Opinion on First Round Games

[HBL Pirates fan_1990]

My opinion on teams seeded 7 and 8 is the STUPIDEST thing ever. You have low seeded traveling more than 100+ miles and get destroyed by 50 or more points. Ozark traveled 199 miles to play Eureka and they got manhandled. Starting to think orabidone is a fake and he is a mshsaa guy who thought of this playoff system.

I have 3 playoff systems I would like mshssa to use.
1. Go back to a 10 game schedule
2. Use the Illinois playoff system and let the teams earn it
3. Use the same playoff system keep class 5-6 the same. Top 6 teams in each District in Classes 1-4 make the playoffs. Seeds 1 and 2 have first week byes and the other 4 play.

Example
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
1 vs 4 or 5
2 vs 3 or 6

 

[anon_o1osz027druk9]

I like the idea of 3.

 

[Wheels 1]

Illinois is going to districts next year.

 

[anon_o1osz027druk9]

Illinois is going to districts next year.

I didn’t really like the system they used.

 

[carthagefan2006]

Keep the 8 X 8 format (8 X 4 for Class 6), but have nondistrict games in Week 1-4 and then District play in weeks 5-11. Top 2 from each 8 team district make the playoffs and go to opposite sides of the bracket. District champions always get hosting privileges over district runners up. Here's a Class 6, 8-team playoff example:

W = District Winner
R = Runner-Up

2R @ 1W
--------------
4R @ 3W



1R @ 2W
--------------
3R @ 4W



Some schools may complain about this not allowing them to play a full conference schedule, but when you're demanding to play your 5th biggest in-conference rival, you're starting to reach a bit.

 

[millerbleach]

No One has to play! No one has to go!
EVERY kid/team deserves to have the shot no matter how remote to win a title.

 

[HoopsTournament]

Keep the 8 X 8 format (8 X 4 for Class 6), but have nondistrict games in Week 1-4 and then District play in weeks 5-11. Top 2 from each 8 team district make the playoffs and go to opposite sides of the bracket. District champions always get hosting privileges over district runners up. Here's a Class 6, 8-team playoff example:

W = District Winner
R = Runner-Up

2R @ 1W
--------------
4R @ 3W



1R @ 2W
--------------
3R @ 4W



Some schools may complain about this not allowing them to play a full conference schedule, but when you're demanding to play your 5th biggest in-conference rival, you're starting to reach a bit.

Schools will vote against this exactly because of conference affiliation. Conferences are that important in Missouri.

 

[carthagefan2006]

Schools will vote against this exactly because of conference affiliation. Conferences are that important in Missouri.

Yeah, I really look forward to Carthage's thrilling women's golf matchup against Republic every year.

 

[hangmanbobbyjaggers]

My opinion on teams seeded 7 and 8 is the STUPIDEST thing ever. You have low seeded traveling more than 100+ miles and get destroyed by 50 or more points. Ozark traveled 199 miles to play Eureka and they got manhandled. Starting to think orabidone is a fake and he is a mshsaa guy who thought of this playoff system.

I have 3 playoff systems I would like mshssa to use.
1. Go back to a 10 game schedule
2. Use the Illinois playoff system and let the teams earn it
3. Use the same playoff system keep class 5-6 the same. Top 6 teams in each District in Classes 1-4 make the playoffs. Seeds 1 and 2 have first week byes and the other 4 play.

Example
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
1 vs 4 or 5
2 vs 3 or 6

Blue Springs South #7 beat Troy #2.. It is games like that is the reason why they all play. Every other sport allows for all teams to qualify for the play-offs. Besides it is a great way to get your younger kids more experience and practice time in game situations in the earlier games. What player, coach pr parent does not want that?

 

[blkdayz]

I don't know what their district seeding would have been because in our old system it didn't matter weeks 8-10 were district games. EN and Lamar both won their districts after being winless I think in reg season because of playing in the Big 8. I like the idea of top 6 making it, but there could there be teams left out who could actually win their district? I know there wouldn't be many, but would the bonus points take care of this if they were winless??

 

[Treadmill]

I say go back to the 16x4 3-team round robin. That way, everybody still gets at least 10 games and even a team that starts 0-8 can still make it. Plus, not everybody ends the season with a loss, as some teams will win their 10th game but not win the district. It will also cut one playoff game out and we can end the season over thanksgiving weekend.

