Remember what a big deal just making the playoffs USED to be???

[PioneerPA 11]

A couple of things...

 

1. Don't they only play 9 regular season games in PA?

 

and 2. I love the WV system because it works for our state's size. It allows smaller schools to schedule aggressively. It also guarantees that the best team will at least have a chance to earn the title. Over-fluff won't necessarily get you a home game. WV only took the top 2 for a long time, went to 4 in the 70's, 8 in the 80's, and 16 in the 90's.

 

We haven't had many 16-1 upsets, but that's still ok. Border schools specifically get to play better out of state opponents because as long as they get in the playoffs, they're ready to rock (i.e. Wheeling Central in A, Bluefield in AA). And with the way points are done, a AAA has incentive to play a good AA team that scheduled other AA teams it can beat...i.e. South Charleston-Bluefield in 2008. That game wouldn't have been likely in an 8-team format, but it was fantastic.

 

As far as VA goes...y'all need to knock out a round or something. As an unattached out of stater, I can't make heads or tails of what you're doing (or Pennsylvania for that matter). We border Kentucky, and 0-10 teams make the playoffs regularly over there...meanwhile in Ohio, 8-2 might leave you at home. Ohio playoffs still mean a lot, but I can't compute their complicated system...haha.

 

I do think WV's 16-team field for classes of roughly 40 schools each does cheapen it somewhat, but there have been some fantastic teams in the 9-12 range over the years...they don't get punished for challenging themselves in the regular season.

[rabidbeaver 90]

Then in West Virginia only the top 8 teams in each class qualified for post-season play as opposed to 16 now. I think there was a time when only the top four made it in WV.

 

 

 

At one time only the top two ranked teams played for the WV championship. Back in the 60's Bluefield went undefeated one year and did not play for the AAA State Title due to the fact that they only played nine games and was penalized for it. If the current playoff system in WV was implemented in the 60's, Bluefield could have possibly won more titles.

[hoard 18]

West Virginia's system works well given the state's size and geography. The only real downside is the occasional extreme travel for early-round games, but it seems like overall the fans don't seem to mind it.

 

I guess one could argue that the lack of conferences/districts is a downside for two reasons:

 

1) Teams can schedule a bunch of patsies to guarantee a playoff berth, but it's essentially the same as playing in a weak district in VA and getting an automatic bid. At least schools who do that don't end up stealing a berth from a deserving school because as PioneerPA said, enough get in to where no decent teams are left out.

 

2) You have schools like Bluefield who have to cobble together a schedule because so many nearby schools are scared to play them.

 

Has a football team with a losing record ever made the WV playoffs ? I would guess "no" but it's remotely possible.

[hoard 18]

As far as VA goes...y'all need to knock out a round or something. As an unattached out of stater, I can't make heads or tails of what you're doing (or Pennsylvania for that matter).

 

I'm not sure how familiar you are with Virginia's setup, so this may not make much sense to you, but here goes..

 

There were several years where in larger regions like Region C (Group A) and the Eastern Region (AAA), 8-2 and even 9-1 teams missed the playoffs. In order to alleviate this, the VHSL allowed the individual regions to add an extra round of playoffs if they so desired.

 

Some of the smaller regions (like Region D in far SWVA) thankfully decided NOT to add a round but others who had absolutely no need to do so (like Region IV) DID. Virginia already had some instances where sub-.500 teams made the post season; now it's that much more common.

 

Again, not sure if you've followed it or not, but Virginia has adopted a similar system to West Virginia only for Group A (Divisions 1 and 2) starting this fall. The top 16 teams in each HALF of the state according to the VHSL rating scale will make the playoffs and be seeded 1-16 with the survivor of each half making the finals.

 

I like the concept of it, but too many teams qualify. They could have gotten by with letting either 8 or 12 per half make it in. But with 16, over 60% of Group A schools will make the playoffs, making the road to the NBA playoffs look tough by comparison :-p

[redtiger 1,742]

I like the new setup but agree that 16(thats 32 state wide!) is far too many, espicially considering that there are only gonna be roughly 48 schools in Single A Division 1. 16 state wide would have been a good number(the same as before) but w/ the state divided into 2 sections instead of 4 regions good(deserving) teams would have made the playoffs and there would have been no slouches

[Deleted Account 5,203]

A couple of things...

 

1. Don't they only play 9 regular season games in PA?

 

Pretty sure most schools play 10. I know Cumberland Valley had 10 regular season games.

 

It may not be uncommon for some districts with lengthy playoff formats to just play 9.