Current Playoff Format. Which Do We Prefer?

[BIGPURPLEMACHINE]

I was talking about it happening in the same class in the same season.

 

While a disparity as big as the one you mention wasn't probable, it was still very possible in the old system. In the new system, there are wilcards. Those wildcards exist for a reason. And that is to even things out once the top 2 teams in each region are decided, so that we can avoid a 4-6 team getting in over a 6-4, or a 3-7 over a 7-3.

I understand what you are saying and I agree with you 100%. Just saying that crap is going to happen no matter what "system" we use. Teams would be best served to just line up and hit your opponent in the mouth!!! This is the attitude that elite teams bring to the table.

[MSURacer]

Bottom line is win and your in but no way someone from your district can say anything about the playoffs and wildcards getting in. Rossview would not win a game in our district and they are able to get into the 6A playoffs as a wildcard because they beat all the 5A competition in Clarksville. No way that is better. Your Henry County team can schedule hard nondistrict games because you can walk through your district. Try making a schedule when you play in a district where all the teams would beat everyone in your district.

 

There are going be weak and strong districts regardless of what system we use. That is a dumb argument.

 

Secondly, I never said this system was perfect, nor that I even like it, but some people act like the old system was flawless, and it wasn't by any stretch.

[MSURacer]

I understand what you are saying and I agree with you 100%. Just saying that crap is going to happen no matter what "system" we use. Teams would be best served to just line up and hit your opponent in the mouth!!! This is the attitude that elite teams bring to the table.

 

Agreed completely.

[coachfoozeball]

There are going be weak and strong districts regardless of what system we use. That is a dumb argument.

 

Secondly, I never said this system was perfect, nor that I even like it, but some people act like the old system was flawless, and it wasn't by any stretch.

 

Agree that there are weak and strong districts but what you are calling a DUMB argument calls out exactly what you stated. You said that a 4-6 team should not make the playoffs over a 6-4 team well in your district a not very good Rossview goes 5-5 and makes the playoffs in 6A. They have probably only beaten 5 6A schools since they were a new school TOTAL. How is that fair?? It is not. At least in the old format, the top four went to the playoffs. You knew that you had to finish in top 4. This system allows a team from a sorry district to win 0 6A games and go to the 6A playoffs. It has happened every year. We have had 5-5 and teams not get in because some team wins 6 5A district games in a sorry district like district 10

[MSURacer]

Agree that there are weak and strong districts but what you are calling a DUMB argument calls out exactly what you stated. You said that a 4-6 team should not make the playoffs over a 6-4 team well in your district a not very good Rossview goes 5-5 and makes the playoffs in 6A. They have probably only beaten 5 6A schools since they were a new school TOTAL. How is that fair?? It is not. At least in the old format, the top four went to the playoffs. You knew that you had to finish in top 4. This system allows a team from a sorry district to win 0 6A games and go to the 6A playoffs. It has happened every year. We have had 5-5 and teams not get in because some team wins 6 5A district games in a sorry district like district 10

 

For the 3rd time, I never once said the current system is perfect, or that I like it. But, Rossview fulfilled all the requirements last year to qualify for the postseason, and they didn't get in the playoffs over a team with a better record in doing so. If you don't like that, go write the TSSAA. They're the ones who draw up these districts.

 

What you're talking about brings the whole classification system into question, and that's a whole other issue in my mind. I'm not a fan of mixed districts, but that's what we have right now.

[DHSFB64]

I prefer the old format, but hey its not up to us and never will be..live with it .

[HTV]

Any system that encourages scheduling out of district weaker opponents because those games count just as much as a district game does for playoff eligibility is fundamentally flawed in a major way. That makes coaches very leery of scheduling quality opponents that would generate good gates and fan interest. Instead we get games that everybody in the free world knows are going to be blowouts. The new system needs to be fixed, because it is broken.

 

That said, the old system needed major repair, too. The problem is that there was such a disparity between regions (now districts) in terms of numbers of teams. Some of the old regions only had 5 or 6 teams, where others had 9 or 10. With 4 slots guaranteed, that made it a much more difficult feat for schools in the larger districts to get to the top 4.

 

I would like to see a system that takes the non-district games away from the playoff determination equation. That would make it more desirable to schedule quality opponents for non-district games.

