Opinion: Ohio should rethink long football season (Vindicator)

Yappi

Yappi

Go Buckeyes
It’s that time of year when the youth of the Mahoning Valley and all over Ohio are spending their days sweating through drill after drill on the practice fields in preparation for the high school football season that will kick off even earlier than we’re accustomed to.

And, for the third straight year, we again will be heading into what will be one of the longest varsity football seasons ever. That comes due to the extended playoffs brought about by the 16-team playoff picture first instituted in 2021. That’s twice as many teams as were included prior to 2021.
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www.vindy.com

Ohio should rethink long football season

It’s that time of year when the youth of the Mahoning Valley and all over Ohio are spending their days sweating through drill after drill on the practice fields in preparation for the high school football season that will kick off even earlier than we’re accustomed to. And, for the third...
www.vindy.com www.vindy.com

Interestingly, their solution of a 12-team playoff per region would still be a 16-week season and potentially no byes for the final two teams.
 
 
In fact, the long high school season was so excruciating on teenage players that some schools worked in their own unofficial bye weeks by not filling vacancies created in their regular seasons when opponents unexpectedly canceled.
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I get that it’s an opinion piece, but one would hope that supporting arguments would be statements of fact as opposed to conjecture.
 
Something about starting a HS football season on August 17th in OH is just a bit off-putting, IMO. Could become even more of an issue this year, with the oppressive heat hitting almost everywhere, and the air quality issues that aren't going away until maybe October. Wouldn't be surprising if a smoke filled Friday or Saturday cancels some games this year.
 
Oil Filter said:
That's a different issue entirely; that speaks more to administrative limp-wristedness.

Start the season in September; end it on Thanksgiving weekend. Do the math to determine how many weeks that is.
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Connecticut (and now apparently Massachusetts) have been doing this. Thanksgiving day is a regular season game. They've historically had games on Thanksgiving so it made sense to keep it.

To get playoffs in, only three rounds of playoffs, and they condense the playoffs to get them in (yeah, fewer teams, etc, but Ohio could if they wanted to, or just have more divisions). With Thursday being a game day, they play the first round on Tuesday, the second round the following Sunday and then the state titles are the following Saturday.

They do it because, to them, the regular season in the fall and the traditional thanksgiving day games being part of the regular season and not sandwiched around playoff games is far more important.

In 2022, CT played all six of their titles at two sites as tripleheaders. 3 at UConn's Rentschler Field in East Hartford and 3 at Central Connecticut State's Arute Field.

But in Ohio, I don't think OHSAA will ever give up individual tickets per game, multiple days for TV, and the sheer number of playoff spots for playoff games to make money. But it is doable.
 
Here's a couple of possible ideas that COULD work:

Option A: Having an 8-game regular season games and having the state finals before Thanksgiving weekend. If teams are eliminated after Week 8, they can play up to two games for a total of ten if they choose to. Something like 2020, when eliminated teams played even when the OHSAA playoffs were going on.

Option B: Having a 9-game regular season (starting last week of August), with the state championship ending first week of December.

Option C: Having a 9-game regular season, going back to 8 teams per region, and the state title game before Thanksgiving weekend.

One of the positives of the 2020 season is the state championship game taking place before Thanksgiving weekend.
 
Yappi said:
www.vindy.com

Ohio should rethink long football season

It’s that time of year when the youth of the Mahoning Valley and all over Ohio are spending their days sweating through drill after drill on the practice fields in preparation for the high school football season that will kick off even earlier than we’re accustomed to. And, for the third...
www.vindy.com www.vindy.com

Interestingly, their solution of a 12-team playoff per region would still be a 16-week season and potentially no byes for the final two teams.
Click to expand...
I think that you boys need to go back to a ten game season. So Washington Hi will once again, become relevant.
 
I am in favor of cutting the playoffs back to eight teams per region. Cuts one week off. All, something I am hearing a lot this year (especially from parents) is why do 7 on 7s, scrimmages, etc. start in mid June? Could all this be condensed? Maybe wait till July 4h?
 
aztecjim said:
I am in favor of cutting the playoffs back to eight teams per region. Cuts one week off. All, something I am hearing a lot this year (especially from parents) is why do 7 on 7s, scrimmages, etc. start in mid June? Could all this be condensed? Maybe wait till July 4h?
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There were 7 on 7s in May this year, so June isn't so bad.
 
aztecjim said:
I am in favor of cutting the playoffs back to eight teams per region. Cuts one week off. All, something I am hearing a lot this year (especially from parents) is why do 7 on 7s, scrimmages, etc. start in mid June? Could all this be condensed? Maybe wait till July 4h?
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I give it 2 years of the extended summer schedule before teams start to switch back and condense their summer camps and 7 on 7’s. Too many teams demand way too much of kids over the summer right now
 
Oil Filter said:
None of the above. Football season starts with a 10-game regular season. Playoffs are secondary. Keep your priorities straight.
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While there's nothing magical about 10, I agree that the focus should be on the regular season and not the 20% of schools that have any chance of ever winning a state title.
 
