OHSAA survey asks Ohio high schools for feedback on 16-team football playoff format

reganaustinjames said:
Absolute BS argument. With the exception of the aforementioned 15-seed DSJ (which, as mentioned, their seeding was the result of their murder-face schedule), those 13-16 seeds have no business being there, and by and large, those kids don't even want to be there. Average margin of victory for 13-4 through 16-1 games is in the 30's according to a podcast cited on another thread. Can't imagine that's fun for anyone.
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nonsense
 
9 game regular season.
Top 8 in each region make championship playoffs (32 teams).
Next 4 teams play in a NIT type playoff (16 teams)
Bottom teams can do a toilet-bowl playoff only in their region.
 
reganaustinjames said:
A reduction to a 9-game season is NEVER going to happen. You can write that in granite; principals and AD's would never allow it.
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Yeah. Axing a regular season weekend would cut roughly 360 games from the schedule. Games where the schools get 100% of the revenue when they host.

It also makes the two-year cycle much more extreme and precise "4 home games one year, 5 home games the other", it becomes a nightmare for scheduling.

The OHSAA may want more rounds of playoffs (which they've almost maxed out now), but there's no way the schools will give up a regular season weekend. You want more playoffs, you need more divisions and fewer total weeks. Which, again, would be a hard sell for the schools to agree to.
 
Sykotyk said:
Yeah. Axing a regular season weekend would cut roughly 360 games from the schedule. Games where the schools get 100% of the revenue when they host.

It also makes the two-year cycle much more extreme and precise "4 home games one year, 5 home games the other", it becomes a nightmare for scheduling.

The OHSAA may want more rounds of playoffs (which they've almost maxed out now), but there's no way the schools will give up a regular season weekend. You want more playoffs, you need more divisions and fewer total weeks. Which, again, would be a hard sell for the schools to agree to.
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I believe if it isn't broke why fix it? Top 8 teams per region 4 weeks of playoffs. Start late August early September. This way teams have to earn their way in, the games for the most part are more competitive. Yes , there are exceptions and lower seated teams have won in the past but imo it doesn't or would happen enough to justify letting 12 or 16 teams in. Rarely if ever is a 16 or a 12 going to win a state championship. They are not going to beat a St Edwards , Hoban, Massillon, Avon, Toledo Central Catholic etc.
 
petepastromi said:
I believe if it isn't broke why fix it? Top 8 teams per region 4 weeks of playoffs. Start late August early September. This way teams have to earn their way in, the games for the most part are more competitive. Yes , there are exceptions and lower seated teams have won in the past but imo it doesn't or would happen enough to justify letting 12 or 16 teams in. Rarely if ever is a 16 or a 12 going to win a state championship. They are not going to beat a St Edwards , Hoban, Massillon, Avon, Toledo Central Catholic etc.
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8 teams per region requires 5 weeks of playoffs, rounds of 32, 16, 8, 4, 2.

8 or 16 I don't care, but I hate the idea of a bye.
 
chs1971 said:
If it's not about opportunities for kids, what is it about?
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"taking away opportunities for kids" is a dumb emotional argument for expanding the playoffs and putting kids on bad teams in bad positions by playing games where they are severely overmatched. It's stupid and a 16 week season is not safe.

Do you let your kids take advantage of every single opportunity available to them? Or do you limit them to what you think is safe and beneficial?
 
I agree , no byes. 5 weeks I guess is okay. How about have like the 10th week be a play in with teams 5 through 8 and everybody not ranked 5, 6, 7, 8 just play their last regular season game. I don't like starting the season mid August.
 
Bottom line is 16 teams is too many. First round games with the 4 lowest seeds end up blowouts. I’m sure folks can point out an exception or two. Football playoff participants should have a reasonable chance of winning a state title. In reality the only way to have a competitive playoff is to take only 4 teams per region. Making the playoffs should be much more difficult than it is right now.
 
Everyone loves a Cinderella story but most if not all fail to win it all it is just reality. Look at any sport college or pro or even high school. There are very very rare instances where said Cinderella does so. 16 far too many 8 gets dicey imo 12 is the perfect number
 
ghsknightsfan said:
I both like and dislike the new format.

Pros:
- It seems like most schools across the board are more agressive in non-league scheduling, because they know it takes less to get into the dance. More good regular season games in weeks 1-3.
- I have seen some playoff games between 8/9, 7/10, 6/11, and 5/12 that have been an absolute delight. These schools may not be regional champ quality, but they are great football games
- More football is fun. 9/10 kids you ask will say the more games the better.

Cons:
- Too many blowouts in 1st round of 14, 15, 16 seeds. 95% of games with these seeds have not been competitive.
- 6 round playoff is too much. I almost forgot at times what round I was watching.