 

I would also like to see the districts more evened out in terms of numbers of teams in each so it would be more of an apples/apples comparison. This would, of course, require revamping the current regular season system of playing two playoff classifications in a regular season district.

 

And lastly, I would like to see the "4 slot" guarantee back in the districts with a slant - I do like the current 1-8 seeding for each of the quads. You can still guarantee 4 slots per district, but put them in to a quad and seed them 1-8 rather than match up two districts like the old region system did. That would take some tweaking, but it could be done.

[davidlimbaugh]

Overall record in high school football is not that important or enlightening. 4-6 or 6-4, 3-7 or 7-3. Why? Scheduling. Out of district games should NEVER be used for playoff criteria, thus overall record should NEVER be used. I will always use the example of Lavergne in our district. With 7 teams in the district now, 6 district games are set in stone. Lets say in 2013 Lavergne wins two district games, so 2-4 in district. If they scheduled 4 'A' schools out of district (and currently there is no real detriment to doing this) and go 4-0 out of district, they can finish 6-4. Say Smyrna goes 3-3 in district but plays four tough out of district games and go 2-2. So Smyrna finished 5-5. Wins more district games. Beats Lavergne on the field. But because they finish 5-5 and Lavergne finishes 6-4 Lavergne has a greater chance of making the post-season. This is inherently not fair.

[Hoganknows]

Overall record in high school football is not that important or enlightening. 4-6 or 6-4, 3-7 or 7-3. Why? Scheduling. Out of district games should NEVER be used for playoff criteria, thus overall record should NEVER be used. I will always use the example of Lavergne in our district. With 7 teams in the district now, 6 district games are set in stone. Lets say in 2013 Lavergne wins two district games, so 2-4 in district. If they scheduled 4 'A' schools out of district (and currently there is no real detriment to doing this) and go 4-0 out of district, they can finish 6-4. Say Smyrna goes 3-3 in district but plays four tough out of district games and go 2-2. So Smyrna finished 5-5. Wins more district games. Beats Lavergne on the field. But because they finish 5-5 and Lavergne finishes 6-4 Lavergne has a greater chance of making the post-season. This is inherently not fair.

 

Great example and why the present system is broken and unfair!

[Indian]

I won't overanalyze it with a list on how the districts would have looked, but they should have gone to four classes. It would have taken non-league games out of the playoff process and in theory, helped teams schedule non-district games easier since they don't count on if you make it or not. Going from three classes to four classes would have helped keep districts with schools of similar size, as you have AA now going from around 520 to 1000+ . Five classes spreads some districts out too far, four wouldn't have been nearly as spread out except for some exceptions when a team is the only in a class for miles and miles. The problem with four classes was with eight regions, the numbers just didn't add up right and I'm sure this was noticed. Instead keep 16 districts and with four going to the playoffs from. A week of playoffs would have been added, but eliminate week zero and the season is no longer. Scheduling as mentioned would be easier so week zero would not be as important. Six weeks of playoffs would be tough for those making it to the semifinals and finals, but it would only be for a few out of the hundreds of teams. And another week of playoffs would help make up for money lost going to from 5 classes to 4.

[MSURacer]

Overall record in high school football is not that important or enlightening. 4-6 or 6-4, 3-7 or 7-3. Why? Scheduling. Out of district games should NEVER be used for playoff criteria, thus overall record should NEVER be used. I will always use the example of Lavergne in our district. With 7 teams in the district now, 6 district games are set in stone. Lets say in 2013 Lavergne wins two district games, so 2-4 in district. If they scheduled 4 'A' schools out of district (and currently there is no real detriment to doing this) and go 4-0 out of district, they can finish 6-4. Say Smyrna goes 3-3 in district but plays four tough out of district games and go 2-2. So Smyrna finished 5-5. Wins more district games. Beats Lavergne on the field. But because they finish 5-5 and Lavergne finishes 6-4 Lavergne has a greater chance of making the post-season. This is inherently not fair.

 

Sorry, still not a fan of any system as cut and dry as "top 4". Too much disparity between districts for that to be considered fair as well.

 

I believe there needs to be some sort of wildcard setup in place, regardless of which system we use.

[GWAVE1]

10 districts. Top 3 automatically in. Wildcard senerio for the final 2 spots. There would be no extra playoff games and easier to schedule games. And in a realistic world, 4 classifications.