Why don't we go to 32 teams in all classes and play a 10th regular season game?

[oldtimeqb]

No IHSAA events on Sunday… except for June 23, 2024 of course. 
https://www.charliehughesbasketball.com/

Rules for thee, not for basketball coaches. 

[Frozen Tundra]

7 hours ago, foxbat said:

Officially, probably not, but a large number of p/p students are Catholic and we Catholics have vigil/Saturday Masses for weekend obligations.  Here in Lafayette/West Lafayette you can catch Mass at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm on Sundays, during the school year, at St. Tom's.  I don't think it would be as much an issue for a single weekend; especially if there's a rotation of classes on Sunday.

Maybe not as big a deal for the Catholics but Mormons and hardcores like my family wouldn’t give up a Sunday for anything.

[foxbat]

1 hour ago, Frozen Tundra said:

Maybe not as big a deal for the Catholics but Mormons and hardcores like my family wouldn’t give up a Sunday for anything.

True, but we aren't overly worried about championship games on Fridays/Saturdays for our SDA and Jewish players/families?

[Frozen Tundra]

9 minutes ago, foxbat said:

True, but we aren't overly worried about championship games on Fridays/Saturdays for our SDA and Jewish players/families?

I think Christianity is just ingrained in our nation in how we do things. It’s never been considered before. Not saying that’s right or wrong, but even I take for granted sometimes that other religions have Saturday as their holy day. 

[Indiana Fan]

20 hours ago, qbcoach13 said:

8 Class System. Week 1 starts on current scrimmage week. Not all teams have to start week 1. Rolling bye weeks to cut down on number of official crews needed every week.  Cuts down on enrollment gaps. 

8A
1	Carmel	5200
2	Ben Davis	4567
3	Warren Central	3748
4	Fishers	3664
5	North Central (Indpls.)	3616
6	Penn	3480
7	Avon	3476
8	Hamilton Southeastern	3442
9	Franklin Central	3362
10	Brownsburg	3297
11	Noblesville	3208
12	Pike	3192
13	Elkhart	3166
14	Crown Point	2978
15	Lake Central	2961
16	Center Grove	2893
7A
1	Lawrence North	2817
2	Westfield	2789
3	Carroll (Fort Wayne)	2569
4	Indianapolis Arsenal Tech	2500
5	Homestead	2408
6	Lawrence Central	2404
7	Southport	2368
8	Perry Meridian	2359
9	Zionsville	2309
10	Columbus North	2267
11	Portage	2170
12	Harrison (West Lafayette)	2169
13	Fort Wayne Northrop	2158
14	Jeffersonville	2141
15	Fort Wayne Snider	1915
16	Indianapolis Cathedral	1172
6A
1	Valparaiso	2140
2	Warsaw	2108
3	Whiteland	2074
4	South Bend Adams	2062
5	Decatur Central	2050
6	Merrillville	2050
7	Lafayette Jefferson	2034
8	Goshen	2006
9	Chesterton	1980
10	Castle	1965
11	Hammond Central	1923
12	Floyd Central	1823
13	New Albany	1814
14	LaPorte	1812
15	McCutcheon	1786
16	Plainfield	1773
17	Evansville North	1751
18	Concord	1730
19	Anderson	1722
20	Seymour	1719
21	Bloomington South	1681
22	Terre Haute South	1609
23	Franklin Community	1590
24	Bloomington North	1589
25	Hammond Morton	1534
26	Michigan City	1520
27	Columbus East	1518
28	Munster	1514
29	Terre Haute North	1467
30	Kokomo	1465
31	Fort Wayne North Side	1460
32	East Central	1241
5A
1	Fort Wayne South Side	1459
2	Mt Vernon (Fortville)	1455
3	Greenfield-Central	1430
4	Mishawaka	1422
5	Fort Wayne Wayne	1416
6	Mooresville	1398
7	Northridge	1393
8	Huntington North	1382
9	Evansville Reitz	1378
10	Pendleton Heights	1353
11	Muncie Central	1332
12	Richmond	1320
13	Martinsville	1315
14	Hobart	1298
15	South Bend Riley	1298
16	Evansville Harrison	1293
17	Bedford-North Lawrence	1242
18	Logansport	1226
19	Greenwood	1211
20	New Palestine	1209
21	Indianapolis Crispus Attucks	1170
22	Jennings County	1169
23	Columbia City	1162
24	Indianapolis Shortridge	1159
25	Evansville Central	1131
26	Shelbyville	1093
27	Jasper	1092
28	Indianapolis Roncalli	1082
29	New Haven	1068
30	Plymouth	1054
31	Marion	1045
32	DeKalb	1044
4A
1	Lebanon	1033
2	East Chicago Central	1009
3	Gary West Side	995
4	East Noble	989
5	Kankakee Valley	989
6	Lowell	985
7	Highland	977
8	New Prairie	970
9	Silver Creek	943
10	Connersville	930
11	Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger	917
12	Frankfort	901
13	Leo	900
14	Wawasee	895
15	Northview	894
16	Beech Grove	892
17	South Bend Washington	886
18	Boonville	884
19	NorthWood	869
20	Evansville Bosse	863
21	Charlestown	854
22	South Bend Saint Joseph	849
23	Culver Academies	832
24	Brebeuf Jesuit	829
25	New Castle	824
26	Danville	820
27	Hanover Central	817
28	Yorktown	812
29	Washington	810
30	Guerin Catholic	800
31	Jay County	800
32	Indianapolis Bishop Chatard	730

