Annual Football Playoff Discussion

[BEChargers]

I would like to see 3 teams per district.  Most of the time the 4th seed is not competitive at all but 2's and 3's a lot of times are.  Cross district like before but give the district "winner" a bye week and let 2v3 decide who plays them.  A 4 beating a 1 doesn't happen enough to keep the 4's in the playoffs but with the top 3 you still get a LOT of teams playing post season.  Probably shouldn't be in the playoffs without winning a game.  Just my 2 cents. 

[Hardin County Preps]

I can't wait for cross districting to return next year for the first 2 rounds. Give multiple teams in a district the opportunity to advance past the second round. I also am not a fan of playing a district opponent and then playing them 2-3 weeks later again in the playoffs. Was this done to save schools money on transportation to another district which could be further away?

[LongTimeReader]

I wouldn't mind seeing the RPI rankings used from the beginning of the playoffs. Since everyone makes the playoffs seed the playoffs from the beginning, or you could seed them within their region. Then once you get to the semi finals you could re-seed based off best RPI rankings.

I'm sure the district playoff system was to save money on travel, but it just doesn't seem to be working in football like it does in basketball. 

[R1 sports fan]

1 hour ago, LongTimeReader said:

I wouldn't mind seeing the RPI rankings used from the beginning of the playoffs. Since everyone makes the playoffs seed the playoffs from the beginning, or you could seed them within their region. Then once you get to the semi finals you could re-seed based off best RPI rankings.

I'm sure the district playoff system was to save money on travel, but it just doesn't seem to be working in football like it does in basketball. 

If you wanted to use RPI from the beginning, I think you would have to reduce the number of teams in the playoffs. Now if the RPI was improved, think this could be a good strategy. 

[RunForest]

Its a pretty fair metric used for seedings, Win/loss and RPI.  There are teams that will go 11-0, 10-1, on and on and not play competition until the resurrection day (Third Rd of playoffs) thats where the issue arises.  The only issue I see is "scoring" during these games for these teams going 11-0, 10-1.   There has been so many games where better teams beat up on not so good teams, and run scores up.  That is what skews RPI.  That seems to be the only issue I see with the weighted RPI.  

[Tigerpride94]

57 minutes ago, RunForest said:

Its a pretty fair metric used for seedings, Win/loss and RPI.  There are teams that will go 11-0, 10-1, on and on and not play competition until the resurrection day (Third Rd of playoffs) thats where the issue arises.  The only issue I see is "scoring" during these games for these teams going 11-0, 10-1.   There has been so many games where better teams beat up on not so good teams, and run scores up.  That is what skews RPI.  That seems to be the only issue I see with the weighted RPI.  

Would have to be capped so running up score doesn't matter.

[RunForest]

2 hours ago, Tigerpride94 said:

Would have to be capped so running up score doesn't matter.

I agree.  But that is really the only disadvantage for a team actually playing equivalent opposition.  Points +/-.  I would rather have the experience competing every week for win, instead of bullying one.  

[Falcon Pride]

On 11/7/2021 at 1:42 PM, Voice of Reason said:

Come on now. We aren't going to let this year go by without complaining about the football playoffs are we? 

Personally, I like the football playoffs. I think we should get every team we can into the playoffs just like we do in every other sport. I know there are many who differ. You all have been a little quiet this year. Here is what we saw in round one.

One #4 seed won a first round game and a couple other #4 seeds were very close to winning.

There were 9 #3 seeds that won their games. 

Of the 70 games played this week in round one, by my count 28 of those looked like competitive games based on scores and what I know of the games. That is 40% of the games played were competitive games.

Yes, there were blow out games like what happens in every sport in the first round or two of the playoffs. But 40% of the games were competitive. That is a very strong argument for me against changing the current playoff eligibility rules. I like every team getting into the playoffs. I don't think teams that are competitive should be punished because of the few teams that are not competitive.

Here's your chance to try and argue against that.

Just saw this thread opener and couldn’t believe it???

