All season long there has been discussion about the strength and depth of Class 3A, but that the bracket is unbalanced. If you could put together an 8-team bracket for the class, with no restrictions on geography, etc., how would you design the bracket and what team would emerge?

Corbin @ Central ... closer than expected, but, Central prevails 31-17

Caldwell Co @ Lex Catholic ... Lex Cath wins in a shootout 45-35

Pad Tilghman @ Boyle Co ... PTs D keeps them close, but, not enough O.. BC 28-10

E'Town @ Belfry ... E'Town pulls upset and does it impressively.. ETown 31-21

 

Lex Catholic @ Central ... Centrals speed makes the difference.. 35-28

E'Town @ Boyle Co ... E'Towns magic run comes to an end... BC takes it 38-31

 

Boyle @ Central ... Speed of Central and stellar D wins out in the finals .. C 21-14

Seeding based on combined averages of three polls, and leaving one poll out for tie breakers. Calpreps, BGP, Max Preps, and AP would be my polls. Who knows who comes out? Would be one awesome tournament though. Central would be my favorite.

Corbin @ Central ... closer than expected, but, Central prevails 31-17

Caldwell Co @ Lex Catholic ... Lex Cath wins in a shootout 45-35

Pad Tilghman @ Boyle Co ... PTs D keeps them close, but, not enough O.. BC 28-10

E'Town @ Belfry ... E'Town pulls upset and does it impressively.. ETown 31-21

 

Lex Catholic @ Central ... Centrals speed makes the difference.. 35-28

E'Town @ Boyle Co ... E'Towns magic run comes to an end... BC takes it 38-31

 

Boyle @ Central ... Speed of Central and stellar D wins out in the finals .. C 21-14

 

Belfry feasts on teams like Etown...No contest. Bucs 35-14.

If Belfry turns the ball over like they have been against the better teams on their schedule, not sure they'd beat any of the other 7 teams on the list. They are fortunate to be on the opposite end of the bracket to 6 of the other 7 teams, so, while they may well make it to BG, that doesn't necessarily mean they're one of the Top 2 teams..

If Belfry turns the ball over like they have been against the better teams on their schedule, not sure they'd beat any of the other 7 teams on the list. They are fortunate to be on the opposite end of the bracket to 6 of the other 7 teams, so, while they may well make it to BG, that doesn't necessarily mean they're one of the Top 2 teams..

 

Belfry had their issues for 3 straight weeks. One lost fumble with several other fumbles against Knoxville Catholic, 3 lost fumbles against Cabell-Midland, and the infamous 7 lost fumbles against Lawrence County. In the other games, some against good or very good teams, it has not been an issue. It really depends on who you play whether or not you can survive turnovers. As for this fictional bracket, who really cares. Belfry is the champ and will be until proven otherwise.

BTW, E-town could make some noise in this "bracket", but they wouldn't come to the CAM and beat Belfry. BTW, their schedule is terrible and will come back to haunt them in the playoffs.

Let me re-do this. Let's use the current top 8 in the BGP rankings. Assume that the better seed will always host the game until the championship, which would be at a neutral site.

 

[8] Corbin at [1] Central

[5] Caldwell County at [4] Boyle County

 

[7] Paducah Tilghman at [2] Belfry

[6] Elizabethtown at [3] Lexington Catholic

Corbin @ Central ... closer than expected, but, Central prevails 31-17

Caldwell Co @ Lex Catholic ... Lex Cath wins in a shootout 45-35

Pad Tilghman @ Boyle Co ... PTs D keeps them close, but, not enough O.. BC 28-10

E'Town @ Belfry ... E'Town pulls upset and does it impressively.. ETown 31-21

 

Lex Catholic @ Central ... Centrals speed makes the difference.. 35-28

E'Town @ Boyle Co ... E'Towns magic run comes to an end... BC takes it 38-31

 

Boyle @ Central ... Speed of Central and stellar D wins out in the finals .. C 21-14

Correct me if I am wrong, but Lex Cath doesn't meet up with Central till the regional finals. Central has to deal with Boyle Co first.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Lex Cath doesn't meet up with Central till the regional finals. Central has to deal with Boyle Co first.

 

The thread said a straight bracket, not confined to the existing bracket setup for 3A.

Correct me if I am wrong, but Lex Cath doesn't meet up with Central till the regional finals.

 

Let me re-do this. Let's use the current top 8 in the BGP rankings. Assume that the better seed will always host the game until the championship, which would be at a neutral site.

 

[8] Corbin at [1] Central

[5] Caldwell County at [4] Boyle County

 

[7] Paducah Tilghman at [2] Belfry

[6] Elizabethtown at [3] Lexington Catholic

 

Try this bracket using the BGP rankings.

Seeding based on combined averages of three polls, and leaving one poll out for tie breakers. Calpreps, BGP, Max Preps, and AP would be my polls. Who knows who comes out? Would be one awesome tournament though. Central would be my favorite.

 

This system would look like this.

 

#1 Belfry vs #8 Corbin

#4 Lexington Catholic vs #5 Central

#3 Caldwell Co vs #6 Elizabethtown

#2 Boyle Co vs #7 Paducah Tilghman

Let me re-do this. Let's use the current top 8 in the BGP rankings. Assume that the better seed will always host the game until the championship, which would be at a neutral site.

