It was never about making the playoffs!
It was done to provide relief to the bottom teams in the league. The extra Harbin's points were an extra selling point but not the main driver.
Whether it's about making the playoffs or relief for the bottom of the league; I don't think the scheduling system is particularly necessary.we have had this discussion before... and you have talked to people and i have talked to people... I'll go by what i have heard in the past...
As others have said, with 16-teams per region now the playoff point is now a moot point. Teams are making the postseason with losing records (i.e. St Henry this season). OHSAA is unlikely to change this despite the many, many complaints on Yappi about it.
In terms of relief, what relief is actually happening? Speaking of that St Henry team, they finished this regular season 3-7 (2-6). The team they didn't play? Delphos St. John's, and the Blue Jays finished 4-6 (2-6). Seems as though both teams would've benefitted from playing one another given that they were both near the bottom of the MAC league standings. Also this year, Coldwater 9-1 (7-1) and Minster 8-2 (6-2) not playing. Back in 2021, Versailles 9-1 (7-1) and Coldwater 8-2 (6-2)... and again in 2021 at the bottom of the league standings, Fort Recovery 3-7 (1-7) and Minster 1-9 (0-8). All of these teams should've played one another, but didn't due to the limitations of the MAC scheduling system. I simply think that the two-year dead period is too slow to react and football programs bounce back (or fade away) quicker, and for reasons other than who they did or didn't play.
On the plus side, the MAC scheduling system does create some compelling week 2 match-ups, and we don't have to see the slaughter that would be Marion Local-Parkway. Yet, all those years of Parkway dodging Marion Local clearly hasn't resulted in their program bouncing back. Probably because there are more significant variables other than who you do or do not play one singular week of a football season.