Too many teams making the playoffs:

[bigdog2003]

Why are people so eager to take a game away from HS kids? There are limited opportunities in a kids life to play football and once it’s over it can never really be recreated. Why do we want to do that?

You can play basketball, golf, tennis, baseball, etc in rec leagues/intramural leagues, but not tackle football.

What good comes from a 2 hour bus ride to lose by 50?

The playoffs should be for the best 16 teams in the upper and lower state. Seed it 1-16, let the teams not in that top 16 schedule 1 more game.

[STChamp 92]

Well, I was somewhat glad my son's team got an extra game in... Yeah, it wasn't that competitive... but he's an 11th grader and it was another game of experience. Now, I do understand that some parents and players didn't feel that way and just wanted it to be over. It also makes a difference that the game was in the Columbia area at Blythewood, if it were somewhere off the beaten path like Greenwood, I might not feel the same way.

[AngryMax]

Okay let’s meet in the middle. Copy the old 4A set up. 11 regular season games and 1 less round of the playoffs. Chance to increase gate receipts and concession sales, etc. every other year.

I just think it’s more realistic to keep the extra round. The trends nationwide agree with me.

[Rebel-Fan-74]

Okay let’s meet in the middle. Copy the old 4A set up. 11 regular season games and 1 less round of the playoffs. Chance to increase gate receipts and concession sales, etc. every other year.

I just think it’s more realistic to keep the extra round. The trends nationwide agree with me.

Here is an idea, have the brackets and then have slots for the teams that do not make the "bracket" to match up in the Week One of the playoffs but only for that one week, no advancement.

I know a lot of people hate it, but I'm a big fan of some kind of points system for who makes the playoffs. Maybe the region champs are automatic, then the best 12 teams in the state regardless of region finish get it. Seed it 1-16.

Any "point" system has to fair and equal across the board and not reward schedules that are made far ahead of the playoffs. That is why the "point" system was done away with. A team can only play the teams that are on their schedules. Some Districts mandate games to be played that are a direct detriment to any "point" system. If you win the games that are on your schedule, you should be rewarded. If not, then some subjective system will always be unfair to all. There is no perfect solution other than as Al Davis famously said, "Just win baby!"

Maybe cutting the playoffs from 32 per class to 16 is too drastic. Maybe 24 is better, but with that number, there is the same number of weeks involved. Going to 16 saves a week, allowing for 11 games a year for everyone.

How about going to a modified NFL model? The NFL counts every game you play and rewards the teams that win their "REGION" and then has WILD CARD teams. Have a schedule where every 5A team plays 8 games against 5A teams and has 2 games that are open games and DO NOT COUNT toward your 5A Standings. Region Champions get in and remaining teams get in based on their full record and a point system.

I know there are questions that have to be answered:

Who makes up the mandated Schedules?

Who determines the "Regions"?

What kind of Points System?

Lots of questions, but it could happen. We already have someone who determines the Regions, but if we allowed some flexibility in that, and you know how I feel about it, we should only have 3 classifications and then split them once we know the playoff teams like we did with 4A before we went to 5 classifications. With the 3 classifications, scheduling would be much easier to accomplish without expanding travel. As long as you have the same number of games played, it really wouldn't matter how many REGIONS you have...

As for the points system, that is not difficult to put together. Did you play a winning team or a losing team in your mandated schedule? Do you think you should count only the REGION games or all games? (me: Region Games as those other games may be mandated like Penguin described above and could hurt your points!)

[bigdog2003]

Okay let’s meet in the middle. Copy the old 4A set up. 11 regular season games and 1 less round of the playoffs. Chance to increase gate receipts and concession sales, etc. every other year.

I just think it’s more realistic to keep the extra round. The trends nationwide agree with me.

Here is an idea, have the brackets and then have slots for the teams that do not make the "bracket" to match up in the Week One of the playoffs but only for that one week, no advancement.

I know a lot of people hate it, but I'm a big fan of some kind of points system for who makes the playoffs. Maybe the region champs are automatic, then the best 12 teams in the state regardless of region finish get it. Seed it 1-16.

Any "point" system has to fair and equal across the board and not reward schedules that are made far ahead of the playoffs. That is why the "point" system was done away with. A team can only play the teams that are on their schedules. Some Districts mandate games to be played that are a direct detriment to any "point" system. If you win the games that are on your schedule, you should be rewarded. If not, then some subjective system will always be unfair to all. There is no perfect solution other than as Al Davis famously said, "Just win baby!"

Maybe cutting the playoffs from 32 per class to 16 is too drastic. Maybe 24 is better, but with that number, there is the same number of weeks involved. Going to 16 saves a week, allowing for 11 games a year for everyone.

How about going to a modified NFL model? The NFL counts every game you play and rewards the teams that win their "REGION" and then has WILD CARD teams. Have a schedule where every 5A team plays 8 games against 5A teams and has 2 games that are open games and DO NOT COUNT toward your 5A Standings. Region Champions get in and remaining teams get in based on their full record and a point system.

