Recommended Playoff Formats!!!

[NNDanalyst]

I think the Top 6 teams in each Region should make the playoffs. Top 2 seeds get 1st Rd off. Should look as follows:

#1 week off, Faces Winner of #4 vs #5

#2 week off, Faces Winner of #3 vs #6

Gives a reward for earning Top spots and helps Top 2 seeds avoid 1st rd injuries and possible suspensions due to a bogus targeting call or something against more than likely an inferior opponent.

Just my thoughts but what yall think?

 

[kwhs95fan]

I know those #7 and 8 seeds that won last night might disagree 🤣. But something does need to be done about 0-10 and 1-9 teams making the playoffs

 

[THEGOATFROMJMU]

1Ashould scrap quarterfinals in regionals —

 

[otnorot]

With the variety in the number of teams per region I don't think there should a set number of playoff qualifiers per region. I would take the top half of teams in each region (or top 8 if there are more than 16 teams in the region), and then add in any remaining teams with winning records, up to a maximum of eight qualifiers per region.

 

[TS69]

I remember when Virginia had the East/West or North /South conferences and the top 16 teams played. All based on points. Had an opportunity for teams to play uncommon opponents in the first couple rounds. Then when it got to semifinals had crossovers. There were a few travel issues but it was great for competition. Not for sure but I believe the 1-9 and 0-10 teams got to stay home. Yeah there was some gripes like to far from here to there. Now the Richmond and Northern metro areas gripped, complained, and refused to cooperate. As usual the VHSL lack of a backbone caved in. Of course big dollars speak and then shivers are felt all across the state. Don’t think there was a lot of big dollars spent this past weekend from the 1-9 or 0-10 games. VHSL portions after expenses had to be a minimal amount.

 

[RappriverEHS]

That format made the playoffs more exciting in my opinion. Essex was able to play new teams instead of having to play the same teams in their district for playoffs. Those few years we played East Rockingham, Parry Mccluer, central lunenburg, luray, William Campbell and others you normally don’t play. I enjoyed seeing the different fan bases because all those teams traveled fairly well.

 

[uvacavs1]

That format made the playoffs more exciting in my opinion. Essex was able to play new teams instead of having to play the same teams in their district for playoffs. Those few years we played East Rockingham, Parry Mccluer, central lunenburg, luray, William Campbell and others you normally don’t play. I enjoyed seeing the different fan bases because all those teams traveled fairly well.

Yes, it was more exciting & great seeing and meeting many good folks from the great hoards of fans some the Western schools bring on the road.

Anything west of Richmond is a western team to me ha, we out here in the far eastern Virginia live near or on the Chesapeake Bay!

The Luray folks were great so were the Lunenburg and WC fan base and others.

 

[uvacavs1]

Heck, I even liked talking with some of the Gretna fans back in the day. I remember when Gretna came to Essex after one of their state title years and their shock (but respectful, at least the fans who I met) at the aerial bombardment they suffered at the hands of a very, young QB D. Broaddus (2012?).

I may be mixing up some regular, regional & state games but my point is, I agree, it is fascinating to see and meet interesting folks from all over.

My All-Time favorite fan bases were from John Battle and Haysi. Those folks were awesome! They were so nice and polite even in defeat.

It kinda hurt me a little when we defeated them and ended their seasons, especially Haysi.

 

[uvacavs1]

Now there was one team from out west that many of us locals all met (who will remain nameless) but ahhh....they were not like most of the fine western people whom I have met.

Good Lord, I am a ole Southern country boy but dang.....

 

[kwhs95fan]

Heck, I even liked talking with some of the Gretna fans back in the day. I remember when Gretna came to Essex after one of their state title years and their shock (but respectful, at least the fans who I met) at the aerial bombardment they suffered at the hands of a very, young QB D. Broaddus (2012?).

I may be mixing up some regular, regional & state games but my point is, I agree, it is fascinating to see and meet interesting folks from all over.

My All-Time favorite fan bases were from John Battle and Haysi. Those folks were awesome! They were so nice and polite even in defeat.

It kinda hurt me a little when we defeated them and ended their seasons, especially Haysi.

I met some great people from Haysi that day and I'm still friends with many of them all these years later

 

[otnorot]

VHSL has started allowing classes to rotate state tournament pairings again. Schools have to pay the travel expenses. Class 6 is doing it this year.

 

[kwhs95fan]

VHSL has started allowing classes to rotate state tournament pairings again. Schools have to pay the travel expenses. Class 6 is doing it this year.

They didn't make a decision on that until mid-season. I guess they wanted to make sure they at least had the opportunity for Freedom and Highland Springs to play in the championship game instead of the semifinals. I'm all for rotating, but that's something that needs to be voted on in the off-season, not right in the middle of the season

 

[DinwiddieProud]

VHSL has started allowing classes to rotate state tournament pairings again. Schools have to pay the travel expenses. Class 6 is doing it this year.