 

[blue and white pride]

The problem is you are seeding the district round with a flawed mathematical system that is based off of subjectivity. When you give points based on beating a higher classification that is subjective. Just because a school is larger doesn't mean they are better. And like wise there are some really great smaller schools that routinely beat larger class schools. Who you schedule and beat are highly important to how you are seeded in the current district format. There is a reason they moved away from the (1968-1987) points system.

 

[HoopsTournament]

Yeah, I really look forward to Carthage's thrilling women's golf matchup against Republic every year.

The players, coaches and administration have a different view than the fans. There is more to conference affiliation than just a football game.

Also, whether you find it thrilling or not, the reality is that schools will never vote for a system that jeopardizes conference affiliation. It may be nice in theory, but won’t pass. That is why they abandoned the round robin districts and why they won’t be coming back.

 

[HoopsTournament]

The problem is you are seeding the district round with a flawed mathematical system that is based off of subjectivity. When you give points based on beating a higher classification that is subjective. Just because a school is larger doesn't mean they are better. And like wise there are some really great smaller schools that routinely beat larger class schools. Who you schedule and beat are highly important to how you are seeded in the current district format. There is a reason they moved away from the (1968-1987) points system.

i think it can be improved, but the key point is that it only determines seeding and location of game. It does not determine whether a team is in or out.

Any system needs to have the following or it won’t pass the votes of the school:

1. Everyone is invited to the playoffs.
2. It allows teams to schedule conference opponents.

If either one of these are violated, it will not pass the vote of the membership.

 

[Missouri Kid]

The players, coaches and administration have a different view than the fans. There is more to conference affiliation than just a football game.

Also, whether you find it thrilling or not, the reality is that schools will never vote for a system that jeopardizes conference affiliation. It may be nice in theory, but won’t pass. That is why they abandoned the round robin districts and why they won’t be coming back.

Hey Hoops, remind me again how many conferences would be affected by returning to the round robin format.

 

[HoopsTournament]

Hey Hoops, remind me again how many conferences would be affected by returning to the round robin format.

It depends on the districts. 8 team conferences may not impacted if round robin is only 3 weeks, but once you get to 9 team conferences, the districts will have to be designed such that every team has at least one conference opponent in their district or they lose a conference game.

This is assuming a 10-game schedule.

In addition, some schools want to keep rivalry games. Take Brookfield for example. They often are in a district with NWMO teams. If they don’t have any CCC games in district or a Marceline, this is a huge issue to them. They actually skipped a conference game to play Marceline in the past.

These are not trivial issues for administration and coaches. It is nice to think of what the best format is on message boards, but when put into practice, they have problems. Whether those problems seem important or not to people here are irrelevant. They are important to the people that make the decisions.

 

[mowesten]

It depends on the districts. 8 team conferences may not impacted if round robin is only 3 weeks, but once you get to 9 team conferences, the districts will have to be designed such that every team has at least one conference opponent in their district or they lose a conference game.

This is assuming a 10-game schedule.

In addition, some schools want to keep rivalry games. Take Brookfield for example. They often are in a district with NWMO teams. If they don’t have any CCC games in district or a Marceline, this is a huge issue to them. They actually skipped a conference game to play Marceline in the past.

These are not trivial issues for administration and coaches. It is nice to think of what the best format is on message boards, but when put into practice, they have problems. Whether those problems seem important or not to people here are irrelevant. They are important to the people that make the decisions.

I'm actually in favor of having football follow the same format as other sports -- coaches seed the teams and a district tournament is played. Get in a room and hash it out. If all the other sports can do it, football coaches can figure it out too. The only reason we are utilizing a point system to seed the district in the first place, in my opinion, is football coaches don't want to hash it out. My take is if the volleyball, baseball, basketball, softball coaches can do it, the football coaches can too.

Two things could make the system a little better, however:
A) have an equal number of teams in each class. The top seeded teams in a bracket with less than eight teams would receive a bye, thus eliminating some of the lopsided games.

B) Starting in district play, games that exceed a 42-point spread end immediately at the half, or as soon as it happens in the second half. I don't understand anyone that doesn't support that rule. If you can't figure out a way to stay within 42 points by game 10, then you need to get to the offseason as fast as possible and figure out why you are getting beat that badly. Playing another quarter isn't going to solve your problems and at this point in the season, kids, parents, officials and everyone else involved don't really want to be a part of a game that is out of control. People are packing it in because the season is about to mercifully come to an end, and that's why the scores are getting out of hand.

I'm all for getting younger players experience in blowouts. Get it in weeks 1-9. The postseason (districts, playoffs or whatever you want to call it) should be for teams that are serious about playing football, not jokers that are getting beat by 42 points.