3A
1	Delta	798
2	Western	791
3	Mississinewa	783
4	Gibson Southern	771
5	Edgewood	761
6	Madison	760
7	Corydon Central	754
8	West Lafayette	750
9	Norwell	745
10	Angola	741
11	Mishawaka Marian	735
12	Lawrenceburg	726
13	Scottsburg	726
14	West Noble	718
15	Vincennes Lincoln	711
16	Crawfordsville	710
17	Hamilton Heights	687
18	Batesville	670
19	Twin Lakes	663
20	Greensburg	662
21	Franklin County	650
22	Owen Valley	650
23	Rushville	645
24	South Dearborn	645
25	Griffith	637
26	Indian Creek	636
27	Heritage Hills	635
28	John Glenn	633
29	North Harrison	629
30	Fort Wayne Concordia	623
31	Evansville Memorial	617
32	Hammond Bishop Noll	617
33	Indianapolis Washington	617
34	Heritage	616
35	Calumet	611
36	Bellmont	610
37	Tri-West	606
38	Maconaquah	604
39	Princeton	600
40	Peru	588
41	Purdue Polytechnic	578
42	Southridge	576
43	Mount Vernon (Posey)	574
44	Speedway	571
45	Fairfield	570
46	River Forest	567
47	Garrett	556
48	Northwestern	554
49	Cascade	546
50	Tippecanoe Valley	543
51	Lakeland	540
52	Jimtown	538
53	Oak Hill	538
54	Fort Wayne Bishop Luers	532
55	Frankton	531
56	Evansville Mater Dei	520
57	Knox	520
58	West Vigo	518
59	Woodlan	518
60	Benton Central	513
61	North Montgomery	513
62	Western Boone	513
2A
1	Centerville	512
2	Bluffton	507
3	Heritage Christian	507
4	Monrovia	503
5	Sullivan	503
6	Eastbrook	501
7	Eastern (Greentown)	499
8	Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter	498
9	Greencastle	495
10	Salem	494
11	Wabash	492
12	Blackford	490
13	Brown County	488
14	Manchester	475
15	Pike Central	474
16	Rochester	473
17	Bremen	471
18	Brownstown Central	469
19	Alexandria	468
20	South Vermillion	468
21	Triton Central	468
22	Boone Grove	466
23	Lapel	466
24	Switzerland County	464
25	Andrean	455
26	Tipton	454
27	Southmont	453
28	Indianapolis Scecina	448
29	Rensselaer Central	447
30	North Posey	442
31	North Putnam	432
32	Mitchell	430
33	Northeastern	423
34	Whiting	422
35	Prairie Heights	421
36	Park Tudor	421
37	Christel House Manual	420
38	Delphi	417
39	Wheeler	417
40	Elwood	410
41	Winchester	408
42	Adams Central	408
43	Tell City	403
44	Shenandoah	400
45	Paoli	396
46	Lake Station Edison	391
47	Union County	391
48	Eastern (Pekin)	389
49	Lewis Cass	389
50	Whitko	389
51	Linton-Stockton	387
52	Seeger	386
53	Central Noble	385
54	Clarksville	385
55	Eastside	384
56	Covenant Christian (Indpls.)	383
57	Crawford County	379
58	Churubusco	378
59	Eastern Hancock	377
60	Perry Central	377
61	Lafayette Central Catholic	302
62	Indianapolis Lutheran	267
1a
1	LaVille	373
2	Providence	371
3	Taylor	366
4	South Putnam	363
5	Winamac	360
6	South Adams	357
7	Parke Heritage	354
8	Forest Park	353
9	Hagerstown	352
10	South Spencer	352
11	Eastern Greene	351
12	North Knox	349
13	Madison-Grant	336
14	Sheridan	336
15	Clinton Prairie	327
16	Carroll (Flora)	321
17	Riverton Parke	320
18	North Newton	319
19	South Central (Union Mills)	318
20	Knightstown	316
21	Milan	315
22	North Decatur	314
23	North Judson	308
24	Monroe Central	301
25	Northfield	296
26	Fountain Central	289
27	Anderson Prep Academy	288
28	Pioneer	286
29	Tecumseh	286
30	Cloverdale	283
31	Fremont	283
32	Covington	281
33	Bowman Academy	277
34	West Washington	277
35	Triton	274
36	North Daviess	273
37	Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian	270
38	Clinton Central	268
39	Springs Valley	266
40	South Decatur	265
41	North White	264
42	North Miami	263
43	Southwood	263
44	North Central (Farmersburg)	257
45	Tri	256
46	Southern Wells	252
47	Wes-Del	248
48	Culver	246
49	Union City	244
50	Caston	241
51	South Newton	241
52	Cambridge City Lincoln	234
53	Tri Central	232
54	Edinburgh	227
55	Greenwood Christian	222
56	Tri-County	220
57	North Vermillion	218
58	West Central	209
59	Indianapolis Tindley	202
60	Frontier	180
61	Attica	160

