Blog
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
The T Plan
A lot has been made of the football playoffs in Tennessee this year, much of it centered on the negative instead of the positive. The uncertainties of the last few days have accented those negatives to an extreme.
So, I might as well throw in my two cents worth.
I don't care anything about the financial end of the playoffs. Put together a good plan that people understand and support and they will go to the games. Finances taken care of.
Most people seem to be pleased with the regular season districts. More traditional rivalries, etc. So, lets keep those. The T Plan could be implemented immediately, therefore, since the districts would not change and schedule contracts could be honored.
One thing that I believe has come out of the new district setup is that it is apparent that 1A can compete with 2A, 3A can compete with 4A, and 5A can compete with 6A. If that is indeed the case then don't split them for the playoffs. Have only three DI classifications.
In the other sports the TSSAA gives the districts and regions control over how they decide their state representatives. Basically they tell them to decide how they want to run their district and region tournaments, come up with a champion, and the TSSAA will take over after that. Why can't we do that in football?
My idea in 3A, for example, would be to have 27 qualifiers and 5 wild cards. 2A would have 25 qualifiers and 7 wild cards while 1A would consist of 26 and 6. The larger districts (7 or more teams) would decide on 2 teams to represent them in the playoffs and the smaller districts would have one team. Once the districts have decided those qualifiers then the TSSAA decides who the wild cards would be. A smaller district could then end up with two teams in the playoffs and a large district might have three.
In 2010 and 2011 in the first two rounds, 1AAA would play 2AAA, 3AAA would play 4AAA, and so forth. In 2012 and 2013, 1AAA would play 3AAA, 2AAA would play 4AAA, and so forth. The wild cards would be placed wherever need be to balance out the first round which might require some travel time but probably no more than this year's first round, I don't think. Most schools are OK with travel for the playoffs but don't want it in the regular season.
The state championship would pair up one team from districts 1-8 and one from 9-16. You might have one finalist from east TN and one from west TN, or two from middle TN, or whatever. Tennessee is one state, not three, so why should it matter? But, it will. :)
One side benefit might be the re-emergence of bowl games since there will be more teams qualify.
And, I can't tell you how much better it sounds to have 3 DI state champions instead of 6!
Posted by CoachT at 6:21 AM · 4283 Views · COMMENTS
So, I might as well throw in my two cents worth.
I don't care anything about the financial end of the playoffs. Put together a good plan that people understand and support and they will go to the games. Finances taken care of.
Most people seem to be pleased with the regular season districts. More traditional rivalries, etc. So, lets keep those. The T Plan could be implemented immediately, therefore, since the districts would not change and schedule contracts could be honored.
One thing that I believe has come out of the new district setup is that it is apparent that 1A can compete with 2A, 3A can compete with 4A, and 5A can compete with 6A. If that is indeed the case then don't split them for the playoffs. Have only three DI classifications.
In the other sports the TSSAA gives the districts and regions control over how they decide their state representatives. Basically they tell them to decide how they want to run their district and region tournaments, come up with a champion, and the TSSAA will take over after that. Why can't we do that in football?
My idea in 3A, for example, would be to have 27 qualifiers and 5 wild cards. 2A would have 25 qualifiers and 7 wild cards while 1A would consist of 26 and 6. The larger districts (7 or more teams) would decide on 2 teams to represent them in the playoffs and the smaller districts would have one team. Once the districts have decided those qualifiers then the TSSAA decides who the wild cards would be. A smaller district could then end up with two teams in the playoffs and a large district might have three.
In 2010 and 2011 in the first two rounds, 1AAA would play 2AAA, 3AAA would play 4AAA, and so forth. In 2012 and 2013, 1AAA would play 3AAA, 2AAA would play 4AAA, and so forth. The wild cards would be placed wherever need be to balance out the first round which might require some travel time but probably no more than this year's first round, I don't think. Most schools are OK with travel for the playoffs but don't want it in the regular season.
The state championship would pair up one team from districts 1-8 and one from 9-16. You might have one finalist from east TN and one from west TN, or two from middle TN, or whatever. Tennessee is one state, not three, so why should it matter? But, it will. :)
One side benefit might be the re-emergence of bowl games since there will be more teams qualify.
And, I can't tell you how much better it sounds to have 3 DI state champions instead of 6!
