Qualifying for the Playoffs: A New Plan
(Last updated Saturday November 1)
A New Playoff Plan
Many states (VA, LA, OH, KS, SD, IL, NE, CO, SC) use some sort of computer
rating or
strength of schedule to help determine playoff qualifiers. There are
probably
others. The region/district/area approach is also popular. But it
seems that no one likes all the travel with region play, and in area play a 1-9
team can qualify for the playoffs while an 8-2 team stays home. Neither is
good.
My favorite of all the plans I've seen is used by the
Illinois High School Association. The bottom line is this:
- Teams that win games are rewarded with playoff berths, and
- Teams that win many games are rewarded with first-round home games.
It's that simple. WIN. This has two huge advantages over
the
current system:
- Bring back "open scheduling"--schedule whomever you want, whenever you
want.
- Every game, not just 7 of them, are critically important to your season.
In all the years of Illinois using this system, every team that has won 6
games has qualified for the playoffs.
Implementation
So, here's how it would work. Schools qualify for the championship in
each classification based on the following criteria, which are also used as
tiebreakers:
- Wins
- Opponents wins
- Defeated opponents wins
Yep, that's it. In other words, wins matter most. Beyond that,
you are measured by the quality of your schedule (did you play quality teams?),
and by the quality of your wins (did you defeat the quality teams you scheduled?).
Class 4A shakes down as follows: (Updated for Week 10)
--- Class 4A ---
W L OppW DOppW
- - ---- -----
1 Cherokee County 10 0 51 43
2 Elmore County 10 0 43 36
3 Lincoln 9 1 49 39
4 North Jackson 9 1 48 41
5 Midfield 9 1 45 32
6 Brooks 9 1 45 27
7 Bibb County 9 1 35 29
8 Fayette County 8 2 50 23
9 Oneonta 8 2 50 20
10 Guntersville 8 2 46 30
11 Alexandria 8 2 46 27
12 UMS-Wright 8 2 45 30
13 Plainview 7 3 56 18
14 St. Clair Co. 7 3 54 26
15 Jackson 7 3 50 25
16 Deshler 7 3 49 30
17 Haleyville 7 3 49 14
18 Jemison 7 3 48 25
19 Greensboro 7 3 45 9
20 Rogers 7 3 43 14
21 Handley 7 2 40 22
22 Fairview 6 4 53 12
23 Calera 6 4 51 25
24 Thomasville 6 4 51 15
25 Alabama Chr. 6 4 50 10
26 Saks 6 4 46 11
27 Montgomery Cath. 6 3 43 15
28 DAR 6 4 42 6
29 Cleburne County 5 5 54 11
30 Anniston 5 5 50 13
31 Holtville 5 5 50 11
32 Opp 5 5 49 16
| |
W L OppW DOppW
- - ---- -----
33 West Point 5 4 44 5
34 Hokes Bluff 4 6 54 6
35 Clarke County 4 5 52 11
36 B. C. Rain 4 6 50 14
37 East Lawrence 4 6 49 7
38 Ardmore 4 6 47 10
39 Dallas County 4 6 47 5
40 Columbia 3 7 59 3
41 Hill-Evergreen 3 7 56 11
42 Childersburg 3 7 53 3
43 Locust Fork 3 7 52 1
44 Jacksonville 3 7 50 3
45 Wilson 3 7 45 7
46 Ashford 3 6 41 2
47 Dora 2 8 59 3
48 Central-Coosa 2 8 55 1
49 Cntrl-Florence 2 8 54 8
50 Andalusia 2 8 54 7
51 Livingston 2 8 51 3
52 W. S. Neal 2 8 46 1
53 Douglas 2 8 46 0
54 Oak Grove 2 7 44 1
Holt 2 8 44 1
56 Lawrence County 1 9 59 7
57 Munford 1 9 58 2
58 Saint James 1 9 53 6
59 Priceville 1 9 52 2
60 Southside Selma 1 9 50 0
61 Corner 1 9 47 0
62 Bullock County 1 7 44 1
63 Ashville 0 10 57 0
|
This is it: these are your 32 playoff teams! Also note how the teams
are sorted by opponents wins, and further by defeated opponents wins.
The playoff picture is this simple.
Think about how exciting it would be to have a great rivalry game in the
final week, both teams 5-4, with a playoff berth on the line. For once,
the Week 10 games would "mean something" beyond just pride--the last game could
actually determine whether you keep playing or not.
Drawing the Bracket
All of this can be done by computer, so you would know all playoff teams
instantly after Week 10. There would be no "gerrymandering" by humans--the entire
process is completely automatic. To draw the bracket, you then do the following:
- Separate the teams by North and South, 16 teams in each half.
- Seed each half, 1 vs. 16, 8 vs. 9, etc., in a traditional bracket.
