Footballking16

There’s a massive difference between a school with 3500-4000 kids (4-5 schools) and 1500-2000 kids (the rest of 5A) before the 6th class was added. That’s why the Big 3 dominated for so long. There’s now 18 6A schools (out of 32) whose enrollment are all ~3000+. Once you cross a certain threshold in terms of enrollment, the number becomes insignificant. Only X amount of kids can play. If you can’t field a competitive football team with 3000+ kids in your building, you need to look in the mirror. Simply put, Carmel/Warren/Ben Davis no longer enjoy the massive disparity in enrollment like they use too. And the results the last 6-8 years speak for themselves.

Advantage to whom? A school with 2500 people playing against a school with 500 people? Sure The enrollment gap between the top 3 is drastically closing and has been the last several years, as evidence by the end of dominance among Carmel/WC/BD. There’s enough schools now in 6A that have a big enough enrollment that makes the enrollment talking point irrelevant. Carmel has 5200 kids and is like the 3rd or 4th best team in its own county.

I don’t believe so. Warren/BD/Carmel have 90% of the large class titles because those 3 have had a massive enrollment disparity for nearly 90% of the time the large class has existed. That’s no longer the case. And it shows. Carmel doesn’t have a state title in 5 years. Warren 6 years. This was BD’s first in 7 years. Nearly half of 6A has crossed the mega-enrollment threshold (3,000 students) to the point enrollment is becoming less and less irrelevant. 20 years from now the Big 3 will simply be looked at as “other schools”.

The three largest schools don’t enjoy the enrollment disparity they did 15-20 years ago. There was what, 4-5 schools in the state with an enrollment of 3000+ 20 years ago? There’s 13 schools now with an enrollment of 3000+ with 4 or 5 more rapidly approaching that number. It’s why BD/Warren/Carmel are no longer taking turns rotating state titles like they used too, everyone else has caught up.

The lack of D1 talent BD and WC produced for a 2-3 year period a few years back was laughable. That’s cyclical. BD and WC are likely #1 and #2 heading into next season. The amount of talent parallels that.

Spot on Talent is cyclical, even at the big schools. Have always maintained that once you cross a certain threshold in enrollment, it then becomes irrelevant. There’s now several mega-enrollment schools in Indiana, not just the Big 3.

Might be a long year for Cathedral this year.

Position coach vs head coach an entire different animal. Would also guess he was hired for his connections to Central Indiana football in regards to recruiting.

Think that says a lot more about Jason Simmons than Russ Man.

Covid broke this mans brain.

I'd say it's a lot more about exposure and opportunity than a state ring.

That's literally the only reason why. The IHSAA can sit back and justify a 71-6 drubbing in a "postseason" game, citing the luck of the draw. They no longer can however if/when the sectionals are seeding appropriately. And be doing it the way they have been, they screw deserving teams in the process. It's a joke honestly.

Sectionals at the bare minimum should be seeded 1-8. There's not the same preparation or turn around time in basketball, baseball, volleyball, etc like there is with football. But I'm in favor of the regular season actually meaning something in regards to the postseason. The all-in, blind draw regardless of the sport is a neanderthal format the completely devalues the regular season. It's not done anywhere else but in Indiana. Trust me I'm all for seeding 1-8 and that's because I know the next step. As do you, as does the IHSAA, as does everybody else. That's precisely why it hasn't been implemented yet....the IHSAA can't let go of the blind draw because it effectively ends the all-in.

That 16 seed still QUALIFIED for the postseason. They effectively earned that right to get blown out by a #1 seed. 2022 Monrovia is a statistical outlier. A complete anomaly. The only team in the 10 years I've tracked the postseason using Sagarin to seed the postseason that has beaten three top 32 teams en route to a sectional championship. That's it. And if I recall, that was a loaded sectional with a bunch of top 32 teams with Monrovia being just outside the top half at the conclusion of the regular season (34th or 35th). But because of the all-in, blind draw, the top 2 teams in that sectional played the first round making their path that much easier from the jump. Had they been seeded 1-8, not sure how Monrovia fares. But that's beyond the point. Cinderella is a myth when it comes to Indiana high school football, 2022 Monrovia be damned. If you seeded each sectional 1-8 or 1-4 in 5A/6A every year, it would put an end to this nonsense. True seeding would effectively start the qualifier domino.

