Bobref

This is the key. Frankly, getting in, and whatever happens after that, is gravy. Like I said, if they finish 10-2 and go to some random bowl game, it’s not the Committee’s fault. They win either of those two games and nobody would question them getting in. They didn’t take care of business when it was right there in front of them. Let the chips fall where they may.

To be honest, I’m really tired of the endless jibber jabber about who should or shouldn’t be in, and why or why not. It’s exhausting. And however it shakes out, there’s bound to be controversy, and we’ll have to listen to it all over again. And do you think it will be any different when they go to 16? No. Something radical has to be done. And I’ve got the solution. The NCAA’s FBS needs to go to an all-in tournament model. There are 136 schools in FBS. With 16 first round byes, it would take 8 rounds for a single-elimination tournament. There would be an 8 week regular season, which would mean absolutely nothing in terms of the postseason. Then the tournament would start. And to add to the drama, the byes and matchups would be determined by random drawing, say, using ping pong balls. The great thing is we know this would work. Indiana is living proof.

Could be both. One of the signees is Faison’s little brother. 😝

TBD

OK, then do that. You’re all members of the IFCA. Get on your representatives. The point is, the officials have no control over it.

The IHSAA is a member organization. Maybe the members ought to be the ones to tell that to the IHSAA. Officials are not members. Coaches are. If coaches are so sick and tired of it, tell someone who can do something about it. Rfaulkens@IHSAA.org.

You’re preaching to the choir. We hate being the uniform police. But we have very strict orders that come from way above my pay grade. So, please don’t blame the officials.

I have a bad feeling about the final playoff determination, as far as the Irish are concerned. If they’re left out at 10-2, I’m not going to be complaining about an injustice. They have no one to blame but themselves. Honestly, they should be 12-0 at this point. Self-inflicted wounds.

Gerrymandering is a time honored political dirty trick. What gets me is that, in the past, the people drawing the maps at least articulated a half-ass justification for what they are doing. These people just come right out and say we’re doing this to keep the Republicans in power. No pretense. Just naked political advantage. Shameful is too mild a term.

The problem with your formula - the problem with all multiplier solutions - is that they treat all P/Ps alike, when they clearly are not. If true competitive balance is what you are after, what is the justification for treating Andrean (75-28 in the last 8 seasons with 2 state titles) the same as Bishop Noll (9-59 with 0 tournament wins in their last 8 seasons)? That’s why the success factor approach is more valid. It addresses those P/Ps who take their inherent advantages and use them to succeed disproportionately in their class, while sparing those, like Bishop Noll, who don’t. How is an across the board multiplier more fair than that? The other reason I like the success factor approach is it applies to all schools. P/Ps are not the only schools with inherent advantages. There are public schools that are clearly advantaged socioeconomically over other publics. If they utilize those advantages to consistently compete above their class, they move up. Again, if competitive balance is the goal, that is only fair.

Of course, there are a lot of specifics we don’t know about the contracts that come with these jobs. But all other things being equal, I agree with that order.

Exactly what they said when Kelly took the job. How’d that work out?

Many other places as well.

This makes too much sense. Now, if you could just augment it with a tournament that requires some level of regular season success to qualify for postseason play, it would be best of all possible worlds.

Ping pong balls. If it’s good enough for the tournament matchups …

No argument there. That would be one way to make the regular season more meaningful, though not the easiest (as @foxbat pointed out). A much simpler way is to cut the tournament field in half, so as to require teams to actually accomplish something to earn their way into the postseason.

I would say we have 1/2 of such a system. We promote teams, but we don’t relegate them. How would that work? More importantly, would Frankfort be the top candidate for relegation? 🤣😂

Of course not. Redistricting (gerrymandering) is being pushed by Trump to add Republicans to Congress to keep him from getting impeached … again. That’s the only purpose it serves.

You mean it doesn’t already?

Agree with everything you’ve said. For me, the bolded statement is very important. The coaches’ vote is the single greatest factor in playoff advancement. As you know, I spend my football seasons these days trying to show crews that by improving their mechanics, their rules knowledge, and their understanding of the philosophies that underlie good officiating, they will become better officials. The problem is there is virtually no connection between those things and the coaches’ vote. Speaking in general - there are always exceptions - coaches have no interest in officiating mechanics, don’t know the rules nearly as well as they think they do, and have never been educated in the philosophies that underlie good officiating. Don’t get me wrong. Coaches are major stakeholders, and should have some voice in the process. But frankly, they are ill-suited to evaluate officiating proficiency, and it is unfair to them to ask coaches to evaluate something they’ve never been trained in, and when they are nowhere near objective. So, when a crew asks me whether their tournament status will improve if they do the work the way our Manual says they should, I have to be honest and answer “I don’t know.” And that’s because the annual process of ranking crews for tournament assignment and advancement purposes is fatally flawed, and is a cause of much disaffection in the officiating community. We all know crews that are so disgusted by the process that they don’t even apply for the tournament. We also know officials who have given up officiating, with frustration at the tournament process being a significant factor in their decision.

Disappointing.

Not you, too, with this “NFL is rigged” claptrap? How do you feel about the Moon landing? Flat earth?

Insufficient data.

Except they left out the automatic qualifier from the ACC, either Duke or Virginia, neither one of which figures in these odds.