They still get partial reimbursement, consistent with what their travel
expenses would have been if they had not cross bracketed.

They didn't make a decision on that until mid-season. I guess they wanted to make sure they at least had the opportunity for Freedom and Highland Springs to play in the championship game instead of the semifinals. I'm all for rotating, but that's something that needs to be voted on in the off-season, not right in the middle of the season

Class 6 made their desires known in March. They, the Class 6 bunch, sat on the info until late in the season. The VHSL had been notified and acknowledged their choice in April. I like to believe that the Class 6 leadership did not have any nefarious ideas, but it was sure damn suspicious.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

All of the many issues with having a 4, 6, or 8 team playoff format is precisely why the membership voted to allow each region to decide what is best for themselves. I like that autonomy, but I don’t like the inconsistency in number of games contested across a Class Level. I believe each Class, not each Region, should decide which format is best for them.

Having said that, with an 8 team format, you might get a 0-10 or 1-9 team in, like we saw this year. Or, you could leave an 8 or 9 win team at home if you only take 4.

I‘ve been around long enough that I’ve seen every idea for districts, regions, super regions, and playoff formats from 16 teams to somebody picked a team and called them the champs. What we have now is about as good as it can get considering the diversity across our great state. But, yes, we need to always look and question if we can make it better.

 

[otnorot]

They didn't make a decision on that until mid-season. I guess they wanted to make sure they at least had the opportunity for Freedom and Highland Springs to play in the championship game instead of the semifinals. I'm all for rotating, but that's something that needs to be voted on in the off-season, not right in the middle of the season

Sure. I was just noting that it is an option now, since people were talking about how much they enjoyed previous playoff games against teams from the other side of the state.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

I would love to see our class, Class 4, go to switching the State Semi-Championship matchups each year. A vs B, & C vs D, (as it is now), then the next year A vs C, and B vs D, then A vs D, and B vs C.
I like experiencing new teams and going to new areas.

The 16 team format was pretty neat too.

 

[Ampipe_High]

There is not a format or solution that will make people happy. I think the regions having so manly vastly different numbers plays a big part into everything. One region could have 16-18 teams and school that are 7-3, 6-4 not even come close to the top 8 and then another region has 8-10 teams and you have 2-8 and 3-7 teams making the playoffs. Look at class 4. 4A (9 teams) 4B (17 teams) 4C (10 teams) 4D (15). There are teams in the larger regions that finished 10tth or 11th, but would have been in top 5 in the smaller regions. Look at 1D Holston. They finished 5-5 (17.4 pts) and finished in 9th in their 15 team region. Those 17.4 points would have made made them a 5th or 6th seed in every other class 1 region. Some regions are historically ultra competitive, while others are not. I believe it was last year that region 3C has several teams that were 7-3 or 6-4 and barely squeaked into the top 8 for playoffs. That would be frustrating to me as a player or coach, having a good team and finishing with that type of record and miss out on playoffs, knowing that my record would have gotten me in in every other region and knowing some 3-7 team was playing while I was cleaning out my locker.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

Go back to East/West with a 12 team playoff bracket on each side and give 4 first round byes. Crossover state semis to somewhat ensure the two best make it. Straight 1-12 on seeding without a set number from each “Region”.

I would think the power points need a revision as well. More separation for classifications and larger rewards for competing outside your classification.

Fewer classifications is another route but I can’t see the VHSL doing away with a championship game or two. That is the least likely of any scenario to pass the money test for them.

 

[MMQP 6.0]

That format made the playoffs more exciting in my opinion. Essex was able to play new teams instead of having to play the same teams in their district for playoffs. Those few years we played East Rockingham, Parry Mccluer, central lunenburg, luray, William Campbell and others you normally don’t play. I enjoyed seeing the different fan bases because all those teams traveled fairly well.

I loved when PM was playing the schools out in that part of Virginia. Miss those days, win or lose.

 

[MMQP 6.0]

I'm sure there will be a collective groan as I kick this dead horse...

400 and below: 1A. 16 team playoff. Top 8 from East, Top 8 from West based on power points.
401-750: 2A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.
751-1450: 3A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.
1451 and above: 4A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.

This would be my personal preference.



But lets add a few twists...

Say for 1A, the argument will be only a 16 team playoff... so what about taking the 8 schools in the East that are ranked 17-24 in power points in 2A and the 8 schools in the West that are ranked 17-24 in power points in 2A and adding them to the mix to make a 32 team playoff?

At the 3A and 4A levels we could take the 33-64th ranked teams by power points in each and have something akin to the NIT, call it what you will as long as it is very much emphasized it is not for a state championship.

