[plantmanky]

All this talk about how 3 and 4 seeds don't belong in playoffs cause its nothing but blowouts and....

Round three has zero 4 seeds and one three seed and only one game was within 14 points.  

So if district winners and runner ups are nothing but blowouts, cant we put the conversation to bed and let them all play in the playoffs?

[2000PHS]

No. Just because the RPI is flawed doesn’t justify more stupidity. Some districts are going to be weak and you get what you get but 0-10 should not be playing.

[Diogenes]

You could argue that's the RPI working too, matching top seeds against weak seeds should result in blowouts. I don't think that's it.

Orrrrr...you could argue there are too many football classes for a state the size of Kentucky. This, I think, is it.

[Hoot Gibson]

All this talk about how 3 and 4 seeds don't belong in playoffs cause its nothing but blowouts and....

Round three has zero 4 seeds and one three seed and only one game was within 14 points.  

So if district winners and runner ups are nothing but blowouts, cant we put the conversation to bed and let them all play in the playoffs?

All teams should be in the playoffs because it would result in an improvement in the overall quality of football played in Kentucky. It would have little impact on who wins state titles in a given year but it would result in bad teams getting to play an extra game or two and to practice another week or two.

I have another suggestion. Since Rock Creek Christian Academy beat Johnson Central earlier in the season, I have been following their team's results. Apparently, programs like Rock Creek are considered "Free Lancers" in Maryland and are excluded from the high school playoffs. Consequently, they are also free to schedule other in state and out of state teams that are not participating in the Maryland playoffs.

With COVID resulting in game cancellations, Kentucky teams have been forced to scramble to schedule other teams on short notice to make up for canceled games. I think that Kentucky's football-playing teams should not only be allowed to schedule games after getting eliminated from the playoffs, they should be encouraged to do so. Winning championships is great but developing players and programs is even more important, IMO, and playing and practicing more football is the key to upward mobility in the world of football. Some small schools, especially those whose basketball rosters are heavy with football players, would pass on the opportunity to extend their regular football seasons beyond playoff eliminations, but I think that they should have the opportunity of scheduling more games.

As for blowouts, they happen even among evenly matched teams. Teams learn and improve as much or more from losses as they do from wins.

[2000PHS]

Playoffs should be earned.

[Hoot Gibson]

Playoffs should be earned.

Why? How does making teams "earn" a spot in the playoffs improve the sport? Nobody that I know advocates handing out participation trophies. Teams need to earn championships, not playoff berths.

[Glory_Days]

Blah, blah, blah......same sh*t, different year

[Hoot Gibson]

Blah, blah, blah......same sh*t, different year

You're right, but nobody who advocates making teams "earn" playoff spots ever seems able to explain why that should be the case. Bottom seeded teams rarely pull off a first round upset.

It makes some sense at the professional level, although even in the case of the NFL, the number of playoff games never seems to decrease over the previous year.

[2000PHS]

Playoffs should be earned.

Why? How does making teams "earn" a spot in the playoffs improve the sport? Nobody that I know advocates handing out participation trophies. Teams need to earn championships, not playoff berths.

There’s very rarely anything to gain out of these 1st round games. That’s why you see some of them moved up to Thursday. Both teams just want it to be over with.

[Hoot Gibson]

Playoffs should be earned.

Why? How does making teams "earn" a spot in the playoffs improve the sport? Nobody that I know advocates handing out participation trophies. Teams need to earn championships, not playoff berths.

There’s very rarely anything to gain out of these 1st round games. That’s why you see some of them moved up to Thursday. Both teams just want it to be over with.

How does having the state's worst teams play a week or two less football help make Kentucky football more competitive? That is what I do not understand. Maybe the coaches of very bad teams want their seasons shortened but if that is the case, then those schools need new coaches, IMO. Any good coach in any sport strives for improvement one game at a time. Other coaches believe that they are underpaid and under appreciated and, in your words, "just want it to be over with."

Not every team can be like Indianapolis Cathedral, which plays extremely tough schedules but has started seasons with records of 0-4 or 0-5 en route to state championships, but every coach's goal should be to help his team improve one practice, one game, one week, and one season at a time. Players, teams, and coaches don't improve sitting at home or in the stands watching other teams play football.

[2000PHS]

I’m not going to call him out but there’s assistant coaches in our community that used to be head coaches that have said precisely what I’m saying- on record, to the media.

Sometimes endingsomething and resetting is better than dragging it out. Schedule a winnable game to end the season and have something to build on going forward.

