Time to listen to football playoff proposal
The proposal is not for next school year. No one knows if there will be a Connecticut high school football season in the fall or in the spring or even at all. COVID-19 holds the scheduling cards on 2020. COVID-19 makes the rules.
This would be for the fall of 2021.
Arguing about the CIAC state playoffs and Thanksgiving games dates to when? William Bradford, commissioner of the Plimoth Plantation Conference in 1621 or something like that, right? This is not a new topic, nor are any of the individual aspects of the proposal foreign to those who have followed the sport.
Yet this proposal from the Connecticut High School Football Alliance has more definition, a more holistic approach and certainly more gravitas. Awaiting only the final OK from the Central Connecticut Conference, the proposal will be sent to the CIAC Football
Committee in a signed letter from the commissioners of five major state athletic conferences.
“With five leagues and more than 100 schools, we now have the ability to propose good, positive change,” Southern Connecticut Conference commissioner Al Carbone said.
So here it goes: Increase the number of playoff teams either by increasing the number of divisions to six or by adding one round to the current four-division format.
Make minor changes to the playoff point system to reward teams for competitive games.
A six-division format would call for three playoff games. A four-division format would have four playoff games.
All playoff games would be played on Friday nights or Saturday.
The state championship games would be played the weekend after Thanksgiving. The state semis would be the weekend before Thanksgiving. We’ll get to the earlier rounds in a minute.
The regular season would be reduced to no more than nine games.
In 2010, the CIAC returned the playoffs back to
four classes from six but expanded to 32 teams with the addition of a quarterfinal round. State title games are now played on the third weekend after Thanksgiving. And that’s if bad weather doesn’t further postpone games. It is a system few seem to like, but is argued from harshly different points of view, especially by some coaches who want Thanksgiving football and/or feel their voices are underrepresented.
According to the Alliance proposal, a move to six divisions could mean eight teams in each division (48 teams total), or the CIAC Football Committee could decide on seven teams with a bye for the top seed (42 teams total). If the fourdivision format was retained, the committee may decide there could be up to 16 teams in each division (64 total teams), 12 teams with four byes (52 total) or 14 with two byes (58 total).
“This is not a mystery,” Carbone said. “This is not somebody trying to jam it in for next year. We want to go through the entire process of making changes and making sure everyone can weigh in. I think this is the right time to talk about how we’re going to shape the sport of football. It’s not about getting rid of Thanksgiving. It’s about getting the right number of games and the right teams in the playoffs.”
Dave Johnson of the South-West Conference took the lead on writing the draft, Carbone said, and he worked with Johnson. They shared it with the Alliance commissioners, who in turn shared it with their schools. In addition to the SWC, SCC and CCC, the Football Alliance is composed of the Fairfield County Interscholastic Conference and Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The CIAC football committee, made up of administrators, coaches and consultants, would have to approve any proposal. The CIAC Board of Control would then have final say. Carbone said he was told the CIAC Football Committee doesn’t meet again until October, so the letter officially won’t be sent for some time.
Still, Carbone has been an outspoken voice for change in recent years and he is pushing for football folks to put on their thinking caps in the meantime.
“There were times I’d think, ‘Am I the only one?’ ” he said. “At the Alliance meetings the past few years, I got a comfortable feeling that other commissioners felt the same way.”
Before 1976, there was no state playoff. In 1976, two teams from four classes played a state championship on the second weekend after Thanksgiving. In 1981, it was expanded to six classes. In 1995, six classes returned to four, but a semifinal round was added for 16 total teams. The semifinals were on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving and the finals the following Saturday.
In 2002, it was expanded to six classes again to allow 24 teams. The current format of 32 is a decade old.
“We know there have been proposals over the last decade similar to this one and include one or two of the aspects, but maybe didn’t go about it the right way to get it discussed,” Carbone said. “We’re comfortable in involving all stakeholders to weigh in. Better a formal proposal than social media arguments. We’re comfortable with the elements of the proposal, whether the football committee takes parts or all of them. The time is ripe for change, but with all that has happened we don’t have to rush.”
I like the holistic approach. The proposal addresses a number of issues and in the end they all need to be addressed in some way.
There’s the weather in December. The snow, the cold, the travel in icy conditions at night.
There is the reduced time for multi-sport athletes for their bodies to recover and for them to prepare for a winter sport.
There are health and safety issues to be considered. Squeezing games on Thanksgiving, the first playoff game the following Tuesday and a semifinal the next weekend certainly isn’t the best for recovery. That’s a schedule that would leave the pros howling.
Also, a reduction to nine regular-season games would keep the total number of games down for playoff teams and reduce exposure to injury.
The proposal also argues more sites meeting CIAC criteria would be available in November for state title games and better weather during the playoffs could result in more spectators.
“We have a lot of really good 7-3 and 6-4 teams that don’t make the playoffs,” Carbone said. “Make a change to a point system, reward teams for competitive games, so they know if they lose some of those they still have a chance to make the playoffs. Then there’s the No. 1 rationale: Look at other sports, you need to win 40% get into the tournament. With football it can be 80, even 90%.”
If you are a proponent that football should have lots of weight on regular-season results and fewer playoff teams, not more, you would argue against Carbone’s No. 1 rationale. And if you worship at the altar of Thanksgiving games, you’re ready to fight about it. A change to the point system is a different matter. Shelton, 7-3, lost out on a playoff berth to NFA, 7-3, last year even though Shelton beat NFA handily.
The Alliance proposal calls for a “strength of competition” indicator to encourage scheduling better teams and generate more interest. This is a good idea. For example, Team A would get an extra five or 10 points when Team B wins any game even if Team A lost head-to-head to Team B.
Let’s take a look at November 2021. With the proposal, the Saturday after Thanksgiving (finals) would be Nov. 26-27 and the semis Nov. 19-20. If it’s a six-conference setup, the quarters would be Nov. 12-13. According to Carbone, non-playoff teams can still fill out their schedule up to 10 games. A final 10th game — which doesn’t count toward the playoffs — could be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of Thanksgiving week. A nearby school without a playoff team of similar talent could be found. It could be a good game.
If a four-week, four-division setup is used, then you’d be looking at Nov. 5-6 opening playoff rounds and would be filling in more than one game to get to 10 for non-playoff teams. That’s when the argument comes up with the Massachusetts system.
As far as the true Thanksgiving rivalries, a solution would be found in picking Columbus Day weekend. Schools could compete in all fall sports, make a two-three day event of the festivities. It can be homecoming. College kids in driving distance could come home if they wanted. Both teams could still be in the playoff hunt. More and more towns are using the entire Thanksgiving week for games. Non-playoff teams still could play. And as far as great interest, the state finals would be that weekend.
For me, if you’re going to four classes, the maximum 64 should make the playoffs. It reduces the number of “meaningless” games.
Hey, it’s all on the table now.
There’s certainly enough time to argue the proposal and address it in a holistic manner.