Canton McKinley's expanded playoff format 'What if'... What's your schools 'What if'?

DaveDawg

The Bulldog
Canton McKinley's expanded playoff format 'What if'... What is your schools 'What if'?

What if the announced football playoff format coming in 2021 to allow the top 16 teams per region existed since day one in 1972?
How would that have changed the first and second rounds for Canton McKinley?
Out of the 48 years (not including 2020) of the playoffs the Bulldogs would have qualified 42 times.
McKinley in the final computer poll only finished between the 9th and 16th places only 6 times. That means they would have hosted a first round game 36 times.

  • - denotes in the spreadsheet when Stark County teams would have played McKinley under the new format.
  1. - denotes in the spreadsheet a Stark County school plays in round 1

McKinley and Massillon would have played only two times in the first round in 1998 and 2011 (both times McKinley won The Game in week 10), eliminating the 1980, 1994, 2001 and 2012 games with the Tigers. No matter how many times McKinley would have won a first round game they would not face a Massillon team in the second round while the schools were in the same division. (Games with Massillon could have been possible in the region semifinals or region finals). Of note, while in the same region, McKinley finished the #1 seed eleven times while Massillon took the top spot seven times.

13 times McKinley has played a Stark school in the playoffs in week 11. Under the new format that number of games is reduced to 8 games. Just 14 county games would have been possible in the second round had McKinley and the county school both won in round one out of the 42 years.

Seven (instead of three) 4-loss McKinley teams would have qualified for the playoffs.

All of Thom McDaniels teams would have qualified for the first round games including 1990’s 5-win, 4-loss team that beat playoff-bound Massillon on its new turf 20-7 and would have hosted Freemont Ross week 11.
In this writers opinion there are four Bulldog teams that really were cheated out of a shot at winning a title had they had their chance… 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1992 football squads.

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I'm gonna do Shaker Heights:

2000: #4 seed, would have hosted #13 Lakewood
2001: #10 seed, would have played at #7 St. Ignatius
2004: #7 seed, would have hosted #10 North Olmsted
2005: #8 seed, would have hosted #9 Cleveland JFK
2006-11: would not have qualified
2012: #14 seed, would have played at #3 Will. South
2013: qualified for playoffs and played at #1 St. Edward
2014-15: would not have qualified
2016: #12 seed, would have played at #5 Mass. Jackson
2017: #15 seed, would have played at #2 St. Edward
2018: #14 seed, would have played at #3 Euclid
2019: #15 seed, would have played at #2 St. Edward
 
Trimble:
2000: #15 seed @ #2 Shadyside
2001: #2 seed vs #15 Waterford
2002: #9 seed @ #8 Frontier
2003: #6 seed vs #11 Marion Catholic
2004: #4 seed vs #13 Strasburg-Franklin
2005: #9 seed @ #8 Adena
2006: #16 seed @ #1 West Jefferson
2007: #12 seed @ #5 Malvern
2008: #4 seed vs #13 Tuscarawas Central Catholic
2009: #12 seed @ #5 Tuscarawas Central Catholic
2010: #8 seed vs #9 Strasburg-Franklin
2011: #8 seed vs #9 Newark Catholic
2012: #3 seed vs #14 Racine Southern
2013: #1 seed vs #16 Strasburg-Franklin
2014: #2 seed vs #15 Sciotoville Community
2015: #3 seed vs #14 Bridgeport
2016: #4 seed vs #13 Beaver Eastern
2017: #5 seed vs #12 Berne Union
2018: #3 seed vs #14 Bishop Rosecrans
2019: #4 seed vs #13 Belpre
 
Greenon
2000-2004: n/a
2005: #10/11 @ #7 Madeira/#6 Blanchester
2006: #11, @ #6 Wyoming
2007-2017: n/a
2018: #15, @ #2 Liberty Center
2019: #9, @ #8 Blanchester
2020: #8, vs. #9 Taft (no harbins, seeded by coaches)
 
Starting in 2000, the Green Bulldogs qualified for the playoffs in 5 consecutive years, but after the 2004 season, did not qualify again until this past year. Here is what the matchups would have been in a 16 team format:

2000- #4 seed. Played #5 Tiffin Columbian. Would have played #13 Nordonia.
2001- #3 seed. Played #6 Warren Howland. Would have played #14 Lake.
2002- #1 seed. Played #8 Revere. Would have played #16 Zanesville.
2003- #4 seed. Played #5 Wadsworth. Would have played #13 Glen Oak.
2004- #4 seed. Played #5 McKinley. Would have played #13 Toledo Bowsher.
2005- #10 seed. Would have played #7 Sylvania Northview
2006- #12 seed. Would have played #5 Massillon.
In both 2010 and 2011, Green finished as the 17 seed in Region 2 :mad:
2012-#12 seed. Would have played #5 McKinley.
2015- #9 seed. Would have played #8 Nordonia.
2017- #11 seed. Would have played #6 Eastlake North
2020- #5 seed. Played #12 Worthington Kilbourne. No change.
 