[Hoot Gibson]

I’m not going to call him out but there’s assistant coaches in our community that used to be head coaches that have said precisely what I’m saying- on record, to the media.

Sometimes endingsomething and resetting is better than dragging it out. Schedule a winnable game to end the season and have something to build on going forward.

If a head coach's football players are eager for the season to end, then he is doing something wrong. If he is eager to see it end, then he should be finding a job that suits him better.

[2000PHS]

I’m not closed minded to this situation but I just don’t see any benefit. I don’t see how it improves football.

[RAMDAD50]

I think Hoot is secretly a liberal. Just let everyone in the playoffs and give them a trophy as well hahah

[2000PHS]

I think Hoot is secretly a liberal. Just let everyone in the playoffs and give them a trophy as well hahah

Hoot and I live in opposite sides of the creek, but I can’t let you do him that way!! Take it back!! Hahaha

[campbellfield]

If you change football playoff teams other sports tournaments/playoffs should be changed as well.
Everyone makes district tournaments in basketball and baseball, volleyball, golf, soccer..., ..., why not football??

---

1st round games are normally played on Thursdays due to availability of officials

[Winston Wolf]

How about just let the teams that have no business in the playoffs and any teams that do “deserve” to be in the playoffs have a winter practice schedule and if they want can scrimmage and practice all the way up until state title weekend.

Also what you are forgetting about with the, “let everyone in” model is injuries. Yes they happen but there’s a better chance they happen with more games. There’s going to be a situation if there already hasn’t where a really good team loses a star player because they’re playing a first round two win last place district team. At the very least let district winners have a bye or something.

[RoShamBo]

It wouldn't bother me if every team actually got a chance to go to the playoffs, but they don't. There's more than a few 5 team districts where teams don't make the playoffs, so that argument isn't really great.

[fansville]

I’m for a mixture of what a couple people said, decrease the number of teams that make the playoffs but then give them the chance to schedule a couple more competitive games against other teams that didn’t make the playoffs or whoever they want. I think it’s a win-win

[EKUAlum05]

Guys the answer has been easy for a while.

Leave your Districts the way they are. Here is what I have been screaming for years:


1.First and foremost. Fix the RPI. Clean up the loopholes that are being exploited and for Goodness sake, lets actually properly add some value to playing good out of State Competition or losing to great in-state competition from higher classifications. The RPI can be a valuable tool but it has to be done right. It is also critical the RPI be the best form of itself for what I propose. Also, teams who have to play in 5 or 6 team Districts shouldn't be punished for being forced to play weaker teams. You should be allowed to count (3) total District outcomes. A loss has to be counted. If you play four or even five District games you can choose to swap your lowest district wins for duplicating your weakest Non-District outcome if that score is higher. In other words, if beating a 0-10 team scores less points than losing to a 8-2 team in the Non-District portion you can duplicate that loss' value instead.

2. Only three teams advance to the playoffs per District, not four. That 4-seed is the one that makes no sense. The largest amount of running clocks are 4 seeds losing in Round 1 and these are the teams who get in with 1 win or 0 wins from 4 team Districts. That 4th seed is also usually going to be the team who doesn't bring the fans or is most financially effected by a long road trip. By keeping Semi-States in place you help to limit the distance to some extent.

3. You have 12 teams per Semi-State. The 4 District Champions are seeded 1 thru 4 per Semi-State using the RPI. You win your District you get a Top 4 seed and a guaranteed First Round Bye to rest and heal. This keeps the District Games meaningful in the Regular Season and rewards teams for winning their District.

4. The remaining 8 teams per Semi-State are seeded 5-12 using the RPI. This means if you are a great team who only got beat by another great team in your District you dont have to see them again in the 2nd Round. That team would get the 12 seed and would have to play in the First Round, but they would draw the weakest team by RPI to make the playoffs. They also would then get to draw the weakest District Champion, but would have to go on the road.

5. After Round 2 you will have 4 teams remaining per Semi-State. These teams are then re-seeded 1 thru 4 for the Quarterfinals. At this point you are seeded solely by your RPI and District Champions are not seeded any higher by default. To get to the Quarterfinals you either were already a District Champion or you defeated a District Champion.4

The Quarterfinals and Semi-Finals are hosted at neutral sites with Stadiums with acceptable Home & Visitor seating, locker room facilities, and turf fields. The Higher seeded team is the "Home" team. The gates are split evenly between the two participating schools and the host venue gets a pre-determined split as well as concession revenue . At this point there are plenty of viable Stadiums around the State when that was not the case 15 years ago.