Too Many Teams in the Playoffs?

Personally, I think that they should let every single team in the playoffs, cause my son is a senior at sycamore and he was heartbroken when he heard they didn't make the playoffs. The OHSAA is failing as an organization and should let even the bad teams in.
 
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YTOWN said:
I looked at this last year. 77 teams with losing records qualified, including Cincinnati Oak Hills at 0-10 because Western Hills opted out. I think 10 of the 77 advanced. There were also 48 teams with .500 records that qualified so 125 teams with non-winning records made the playoffs in 2021.
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It's really becoming similar to the college bowl game set up
 
Zeta16 said:
Do you guys say this about every other sport that to many teams make it?
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I would argue that not every team should make it in other sports as well. 2-20 in basketball is not deserving of a post season birth. Just like 1-9 or 2-8 shouldn't make it in football.

However, as I mentioned before, I see the day coming where everyone gets in like 2020 and the regular season becomes something like 8 games.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
Before you had to win some of your big time matchups to get in. Mentor has had years where they lost to all good teams. Teams like Ignatius, Solon, Massillon etc and missed the playoffs.
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And with 8, teams can schedule pattsies and still get in, risking those who schedule tough in a down year. I feel the larger number in allows teams like Mentor to play their traditional foes and in an off-year, still have that reward of a play-off knowing they are probably still better than others in 1-8 and having a chance to prove it. Sure the goal attained my one team is a championship. But the other very important goal is to give kids the opportunity to see how they measure up.

As far as I can see, the only concern is the extra round, the extra week and the occasional serious mismatch. I do feel teams should be allowed to opt out if they see a problem. As I mentioned, some of the urbans are D1 in name only. You watch on fire drill day and see how many are actually in the building and you're looking at a little country school.
 
eastisbest said:
And with 8, teams can schedule pattsies and still get in, risking those who schedule tough in a down year. I feel the larger number in allows teams like Mentor to play their traditional foes and in an off-year, still have that reward of a play-off knowing they are probably still better than others in 1-8 and having a chance to prove it. Sure the goal attained my one team is a championship. But the other very important goal is to give kids the opportunity to see how they measure up.

As far as I can see, the only concern is the extra round, the extra week and the occasional serious mismatch. I do feel teams should be allowed to opt out if they see a problem. As I mentioned, some of the urbans are D1 in name only. You watch on fire drill day and see how many are actually in the building and you're looking at a little country school.
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You seem to have completely ignored my response to you before this so I just say read it again. No need to repeat myself on my reasoning. It devalues the big matchups for us.

No need for a playoff appearance that we don't deserve in a bad year. It used to mean something to earn a playoff spot
 
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I know the additional round builds revenue for the OHSAA and it is a good way as any to do that IMO. I do not see it as a money grab specifically as the organization has to have operating capital and it seems we all collectively complain no matter how they try to raise it.

Having said that, I have spoken to some folks this morning who cover or are fans of specific teams and none are looking forward to traveling to watch what they expect will be a sound thrashing that their 13-16 seeded teams might get.

My only personal issue is a petty one, but still real. It appears at first glance that there are too many regions that feature multiple rematches. I have not done a full study on it, but noticed in region 2 alone.. Jerome has already played Olentangy, Centerville has payed Northmont, Perrysburg has played Findlay, and Fairmont had played Wayne.. that is 4 out of 8...
Not the worst ting that has ever happened in hs football... but my preference would be to see it happen less often.
 
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Personally, I don’t think it waters down the regular season too much and getting top seeding is still very important. Take a look at D2 R5. A very tough region but because Hoban earned the top spot they will not have to play more than one of Walsh/Riverside/Hudson. Winning regular season games still matters a lot.
 
It is just like the college bowl games, sure there are too many, but there isn't a coach who would turn down the extra week or more of practice and chance for kids to play another game.
 
Way too many teams, 8 was perfect. Expensive tickets, food, parking for so many lop-sided games.

It is nice kids get the opportunity to participate, though.
 
isojlove(westwoodlottery) said:
Personally, I think that they should let every single team in the playoffs, cause my son is a senior at sycamore and he was heartbroken when he heard they didn't make the playoffs. The OHSAA is failing as an organization and should let even the bad teams in.
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Heart break is part of sports, part of life.
 
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I can see both sides of the argument, but with the way thing are there are a couple intriguing matchups in SW Ohio and the team with probably the toughest 1 vs 16 is Winton Woods who has to play an old nemesis in LaSalle who would be a tough out for anyone. LaSalle gave St X a good regular season game and lost only 16-7 but talking with people at the game, they said it was a game LaSalle really should have won. Speaking of the Bombers, I'm sure Fairfield didn't want to see them in the first round of an 8 and 9 rank battle. With the way things used to be, St. X wouldn't of even of gotten in! The idea of 12 teams getting in with the top 4 earning a bye sounds like a good compromise. Good Luck to all teams and stay healthy my friends!
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
You seem to have completely ignored my response to you before this so I just say read it again. No need to repeat myself on my reasoning. It devalues the big matchups for us.

No need for a playoff appearance that we don't deserve in a bad year. It used to mean something to earn a playoff spot
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I guess too, I don't understand the logic for D1 getting 16 in, when they only have 18 per region.
 
isojlove(westwoodlottery) said:
Personally, I think that they should let every single team in the playoffs, cause my son is a senior at sycamore and he was heartbroken when he heard they didn't make the playoffs. The OHSAA is failing as an organization and should let even the bad teams in.
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I wouldn't be suprised if that does happen one day, however the major reason not to is the length of the season and poor weather. You really can't start any sooner due to the heat, and do you really want to play state final in the middle of December? Indiana plays a 9 game regular season with everyone getting in.
Personally, I feel 8 teams from each region getting in was fine. Many teams under .500 do not even want to play a playoff game, let alone vs. a #1 seed powerhouse.
 