The 32 teams would be split as follows: (Updated for Week 10)
Obviously, "Region 1" means South
and "Region 2" means North. (You can
tell I use that map for other things!)
|
With this format, the first-round playoff pairings based on games
played so far are:
North
#1 Cherokee County (10-0) vs. #16 Anniston (5-5)
#8 St. Clair Co. (7-3) vs. #9 Deshler (7-3)
#4 Oneonta (8-2) vs. #13 Saks (6-4)
#5 Guntersville (8-2) vs. #12 Fairview (6-4)
#2 North Jackson (9-1) vs. #15 Cleburne County (5-5)
#7 Plainview (7-3) vs. #10 Haleyville (7-3)
#3 Brooks (9-1) vs. #14 DAR (6-4)
#6 Alexandria (8-2) vs. #11 Rogers (7-3)
South
#1 Elmore County (10-0) vs. #16 Opp (5-5)
#8 Jemison (7-3) vs. #9 Greensboro (7-3)
#4 Bibb County (9-1) vs. #13 Alabama Chr. (6-4)
#5 Fayette County (8-2) vs. #12 Thomasville (6-4)
#2 Lincoln (9-1) vs. #15 Holtville (5-5)
#7 Jackson (7-3) vs. #10 Handley (7-2)
#3 Midfield (9-1) vs. #14 Montgomery Cath. (6-3)
#6 UMS-Wright (8-2) vs. #11 Calera (6-4)
|
|
Major changes from Week 8 bracket:
Lincoln's loss and Anniston's appearance in the top 32 sends Lincoln
to the south region, as a #2. This allows the rest of the top 8 to
slide upward to #2-#7, and St. Clair County leaps Deshler for the last
first round home game with a win over 5-5 John Carroll (Deshler's week
10 win was over 3-7 J. O. Johnson--see, Week 10 games matter!).
Clarke County (last week's south #16) drops out, replaced by Anniston
up north. Elmore County jumps to #1 after earning a forfeit win and
after Midfield's first loss of the year.
This is what the final bracket would look like using this new playoff
concept. The bracket in the south region might need to be adjusted
somehow, given the exceptionally long travel for the UMS-Wright/Calera
and Jackson/Handley matchups. Maybe Calera and Thomasville could be
switched--that would eliminate one of the travel problems. Otherwise,
the further splitting that I talk about below would be an option
(Illinois had to do this in a couple of their brackets this year).
Note that some of the first-round games feature nearby schools. These may or may not have played in
the regular season (remember, with open scheduling, there would be no mandated region opponents).
When I look at this bracket, I think, "Wow, that looks good. And fair.
And easy to understand."
Keep in mind that in the playoffs, sometimes you don't travel much, but
some rounds are far away. That's always how the brackets have been.
Travel and More Travel
For the first rounds, make the higher seeded team home, similar to how things
are done now. For later rounds, I'd keep the traditional principles
also--if you have traveled more times, you earn a home game. If that
number is the same (as is so frequent nowadays), just let it go to the higher
seed.
In 2008, the official brackets have changed a little, separating schools
into four groups, not two, with
Region 1 schools matched vs. Region 2 in the first three rounds, Regions 3 vs. 4, etc. It would be easy
to implement this playoff format also--just do the same with the above grouping (divide the 32 playoff
teams four ways, and seed each group 1-8).
Summary
The advantages to my proposed revision to the playoff program are numerous:
- With open scheduling, schools have complete control over their entire
10-game schedule--play whomever you want, whenever you want.
- Your playoff chances, and seeding, are based on your complete season
record. Every game is important.
- Teams that win games are rewarded with playoff berths and teams that win a
lot of games are rewarded with first round home games.
- The best 32 teams, regardless of location or convoluted region
tiebreakers, have a shot at the championship.
- The traditional North vs. South bracket halves are retained.
- No 4-6 or 3-7 teams in the playoffs (do they really deserve to be there??).
Disadvantages? Maybe so...
- Perenially successful schools will have a tough time scheduling a full 10
games. Really, who wants to play Hoover or Sweet Water? This was a problem in
area play, too. These schools will have to travel, sometimes out of state, to
fill in their schedule.
- Some folks will see "open scheduling" as a free-for-all. But
remember how it was when most schools were in 3- or 4-team areas?
- The playoff pairings won't be known until all games have been played.
(Makes Week 10 important--could be seen as an advantage.)
- Others?
I think revamping the playoffs is a good idea, albeit radical. And I
think, one day, it'll happen. If we get enough 7-3 teams left out of the
current playoff system, or pair top-5 teams against one another before the
semifinals, then there might be a push for this. The fact that it is successful in so
many other states is a sign that, at the very least, Alabama should consider it
one of these days.
Questions? Comments? Hate mail?
Alright, your turn. Discuss amongst yourselves, then with me.
Email me here or at 
.
I look forward to hearing from you.