TIGER1988

Just remember that Caldwell's loss to Christian County was their first game of the season without being settled on a QB after the loss of Sindelar. That was a proving game for the THREE guys that played that position in that particular game, and after that point Caldwell has been nothing but solid no matter the opponent (winning by an average of 31 ppg, scoring an avg of 47.5 ppg). They lost to Christian on a missed FG without their starting kicker (soccer injury - first game vs. Henderson Co). I am not saying that Caldwell is the team to beat or anything like that, Just saying that because they are in the western part of the state (like Mayfield) they get overlooked. Put that record on any of the other teams we keep talking about, and they are the number 1 team in 3A without question. I kinda like them as the number 4 or 5.

I honestly feel that Belfry pretty much gets a free ride to the title game, but then again (going purely by the score) Lawrence Co gave them all they wanted. If that is truly the case, I think if you put Belfry in the west, they don't make it past the second round. That puts a whole field of teams in front of them. Central seems to have the stranglehold on the west right now, but prior to this past Friday everyone felt it was Boyle who had that. Now, LexCath has made a statement and put everyone into the conversation in the west. I will give Central the nod for now, but they will have A LOT of traveling to do to get to BG, and A LOT of very good teams to go through. If I am not mistaken, and usually am, Central would have to beat LexCath, Boyle Co, on the road at the winner of Tilghman and Caldwell. You can mix that up for any of the teams out of region 2. Pretty tough row to hoe in anyone's book no matter the class.

I have no problem with Caldwell County or their schedule. They may well be the best team in the Class - we shall see. The problem is, like I mentioned in a previous post, the schedule they made looked better than those teams actually turned out to be. That isn't Caldwell's fault, but by the same token, it makes it a little tough to judge them. The Mayfield game should give a much better reading.

Couldn't agree more. I am not yet sold on how good Caldwell is either. Other than Central, I am not so sure how good Boyle, Lex Cath or Belfry is. I, for sure, don't have that east bias that is so prevalent on BGP. I subscribe to the western bias. lol.

I agree with the logic here, and see that Caldwell is being slighted because of their supposed quality of wins. However, scheduling N. Hardin, Henderson Co, Franklin-Simpson, and Paducah Tilghman are all good wins. I am not sure they have to beat Mayfield, as they are arguably the best team out of the lower three or four classes, maybe even higher than that. Caldwell surely can't get blown out though.

If every team plays at their top level and potential, you will have a Belfry/Central finals.

 

As we all know, that doesn't always happen.

I don't know about that one.

It's a little early for this, but the coaching job at Barnes has done thus far at Caldwell County has been impressive. Loosing Sindelar and moving up a class this season most thought this to be a down season for the Tigers. However, it appears this could be the best team Caldwell has had in recent memory. Whether or not this squad can reach a state championship game is still up in the air to say the least.

5 Highlands

3 Boyle Co

3 Tates Creek

1 Manual

1 NCC

1 Spencer Co

1 Paris

1 Daviess Co

1 Bell Co

1 Shelby Valley

TB 52

Murray

Cooper

Cov - Holy Cross

Russellville

N Hopkins

Waggener

7 - Christian Co

5 - Daviess Co

3 - Monroe Co

2 - Elizabethtown

1 - Ft Knox

TB - Daviess Co

Caldwell lost to Murray the last 2 years. We have never lost to DeSales

You are correct. The only time Caldwell played DeSales was in 2012, and they won that game in semis.

I couldn't agree more with your statement. I feel EXACTLY the same way. A loss to Murray last year is still a sore spot in a game that I feel Caldwell wins handily with Sindelar. The loss to DeSales was demoralizing the season before. There is a HUGE difference in this version of Caldwell. This team puts together drives and is no where near as dependent on the huge plays of the past few years. The defense is much improved over the last few seasons. This is a TEAM, and they play like one. The dependence on ONE PLAYER is over. I am not saying, by any means, that Caldwell is a title favorite. I feel Boyle is head and shoulders above the field. Then there is a group of Central, LexCath, Caldwell, PT, Belfry. Wouldn't it be sweet to see a playoff with all these teams.

Keep Sleeping folks. Keep sleeping. Your dream just might become a tiger nightmare. This year's 3A is absolutely LOADED in the west. Sad that some of these great teams will have early exits while Belfry gets a cakewalk, and will have to win only ONE game against quality competition to win a state title. Even then, Belfry comes up that one win short. IMO

Why not reward half of the semi-finalists with a home game?

 

I think crowds are larger with the current format than they would be making both teams travel.

 

I think the costs would be a much greater deterrent than we can truly consider. Travel costs, venue costs, loss of ticket revenue, loss of concessions, likely smaller crowds than current system, etc.

 

To clarify, what is the biggest problem we're trying to correct? The fact that one team gets a home game in the semi-final? I'm not convinced that is a problem worth curing.

I don't think home games is the issue at all. I am referring to the east/west mix. Too many times one side or the other is loaded and the semis tend to be better than the finals.