Boy I hope this never happens. What a joke that would be. 2 classes of 16 teams? Cmon

[Punttheball]

46 minutes ago, Indiana Fan said:

Boy I hope this never happens. What a joke that would be. 2 classes of 16 teams? Cmon

Honestly, 32 teams in all classes is a great number.  The problem is when and where you play 10 State Championship games.  

[Bobref]

1 hour ago, Punttheball said:

Honestly, 32 teams in all classes is a great number.  The problem is when and where you play 10 State Championship games.  

As we edge ever closer to participation trophies.

[Punttheball]

 

9 minutes ago, Bobref said:

As we edge ever closer to participation trophies.

Nah, that's not my point.  I would be ok if we went to 32 teams in a class and stayed with 6 classes.  I think it would be better to put a 10th game into play and give the revenue to the schools instead of the IHSAA.  But you can twist it anyway you want.  

[RegionFBFan]

In my opinion, this is all extremely unrealistic. The IHSAA will never move away from all schools qualifying for the tournament. This is what makes Indiana high school sports unique and they like being unique. I think the more realistic outcome is 6 classes with 32 in 6A and 32 in 1A and close to 62-64 teams in 5A to 2A.

I also believe there is a strong possibility of seeding occurring in tournament and possibly neutral site semi state games.

Other than these changes, the rest is a pipe dream.

[PDB26]

28 minutes ago, RegionFBFan said:

This is what makes Indiana high school sports unique and they like being unique.

Stares in single-class basketball tournament.

[RegionFBFan]

3 hours ago, PDB26 said:

Stares in single-class basketball tournament.

True but totally different here. With single class basketball change, all teams were still able to participate in tournament. With this proposal of qualifying for tournament, you are telling a portion of your contributing member schools that they can not participate in tourney. Simply not going to happen.

[Footballking16]

On 2/15/2024 at 7:48 AM, btownqbcoach1 said:

I don't think we accomplish anything by not allowing certain teams in.  

Sure you do, you give actual meaning to the regular season. Why should every team be entitled to play a sectional game? I've never heard of another postseason format that entitles an 0-9 team who loses every game by 50 points the opportunity to play for a state championship. 

[Footballking16]

On 2/15/2024 at 10:47 AM, qbcoach13 said:

8 Class System. Week 1 starts on current scrimmage week. Not all teams have to start week 1. Rolling bye weeks to cut down on number of official crews needed every week.  Cuts down on enrollment gaps. 

