A recent post on a different thread indicated that, according to CalPreps, the CCL/ESCC has the top three conferences in the state, and four of the top five. That analysis used average CalPreps power ratings. If one wants to reduce the number of blowouts, which is a stated goal of "ramblinman", that disparity between the CCL/ESCC and the remainder of the state needs to be addressed. If one wants to reduce the discontent being expressed by public schools, the disparity between the CCL/ESCC and the remainder of the state needs to be addressed. In short, the reality that the CCL/ESCC is playing a much higher caliber of football than the remainder of the state needs to be addressed.
"Ramblinman" has indicated a preference for separation. That is a solution. If the CCL/ESCC decides itself to separate, I'm guessing other Catholic schools around the state would not follow it. I'm not aware of discontent with Rockford Boylan or Springfield, Sacred Heart-Griffin. Geography and the relative scarcity of private high schools outside the Chicago metropolitan area kind of dictates that the private schools in those areas need to maintain their relationships with the public schools.
Perhaps a less extreme form of separation might be agreeable to all parties. Rather than separating entirely and playing games only amongst themselves, perhaps the CCL/ESCC schools would agree to merely being treated separately, or perhaps the better word would be "differently".
The remainder of the state would operate under the currently existing rules, but the multiplier and success factor would no longer apply to the CCL/ESCC. Those schools would still qualify for the playoffs under the existing rules, but once they qualify they would be treated differently. The five largest CCL/ESCC schools would play in the 8A class, the next five largest in the 7A class, and the next five in 6A and so on and so forth. Let's see how that would have been implemented this year.
Fourteen CCL/ESCC teams qualified for the playoffs this year. They were assigned to the different classes in the following manner:
8A = 2 (Loyola, St. Ignatius)
7A = 3 (Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice, St. Rita)
6A = 0
5A = 5 (Carmel, St. Francis, Joliet Catholic, Providence, Nazareth)
4A = 3 (IC Catholic, St. Laurence, St. Viator)
3A = 1 (Montini)
Under my proposal they would have been assigned as follows:
8A = 5 (Loyola, St. Ignatius, Brother Rice, Mt. Carmel, Carmel)
7A = 5 (St. Rita, St. Laurence, St. Viator, Providence, Nazareth)
6A = 4 (St. Francis, Joliet Catholic, Montini, IC Catholic)
Loyola, St. Ignatius and St. Rita would be playing in the same class they played in this year. The other teams would be moving up in classification. However, they would be playing a similarly difficult playoff schedule if they separated themselves and conducted playoffs among themselves. One way to administer a playoff among themselves would be to split the 24 teams into groups of eight according to size. Then establish three playoffs based on team strength, but also stipulating no team will be placed higher than one group upwards from where their size would have placed them. This stipulation is to protect small schools like IC Catholic so they would never find themselves playing the largest schools in the playoffs. It might look like this:
Group A
1) Loyola (9-0)
8) Joliet Catholic (6-3)
4) Carmel (8-1)
5) Brother Rice (5-4)
3) St. Francis (7-2)
6) St. Ignatius (6-3)
2) Mt. Carmel (8-1)
7) St. Rita (5-4)
Group B
1) IC Catholic (7-2)
8) Benet (4-5)
4) Montini (6-3)
5) Fenwick (4-5)
3) Marist (4-5)
6) St. Laurence (6-3)
2) Nazareth (4-5)
7) Providence (5-4)
Group C
1) St. Viator
8) Leo
4) DePaul
5) Notre Dame
3) De La Salle
6) St. Patrick's
2) Marian Catholic
7) Marmion
Both total separation and the revised IHSA playoff participation outlined above would likely reduce blowouts and public-school discontent; but, I'm guessing the Catholic high school players would like to play some teams other than those they competed against during the regular season.