Redwing said:
Something about starting a HS football season on August 17th in OH is just a bit off-putting, IMO. Could become even more of an issue this year, with the oppressive heat hitting almost everywhere, and the air quality issues that aren't going away until maybe October. Wouldn't be surprising if a smoke filled Friday or Saturday cancels some games this year.
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Oppressive heat? There has been absolutely no oppressive heat in Ohio in 2023
 
The easiest and most sensible option is to simply revert the playoffs to being the top 8 teams per region.

Keep the 10 regular season games. Don't shorten the regular season just so a select few teams can get an extra playoff game. This is still about ALL the kids - don't jip 60% of the kids of an extra game just cuz you want a longer postseason. "But you're jipping a bunch of teams 1 extra game by reducing the playoffs to 8 per region." Yeah, whatever.

There was not a problem when it was 8 teams per region, except that the OHSAA wanted more money. Which isn't really a problem. It's just a fact.
 
thePITman said:
The easiest and most sensible option is to simply revert the playoffs to being the top 8 teams per region.

Keep the 10 regular season games. Don't shorten the regular season just so a select few teams can get an extra playoff game. This is still about ALL the kids - don't jip 60% of the kids of an extra game just cuz you want a longer postseason. "But you're jipping a bunch of teams 1 extra game by reducing the playoffs to 8 per region." Yeah, whatever.

There was not a problem when it was 8 teams per region, except that the OHSAA wanted more money. Which isn't really a problem. It's just a fact.
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hey arnold nick splat GIF
 
queencitybuckeye said:
Seen a 5-day forecast? A post that won't age well.
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A 3-4 day heat wave, then dropping back to average to below average is not something that is going to cause a post to not age well. Pretty much everywhere in the state has been below average cumulative temperature wise for June and July up to this point.

As you can see in the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlook, both are looking to be average to cooler than average for the state.

Climate Prediction Center - 6 to 10 Day Outlooks

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

Climate Prediction Center - 8 to 14 Day Outlooks

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
 
kingpin2010 said:
A 3-4 day heat wave, then dropping back to average to below average is not something that is going to cause a post to not age well. Pretty much everywhere in the state has been below average cumulative temperature wise for June and July up to this point.

As you can see in the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlook, both are looking to be average to cooler than average for the state.

Climate Prediction Center - 6 to 10 Day Outlooks

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

Climate Prediction Center - 8 to 14 Day Outlooks

www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov
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You'll have to excuse the folks that believe that a gas that makes up 0.4% of our atmosphere will be our demise. Hillary Clinton told them to be concerned, they're concerned.

10 regular season games
8 playoff teams per region
6 Divisions
Accept cash every game in every town

The regular season crowds will be larger
The postseason crowds will be larger
The season will be shorter
The OHSAA won't do it
 
Almost Prideful said:
You'll have to excuse the folks that believe that a gas that makes up 0.4% of our atmosphere will be our demise. Hillary Clinton told them to be concerned, they're concerned.

10 regular season games
8 playoff teams per region
6 Divisions
Accept cash every game in every town

The regular season crowds will be larger
The postseason crowds will be larger
The season will be shorter
The OHSAA won't do it
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I was fine with 7 divisions when it was only 8 teams per region.
 
I'm not sure if it's just because I'm on mobile but I've never seen an opinion piece that doesn't include a byline. Who wrote this?

The Vindy has fallen off a cliff since I wrote for it, really fell apart after the name was bought out and the original paper folded.
 
I still don’t get why people are so against the 16 team playoff. The only negative of the longer season, only affects a small handful of teams (that make it really deep into the playoffs). There are way more positives:
- One extra playoff game for the kids to enjoy, share of additional sales, concessions dollars to make, etc.
- You don’t have to be as careful with the schedule, and can schedule up knowing that tough game likely won’t be the reason for being on the outside looking in.
- It gets all of the state powers into the playoffs, and oftentimes a 4-6 power with a tough schedule is better than half the teams that made the 8 team region.

I really don’t think 16 teams making the playoffs is a bad thing. If anything the bigger issue is how much the summer has been taken over with 7 on 7s and the additional scrimmage.
 
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