8A
1	Carmel	5200
2	Ben Davis	4567
3	Warren Central	3748
4	Fishers	3664
5	North Central (Indpls.)	3616
6	Penn	3480
7	Avon	3476
8	Hamilton Southeastern	3442
9	Franklin Central	3362
10	Brownsburg	3297
11	Noblesville	3208
12	Pike	3192
13	Elkhart	3166
14	Crown Point	2978
15	Lake Central	2961
16	Center Grove	2893
7A
1	Lawrence North	2817
2	Westfield	2789
3	Carroll (Fort Wayne)	2569
4	Indianapolis Arsenal Tech	2500
5	Homestead	2408
6	Lawrence Central	2404
7	Southport	2368
8	Perry Meridian	2359
9	Zionsville	2309
10	Columbus North	2267
11	Portage	2170
12	Harrison (West Lafayette)	2169
13	Fort Wayne Northrop	2158
14	Jeffersonville	2141
15	Fort Wayne Snider	1915
16	Indianapolis Cathedral	1172
6A
1	Valparaiso	2140
2	Warsaw	2108
3	Whiteland	2074
4	South Bend Adams	2062
5	Decatur Central	2050
6	Merrillville	2050
7	Lafayette Jefferson	2034
8	Goshen	2006
9	Chesterton	1980
10	Castle	1965
11	Hammond Central	1923
12	Floyd Central	1823
13	New Albany	1814
14	LaPorte	1812
15	McCutcheon	1786
16	Plainfield	1773
17	Evansville North	1751
18	Concord	1730
19	Anderson	1722
20	Seymour	1719
21	Bloomington South	1681
22	Terre Haute South	1609
23	Franklin Community	1590
24	Bloomington North	1589
25	Hammond Morton	1534
26	Michigan City	1520
27	Columbus East	1518
28	Munster	1514
29	Terre Haute North	1467
30	Kokomo	1465
31	Fort Wayne North Side	1460
32	East Central	1241
5A
1	Fort Wayne South Side	1459
2	Mt Vernon (Fortville)	1455
3	Greenfield-Central	1430
4	Mishawaka	1422
5	Fort Wayne Wayne	1416
6	Mooresville	1398
7	Northridge	1393
8	Huntington North	1382
9	Evansville Reitz	1378
10	Pendleton Heights	1353
11	Muncie Central	1332
12	Richmond	1320
13	Martinsville	1315
14	Hobart	1298
15	South Bend Riley	1298
16	Evansville Harrison	1293
17	Bedford-North Lawrence	1242
18	Logansport	1226
19	Greenwood	1211
20	New Palestine	1209
21	Indianapolis Crispus Attucks	1170
22	Jennings County	1169
23	Columbia City	1162
24	Indianapolis Shortridge	1159
25	Evansville Central	1131
26	Shelbyville	1093
27	Jasper	1092
28	Indianapolis Roncalli	1082
29	New Haven	1068
30	Plymouth	1054
31	Marion	1045
32	DeKalb	1044
4A
1	Lebanon	1033
2	East Chicago Central	1009
3	Gary West Side	995
4	East Noble	989
5	Kankakee Valley	989
6	Lowell	985
7	Highland	977
8	New Prairie	970
9	Silver Creek	943
10	Connersville	930
11	Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger	917
12	Frankfort	901
13	Leo	900
14	Wawasee	895
15	Northview	894
16	Beech Grove	892
17	South Bend Washington	886
18	Boonville	884
19	NorthWood	869
20	Evansville Bosse	863
21	Charlestown	854
22	South Bend Saint Joseph	849
23	Culver Academies	832
24	Brebeuf Jesuit	829
25	New Castle	824
26	Danville	820
27	Hanover Central	817
28	Yorktown	812
29	Washington	810
30	Guerin Catholic	800
31	Jay County	800
32	Indianapolis Bishop Chatard	730

