TIFootball

lol - Saragin Ratings is a first look - not a final decider. I will say this = Do I think a 3a Brownstown Central team could beat a 5a (use to be 6a) Jeffersonville team - ABSOLUTELY!

I found the Saragin Ratings a decent look at how teams would split out - sure there are some outliers but I think the formula could be improved upon.

Think of it like the NCAA Basketball tourney selection - which region, even which tournament NCAA or NIT … I just think this would bring more balance to the tournaments, and much less 70-0 games. Team want to recruit - knock yourself out. The drive and competition is still there to make the "show" (6a tourney), but for programs rebuilding or going the wrong direction, can still be somewhat competitive in tourney play which i think can help lessor programs build.

Week 9 would be my thought - let the conference schedules play out - so post season.

Exactly my point - it's not about crying about schools recruiting, it about having the end goal reward system, i.e. the tournaments, based on outdated metrics. If schools recruit athletes away from other schools, then let the system take care of who plays where. Rank all teams and divide them up on some form power rankings.

Class (6a-1a) or enrollment. Either way works. I used class as this is how the Saragin Ratings are displayed. The selection process could still use SF as a component. Enrollment - I think with open enrollment and other reasons I wont mention here for sake of getting flamed, is a dead metric to use.

I totally agree with this. I think having a statewide ranking system would be a better fit. Rank all teams, regardless of class 1-317 (or whatever that number is) and divide them up into 6 tourney's. Just for fun, I used the Saragin Ratings (which would need to be improved) and the results were very interesting. Keep the tourney sizes the same as they are now: 6A 32 teams, 5A 34 teams, 4A 61 teams, 3A 64 teams, 2A 63 teams, and 1A 63 teams. The breakdown was a much more competitive route than either M or SF. In regards to open enrollment, kids are being recruited as early as middle school - especially from the elite middle school teams such as Team Indiana, Indiana Select, FBU Indiana etc. I know Cathedral recruiting was extended to personal invites for these teams to check out the campus and speak with coaches. East Central draws players from Cincinnati. Players from Indy gravitate to Warren Central that's outside their "district". Additionally down south, Columbus schools pull from area schools as they are the power schools in this region. ISHAA will never stop this practice, and open enrollment will always pull serious kids to these power programs which further divides the balance. I see this ranking system, or something like it, the only real way to balance the tourney's.

I'm looking at the power schools all up and down the classes - it seems the legacy system works to a point, but why not just throw all teams in a ranking system 1 -325 or whatever, then divide them up into the 6 tourneys? Week 9 is the cut and use something similar to the Sagarin Ratings (but better). New Pal is arguably the best team in the state regardless of class some say, and East Central is usually a top 5 team that can play with a lot of 6a schools, and some of the lower tier 6a should be playing in the class 5 tourney. Evansville Memorial who recruits is a Power 3a that could compete with a lot of 6a and Brownstown can compete well with 4a or even 5a schools. Madison may drop to a 3a tourney ...so on and so on. If were talking legacy, make it a full 100% ranking system with legacy build in the formula instead of waiting years to move ... What do you guys think about it? I think it would make for more competitive games and face teams we wouldn't normally face.

I agree - BNL a better regional fit for New Pal sectional :)

Say what you will, but after 3 trips to BNL personally, it seems to be the same every time. I don’t believe anything’s intentional- but every critical call going for the home team seems consistent there. Coincidence, every time- yea I guess that’s possible. Don’t see it anywhere but BNL.

No dog in this fight, but I wouldn’t sleep on Jeff or NA come sectional time. Floyd seems the most solid team and BNL hasn’t really showed anything special- consistent from coaching- but nothing that tells me they should be. Sectional champion contender. we all know it’s tough to beat BNL at home as the stripes always seem to be one sided there. Last time I was there - Seymour won but only after the officials threw bogus flags on every 4th down BNL play and clock keeper added time 3 times on the final drive as BNL was marching for the win only to throw an interception at the goal line. Ref’s were escorted off. Seems to be that way every time we play there.

Seymour- line play seems to be going the wrong direction. Getting out athleted every week. It only gets worse from here with CE, Floyd, and then a powerhouse sectional. We’ll see how much fight they put up the next 3 weeks.

Brownstown 14-7 over Seymour at half Seymour looks bad.

I think this is spot on. BNL JV and Freshman have athletes coming up - They should be fun to watch.

Gratz to BNL on a consistent performance- Seymour deserved to lose this game. Uninspired 1st half and too many needless turnovers. BNL will only get better.

BNL 10-0 over Seymour at half. BNL basic but consistent Seymour uninspired play- offense asleep and defense porous.

East definitely has done they best they can given their schedule - and is THE premier team in southern Indiana - no question. I think the additions to the non conference schedule East has made is top notch. With that being said - i just think a tougher conference would help East against the big boys. Maybe a different angle - and probably somewhat taboo - but what about athletes that leave other HHC schools for bigger better programs? I know it's a battle every year keeping what we have in Seymour between middle school and high school years - transferring to Brownstown, Columbus schools etc. I remember when New Albany lost a great player to Saint X and Madison loosing to Columbus schools. I am genuinely curious as to how frequent this happens to other schools.

BNL @ Seymour : Injuries mounting up on Defense for Seymour, but with Bedford down this year - should make for a good game. Seymour in a close one. Jeff @ FC : Taking FC on this strictly by FC consistency. Jeff has athletes to compete and stop a fast back, but many go both ways for Jeff. I see FC running away late. Madison @ JC : I like Madison in this game. Madison has the ability to cover and JC has no running game. Madison in a close one. East @ NA : East - the class of the conference- will not be challenged all year in conference play.

In my opinion, I would agree with SC, but I would replace Charlestown with Brownstown. Brownstown is the better school year after year. I honestly think CE does themselves a dis-service staying in the HHC (Specifically football) - I think their poor schedule strength negatively impacts them in 6a tourney play. There is no challenge - for what - 15 years?? Tell me how this is good for any program trying to be best in state. I think Brownstown is in a similar boat - albeit a smaller scale. I just want to see competitiveness in sectionals and conference play. End result - East move on to bigger better things - Bring in enough teams into HHC to split the conference. Now, back to reality ….

Seymour's future looks very promising. Coach Kelly and staff have been getting more and more buy in in the offseason workouts and it's starting to show across all levels. All teams are undefeated (V, JV, Fresh, 8th, and 7th) through the "Littles" portion of the schedule (S. Dearborn - which has been impressive since week 1, Jeffersonville -non-conference game, Madison, and JC). MS has beaten Columbus and Floyd in both 7th and 8th. I also like how each grade level is a bit different than the next in terms of team strength's which should meld nicely once the classes combine. I haven't seen this much optimism for overall program health in several years - possibly back to the Joe Goodman days. Time will tell - but Seymour has some tools to work with.

I think it makes more sense to split the Bloomington schools up - send BN to Franklin C/New Pal/Whiteland. Then send BS to Evansville with BNL (I-69). Then move Seymour to Jeffersonville/NA/Floyd. I think that makes the most geographical sense as well as competition levels.