Will we end up FINALLY having a true 1-32 seeding for all 8 Class of IHSA Football playoffs starting in 2023?
No the IHSA does not care about who makes it to what round, they care about crowing a Champion.
Can East St. Louis replace 2 tons of offensive linemen and remain as dangerous as ever?
They can replace it yes but I doubt they will be as talented.
Will Loyola remain Loyola even minus head coach John Holecek?
I feel they will have a set back for a few years but will find their way. (Learning curve)
Will we see any sort of impact on the field or in the football program from the Maine South IHSA penalty?
Penalty...or the loss of Charlie Bliss? They will still be successful in conference but I am going to say 2nd round playoff exit.
Which major power program could slip in 2023? Or will we again see the same ole same ole powers winning big? Loyola (See above). Bolngbrook (loss of a coach that was good for the community). Maine South (loss of Bliss). Lake Zurich (lost a lot of talent and cupboard is pretty empty).
Which team bubbling under makes a big move up in 2023? Hersey (seems to be A LOT of talent in Arlington Heights).
How will Illinois State do hosting the IHSA State Football final games starting in 2023? They will do great and it will be a lot better venue to watch in and broadcast from for TV.
Are we on the brink of seeing several major conference reshuffled and changed that could have major implications for the 2024 season and beyond? Yes. Top end talent is getting better and the midlevel schools cannot keep so they are going to continue to be shuffling. I feel the IHSA for all "major" sports would be best off to go to a district model for conference play.
Can we ever find a way to slow the increasingly dangerous shortage of refs? Yes. Referees need not to start getting paid better. Lets talk about a Friday night game. The games usually take 2.5 hours plus the officials need to be there a minimum 30 minutes early. Plus you figure 30 minute commute to and from. You are talking about a 4 hour commitment....plus. I would say the minimum for a game at any level should be $150.00.
Will we continue to see more and more small enrollment schools find their way to 8 man football? And how much longer before the IHSA accepts and welcomes in 8 Man football to it's playoff series? Yes we will see more and more and i personally feel that levels below the top division in the CPS should be playing 8 man football. How long till the IHSA accepts it? There are currently 45 schools that participate in boys gymnastics, I would say get close to that number and the IHSA will start to pay more attention.
The idea of all the fringe Chicago Public League teams should play 8-man football would seem to make sense from the competitive point of view.
But the issue is not just competitiveness. It's total enrollment.
The 27 schools that played 8-man football in Illinois last year had no school with more than 310 enrollment.
I looked up last year's enrollment figures for the 32 Chicago Public League teams that were NOT eligible for the IHSA playoffs which is the list I presume is referred to as not being in the top (Red) division of the CPL.
Of the 32 schools, here is the enrollment breakdown:
8 had fewer than 300 students, with 203 being the smallest.
3 had enrollments ranging from 314 to 331.
3 had enrollments ranging from 408 to 497.
3 had enrollments ranging from 546-558.
4 had enrollments ranging from 653 to 697.
1 had an enrollment of 721.
1 had an enrollment of 863.
2 had enrollments ranging from 944 to 972.
5 had enrollments ranging from 1,068 to 1,440.
2 had enrollments ranging from 1,717 to 1,835.
Where does the IHSA draw the line on enrollment. I totally agree that these 32 schools likely would benefit from the 8-man game. But how does that fit in with the current situation of basically all 8-man teams have 310 kids or less?
And where do you want to draw the line on 8-man football?
Waukegan High's football team is 0-48 in 7 years of conference football games in the North Suburban Conference. Before joining the NSC, it had lost 24 consecutive division games in its previous league, the Central Suburban South. That's a current conference losing streak of 72 games.
Surely, the Bulldogs could benefit from playing 8-man football, don't you think? And that's a school with an enrollment of more than 4,400 kids. How would that fit into the IHSA plan facing Alden-Hebron?
It just looks like while 8-man football makes logical sense, the logistics just don't seem to really add up at this time.
And if not Waukegan, what about Urbana, with its 1,100-plus kids and unable to field an 11-man team.
Boys gymnastics works with 45 schools because they are 45 BIG schools, and gym is an individual sport (yes, there's team scoring and team titles earned) but the athletes compete independent of each other. The top rings performer doesn't need three teammates blocking for him on the rings to earn a victory. Football is the ultimate team sport and in football, enrollment matters. If it didn't, we'd have four classes of football just like four classes of basketball. I mean there are 200 more schools playing hoops than football. and half the number of classes. based on enrollment.