I know there are questions that have to be answered:

Who makes up the mandated Schedules?

Who determines the "Regions"?

What kind of Points System?

Lots of questions, but it could happen. We already have someone who determines the Regions, but if we allowed some flexibility in that, and you know how I feel about it, we should only have 3 classifications and then split them once we know the playoff teams like we did with 4A before we went to 5 classifications. With the 3 classifications, scheduling would be much easier to accomplish without expanding travel. As long as you have the same number of games played, it really wouldn't matter how many REGIONS you have...

As for the points system, that is not difficult to put together. Did you play a winning team or a losing team in your mandated schedule? Do you think you should count only the REGION games or all games? (me: Region Games as those other games may be mandated like Penguin described above and could hurt your points!)

I say count all games. If non-region games don't matter, then don't play them.

I would rather see something like this:
Keep the region model, but do cross bracketing against other regions.
Do away with upper and lower state. We already have a mess with regions being split with some upper and some lower for playoffs, so just do away with it.
Your true "region" record and cross bracketed games count for your playoff record.
Take the top 16 teams in the state, seed them 1-16, and place them in the playoff bracket.
All teams not in the top 16 playoff get to schedule 1 more game against any team not in the 16 team playoff.

5 true region games, 5 cross bracketed games.

[Penguin]

Bigdog, one of the things that you are not addressing, is that some Districts actually mandate games in an effort to curb travel expenses. That is also the reason that the SCHSL creates "Regions". Because Football is not an entity unto itself, travel expenses extend to all sports. With Baseball, Softball, Basketball, and other sports being home-and-home every season, it is very easy for travel expenses to get out of hand fast, especially for poorer Districts.

I have no problem with a derived "point" system, as long as every team has a fair and equal opportunity. What I have a big problem with, is when someone says that "Team X" who played in "Region A" would beat the breaks off "Team Y" who finished higher up in "Region B". If those teams didn't play, then those statements become subjective.

Trying to find the perfect solution is very difficult. Unless we go to a "Football Only" Conference and schedule, it will be very hard to find an equitable formula that works from top to bottom.

[AngryMax]

Y’all are making it way too complicated.

[Penguin]

Y’all are making it way too complicated.

I agree. With the current system, there are no teams with a gripe. If it went to a 16 team playoff with everyone getting 11 games, some of those teams who got drug last week could have had the opportunity to play a more competitive game.

[bigdog2003]

Bigdog, one of the things that you are not addressing, is that some Districts actually mandate games in an effort to curb travel expenses. That is also the reason that the SCHSL creates "Regions". Because Football is not an entity unto itself, travel expenses extend to all sports. With Baseball, Softball, Basketball, and other sports being home-and-home every season, it is very easy for travel expenses to get out of hand fast, especially for poorer Districts.

I have no problem with a derived "point" system, as long as every team has a fair and equal opportunity. What I have a big problem with, is when someone says that "Team X" who played in "Region A" would beat the breaks off "Team Y" who finished higher up in "Region B". If those teams didn't play, then those statements become subjective.

Trying to find the perfect solution is very difficult. Unless we go to a "Football Only" Conference and schedule, it will be very hard to find an equitable formula that works from top to bottom.

We have football only regions in 2A. For football, Newberry is in with Gray, Fairfield, Eau Claire, Columbia, and MC. For all other sports, we are in with Abbeville, MC, Ninety Six, and Saluda. It's not hard to separate how football is done from how all other sports are done.

In reality, football has to be treated like an entity unto itself. The way football works is different from the other sports you named. Football is the money maker.

[Penguin]

Bigdog, one of the things that you are not addressing, is that some Districts actually mandate games in an effort to curb travel expenses. That is also the reason that the SCHSL creates "Regions". Because Football is not an entity unto itself, travel expenses extend to all sports. With Baseball, Softball, Basketball, and other sports being home-and-home every season, it is very easy for travel expenses to get out of hand fast, especially for poorer Districts.

I have no problem with a derived "point" system, as long as every team has a fair and equal opportunity. What I have a big problem with, is when someone says that "Team X" who played in "Region A" would beat the breaks off "Team Y" who finished higher up in "Region B". If those teams didn't play, then those statements become subjective.

Trying to find the perfect solution is very difficult. Unless we go to a "Football Only" Conference and schedule, it will be very hard to find an equitable formula that works from top to bottom.

We have football only regions in 2A. For football, Newberry is in with Gray, Fairfield, Eau Claire, Columbia, and MC. For all other sports, we are in with Abbeville, MC, Ninety Six, and Saluda. It's not hard to separate how football is done from how all other sports are done.

In reality, football has to be treated like an entity unto itself. The way football works is different from the other sports you named. Football is the money maker.

I agree with you 100% and I have been a proponent of that for years. Football is far different from all other sports and does make the most money for the schools. Well, most, anyway. If travel was limited to just Football, things would get a whole lot easier to fix.