Hi Sports. The 0-2 Golden Eagles, coming off a 12-1 and Central Section Division I championship, suited up only 27 players in a 52-18 loss at Del Oro-Loomis.

Week 0 of the 2011 Central Section football season is in the books. Here's Andy Boogaard's team and division rankings, and the latest buzz topics:

Week 0 of the 2011 Central Section football season kicks off Thursday, Sept. 1. Here's Andy Boogaard's preseason team and division rankings, and the latest buzz topics: