We can all agree that the 1st round of the playoffs is essentially a wash. 

But what if it wasn't? 

Linked is a proposal for a playoff system that divides teams based on RPI standings into two separate brackets for two, four-round playoff systems that end on Thanksgiving Day (the alternate bracket championship day) and the Friday and Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend (the championship bracket). 

The State Championship bracket would pit the top 8 teams from a combined Region 1 and 2 and the top 8 from Regions 3 and 4 for the first round (to try and limit travel--though it is imperfect) and then for rounds 2 and 3, based on RPI standings. 

The fun comes in the alternate bracket, which uses the same pairing system for teams 9-16 as the State Championship Bracket for Rounds 1-3 and culminates in a "Turkey Bowl" to be played at the higher seed's home stadium on Thanksgiving Day for each of the six classes. 

The premise is:

1. Shorten the playoffs by a week and create more initially competitive games.
2. Allow the middle-of-the-road teams to play for a few extra weeks. 
3. Three days (Thanksgiving, Friday, Saturday) of football to close out the season.
4. It still awards six State Champions while allowing six other programs to finish on a high note. 
5. Football is over a week earlier - basketball folks will be happy (maybe).  
6. It's more football for more kids--and within the boundaries of a normal season and structure. 
7. For a lot of solid 4-6 to 6-4 teams, that alternate bracket could yield some quality gate numbers. 

If nothing else, I had fun creating the brackets. Just wanted to pitch it out there. 

2024 State Championship and Alternate Backets for each class LINKED

I like the idea, can’t formulate a rebuttal to why this wouldn’t be beneficial to all schools. Since basketball was mentioned I’ll add that the Turkey Bowl gives me the “All A Classic” feel which I’m a fan of as well. Simply creating more meaningful games and bigger moments for kids while not taking away from the coveted State Championship.

Have heard this idea before and believe it has merit. 

With the shortened playoffs, moving the season one week out of the heat and keeping the semifinals on Thanksgiving weekend might be worth considering. 

I would be in favor of this!

The KHSAA would never do it. that's how you know it’s a good idea. I think it solves a lot of issues. I wonder how much it would change using the power rankings post here compared to RPI. 

13 hours ago, TheBallCoach said:

I like the idea, can’t formulate a rebuttal to why this wouldn’t be beneficial to all schools. Since basketball was mentioned I’ll add that the Turkey Bowl gives me the “All A Classic” feel which I’m a fan of as well. Simply creating more meaningful games and bigger moments for kids while not taking away from the coveted State Championship.

I don't hate the idea, but I get more of an NIT vibe. If the "Turkey Bowl" bracket isn't a playoff (meaning you aren't competing for a championship), will teams want to keep playing? You'd also have to change the KHSAA bylaws which doesn't allow for games to be played once the season ends. If you did change the rules, essentially making it a playoff, is there any concern about teams losing late season games on purpose to play in the lesser (re: easier) tournament?

14 hours ago, VF111 said:

The State Championship bracket would pit the top 8 teams from a combined Region 1 and 2 and the top 8 from Regions 3 and 4 for the first round (to try and limit travel--though it is imperfect) and then for rounds 2 and 3, based on RPI standings.

Looking at the brackets (by the way, great job on this), there are a handful of schools that won their district and are in the Turkey Bowl while non-district winners are in the playoff. I think you would have to award a district winner a playoff spot or just eliminate districts altogether.

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

Looking at the brackets (by the way, great job on this), there are a handful of schools that won their district and are in the Turkey Bowl while non-district winners are in the playoff. I think you would have to award a district winner a playoff spot or just eliminate districts altogether.

This was a legit issue. The most glaring example I saw when doing this was Lex Cath which fell all the way to the alternate bracket because of losing to their brutal first half of the year schedule. I didn’t have a great solution to this other than to examine the elimination of districts and a move to a more Region centric style of required scheduling. It is an obvious imperfection, that I admit. 

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

I don't hate the idea, but I get more of an NIT vibe. If the "Turkey Bowl" bracket isn't a playoff (meaning you aren't competing for a championship), will teams want to keep playing? You'd also have to change the KHSAA bylaws which doesn't allow for games to be played once the season ends. If you did change the rules, essentially making it a playoff, is there any concern about teams losing late season games on purpose to play in the lesser (re: easier) tournament?

What about a system similar to college footballs FBS/FCS designation?  You could have 2 sets of 4 or 6 classes competing.

1 hour ago, gchs_uk9 said:

Looking at the brackets (by the way, great job on this), there are a handful of schools that won their district and are in the Turkey Bowl while non-district winners are in the playoff. I think you would have to award a district winner a playoff spot or just eliminate districts altogether.

Both of these.

With one minor change, keep the State Finals the first weekend of December. Play an 11 game regular season. 

I love everything about this. The fact of the matter is, there is nothing about the current set up where "everybody has a chance". More like eight or so in each class, every year, and if we are being honest (with most classes), it's not even that many.

32 minutes ago, Calico Jack said:

The fact of the matter is, there is nothing about the current set up where "everybody has a chance". More like eight or so in each class, every year, and if we are being honest (with most classes), it's not even that many.

I'm not sure it is 8 in any class.

I think this is a great idea. I do believe the RPI needs to be adjusted to make it a better system but if we are going to use the RPI then we need to use it imo. This allows teams to also get more work in and to go out on a high note. I think regardless of what tournament you are in kids will want to play if they have a chance. 

Travel is a problem in the proposal. KHSAA made a revision back to cross district matchups in the first two rounds because of travel, and this proposal is much worse travel.

I would like to see more teams in the state championship brackets. Put the lower 1/3 in the consolation post season tournament. I like the consolation tournament for teams that had tough seasons. A chance to create positive experiences to build on in a program.

1 hour ago, Voice of Reason said:

Travel is a problem in the proposal. KHSAA made a revision back to cross district matchups in the first two rounds because of travel, and this proposal is much worse travel.

I would like to see more teams in the state championship brackets. Put the lower 1/3 in the consolation post season tournament. I like the consolation tournament for teams that had tough seasons. A chance to create positive experiences to build on in a program.

Some not-so-kind trips are involved, but the trips are dictated by pairing more appropriate matchups over more convenient ones. I will admit, when entering several of the games, I went, "Yuck, that's not good." ?