MPSSAA Football Playoffs

[TDHelmick]

Headed to Baltimore tomorrow with Coach Appel as we were invited to speak at the MPSSAA Football Committee meeting. Mostly to address problems we have encountered. But this isn't just for FH, there are several school admins and coaches from all over the state that will present their problems too.

I can sense a change in the football playoff structure is only a matter of time. After some very long discussions with many, many people involved I personally have come to one conclusion:

IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU STRUCTURE THE PLAYOFF SYSTEM JUST AS LONG AS THE NUMBER OF TEAMS COMPETING EXPANDS. More than 16 teams need to be included. This will alleviate many issues, especially scheduling and the need to always be looking at ways to point your way into the system.

I have said over and over, when you get zero points for losing to DeMatha but get points for beating Silver Oak by 50 at halftime...and wins and losses determines playoffs...that is a no brainer for every coach in the state. The MPSSAA discourages competition. Or in better terms they penalize you for scheduling up.

More teams in the playoffs = play whoever you wish or don't play whoever you wish. No one cares.

If you think the 1-16 WV system works you would be mistaken. Those teams schedule down to make the playoffs just as much as Maryland schools. Crazy.

EXPAND will be my push tomorrow.

 

[bigdawgrefwmd]

don't you think with about 30 schools in each class Top 16 Teams would be good enough?
I mean seriously Teams would still make the playoffs with the current setup at 4-6
so FH could play a few teams like Martinsburg and Morgantown and even if they lost they would get in the playoffs.
More Teams just make for a more watered down playoffs like baseball,basketball already have.
The idea of adding more teams seems like the crazy NCAA March Madness Tournament where 6,7,8 & 9 Teams come from the power conferences and all these other schools have to win or not get in, because more times than not the #2 Team from those small conferences are better than the 8th and 9th ACC Team.
This also seems like The Bowl system where everyone get

 

[Waggle Pass]

It's a shame that meeting won't be streamed online someplace.

 

[mccoke]

Give 'em hell! Make a BIG noise!

 

[TDHelmick]

There were some good things tossed around at this meeting today from every corner of Maryland. The only playoff change proposal that made the floor today was keeping the regional playoffs in tact but splitting up into 5 Classifications instead of 4. That did not suit me well because it did not address the difficulty everyone seems to be having finding football games. South Hagerstown in particular as they spoke up and explained how they have zero room for taking a loss in the 3A West these past few years and how they have to use a microscope to pick the teams they can play. This 5 classification proposal died on the floor it seems.

There was good discussion on changing the point system that I bought up. Someone else then proposed teams get bonus points for every game they play win or lose. So for example if you play a 4A school that wins 9 games and you lose you still get 9 points. But you don't get the 8 points that go with playing a 4A team unless you beat them. This seemed universally acceptable as it would not discourage teams from playing tougher opponents. I really liked it because it encourages teams to seek opponents that win games. In other words if you play a 4A school that wins 1 or 2 games it does you no good. At the same time if someone plays Fort Hill or Allegany and gets beat, they still get 9 or 10 points.

Another heated issue was how to align Class 1A for next year. There are currently 16 teams in the 1A North but only 7 in the 1A South. Someone proposed they even those two out but Baltimore did not want to be split up which makes no sense at all. Splitting the Southern Baltimore teams into another region doesn't change anything because they still can play whoever they want in the regular season. Stupid. Coach Appel stated as much or as he phrased it..."guys, there are 44 teams. Put 11 in each region. These folks make the simplest things difficult sometimes due to self interest.

In the end, the people there from the West pushed for the 9 game regular season and an extra week added to the playoffs. No matter what change they try to make, it will take forever. But let's sum it up this way... Every commissioner at the meeting today agreed that 85% of Maryland is fed up with this playoff system. But since no one can agree on which route to go they just keep the status quo. Pretty sad.

 

[Seasoned Lettuce]

As screwed up as the system clearly is, We can be thankful for the fact that we've been able to successfully navigate the mess and end up at the top of the podium for 4 straight years. We at least have that to fall back on. Imagine our level of disgust if the system managed to thwart our success.