1. Yes they are independent. If Cathedral was in a conference, consistently won it, yet still received a tougher postseason draw than the teams who finished in the bottom half....yes I would feel that a conference title devalues significantly. Winning your conference should be a reward, not a crutch come postseason. You'll never change my mind on that. 2. Not at all. Prior to the success factor, Cathedral took full advantage of the archaic postseason format but consistently scheduling up and playing top end out of state competition. And why wouldn't they? Win, lose, or draw it doesn't impact your postseason chances or path. Cathedral won many state titles ending the regular season with 4 or 5 losses. In fact they won three straight state titles after finishing the regular season 4-5. Cathedral has since scaled back some of their regular season scheduling now that they play two classes up, but why wouldn't you play the best available competition under the current format?

Pretty telling that the IHSAA has continuously decided to completely devalue a 9 week regular season for as long as they have. Glorified scrimmages.

All coaches adjust. Just like they did from the old cluster system. Just like they did for the success factor. Coaches will adjust once seeding is implemented down the road and then to ultimately a qualifier as that is inevitably the next step after seeding. The all-in cannot exist without the blind draw.

What do you mean they can't seed? Are you telling me that conference basketball schedules are equal? There's 350 some teams and they're able to form a 68 team, end of the year tournament developing a rating system based on numerous factors. Every single other state in the country not named Indiana has some kind of rating or point system that ranks teams accordingly and used for seeding/inclusion for a qualifier. Indiana absolutely CAN do that, they simply choose not too. It's not rocket science if 49 other states have figured it out.

Why didn’t the Chiefs and the 49ers play the first round of the playoffs? Why don’t we have UConn and Purdue play the first round of the NCAA Tournament this year? Because in doing so, you have to readily admit that the regular doesn’t matter. No other sport at any level of competition outside the postseason tournaments the IHSAA puts on, treat the regular season in that light.

Agreed. The rating method used to cut the field in half at the conclusion of the regular season AFTER a 10th regular season game is added should be the least of the concerns. There' multiple, reliable ones out there that a multitude of other states use every single year.

You're confusing sentimental feeling with real tangible meaning. Everyone loves to beat a rival, never disagreed with that, but your record and subsequent play during the first 9 weeks has ZERO real tangible meaning. 0-9 or 9-0 It.Literally.Doesn't.Matter. You're in the playoffs no matter what and your draw is defined by nothing more than a ping pong ball. You will NEVER be able to refute this under the current format no matter how hard you puff your chest. And with your second paragraph you've literally just described a glorified 2.5 month long exhibition season.

Lol. You can still have a fun 9 or 10 game regular season all while not being entitled to a postseason game. Novel concept I know. It's done in every other state in America. And yes regular season games under the current format are in fact meaningless. Whether you go 9-0 and 0-9, your postseason fate is sealed before the season even starts by virtue of the all-in format and your draw is literally determined by a ping pong ball. Literally nothing that happens in weeks 1-9 has a single bearing on the postseason. They are in fact meaningless and how it relates to the overall course of the season. A literal fact that cannot be refuted.

Why should a postseason qualifier be limited to college and pro's? Literally every other state in America has a qualifier for their high school postseason format. Hell, 20 years ago back in my day you had to qualify for the CYO playoffs as early as 4th grade, they didn't just hand out trophies to everyone. And you absolutely are cheating teams when you don't value or recognize their regular season accomplishments. Why play the regular season in the first place if nothing is taken into consideration after the fact? As far as Ben Davis and Brownsburg being 8 minutes apart? Who cares. Cut 6A South in half, seed them 1-8 and this game is played in Mid-November like it should be.

A rating formula that accounts for W-L record, Opponent W-L record, SOS, and opponent SOS which includes out of state competition. It's essentially what CalPreps uses. Decide if you want to incorporate margin of victory or not, you can always cap it too. https://calpreps.com/ratings.htm

A system that allows 0-9 North Newton to play in the postseason falls at the expense of two teams like Brownsburg and Ben Davis playing each other in the 1st round is the very definition of watered-down. It should never happen in a format where the regular season actually has real meaning.