For Coldwater it would have been in the 80s when we missed the playoffs at 10-0 and 9-1 (but made it at 7-3). We have not missed the playoffs since 96 or so
 
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[QUOTE="DaveDawg, post: 7997733, member: 15875" In this writers opinion there are four Bulldog teams that really were cheated out of a shot at winning a title had they had their chance...

[/QUOTE]
Cheated ?? ??‍♂️
 
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I found this be extremely interesting. It also makes me think that maybe going to 16 teams could be really intriguing for teams in the 9-12 window
 
Starting in 2000, the Green Bulldogs qualified for the playoffs in 5 consecutive years, but after the 2004 season, did not qualify again until this past year. Here is what the matchups would have been in a 16 team format:

2000- #4 seed. Played #5 Tiffin Columbian. Would have played #13 Nordonia.
2001- #3 seed. Played #6 Warren Howland. Would have played #14 Lake.
2002- #1 seed. Played #8 Revere. Would have played #16 Zanesville.
2003- #4 seed. Played #5 Wadsworth. Would have played #13 Glen Oak.
2004- #4 seed. Played #5 McKinley. Would have played #13 Toledo Bowsher.
2005- #10 seed. Would have played #7 Sylvania Northview
2006- #12 seed. Would have played #5 Massillon.
In both 2010 and 2011, Green finished as the 17 seed in Region 2 :mad:
2012-#12 seed. Would have played #5 McKinley.
2015- #9 seed. Would have played #8 Nordonia.
2017- #11 seed. Would have played #6 Eastlake North
2020- #5 seed. Played #12 Worthington Kilbourne. No change.
that 03 GlenOak team was on a roll to finish the season, they would have given Green everything they could have handled
 
Defiance:

1972-1979: nothing changes. Stuck in AAA with bad teams
1980-83: D2 now. Still no changes, still bad. 17 seed in region 6 in 81
1984: D2 R6 13 seed @ Toledo Scott
1985: D2 R6 10 seed @ Green
1986-1990: missed. Back to bad
1991: D2 R8 5 seed home againat Wapakoneta
1992: D2 R6 5 seed home against Olmsted Falls
1993: D2 R6 14 @ Watterson
1994: D2 R8 2 home against Akron East
1995: missed
1996: D2 R5 4 home against Delaware Hayes
1997: D2 R6 2 home against Grafton Midview (state championship season)
1998: D2 R6 7 home against Marysville
1999: D2 R6 10 @ Avon Lake
2000: D2 R6 1 home against Perrysburg
2001: D2 R6 5 home against Holland Springfield
2002: D2 R6 14 @ Walnut Ridge
2003: D2 R6 4 home against Marysville
2004: D2 R6 11 @ Olentangy Liberty
2005: D3 R10 15 @ Springfield Shawnee
2006: D3 R10 11 @ St. Marys
2007 missed
2008: D3 R10 8 home against Urbana
2009: D3 R10 16 @ Columbus DeSales
2010-2012 missed. 18 seed in 11, 17 in 12
2013: D3 R8 8 home against Elida
2014-2017 missed
2018: D3 R10 13 @ Norwalk
2019 missed

In real life we're at 8 appearances (not counting 2020) with a few solid teams that just missed. With 16 per region we'd jump to 21 including 11 in a row from 96-2006 and 17 in 19 years from 91-2009.
 
This is a horrible idea. Go back to a 4 team per region playoff system. It keeps the regular season game meaningful.
Going back down to 4 is a worse idea than going to 16.

Too many 5-8 seeds have went far, and won, titles to say going back to four is good idea.


I think 16 is way overkill. 8 is about right but I was fine with 12 as quite a few teams with 7-10 win teams were left out .

When determining a champion it is better to let in a few too many, than too few.

That is, of course, if you truly believe in proving it on the field.
 
What's boring is essentially letting everyone into the playoffs. The season is now essentially 10 scrimmages.
Will beating Jackson, Perry, Lake, etc. really mean less to you? Does beating Jackson in basketball mean less to you because they let everyone in the playoffs?
 
Will beating Jackson, Perry, Lake, etc. really mean less to you? Does beating Jackson in basketball mean less to you because they let everyone in the playoffs?
Playing those games with a playoff berth on the line adds something...to deny that is foolish.
 
Wrong ! Have Tim Walker call Coach Moore or Brian Pachis to set it up for 2022 and 2023.

The Tigers have 5 open dates in 2022. NCH already has scheduled Kenmore-Garfield and Louisville for the 2022 season. That leaves 2 out of conference games. I wouldn’t hold your breath.
 
The Tigers have 5 open dates in 2022. NCH already has scheduled Kenmore-Garfield and Louisville for the 2022 season. That leaves 2 out of conference games. I wouldn’t hold your breath.
No chance in hell they schedule the Tigers, especially the way their youth program looks right now.
 
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