 

[RedPrideNation_RollPride]

I'm sure there will be a collective groan as I kick this dead horse...

400 and below: 1A. 16 team playoff. Top 8 from East, Top 8 from West based on power points.
401-750: 2A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.
751-1450: 3A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.
1451 and above: 4A. 32 team playoff. Top 16 from East, Top 16 from West based on power points.

This would be my personal preference.



But lets add a few twists...

Say for 1A, the argument will be only a 16 team playoff... so what about taking the 8 schools in the East that are ranked 17-24 in power points in 2A and the 8 schools in the West that are ranked 17-24 in power points in 2A and adding them to the mix to make a 32 team playoff?

At the 3A and 4A levels we could take the 33-64th ranked teams by power points in each and have something akin to the NIT, call it what you will as long as it is very much emphasized it is not for a state championship.

It’s not dead but you sure enough are committed to it as I have seen it countless times. The VHSL will likely never go back to 4 Classifications but I do not see many flaws in it. My issue is the amount of teams in each classification. If there are 26 teams in your class 1 and 58 in your class 3, it would theoretically water down class 1 while making class 3 a virtual nightmare to even make the playoffs. Sure it helps the 12 teams with less than 250 students but it makes it exponentially more difficult for a very good class 3 team that’s middling in student population.

I know we have debated this several times and I for one agree in principle but I feel there are variables that do not fit neatly in this model either.

Doesn’t much matter since they aren’t going to change it anyway

edit- and as much as we all know that football is the monetary driver of most athletic departments, it’s not the only consideration

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Don’t forget to think about how this four class format affects all of the other sports and activities.

 

[NNDanalyst]

The best thing the VHSL has done was give Classifications & Regions the option to decide which format to go with. I think original idea I had would be good for atleast Region A & B

 

[Fairlawncat]

Don’t forget to think about how this four class format affects all of the other sports and activities.

It doesn't have to be that way for all other sports. In WV, they have 4 classes in Basketball and 3 in Football. Virginia could do something similar. Doesn't need to be a one size fits all.

 

[BluesMan29]

The cutoff for 1A needs to be much lower than it actually is. I think it should be a hard cut off around 215. You currently have teams like Craig, Bath, and a bunch of region D teams that are around 100-120 students competing in a classification with schools that have 475 kids. I'd like to see Parry roped into the lower class, but at the same time it's a real parity issue on the VHSL's part.. especially after accepting appeals from much larger schools to stay down.

 

[BluesMan29]

A lot of communities in the SW are dying off and you're going to start to see the likes of Union, Graham, etc leak down into what is currently 1A where they don't belong.

 

[Footballforlife1]

A lot of communities in the SW are dying off and you're going to start to see the likes of Union, Graham, etc leak down into what is currently 1A where they don't belong.

We need 1A div 1 1A div 2 more money for vhsl

 

[DinwiddieProud]

It doesn't have to be that way for all other sports. In WV, they have 4 classes in Basketball and 3 in Football. Virginia could do something similar. Doesn't need to be a one size fits all.

I agree. Tough to find 25 plus kids and be competitive in football at the smallest schools. A lot easier to find 15 or so for baseball, or 10 to 12 for basketball.
But, I think it would need to be opposite from WV. More classes in football, but a few less in other sports. Like BluesMan29 was saying above, tough to be competitive against a school with 475 kids when you fielding a team from a school with just 125 kids.

The League needs to get serious about evolving, with respect to classifications, or there is going to be a serious problem maintaining football at our smallest schools.

 

[TS69]

Yes, Southwest Va communities are getting less populated. Results of several things. Dying coal industry, factories have closed or downsized in East Tennessee, and in the farming counties the loss of the importance of the burley tobacco production. Counties bordering Tennessee depended on the industrial factories near Kingsport and surrounding area. With all this loss of meaningful employment, the population has decreased and families have moved away seeking meaningful employment. Counties such as Wise, Tazewell, Buchanan, Dickenson, and Russell were very dependent on the coal industry. Eventually the solution might be eight man football but seems like the VHSL is reluctant to endorse. Watched Twin Springs and Rye Cove earlier and a friend told me that he thought TS might have around 90 male students. Unbelievable they can field a team and be as successful as as they have been lately. Same thing for all the other small schools. Hats off to their communities, parents, administrators, and coaches. This coming from a retired coach who spent a lot of time in the larger schools.

 

[BluesMan29]

We have two of the smallest schools in the state that offer football in our district. I believe the total students for Bath is around 108 and Craig is 125ish. I think if they don’t figure out classifications they won’t have a choice but to go 8 man. Smaller schools could probably get more kids out if they thought they had a chance to be competitive.