Many of us hated to see the demise of the Mississippi Valley Conference as a football league this season, but it's certainly been good for Metro teams so far.

Metro clubs have a 4-1 record against teams from the old Mississippi Athletic Conference, and you may remember it was those MAC teams who were in favor of dumping conference games in favor of districts.

The MAC schools were tired of playing each other and wanted some variety. They're getting it now, along with some lumps.

It began in Week 2 of the season when Xavier dumped Davenport Assumption in a Class 3A game, 30-6, and Linn-Mar topped Pleasant Valley in a Class 4A contest, 21-14.

There was more of the same Friday night when Linn-Mar belted Clinton, 49-7, and the Jefferson J-Hawks strolled by Davenport North, 42-7. The only blemish for Metro teams against MAC clubs so far was Kennedy's 24-7 loss to North Scott Friday.

There are more Metro vs. MAC games on tap this week. Jefferson visits Davenport West Thursday night, followed by two more encounters Friday with Pleasant Valley at Kennedy and North Scott at Prairie.

It will be interesting to see the final tally of these Metro-MAC games at the end of the year.

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It's going to take awhile to get the hang of district football. It was hard enough to remember which teams were in the Valley Division and which were in the Mississippi Division in the Mississippi Valley Conference, but districts are even harder.

Be honest now. How many of you can recite chapter and verse for the Class 4A districts?

Let's start with Class 4A. Jefferson, Kennedy and Linn-Mar are in District 5, while Washington and Prairie are in District 6.

The J-Hawks, Cougars and Lions are grouped with Cedar Falls, Waterloo East and Waterloo West. Washington and Prairie are grouped with Burlington, Iowa City High, Muscatine and Ottumwa.

Xavier and Marion are Class 3A teams and both of them belong to District 4 with DeWitt Central, Western Dubuque, Maquoketa, Solon and Dubuque Wahlert.

Cedar Valley Christian plays 8-man football and is in District 4 with Central City, Elkader Central, Lansing Kee, Midland, Springville, Turkey Valley and West Central.

Only district games count for the playoffs. Washington and Linn-Mar have a big game at Linn-Mar Friday night, but they are in different districts and the outcome will not affect the district standings.

It should be a terrific game, matching the second-ranked Warriors against the vastly improved ninth-ranked Lions. They could meet again in the playoffs, but for now it's just for early-season bragging rights.

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On a final note, it would be nice if Iowa football fans would stop saying the Hawkeyes "gave the game away" to the Cyclones on Saturday.

Iowa State had more first downs, more total yards and more points. They play 60 minutes for a reason.