5 - DeSales

3 - Anderson Co

3 - Spencer Co

1 - N Hardin

1 - Wayne Co

1 - Central Hardin

1 - Taylor Co

1 - Ryle

1 - Todd Co Central

1 - St X

TB - 40

7 - Leslie Co

5 - Paintsville

3 - N Laurel

2 - Fleming

1 - Allen Central

TB - Paintsville

7 - Ryle

5 - Conner

3 - Highlands

2 - Owen

1 - Walton-Verona

TB - Ryle

7 - North Hardin

5 - Central Hardin

3 - Bardstown

2 - Fairdale

1 - Iroquois

TB - North Hardin

7 - Mercer Co

5 - Taylor Co

3 - Montgomery Co

2 - Harrison Co

1 - Madison Central

TB - Mercer Co

7 - McCracken Co

5 - Franklin-Simpson

3 - Union Co

2 - Todd Co Central

1 - Hart Co

TB - Franklin-Simpson

Actually if we were keeping dinosaur ways we would go back to only the District Champion makes the playoffs.

 

Or we would use the Dickinson Point system to determine who goes and who stays home.

 

Or we would settle tie games based on the statistics.

 

All the above WAS the way the KHSAA playoffs were run til the mid 80's.

You do realize that Kentucky is BEHIND the curve nevertheless, and that improving the current system only makes thing better?

Mercer Co

Cov Cath

Russell

Hopkinsville

Owensboro

Crittenden Co

I've been a part of KHSAA seeding meetings, usually in tennis and wrestling. They are NOT easy. They are time consuming.

 

If you ever watch a documentary on the NCAA March Madness seeding or watch the videos of the mock people invited (usually Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS Sports, etc.), you'll know those are difficult. And that's ALL those people do. The NCAA selection committee commits multiple long-hour days in a hotel to that thing and they still never get it right (and they have far more computer and comparative data at their disposal).

 

And who says who is the best team? AP? BluegrassPreps? CalPreps? MaxPreps? CJ's Lit ratings? LHL's Cantrall ratings?

 

Scan those six and you'll see some disagreement. Even the computers (CalPreps, MaxPreps, Lit, Cantrall) have multiple differences.

 

And how's it going to work?

We seeding all 32 teams from 1-32 (NCAA style)? If that's the case, scrap districts because they won't mean a darn thing (which means the regular season loses some).

Are we using computer rankings only (Lit does NOT include out-of-state games, but MaxPreps and CalPreps do)?

Are we taking humans into account (like the BCS in football includes human poll)?

 

Seeding six 32-team tourneys would be madness. You could seed the 8 district champs, I guess, but since one district must go with another, you're not accounting for teams like X or Manual (who are arguably better than a district champ like McCracken or Central Hardin).

 

If we're seeding everyone, you'll have some really long roadtrips in each round (and you think there is an attendance problem NOW?).

 

Ohio has a nice system for those people who like to seed ... but it AIN'T perfect. Far from it.

Since everyone with your opinion seems to want to make this as difficult as it could possibly be, let me simplify it for you. District play is still important. All I am proposing is seeding the semifinals. It would not be as troublesome as you would like everyone to believe. We are talking about 4 teams in each class, 12 games played at neutral sites the weekend after Thanksgiving. It is obvious, to me at least, that financially you loosen the burden on the host by using 2 or three sites ONLY (3 would be my preference). As far as seeding these 4 teams in each class simply average MaxPreps, CalPreps, BGP, and let the AP break the ties. I believe I could do that myself in about 30 minutes MAX, and that includes placing games at perspective sites and times. Trying this for a 4 year session and getting feedback would be crucial in going any further with the seeding process. This still isn't a perfect scenario, but a much improved one. It would definitely be a step in the right direction, or we could just stay in the dark ages and keep up our dinosaur ways till the end of time.

I honestly don't care about whether the games are at neutral sites or not, but I strongly agree with you on the seeding issue. And it's multiple classes too.

 

Just this year for example the top four teams in 1A are in the Eastern bracket, the top four in 2A are in the Western Bracket, six of the top seven in 3A are in the Western bracket, three of the top four in 4A are in the Eastern bracket, three of the top four in 5A are in the Western Bracket. Shockingly 6A is the most balanced, but even then the top two are Western and numbers 5-6 could make a case for being higher.

 

Rankings used are BGP's most current.

Great point, and this is exactly what I am talking about.

While possibly solving one problem with the eastern and western neutral sites, you haven't even touched the bigger issue of the TWO best teams playing in the state finals. I think in an earlier past you can see the each class has a top loaded bracket. Schools are getting punished over geographical location because of the east/west division. If you are going to even consider neutral locations for semi finals there is no way to overlook seeding those finals at the same time and killing two birds with one stone. Then, and only then, have you made a conscious effort to better football in the state completely.

I am just saying that wouldn't it be good to put the best two teams possible in the championship game. Isn't that what we are after anyway? If you get at a MINIMUM of 2 neutral sites you could have three games on Friday and three on Saturday at each location. WKU wouldn't be a good site, because that is the championship location. Just trying to give teams in loaded regions (east/west) a shot at a championship game.