Q of the Week: Should the IHSA expend the football playoff field?
- Thread starter EdgyTim
- Start date
We have good teams refusing to play other good teams in regular season. How many 0-9 1-8 would just forfeit round one?
I wish basketball and baseball had qualifiers, I'm personally against the everyone makes playoffs idea
I would prefer a 10 game regular season, and only 6-4 teams or better make the playoffs. Expanding it under the current arrangement will lead to more first round blowouts, particularly in the lower classes. No one wants to see a 9-0 obliterate a 4-5 let alone an 0-9.
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No!!! Fix the current issues FIRST (1-32 in AT LEAST Class 5-8A, explore having odd class final on Friday, even classes on Saturday..rotate annually, higher seed hosts semi final). More drastic...move to 6 classes, 1-32, computer rankings.
This!
I would go so far as to seed all classes 1-32. I want a true champion not equal representation from the north and south. I also agree with rotating the championship games, either on a scheduled basis or even a random draw.
While there's plenty the IHSA can fix, the football playoffs are the most transparent thing they do. There's no questioning a team that got in that shouldn't have or a team that got left out unfairly. You know from day one of the season what you need to do to make the playoffs, get your team to 6 wins or 5 wins with enough playoff points.
I’m a fan of automatic qualification in other sports but football would be a bad idea. In soccer, you can park the bus and hope for penalty kicks. In basketball, you can play stall ball. There’s viable strategies for massive upsets in other sports.
Why aren’t there in football? Cause at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can to stop 11 dudes who are faster, bigger and stronger from running by, through and over the underdog.
Most importantly: expanded playoffs means a reduced regular season. At least week 9 would have to go, possibly more. Think of all the havoc that will cause on conferences for starters.
Why aren’t there in football? Cause at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can to stop 11 dudes who are faster, bigger and stronger from running by, through and over the underdog.
Most importantly: expanded playoffs means a reduced regular season. At least week 9 would have to go, possibly more. Think of all the havoc that will cause on conferences for starters.
No.
The current system we have isn't perfect but it works. We don't need weak 4-5 and 3-6 teams in the playoffs. I get that some of the higher playoff point 4-5 teams will get in but many would say they deserve it based on the difficulty of the schedule they play.
As many think, I think a change seeding 1-32, maybe adjust a seed here or there based on travel that is not viable, and eliminate conference rematches in the 1st round.
The current system we have isn't perfect but it works. We don't need weak 4-5 and 3-6 teams in the playoffs. I get that some of the higher playoff point 4-5 teams will get in but many would say they deserve it based on the difficulty of the schedule they play.
As many think, I think a change seeding 1-32, maybe adjust a seed here or there based on travel that is not viable, and eliminate conference rematches in the 1st round.
1-32 across ALL classes. Enough of the championship being played during the semifinal games as what occurs too frequently. And before comments arguing about the expense of travel percolate, we have 2A & 3A teams installing turf fields. They can afford the fuel costs for 1-5 games.
The travel is not just about the cost it's more about the time it will take to travel.
Lets say Lena-Winslow draws a team like Carlyle or Sesser Valier in the 1st round. That is a 5 hr 30 minute drive by car with 1 stop, make it a bus full of kids and it is at least a 6 to 7 hour drive. Need to arrive 1.5 to 2 hours before kickoff to get unloaded, taped, and warmed up. So if the game starts at 2, that is leaving between 5 and 5:30 AM with a home arrival time around 11pm or 12 am. Now, how many fans would travel for that trip? Of course parents/family would but the student body would absolutely not take that trip and that is hurting the gate which is a concern of the IHSA>
They could stay the night somewhere but that is another additional cost that some (not all) schools cannot afford and families may not as well. Schools may also be unwilling to accept the risk of placing 20 - 50 teenagers in a hotel with a handful of adults for supervision.
Some teams may look at their draw, and see it is not worth the time or the travel to get 40+ pointed so maybe they forfeit and LW loses the opportunity to play a 1st round game.
And the idea of including ALL teams as the thread initially reported would be worse. This is why a 1-32 classification is appropriate.
Don't expand the playoffs. CONTRACT them!
Either go to a single 1-16 bracket across 8 classes or go back to 5 or 6 classes. My preference would be fewer classes and keep a 32-team playoff field.
According to NFHS participation data, Illinois had 549 schools and 47,179 participants playing 11-man football in 2001, the year that the IHSA expanded the playoff classes from 6 to 8. In 2021, the most recent year available for NFHS participation data, Illinois had 509 schools and 35,708 participants playing 11-man football. When the IHSA football playoffs began in 1974 with FIVE classes, Illinois had basically the same number of participants then as now, and there were 59 more football playing schools back then as now. It is well past time to reconsider the need for 8 football classes.
Unless, of course, the real reason for class expansion was to increase IHSA playoff revenue...
Either go to a single 1-16 bracket across 8 classes or go back to 5 or 6 classes. My preference would be fewer classes and keep a 32-team playoff field.
According to NFHS participation data, Illinois had 549 schools and 47,179 participants playing 11-man football in 2001, the year that the IHSA expanded the playoff classes from 6 to 8. In 2021, the most recent year available for NFHS participation data, Illinois had 509 schools and 35,708 participants playing 11-man football. When the IHSA football playoffs began in 1974 with FIVE classes, Illinois had basically the same number of participants then as now, and there were 59 more football playing schools back then as now. It is well past time to reconsider the need for 8 football classes.
Unless, of course, the real reason for class expansion was to increase IHSA playoff revenue...
I would definitely like to see a
Eliminating a class would increase the level of play and the degree of difficulty to qualify, leaving only 14 of the 256 qualifiers as barely above .500. One of whom eventually won a title and deserved to be there due to their SOS.
I think a reduction from 8 classes to 7 would be reasonable. Looking at the IHSA "HOw the Playoffs are Determined" page, 2009 had 548 eligible schools. 2018 had 523, along with 18 5-4 teams not qualifying. Each year, the number of eligible schools has decreased. In 2018, there were 46 5-4 teams which qualified, 4 of which made it out of the 1st round. There is a single outlier in my argument, but the haters will have to research it for themselves.
Eliminating a class would increase the level of play and the degree of difficulty to qualify, leaving only 14 of the 256 qualifiers as barely above .500. One of whom eventually won a title and deserved to be there due to their SOS.
1974: 568 schools, 5 classes
1980: 601 schools, 6 classes
2000: 545 schools, 6 classes
2001: 549 schools, 8 classes
2009 548 schools, 8 classes
2018 523 schools, 8 classes
2021 509 schools, 8 classes
Unless you think this downward participation trend is going to flatten out or be reversed anytime soon, don't reduce the number of classes to satisfy today's demand. Reduce the classes sufficiently to where you think they ought to be several years from now with even fewer football playing schools than we currently have.
I'd like to go back to 6 classes with 32 qualifiers in each class. I know everyone will cite the 5-4 team that makes a run to the quarters or beyond, but usually the first round match-ups are a blood bath. I don't want to say that a 5-4 is undeserving, but there are some pretty bad teams that sneak into the playoffs. When I saw the CPS school come to Wilmington during Weaver's senior season, I was legitimately concerned for their safety. How many of those kids look back on that game and think "wow I'm glad I got to play one last game that year"? My guess is not many.
I am not in favor. I would like to hear why some are in favor of expanding the playoffs. If it’s to allow for 4-5 teams to get in. I am definitely against teams under 500 making the playoffs regardless of their strength of schedule. My opinion so don’t kill me. 😂
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