Five topics on the New Hampshire football landscape:

1. Six divisions
   NHIAA football has expanded to six divisions, which is far too many. The proposal put forth on New Hampshire Football Report featured three divisions with two leagues in each division. Instead of separating Division I and Division II, you'd have Division IA and Division IB. Divisions III and IV would be combined, as would Divisions V and VI. Teams would still play their current regular-season schedule, but at the end of the season the champion from "A" would play the champion from "B" and you'd have a true state champion. Last year, for example, Pinkerton would have faced Exeter for the Division I title, and Plymouth would have played Laconia for the Division II championship. Only the best would play the best, so there would be no additional mismatches during the regular season. Scrap the bye week, and four teams could still qualify for the playoffs in each league. This would produce six league champions, six playoff champions and three state champions.
2. Non-league high school games
   With some exceptions, these games haven't created a lot of interest in the past (take if from someone who watched Concord handle Portsmouth year after year). This year will be different, however. Division I and Division II teams will be matched up according to how they finished in the 2007 regular-season standings. Nashua South, the Division I regular-season champion, will open the season against Exeter, the Division II regular-season champion (not to belabor the six-division format, but if they can play in the regular season why can't they play with a title on the line?). In other opening-week matchups, Pinkerton will play Bishop Guertin, Manchester West will face Dover, Londonderry will meet Winnacunnet, Manchester Central will face Timberlane, Salem will meet Keene, Nashua North will play Merrimack, Manchester Memorial will meet Alvirne and Concord will play Spaulding. Although the outcomes of those games won't be reflected in the regular-season standings, there are plenty of intriguing games on that menu.
3. Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl
   It's still a big event, but the game's popularity will soar if Vermont can ever find a way to produce back-to-back victories.
4. St. Anselm football
   The Hawks will open the season with a new coach, Patrick Murphy, and a 29-game losing streak. St. Anselm was 0-10 last season and was outscored 486-117. Murphy comes to St. Anselm from Dracut (Mass.) High School, which has the smallest enrollment of any school in the Merrimack Valley Conference. Dracut had a 27-17 record in Murphy's four seasons there. Dracut was 9-35 in the four seasons prior to Murphy's arrival.
5. UNH football
   People will be wondering what life will be like without graduated quarterback Ricky Santos, but the 2008 Wildcats will quickly energize their fan base if they can open the season with a victory at Army. UNH has won its last three games against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents: Rutgers, Northwestern and Marshall.