3A
1	Delta	798
2	Western	791
3	Mississinewa	783
4	Gibson Southern	771
5	Edgewood	761
6	Madison	760
7	Corydon Central	754
8	West Lafayette	750
9	Norwell	745
10	Angola	741
11	Mishawaka Marian	735
12	Lawrenceburg	726
13	Scottsburg	726
14	West Noble	718
15	Vincennes Lincoln	711
16	Crawfordsville	710
17	Hamilton Heights	687
18	Batesville	670
19	Twin Lakes	663
20	Greensburg	662
21	Franklin County	650
22	Owen Valley	650
23	Rushville	645
24	South Dearborn	645
25	Griffith	637
26	Indian Creek	636
27	Heritage Hills	635
28	John Glenn	633
29	North Harrison	629
30	Fort Wayne Concordia	623
31	Evansville Memorial	617
32	Hammond Bishop Noll	617
33	Indianapolis Washington	617
34	Heritage	616
35	Calumet	611
36	Bellmont	610
37	Tri-West	606
38	Maconaquah	604
39	Princeton	600
40	Peru	588
41	Purdue Polytechnic	578
42	Southridge	576
43	Mount Vernon (Posey)	574
44	Speedway	571
45	Fairfield	570
46	River Forest	567
47	Garrett	556
48	Northwestern	554
49	Cascade	546
50	Tippecanoe Valley	543
51	Lakeland	540
52	Jimtown	538
53	Oak Hill	538
54	Fort Wayne Bishop Luers	532
55	Frankton	531
56	Evansville Mater Dei	520
57	Knox	520
58	West Vigo	518
59	Woodlan	518
60	Benton Central	513
61	North Montgomery	513
62	Western Boone	513
2A
1	Centerville	512
2	Bluffton	507
3	Heritage Christian	507
4	Monrovia	503
5	Sullivan	503
6	Eastbrook	501
7	Eastern (Greentown)	499
8	Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter	498
9	Greencastle	495
10	Salem	494
11	Wabash	492
12	Blackford	490
13	Brown County	488
14	Manchester	475
15	Pike Central	474
16	Rochester	473
17	Bremen	471
18	Brownstown Central	469
19	Alexandria	468
20	South Vermillion	468
21	Triton Central	468
22	Boone Grove	466
23	Lapel	466
24	Switzerland County	464
25	Andrean	455
26	Tipton	454
27	Southmont	453
28	Indianapolis Scecina	448
29	Rensselaer Central	447
30	North Posey	442
31	North Putnam	432
32	Mitchell	430
33	Northeastern	423
34	Whiting	422
35	Prairie Heights	421
36	Park Tudor	421
37	Christel House Manual	420
38	Delphi	417
39	Wheeler	417
40	Elwood	410
41	Winchester	408
42	Adams Central	408
43	Tell City	403
44	Shenandoah	400
45	Paoli	396
46	Lake Station Edison	391
47	Union County	391
48	Eastern (Pekin)	389
49	Lewis Cass	389
50	Whitko	389
51	Linton-Stockton	387
52	Seeger	386
53	Central Noble	385
54	Clarksville	385
55	Eastside	384
56	Covenant Christian (Indpls.)	383
57	Crawford County	379
58	Churubusco	378
59	Eastern Hancock	377
60	Perry Central	377
61	Lafayette Central Catholic	302
62	Indianapolis Lutheran	267
1a
1	LaVille	373
2	Providence	371
3	Taylor	366
4	South Putnam	363
5	Winamac	360
6	South Adams	357
7	Parke Heritage	354
8	Forest Park	353
9	Hagerstown	352
10	South Spencer	352
11	Eastern Greene	351
12	North Knox	349
13	Madison-Grant	336
14	Sheridan	336
15	Clinton Prairie	327
16	Carroll (Flora)	321
17	Riverton Parke	320
18	North Newton	319
19	South Central (Union Mills)	318
20	Knightstown	316
21	Milan	315
22	North Decatur	314
23	North Judson	308
24	Monroe Central	301
25	Northfield	296
26	Fountain Central	289
27	Anderson Prep Academy	288
28	Pioneer	286
29	Tecumseh	286
30	Cloverdale	283
31	Fremont	283
32	Covington	281
33	Bowman Academy	277
34	West Washington	277
35	Triton	274
36	North Daviess	273
37	Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian	270
38	Clinton Central	268
39	Springs Valley	266
40	South Decatur	265
41	North White	264
42	North Miami	263
43	Southwood	263
44	North Central (Farmersburg)	257
45	Tri	256
46	Southern Wells	252
47	Wes-Del	248
48	Culver	246
49	Union City	244
50	Caston	241
51	South Newton	241
52	Cambridge City Lincoln	234
53	Tri Central	232
54	Edinburgh	227
55	Greenwood Christian	222
56	Tri-County	220
57	North Vermillion	218
58	West Central	209
59	Indianapolis Tindley	202
60	Frontier	180
61	Attica	160

I'd argue there's too many classes to begin with. Make the top 32 enrollment schools 5A and the bottom 32 enrollment schools 1A and then divide the remaining schools into 3 classes. 

