Losing teams in/.500 or better teams out

[sheppy]

Not sure I'm correct because I checked this at 5:30am as I was working at our restaurant.  I think  through the 6 classes in D-1, there were 37 teams with a losing record that qualified for the playoffs.  There were 7 teams with a .500 record or better that didn't qualify for the playoffs.

Only solution I see is fewer classes, larger regions, possibly more playoff teams with better records.  How about it?

[MidTennFootball]

2 minutes ago, sheppy said:

Not sure I'm correct because I checked this at 5:30am as I was working at our restaurant.  I think  through the 6 classes in D-1, there were 37 teams with a losing record that qualified for the playoffs.  There were 7 teams with a .500 record or better that didn't qualify for the playoffs.

Only solution I see is fewer classes, larger regions, possibly more playoff teams with better records.  How about it?

5 Classes and use the Z-Plan. Don't make overall wins one of the criteria. Top 2 from each region are guaranteed berths. Teams that play in really tough regions don't get left out. Teams that duck competition in a bad region don't get an easy way in unless they do well enough to get an automatic berth

[Indian]

Blow up the postseason. Five classes in postseason regardless of still six in regular season. Only qualifiers are .500 and better teams except potential Region winner should one play tough out of league and be below .500. Divide into 5 playoff classes by enrollment. Four quads of 8 teams in each class. Rank the teams in each quad by winning percentage and opponent winning percentage, 50 percent on each. 

[sheppy]

I like a little bit of both ideas.  Personally, 6 classes is a bit much in D1 and for dang sure 3 classes in D2 is too much.  So lets take the easy road and drop 1 class from each and go with 5 in D1 and 2 in D2.  Not sure about this, but I think there are 300+/- teams in D1, so my simple mind wants to say 300, divided into 5 classes you have 60 schools each in each class and keep 8 regions.  Winner and runner-up from each region qualify which gives you 16 in each class.  Each region would have 7 or 8 teams, no more 4 or 5 team regions Now go back and take the next 16 with the best record to fill out a 32 team bracket as we have it now. You would have to have a tie breaker for teams with same W-L record.  If there are teams not in the playoffs and they are 5-5 or better, go back to the bowl game system and allow them to play 1 more game.

Travel is probably going to be more so lets have a plan to help pay for that expense.  Ga. has a great plan in the GHSA gets 12% off the top, officials get paid off the top, mileage to the travel team one way (think $4.50 or $5) then the two teams split the remainder 50-50.  Well TSSAA wants to get their piece of the pie, so give them 30% of each game off the top, pay the officials next and finally pay the travel $X (don't have a clue unless we copy-cat Ga., which might not be bad).  Then you split the remainder 50-50 with the 2 teams.

Now TSSAA will say that they fund catastrophic insurance so go back to the 5 classes and start with 1A and charge $200 per school.  Add $200 for each class through 5A, i.e., 2A - $400, 3A - $600, 4A - $800, 5A - $1000.  1A = $12,000 / 2A = $24,000 / 3A = $36,000 / 4A = $48,000 / 5A = $60,000 = $180,000 for catastrophic insurance, surely to goodness our premium would be covered with $180,000!

[Indian]

By my very quick count there were 161 teams with 5 wins on more make the playoffs in Division I. That would work out, 32 in 5 different classes. 1 team with 5 wins with lowest opponent win percentage would be left out, or further tiebreakers. 

[MidTennFootball]

1 hour ago, Indian said:

By my very quick count there were 161 teams with 5 wins on more make the playoffs in Division I. That would work out, 32 in 5 different classes. 1 team with 5 wins with lowest opponent win percentage would be left out, or further tiebreakers. 

So your saying you'd want just the Region Champion to have an automatic berth?

[Indian]

Yes. Make the region title meaningful.