Making Sense of the Playoffs

[Solomon]

The playoff qualification rules -

 

In regards to football:

1. All schools play everyone in their district (AAA, AA, A)

 

2. Each class is divided in half by enrollment. AAA is divided into 6A/5A;

AA into 4A/3A; A into 2A/1A. This will place approximately 55-65 schools in each

football classification. If the number of football schools in Class A is less than 70,

then the Board would determine whether Class A would be divided for playoffs or

remain as one class. Using present enrollments, we would have 83 footballplaying

schools in Class A.

 

3. In 6A, 5A, 4A, and 3A, 32 teams would qualify for the playoffs. In 2A

and 1A 24 teams would qualify for the playoffs. This difference is due to the fact

that there would be 41-42 schools in 2A and 1A each, with 58-62 schools in the

other 4 classifications.

 

4. Teams would qualify for the playoffs in the following manner:

 

a. One half of the teams in each group (6A, 5A) in each district are

automatic qualifiers (Example: 4 teams - 2 automatic qualifiers; 6 teams -3

automatic qualifiers; 3 teams 1 automatic qualifier; 1 team 0 automatic qualifiers)

 

b. Teams finishing 1st or 2nd in the district are automatic qualifiers

 

c. Wild cards based on TSSAA tiebreakers

 

5. In 6A, there is the rare possibility that you have 25 automatic qualifiers.

Districts 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 16 where there is 1 qualifier and another 6A

team could finish 2nd. If this occurred in all 8 districts, you would have 33

qualifiers. In the unlikely event that this would happen, you would apply the

tiebreaker criteria to those 8 teams to determine the 7 qualifiers to complete the

32-team bracket.

 

6. The 32 teams are then placed geographically in 4 quadrants with 8

teams in each quadrant in 6A, 5A, 4A, and 3A. In 2A and 1A there are 6 in each

quadrant with the top 2 seeds drawing a bye in the first round.

 

7. The eight teams (6 in 2A and 1A) are placed in the bracket so that no

teams from the same district play each other in the first round except when there

are 5 or more teams from the same district. Placements are then done with

priorities given to automatic qualifiers based on their district finish followed by

Wild Cards. There may be times where teams have to be placed other than their

order of district finish to avoid teams from the same district meeting in the first

round.

 

8. The team with the higher seed will host throughout the first three rounds.

In the semifinals, the top team in the bracket will host in odd years and the team

in the bottom bracket will host in even years. (Exceptions: If the two teams are

from the same district, the higher finishing team in district standings shall host.)

H. Directed state office to bring back plan on how the tournament format would

look if you use the same plan for football for other sports (basketball, baseball,

softball, and volleyball).

 

 

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

The top 2 teams in each district automatically make the playoffs for their respective class, I get that. Then I get confused.

 

Issue #1 -

 

Let's say there is a 6 team district that finishes like this -

 

1. 6A Team 1 5-0, 10-0

2. 6A Team 2, 4-1, 9-1

3. 6A Team 3, 3-2, 7-3

4. 6A Team 4, 2-3, 5-5

5. 5A Team 1, 1-4, 1-9

6. 5A Team 2, 0-5, 3-7

 

Now, under this scnerio, even though 5A Team 1 finishes 1-9, because they are the highest finishing 5A team in the district they get an automatic birth to the playoffs in 5A? However, 6A Team 3 will only have to hope to qualify as an at-large team?

 

Issue #2 -

 

7 team district that finishes like this -

 

1. 6A Team 1, 6-0, 10-0

2. 6A Team 2, 4-2, 8-2

3. 5A Team 1, 3-3, 6-4

4. 6A Team 3, 3-3, 6-4

5. 6A Team 4, 2-4, 5-5

6. 5A Team 2, 2-4, 4-6

7. 5A Team 3, 1-5, 3-7

 

5A Team 1 lost to 6A Team 1 and the other two 5A schools. Both 5A schools went 0-4 against 6A schools but beat 5A Team 1.

 

Even though 5A Team 1 went 0-2 against the other 5A schools in its district, it STILL gets the automatic birth over them, especially 5-A Team 2 who went 2-0 agaisnt 5A schools?

 

Am I right in both cases?

 

Granted, both of these cases are Doomsday scnerios and I will say example 2 will happen first, if at all. However, if I am right, this seems even MORE flawed to me that anything the TSSAA has proposed before.

 

I'll say somewhere along the line the next four years we're still going to see a 7-3 team or two get left out of the playoffs and a few 3-7 or 2-8 teams get in. I don't see how it's any better that what we had before, just lets more teams in (more $$$$$) and seems a lot more confusing to figure out.

[rollredroll]

What don't you get? All seems pretty clear to me. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

 

Amazing how sometimes "change" is mistaken for "progress".

[STARSNBARS]

The playoff qualification rules -

 

 

 

Correct me if I am wrong.

 

The top 2 teams in each district automatically make the playoffs for their respective class, I get that. Then I get confused.

 

Issue #1 -

 

Let's say there is a 6 team district that finishes like this -

 

1. 6A Team 1 5-0, 10-0

2. 6A Team 2, 4-1, 9-1

3. 6A Team 3, 3-2, 7-3

4. 6A Team 4, 2-3, 5-5

5. 5A Team 1, 1-4, 1-9

6. 5A Team 2, 0-5, 3-7

 

Now, under this scnerio, even though 5A Team 1 finishes 1-9, because they are the highest finishing 5A team in the district they get an automatic birth to the playoffs in 5A? However, 6A Team 3 will only have to hope to qualify as an at-large team?

 

Issue #2 -

 

7 team district that finishes like this -

 

1. 6A Team 1, 6-0, 10-0

2. 6A Team 2, 4-2, 8-2

3. 5A Team 1, 3-3, 6-4

4. 6A Team 3, 3-3, 6-4

5. 6A Team 4, 2-4, 5-5

6. 5A Team 2, 2-4, 4-6

7. 5A Team 3, 1-5, 3-7

 

5A Team 1 lost to 6A Team 1 and the other two 5A schools. Both 5A schools went 0-4 against 6A schools but beat 5A Team 1.

 

Even though 5A Team 1 went 0-2 against the other 5A schools in its district, it STILL gets the automatic birth over them, especially 5-A Team 2 who went 2-0 agaisnt 5A schools?

 

Am I right in both cases?

 

Granted, both of these cases are Doomsday scnerios and I will say example 2 will happen first, if at all. However, if I am right, this seems even MORE flawed to me that anything the TSSAA has proposed before.

 

I'll say somewhere along the line the next four years we're still going to see a 7-3 team or two get left out of the playoffs and a few 3-7 or 2-8 teams get in. I don't see how it's any better that what we had before, just lets more teams in (more $$$$$) and seems a lot more confusing to figure out.

 

Solly aftur tryin two cyfer that.....Eye thank eye'll jist let sumbody else tell me if'un we maik and whur we go and worry 'bout loaded Nellie aftur thay tell me............ /huh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":huh:" border="0" alt="huh.gif" />