 

[J. Kane]

 

[deacon jones]

The postseason (districts, playoffs or whatever you want to call it) should be for teams that are serious about playing football, not jokers that are getting beat by 42 points.

And by week 10, those jokers know all week at practice that that is likely to happen, try their little hearts out and learn life lessons or not.

 

[HoopsTournament]

I'm actually in favor of having football follow the same format as other sports -- coaches seed the teams and a district tournament is played. Get in a room and hash it out. If all the other sports can do it, football coaches can figure it out too. The only reason we are utilizing a point system to seed the district in the first place, in my opinion, is football coaches don't want to hash it out. My take is if the volleyball, baseball, basketball, softball coaches can do it, the football coaches can too.

Two things could make the system a little better, however:
A) have an equal number of teams in each class. The top seeded teams in a bracket with less than eight teams would receive a bye, thus eliminating some of the lopsided games.

B) Starting in district play, games that exceed a 42-point spread end immediately at the half, or as soon as it happens in the second half. I don't understand anyone that doesn't support that rule. If you can't figure out a way to stay within 42 points by game 10, then you need to get to the offseason as fast as possible and figure out why you are getting beat that badly. Playing another quarter isn't going to solve your problems and at this point in the season, kids, parents, officials and everyone else involved don't really want to be a part of a game that is out of control. People are packing it in because the season is about to mercifully come to an end, and that's why the scores are getting out of hand.

I'm all for getting younger players experience in blowouts. Get it in weeks 1-9. The postseason (districts, playoffs or whatever you want to call it) should be for teams that are serious about playing football, not jokers that are getting beat by 42 points.

The problem with this is that you are making too much sense.

 

[millerbleach]

I say go back to the 16x4 3-team round robin. That way, everybody still gets at least 10 games and even a team that starts 0-8 can still make it. Plus, not everybody ends the season with a loss, as some teams will win their 10th game but not win the district. It will also cut one playoff game out and we can end the season over thanksgiving weekend.

This doesn't prevent really good teams pounding really bad teams.

 

[hitch_and_go]

The Springfield News Leader had an article about this topic today

 

[mizzoutiger13]

Any chance you could link the article? I’m not finding it.

The Springfield News Leader had an article about this topic today

 

[blue and white pride]

https://www.news-leader.com/story/s...ball-playoff-format-results-mshaa/1807822002/

 

[blue and white pride]

http://prepskc.com/columns.php?id=5347

 

[orabidone]

My opinion on teams seeded 7 and 8 is the STUPIDEST thing ever. You have low seeded traveling more than 100+ miles and get destroyed by 50 or more points. Ozark traveled 199 miles to play Eureka and they got manhandled. Starting to think orabidone is a fake and he is a mshsaa guy who thought of this playoff system.

I have 3 playoff systems I would like mshssa to use.
1. Go back to a 10 game schedule
2. Use the Illinois playoff system and let the teams earn it
3. Use the same playoff system keep class 5-6 the same. Top 6 teams in each District in Classes 1-4 make the playoffs. Seeds 1 and 2 have first week byes and the other 4 play.

Example
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
1 vs 4 or 5
2 vs 3 or 6

I RESEMBLE that remark! My ears was a burnin down here in SOWEGA, so I thought that I'd look in and see how you girls was a doin! If you think that THAT trek is bad! Try being the #2 ranked team in America in 2015! And due to losing coin flips with #1 seeds! We had to trek THREE STRAIGHT times, 235 plus miles one way, to play in rounds three, four, and five. The last two against nationally ranked opponents! (the last in the Georgia Dome)

 

[orabidone]

This doesn't prevent really good teams pounding really bad teams.

WHY are really BAAAAD teams, making the playoffs? But sometimes, really BAAAAD teams have decent records! We were 7-3 going into the playoffs last season! And had to trek 220 miles as a #3 seed, to #2 seeded Pebblebrook in metro ATL! And we slid by um 49-7!

 

[HoopsTournament]

#1 sucks

Don't disagree with you. But the reason why this happened was because teams were being left out that were unbeaten while other teams were making the playoffs. Or one-loss teams losing to .500 teams in the round robin districts.

 

[BearsCountry]

I think the best situation would be to create 4 team districts with 16 districts. It would essentially be the best of the last 3 playoff formulas into one. Districts wouldn't feel like the state playoffs they are now. State playoffs wouldn't start until the Sectional round which would be the district champions playing each other. Blow outs can't be avoided, that's going to happen no matter what. But you get more sensible geographical travel. Everybody still has a shot at the championship. And you get a truer playoff field.