Hammerdrill said:
I guess too, I don't understand the logic for D1 getting 16 in, when they only have 18 per region.
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Well you cant change the playoff system for one division vs the other 6. And D1 has less teams only because schools whined and begged to get out of it and created a new division. Also not saying all did so. I doubt Massillon for example begged out
 
Sadly, this was a covid year thing that unfortuantley didn't go away. Many teams didn't / wasn't able to get games played that year, so the OHSAA decided to let everyone in. Time to go back to 8. There are no "derserving" teams who miss the playoffs with top 8.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
Well you cant change the playoff system for one division vs the other 6. And D1 has less teams only because schools whined and begged to get out of it and created a new division. Also not saying all did so. I doubt Massillon for example begged out
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They could and should. And don't put it all on mid-sized schools. There are a plethora of small schools in Ohio who all demand an equal number of schools per division (and they have more votes). Enrollment range should be the primary metric > equal number of teams, not vice versa. Imo.
 
I like 12 teams.... here is my breakdown:
Top 4 teams in each region get a bye. Allow those teams to rest for a week. All teams need that this time of year. This also protects the top 4 teams' players to not get injured in one of the 'lopsided wins' that many have referred to already.

First round: (all of these games play into a top 4 team) You could even determine 2nd round games based on who wins.
Seed 5 vs. 12
Seed 6 vs. 11
Seed 7 vs. 10
Seed 8 vs. 9

Thoughts? It kind of is a balance between the 8-team and 16-team set ups and eliminates a lot of the teams with losing records.
 
TigerPaw said:
They could and should. And don't put it all on mid-sized schools. There are a plethora of small schools in Ohio who all demand an equal number of schools per division (and they have more votes). Enrollment range should be the primary metric > equal number of teams, not vice versa. Imo.
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D1 is smaller because of schools begging out and complaining. That's how it is. There are less teams in D1 because of that.

Those same schools who complained to get out of D1 can't complain when more teams by percentage make the playoffs in D1 since it's smaller. It's their fault it's smaller
 
For information purposes only, the 8-win teams (14) that finished outside the top-8. No 9-win or 10-win teams finished outside the top-8.

Division Region Team Finish
D2 R6 Sylvania Southview (11)
D3 R9 Cleveland VASJ (11)
D3 R9 Alliance (12)
D3 R9 Gates Mills Hawken (14)
D3 R10 Toledo Scott (9)
D3 R11 Washington Court House Washington (9)
D3 R11 Bellefontaine (10)
D5 R17 Garretsville Garfield (9)
D5 R19 Zanesville West Muskingum (10)
D6 R21 Hanoverton United (9)
D6 R21 Mineral Ridge (10)
D6 R22 Castalia Margaretta (9)
DG R23 Malvern (12)
D7 R25 Vienna Mathews (9)
 
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Sparky13 said:
Are they playoff worthy and do they really want to play one more game?
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Although I've had people answer in the affirmative to the "play another" part, my guess is the majority goes with me. After our 2-8 season, we were ready to hit the basketball court or wrestling mats or hang with your buddies and/or girlfriend. The very last thing we would want is to get kicked around by a state power.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
Well you cant change the playoff system for one division vs the other 6. And D1 has less teams only because schools whined and begged to get out of it and created a new division. Also not saying all did so. I doubt Massillon for example begged out
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What do you mean you can't change it for 1 division? That is exactly what they did when they created D1. No reason they needed to go to 16 teams in the playoff. They changed it for them and made it easier for them.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
You seem to have completely ignored my response to you before this so I just say read it again. No need to repeat myself on my reasoning. It devalues the big matchups for us.
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Lol, just because someone disagrees or has different values and priorities, doesn't mean they ignored. 🤷 No, I didn't ignore. I read your post in its entirety.
 
isojlove(westwoodlottery) said:
Personally, I think that they should let every single team in the playoffs, cause my son is a senior at sycamore and he was heartbroken when he heard they didn't make the playoffs. The OHSAA is failing as an organization and should let even the bad teams in.
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you would have to extend the season by 2-3 weeks. The other sports can play multiple games in a week. Football cannot.
 
MentorGrad2002 said:
D1 is smaller because of schools begging out and complaining. That's how it is. There are less teams in D1 because of that.

Those same schools who complained to get out of D1 can't complain when more teams by percentage make the playoffs in D1 since it's smaller. It's their fault it's smaller
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Yes, I get that. You miss my point completely.
 
Hammerdrill said:
What do you mean you can't change it for 1 division? That is exactly what they did when they created D1. No reason they needed to go to 16 teams in the playoff. They changed it for them and made it easier for them.
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Um no. D1 is only smaller because teams who are now in lower divisions begged out of D1. And others wanted another division created. None of that is the fault of D1 schools. That made it easier for the schools begging out. Not for D1

You cant be a school who whined to get out of D1 and then whine again because a higher percentage of their teams make the playoffs. D1 is only smaller because of the teams begging out. Those schools can worry about their own division instead of complaining once again
 
eastisbest said:
Lol, just because someone disagrees or has different values and priorities, doesn't mean they ignored. 🤷 No, I didn't ignore. I read your post in its entirety.
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Well you clearly skipped or chose to ignore the points I made while just repeating your same viewpoint. Don't ask a question and then ignore the answer
 
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