The playoffs should be about Quality not Quantity. We have way too many teams involved in the playoffs and way too many classes.

Drop down to 5 classes (back to 4 is ideal to me) and let the district winners have byes and the 2v3 go at it in round one. Always should be cross district in the first round.

Also would love to see (but know it won’t happen) teams that want move up to play in the highest class. Cov Cath, Boyle, Freddie D, etc…schedule the T, Male and X’s of the state. The only school that does that on a regular basis is BG. 

[DragonFire]

For what it’s worth, Scott in 4A is the only team worse than a 2 seed to advance to the third round in any class. 

[Brcatz]

14 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

For what it’s worth, Scott in 4A is the only team worse than a 2 seed to advance to the third round in any class. 

Also Scott is far better than most of your 2-4 seeds. Tied for first in District at 3-1 and ended up the 3 seed due to RPI. Has lead most of the year in all classes in for Rushing and Passing Defense.

Also only 3 seed to host playoff game for District title last night against Harrison County the 4 seed who upset Rowan County the 1 seed. 

[Voice of Reason]

38 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

For what it’s worth, Scott in 4A is the only team worse than a 2 seed to advance to the third round in any class. 

Thanks for sharing that info.

Does that matter? Even in round 3 we know there are going to be several running clock games. We know most of the favorites are going to win. Should we just start with a final four? I put this in another thread last night and will post here:

2020 4A semi finals Boyle County 55 Hopkinsville 0 .... too many team in the playoffs?

2020 6A semi finals Male 49 Dunbar 6 .... too many teams in playoffs?

2020 5A regional championship Bowling Green 55 North Bullitt 7 ... ?

2020 3A regional championship Belfry 42 Bell County 0

2020 3A regional championship Ashland 42 Fleming County 0

2020 2A semi finals Lexington Christian 48 Murray 13

2020 1A Championship game Paintsville 38 Kentucky Country Day 7

 

So what is the goal of the playoffs? Is it more competition and experiences for young people in athletics? Or do we only care about finding a champion and want every game to be a battle along the way? 

I will add this. Last night Beechwood had a running clock over Holy Cross in the first half. BUT ... the week before Holy Cross won a playoff game. The Holy Cross players were excited about winning that playoff game last week. That playoff win was an excting, fun, memorable moment for Holy Cross. Should they be denied that moment? If anyone says yes, tell me why? Why do you want to take that away from that team and its fans?

[Voice of Reason]

1 hour ago, Voice of Reason said:

So what is the goal of the playoffs? Is it more competition and experiences for young people in athletics? Or do we only care about finding a champion and want every game to be a battle along the way? 

I will add this. Last night Beechwood had a running clock over Holy Cross in the first half. BUT ... the week before Holy Cross won a playoff game. The Holy Cross players were excited about winning that playoff game last week. That playoff win was an excting, fun, memorable moment for Holy Cross. Should they be denied that moment? If anyone says yes, tell me why? Why do you want to take that away from that team and its fans?

@nkypete

As a Holy Cross supporter, I am interested in your perspective.

What are your thoughts on this? Did the playoff win over Lloyd in round 1 make it worthwhile to be in the playoffs despite the lopsided loss last night?

Would your view be different if you had faced Beechwood in round 1?

[Rattler]

Time to stir the pot some more, I think after a team runs through the competition for district for a while they should have to move up to maintain competitive balance. So Beechwood would have to have moved up this year just as an example and since Ohio is being used a lot in this thread I believe they do this. 

[colonel-fan]

15 minutes ago, Rattler said:

Time to stir the pot some more, I think after a team runs through the competition for district for a while they should have to move up to maintain competitive balance. So Beechwood would have to have moved up this year just as an example and since Ohio is being used a lot in this thread I believe they do this. 

Don't think Ohio does. Indiana does though.

[colonel-fan]

For what's it worth, I say do it like Indiana. 8 regular season games. Let everybody in. You don't even have to play district games, make your schedule (hard or easy) that builds your program. Blind draw for districts. Then you could continue to use RPI after second round.