[Footballking16]

5 hours ago, Punttheball said:

 

Nah, that's not my point.  I would be ok if we went to 32 teams in a class and stayed with 6 classes.  I think it would be better to put a 10th game into play and give the revenue to the schools instead of the IHSAA.  But you can twist it anyway you want.  

Are 100 something schools just going to drop football then? How can you go to six 32 team classes given the number of participating schools?

[Bobref]

4 hours ago, RegionFBFan said:

This is what makes Indiana high school sports unique and they like being unique.

“Unique” means one of a kind. It says nothing about good or bad, wise or stupid. There is a reason this format is unique … and it’s not because no one else has thought of it yet.

[Titan32]

I support qualification now....but you should only need to win a couple of games to get in.  That slims down the field just enough to slot teams in more like for like "classes".  Not because it makes the regular season more meaningful, because it doesn't and it won't.  See @oldtimeqb's post earlier in this thread.

[scarab527]

Seeding is the first step in the removal of the all-in. A couple years of complete first round blowouts where one team has to travel 1 hour+ will have people ready for a qualifier. The all-in only makes sense with the random draw. 

[RegionFBFan]

9 minutes ago, scarab527 said:

Seeding is the first step in the removal of the all-in. A couple years of complete first round blowouts where one team has to travel 1 hour+ will have people ready for a qualifier. The all-in only makes sense with the random draw. 

Agree. A phased approach with actual results then make the next step.

And the IHSAA is surveying coaches and administrators on seeding as we speak.

[psaboy]

On 2/15/2024 at 8:32 AM, JQWL said:

I don't think that's true. I haven't spoken to a coach that feels the official scrimmage is as important as it used to be with the current summer guidelines.

Why can't they start practice one week earlier and then you can keep scrimmage game and add a regular season game?

[Footballking16]

1 hour ago, scarab527 said:

Seeding is the first step in the removal of the all-in. A couple years of complete first round blowouts where one team has to travel 1 hour+ will have people ready for a qualifier. The all-in only makes sense with the random draw. 

Agreed. Been saying this for years. It’s the only reason why seeding hasn’t been implemented. And that’s to delay the inevitable.

[Footballking16]

The all-in only works under the mirage of the blind draw. Take away the blind draw and the need to allow every team into the postseason after being sold on some fairy tale dream of a new season disappears. 

Edited February 17 by Footballking16

[PDB26]

6 hours ago, RegionFBFan said:

True but totally different here. With single class basketball change, all teams were still able to participate in tournament. With this proposal of qualifying for tournament, you are telling a portion of your contributing member schools that they can not participate in tourney. Simply not going to happen.

I agree with your conclusion, but it's not about uniqueness of the all-in format. As you note, there is no incentive to institute a qualifier because of membership interests. Just as membership interests resulted in the demise of the single-class tournament. In the end, everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win.

[Bobref]

10 hours ago, PDB26 said:

everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win.

I think you mean “everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win, even though they didn’t earn that chance during the regular season when they had the opportunity.”

[Bobref]

22 hours ago, Punttheball said:

 

Nah, that's not my point.  I would be ok if we went to 32 teams in a class and stayed with 6 classes.  I think it would be better to put a 10th game into play and give the revenue to the schools instead of the IHSAA.  But you can twist it anyway you want.  

Are you aware that tournament revenue that goes “to the IHSAA” is distributed to the schools after IHSAA operating expenses are deducted?

[PDB26]

15 minutes ago, Bobref said:

I think you mean “everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win, even though they didn’t earn that chance during the regular season when they had the opportunity.”

Yes. I think the full statement should be, “everyone wants to feel like they have a chance to win, even though they didn’t earn that chance during the regular season when they had the opportunity, despite substantial evidence that they have no chance to win––especially in football."