Current Playoff Format. Which Do We Prefer?

[Indian]

How do you seed teams with 10 districts and 3 each making it. Some of the backlash now is that the process is "too complicated", and it does appear to be in some cases.

 

I would go back to a straight 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 in the first round, especially in a 4 class, 16 district format since there would be an average of about 6 teams in a district. If you can't finish fourth in a six team district even in a tough one you probably aren't going far in the playoffs anyway.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Indian

[davidlimbaugh]

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.

 

Problem with 'wild card' is that scheduling can never be fair in high school sports. Too much disparity in levels of play. Take MLB for an example, yes a team may have an advantage by getting to play my Cubs or Astros or Marlins more than some other teams do, but at least it is another MLB team, not a double A or single A baseball team. In high school, if total wins is the biggest factor in making the post-season, are you calling a Maryville or Ensworth before calling someone else to fill that open date? And what keeps you from scheduling a Single A or Double A school? The Pittsburgh Pirates can't schedule the Lansing Lugnuts.

[MidTennFootball]

My idea: Keep the classes as they are. Only district champions get in automatically, the rest are determined by a mix of a human committee and power rankings ( so undeserving teams cant slip into the playoffs by playing a bad schedule) . For each class, get together a 10 person committee, compromising of 3 people from each grand division of the state with with a president/chairman type to oversee the selection process. Wouldnt expect them to do it without pay, so let them have a small percentage of the playoff gates for their contribution

 

Then once you have 24 or 32 teams, break the bracket up into 2 halves and seed them from 1-16 while trying to keep the traveling within reason, but not just for the sake of travel. With the playoffs we pretty much see the same matchups every year and it would keep teams from having a easy draw. May not be feasible to pull this off but this would be my ideal way to select the playoff teams

[Red Rebels]

I think the odd classes (1A, 3A, 5A) seeding suffers in some districts. I know 7 AAA is all 6A, but a lot have Districts have multiple classes. I remember South Pittsburgh and Greenback met real early in the playoffs within the last couple of years, but the seeding was skewed because of Signal Mountain for S.P. and Grace Christian for Greenback. I'm sure there are examples in 3A and 5A also.

[GWAVE1]

Indian, I would seed them 1-16 on each side of the bracket. If you are a playoff team then you can travel and have less chance of early round match ups. I have never known a team that made the playoffs not be able to travel to a game because of money. District winners, overall record against same classification opponents, wins versus other winning programs can all come into play in determining the seeding. It would not be that hard to do with some thought. Plus it would take care of some of the problems I mentioned.

[davidlimbaugh]

I am from Alabama. In Alabama, every district has the same number of teams

 

http://www.ahsaa.com...t (updated).pdf

 

Region Games determine playoffs, 1-4 (remember those days?)

 

Tennessee has 307 schools playing DI football.

 

5 classifications would yield 64 teams in 5A-2A and 51 teams in 1A

 

Eight 8-team regions in top 4 classes. 6-team regions in 1A except for 3 who get 7.

 

The region record determines 1-4 like the old days.

Edited July 12, 2013 by davidlimbaugh

[Red Rebels]

They missed the chance to even up Districts 1-4. I would have done it this way:

 

Dobyns-Bennett

Science Hill

Daniel Boone

Tennessee

Volunteer

David Crockett

Sullivan Central

Cherokee

 

 

Sevier County

South Doyle

Jefferson County

Morristown West

Heritage

Cocke County

Morristown East

Seymour

 

Oak Ridge

Powell

Knox Central

Anderson County

Gibbs

Clinton

Campbell County

Knoxville Halls

 

Maryville

Bearden

Lenoir City

West

Farragut

William Blount

Karns

Hardin Valley

Edited July 12, 2013 by Red Rebels

[Indian]

I am from Alabama. In Alabama, every district has the same number of teams

 

http://www.ahsaa.com...t (updated).pdf

 

Region Games determine playoffs, 1-4 (remember those days?)

 

Tennessee has 307 schools playing DI football.

 

5 classifications would yield 64 teams in 5A-2A and 51 teams in 1A

 

Eight 8-team regions in top 4 classes. 6-team regions in 1A except for 3 who get 7.

 

The region record determines 1-4 like the old days.

I like the idea of keeping the number of teams in the districts even or nearly even across the state, but I would hate to be a team with a dozen schools within 30 minutes but placed in a district with 6 teams two hours away. Some teams are just isolated at least compared to schools of their size. I looked at 4 classes again, instead of going 16 districts in each I'd have it 12 districts. That puts 76 or 77 in each class, and puts the average in each district at about 6.5. Sixteen districts would have been a lot lower average than I thought. Top four make the playoffs, 48 total, with a first round bye for some. You could have quads instead of straight 1 vs 4 but it wouldn't be as hard to figure out first round opponents as it is now. No wildcards with 4 out of 6 to 7 teams from each district making it. Also divide just by football playing schools to form classes, not the total amount of sports playing schools.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Indian

[davidlimbaugh]

Want to add some excitement? Shake things up? In every other sport every team makes the 'post-season', i.e. a district tournament where everyone still has a shot to advance.

 

Lets cut down the season to nine games. Every district has 8 teams (except 'A').. Weeks 0,1 and 9 are non-district games. Weeks 2-8 are district games. Ending district play after week 8 gives everyone plenty of time to know who and where they play in week 10.

 

2-year contracts ensures everyone gets 9 home games over 2 years....

 

Week 10, adjoining districts meet, 8s at 1s, 7s at 2s, 6s at 3s and 5s at 4s.

 

Here is where fun begins! Saturday night at Midnight, a broadcasted drawing is held to seed the rest of the playoffs, east and west. Seed? All teams that went 7-0 in district play is put into a drawing and pulled out to seed the bracket. Then 6-1, 5-2, etc... Only rule is that teams from same district can not meet in the first round. Higher seed is home team throughout the bracket.

 

This puts everyone in the post-season. This makes every district game count. This makes the non-district games not count, so easier to schedule non-district games. In 'A' there will be some byes early.

 

What do ya think?

[GWAVE1]

I do not like it. Indiana has every team make the playoffs and it is watered down and regular season is uninteresting.

[davidlimbaugh]

I do not like it. Indiana has every team make the playoffs and it is watered down and regular season is uninteresting.

 

a) how is it 'watered down'? After week 10 we are down to the same number of teams we have now. Only they 'earned' it - LOL!

 

regular season means everything. Go 7-0 in district play, get a lot of home games and a higher seed than going 6-1 or 5-2. Go 0-7? You're week 10 game is against a pretty good team

[GWAVE1]

Playoffs should be a bonus not a guarantee. I do not like it. I like the current system or the past system a lot better than everyone making it. It just needs to be tweaked rather than scraped for an entirely new system.