 

[8] Corbin at [1] Central

[5] Caldwell County at [4] Boyle County

 

[7] Paducah Tilghman at [2] Belfry

[6] Elizabethtown at [3] Lexington Catholic

 

I'd take Central over Corbin

Boyle over Caldwell

Belfry over PT

LexCath over E Town

 

Then I'd take Boyle over Central

LexCath speeds by Belfry

 

And finally you talk about bragging rights kind of game Boyle vs LexCath for all of the marbles

I will throw a variation out for fun.

 

First, we have to determine a true playoff system. As much as I would love to only see 8 teams advance and play each other it simply won't happen. As discussed previously, there are pitfalls to the State of Kentucky and scheduling is a BIG issue for teams. As such, District have merit.

 

The biggest critiques of the current system though are teams getting in that should not, First Round Games being meaningless/blowouts, and obviously the disparity between Semi-States as it cycles.

 

My solution... since we can do hypothetical and seemingly can make the logistics work... is to completely revamp the playoffs.

 

I say you take 20 Teams. The top two finishers from each District get in (16 Teams). If you finish in the Top 2 in your District you guarantee a playoff spot. The remaining 4 at large teams are chosen based off a computer formula. They could be from the same District, the same region, or completely separate. Since those teams did not do enough in the regular season to merit a Home Playoff game... they are automatically seeded the lowest and each put into a separate quadrant.

 

This is the bracket we will use:

 

As you can see each quadrant of the bracket has essentially a "Play In" Game. The lowest at large team is placed as the road team in each of these play-in games.

 

We then seed the 16 remaining teams. Teams seeded 13, 14, 15, and 16 are put into the First Round "Play In" games (Games 1, 2, 3, and 4 pictured) as the home team and pairing made to accommodate for geography. If travel is an issue a neutral site can be used, but the higher seeded team has the choice.

 

 

The 8 District winners are guaranteed the Top 8 seeds. This is the reward for doing what you are supposed to and winning your District. These are 8 are then seeded based off the same computer formula... for the sake of hypothetical I am using Calpreps.

 

1. Belfry

2. Caldwell Co

3. Etown

4. LexCath

5. Central

6. Corbin

7. Russell

8. Powell County

 

The District-Runner Ups are then seeded the same way, the bottom four will be subject to the First Round Play In.

 

9. Boyle County

10. Tilghman

11. Bell Co

12. Lawrence Co

 

13. *West Carter

14. *Henry County

15. *Adair Co

16. *Breathitt Co

 

Inevitably you may have District vs. District in the play-in game... but the goal would be to avoid that as long as travel is not a major detriment

 

The 4 Top Overall Seeds will host the winner of the Play In with geographical considerations. Due to this accommodation to geography in this year's system District foes will have to square off in the play-in game.

 

Game 1: Fleming County @ Breathitt Co

Game 9: Game 1 Winner @ Belfry

 

Game 2: Garrard County @ West Carter

Game 10: Game 2 Winner @ LexCath

 

Game 3: Waggener @ Henry County

Game 11: Game 3 Winner @ Etown

 

Game 4: Bardstown @ Adair County

Game 12: Game 4 Winner @ Caldwell County

 

The 4 remaining District Champs now host their respective 2nd Round games based solely on seeding

 

Lawrence County (Lowest Seeded Visitor) @ Central (Highest Seed Remaining Host)

Bell County @ Corbin (Funny how that worked out)

Tilghman @ Russell

Boyle County (Highest Seeded Visitor) @ Powell County (Lowest Seed Remaining Host)

 

Once again it is the Hosts discretion on Neutral Site... in this case the Tilghman/Russell and Lawrence/Central games will most likely require that. I am sure it can be arranged so that the Financials benefit the higher seeded team.

 

You can plug these games anywhere you want on the bracket because we will re-seed for the Regional Finals and Semi-Finals and play all games on a neutral field. All that now matters is who wins those games.

 

For the sake of argument let's say the 8 teams who advance are:

 

Boyle

Belfry

Caldwell

Etown

LexCath

Central

Tilghman

Corbin

 

 

We now re-seed (Purely off formula, non consolation for District Champs) and place them in at two Neutral Sites.. one game played on a Saturday Morning, the other on a Saturday Evening.

 

1 Boyle vs. 8 Corbin @ Lindsey Wilson College AM Game

4 Etown vs. 5 LexCath @ Campbellsville University AM Game

 

2 Belfry vs 7 Tilghman @ Lindsey Wilson PM Game

3 Caldwell vs. 6 Central @ Campbellsville PM Game

 

 

Semi's will be in conjunction with the other Classes to find Neutral Site games that can host multiple games on a weekend (One Friday PM, one Saturday AM, one Saturday PM)

 

1 Boyle vs. 5. LexCath @ Georgetown College

2. Belfry vs. 3. Caldwell @ EKU

 

 

1. Boyle vs. 2 Belfry @ WKU, Championship

With this format I already know the biggest gripe is travel... but there is litrally no other way to do a seeded statewide playoff from the last 8 teams that won't produce travel difficulties every single year.

 

What helps offset this is the fact that you shrink the playoff field.Only 4 1st Round Games and those games are specifically designed around Geography.

 

Obviously, what keeps this system from ever working... and what will always keep us from a seeded playoff is the lack of viable neutral site options. Kentucky simply is a tough state geographically because it is not tall, but it is very wide. In addition, Kentucky does not have a lot of Collegiate Football teams or large towns in the "Geographical Center" area of the State. Places like Ohio, Georgia, etc are littered with large towns and colleges...we do not have that in Kentucky.