Is it entirely fair to pick on Illinois high school football programs?
1) By late spring, basically everybody has a Week 1 game scheduled so the pickings for Loyola are not great, especially when you consider that for there to be a competitive game, a small-school power such as Decatur St. Teresa or Lena-Winslow or Richmond or Joliet Catholic, etc. doesn't really qualify. (See Rochester vs. Loyola in recent past).
2) The 8A perennial powerhouses such as Maine South is playing Brother Rice, Warren is playing Barrington, Week 1, as are Lincoln-Way East vs. expected Chicago Public League. power Kenwood. Glenbrook South is opening with Class 7A perennial power Lake Zurich. And top Fox Valley teams like Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge can't play Loyola as they are in a 10-team conference.
Loyola's already scheduled to play Marist, Naperville North, Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice and St. Rita so they can't play any of those teams Week 1.
My point is, I don't think these top-end programs are scheduling the prep version of NCAA football directional schools Week 1 to assure a victory. Seems like all these schools are doing their best to schedule a quality opponent that certainly could beat them in Week 1, which it seems most of the. people on this board think is a very good idea.