KHSAA Board Of Control Votes In New Football Playoff Format

[Coach Preston]

I'm okay with seeding rounds 3 and 4 as long as they aren't seeding East vs West. East teams stay on the east side and West teams stay on the west side and you do the seedings that way. I also would like to see round 1 and 2 eliminate the cross bracketing and just go with the old 1 seed from District 1 plays the.4 seed from District 2; the 2 seed from District 1 plays the 3 seed from District 2, etc.

 

This I can live with. I still don't like it but that is my opinion. But this would at least help with some travel etc.

[Oldbird]

No one should get too worked up. Whatever they decide, history says they will change it again in the near future.

[sweet16]

So District rivals play each other right out of the gate in the playoffs?

 

Why play at all in the regular season if you have to turn right around and play them again in Round 1 and 2?

 

For seeding.

 

 

I wonder how often we'll see teams play in back to back weeks?

 

Not likely. Usually the last week is a non-district opponent. That is how I see it in WKY.

[Pi]

I’ve said it for years. Shorten the playoffs a week. For the teams that say they are the third or fourth best team in a really good district (Louisville schools) well... finish first or second.

[Skeeterback]

What about the districts that have 1 or 2 of the top teams in the state? By the 2nd round someone is already out? It would be nice if it least the top teams could meet in the semi-state. I'm for getting rid of district playoffs and seeding the region

[theguru]

I see this will have the KHSAA getting in bed with a Corporation (MaxPreps) to determine playoff seeding. Generally speaking I think that is a bad idea but not the end of the world.

 

I also see margin of victory is not a factor which in my opinion undermines the credibility of any system like this.

 

I also wonder what happens when a team like Trinity plays a bunch of good out of state teams and gets beat. I assume they end up being seeded way lower than they actually "should be" seeded because it is an all or nothing, win or lose system. Translation, someone(s) is going to be in for a big surprise in the playoffs when they think they are playing a lower seed.

 

Frankly, if they want to do something like this I think using Calpreps would be much better.

 

But... it really doesn't matter much, the cream will still rise to the top and it should ensure more competitive state championship games.

 

And even though I threw out some negatives here, I am for seeding of some kind.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Voting will be this afternoon.

 

The proposed new format will do away with cross-bracketing. Instead, they would opt to have the first two rounds consist of opponents within districts going head-to-head, and then going to seeded system for rounds 3 and 4. The seeding would be based on a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) system. This system would be based primarily on strength of schedule rather than margin of victory.

 

More information on RPI: Kentucky School Board Association | FAQs about the Colorado High School Activities Association's RPI system

 

The Board Of Control has voted it in, and changes will take effect in the 2019 playoffs. The KHSAA will publish weekly RPI ratings, and these will be used to determine matchup for weeks 3 and 4.

[DragonFire]

So I guess we can scrap those future cross-bracketing tables they had published.

 

Kinda incredible to me that this was not a blip on the radar and got voted in during a single day.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

The Board Of Control has voted it in, and changes will take effect in the 2019 playoffs. The KHSAA will publish weekly RPI ratings, and these will be used to determine matchup for weeks 3 and 4.

 

Round 3 pairings will be east vs. west. Then RPIs will be updated after round three to determine week 4. Home field will be dictated by seeding.

[theguru]

So I guess we can scrap those future cross-bracketing tables they had published.

 

Kinda incredible to me that this was not a blip on the radar and got voted in during a single day.

 

It shows us all how things are done by the KHSAA.

[DanvilleFan]

If this had included eliminating the 1 vs. 4 pairing for the first round, as already noted in this thread, then I would've been okay with it.

[Tigerpride94]

Be interesting how this affects Trinity with their out of state schedule. Will the RPI count out of state opponents? I think Cal Preps would be better rating system. Will they mimic the old NCAA percentages to calculate RPI or do different weights?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Be interesting how this affects Trinity with their out of state schedule. Will the RPI count out of state opponents? I think Cal Preps would be better rating system. Will they mimic the old NCAA percentages to calculate RPI or do different weights?

 

I would assume the RPI system HAS to take out of state opponents into account. I would guess that the vast majority of KY high school teams located anywhere within 20 miles or so of a state border have at least 1 out of state team on their schedule.

[theguru]

Be interesting how this affects Trinity with their out of state schedule. Will the RPI count out of state opponents? I think Cal Preps would be better rating system. Will they mimic the old NCAA percentages to calculate RPI or do different weights?

 

I would assume the RPI system HAS to take out of state opponents into account. I would guess that the vast majority of KY high school teams located anywhere within 20 miles or so of a state border have at least 1 out of state team on their schedule.

 

From the link provided and keep in mind this a Colorado example:

 

How will out-of-state opponents be handled?

 

Out-of-state opponents from the following states will be counted the same as in-state opponents:

 

New Mexico

Arizona

Utah

Wyoming

Nebraska

 

In other words, teams will receive the true value of their opponents' opponents winning percentage. This is because each of the states listed above are neighboring states to Colorado, and each of these states are also MaxPreps partners. This ensures accurate reporting of data.

 

All other out-of state opponents will be handled in the following manner: Their direct winning percentage (for example, .750) will count toward the formula, but each of their opponents will have a .500 winning percentage assigned. Were this not the case, schools would be chasing tens of thousands of opponents of out-of-state opponents over the course of a season, and there is no way to ensure the accuracy of that data.

 

The .500 figure was selected because it is the average value of opponents' opponents winning percentages across all sports in the data we've run.

 

Note that it is the responsibility of the Colorado school to ensure that the data from their out-of-state opponent is correctly listed on MaxPreps.

[Voice of Reason]

Using calpreps.com for seeding in round 3 and 4, and assuming the first two rounds would have produced the same 8 teams for round 3, here is what round 3 looks like for class 1A last year:

 

#8 Crittenden County at #1 Beechwood ... that is a haul!

#7 Frankfort at #2 Pikeville

#6 Williamsburg at #3 Raceland

#5 Campbellsville at #4 Paintsville

 

Using calpreps.com matchups, here are the results of those games:

 

Beechwood 42 Crittenden County 14

Pikeville 42 Frankfort 14

Raceland 34 Williamsburg 21

Paintsville 28 Campbellsville 21

 

Re-seeding for round 4 produces these state semifinals:

 

#4 Paintsville at #1 Beechwood

#3 Raceland at #2 Pikeville

 

We saw Raceland and Pikeville so we will roll with that actual score of:

 

Pikeville 38 Raceland 19

 

Using calpreps.com matchup:

 

Beechwood 34 Paintsville 14

 

At the end of that, we get the same title game matchup of Beechwood vs. Pikeville.

 

In this example, the big negative is the travel for teams in round 3.