My solution:

12 team playoff
- Instead of having set seeds play, do a tournament draw. Use the harbin seeding and then do the draw like you would in basketball or soccer. Do it the Sunday after week 10.
- This way, the top 4 seeds can be the ones to decide if they want to take a “bye” or not.
- Doing a draw and giving coaches the choice of who they play might may cut down of travel if they choose.
- Still a lot of good games with middle seeds
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I love the idea of tourney draw.
 
Crimson and Black said:
Bottom line is 16 teams is too many. First round games with the 4 lowest seeds end up blowouts. I’m sure folks can point out an exception or two. Football playoff participants should have a reasonable chance of winning a state title. In reality the only way to have a competitive playoff is to take only 4 teams per region. Making the playoffs should be much more difficult than it is right now.
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I agree. 90% of the time the top 4 teams one of them wins the title. When do you ever see the teams winning titles Hoban, StEds, Massillon, Avon Toledo Central Catholic , Coldwater, Marion Local etc being ranked outside the top 4.
 
Burreaux said:
Everyone loves a Cinderella story but most if not all fail to win it all it is just reality. Look at any sport college or pro or even high school. There are very very rare instances where said Cinderella does so. 16 far too many 8 gets dicey imo 12 is the perfect number
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you mean like EVERY OTHER SPORT IN OHIO
 
petepastromi said:
I believe if it isn't broke why fix it? Top 8 teams per region 4 weeks of playoffs. Start late August early September. This way teams have to earn their way in, the games for the most part are more competitive. Yes , there are exceptions and lower seated teams have won in the past but imo it doesn't or would happen enough to justify letting 12 or 16 teams in. Rarely if ever is a 16 or a 12 going to win a state championship. They are not going to beat a St Edwards , Hoban, Massillon, Avon, Toledo Central Catholic etc.
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I agree, I think the 8-team playoffs per region were the best setup the OHSAA ever had. 4 was too few, 12 or 16 is too many. But they're not even considering that so it's not worth discussing. They're set on having the extra week of playoffs.

As little as I want to see 1 v 16 matchups, that's why I'm in favor of the 12 team format. OR, give teams a chance to opt out of the playoffs and let everyone beneath them move up a spot. Anyone #1 through #8 can't opt out, though. But #9-#12 (or #16 if you go that route) could without repercussions.
 
See, this is where Utah created a unique funding mechanism.

They have 'endowment games' to start the year. Any team that wants to can play an extra home game, and pay a fee to the UHSAA depending on what class (i.e., division) they're in. All the costs of the game belong to the team(s) playing, but the state pays a fee in exchange for the extra game (and covers the officials), but makes all the revenue from tickets. They could go back to a 15-week season with 10 regular season games and 5 playoff games in the 8-team setup. And the endowment games would be Week 0. Not every school has to play it. Some could just use the week for practice or a scrimmage. But many do want to play an extra regular season game and the up-to $700-$1600 the state funds for the endowment game and all excess goes to the UHSAA to help fund the association.
 
Sixteen weeks is a load. That's one less game than the NFL regular season. The players do not have access to the training and recovery modes that the pros and colleges have. My hat is off to the programs that can survive 16 weeks with minimal injury/lost time.

Back in 1999 Sandusky Perkins won the state title game over Ironton 16-14. I know Rock Farlow pretty well and when I talked to him shortly after the season one of the first things he said was that 15 weeks was too many. I can't give you a solution aside from some of those offered by others earlier in the thread.
 
reganaustinjames said:
No other sport in Ohio is limited to playing only once a week.
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I have seen a high school football team play with only 4 or 5 days between games in very rare instances, so twice in a week. Something like a nationally televised game on Sunday and a regular game the following Friday... or a Monday or Tuesday and the following Friday or Saturday
 
Crimson and Black said:
How many seeds 9-12 have won state titles or even made the finals?
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The Dock said:
Springfield made the D1 state title game as a 12 in 2023. The following year, they lost to the 13 seed in week 11.
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Mentor Lake Catholic made it to the D4 final as a #12 seed but that was in the Covid-19 season of 2020 and it was voted on by the coaches in each region, not as calculated by Harbins points. Joe Eitel shows them as #14 in R13 but the Cougars were listed as a #12 by the coaches and in the playoff brackets for that season.
 
chs1971 said:
8 teams per region requires 5 weeks of playoffs, rounds of 32, 16, 8, 4, 2.

8 or 16 I don't care, but I hate the idea of a bye.
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I get it but it's needed at this point as a reward. Between the scrimmages and what not, our best teams are playing 14-18 straight weeks of competitive contact. That is brutal
 
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