Some people continued to complain about the expanded playoff format for high school football this year. Those complaints directed my way fell on deaf ears and have for the last couple of years. Yes, when they announced the expansion of the playoffs starting three years ago, I was skeptical at first that it was going to water down the playoffs. After three years of the playoffs, I’m not turning back. There are several examples of why an expanded playoffs works for Iowa. I know I’m not going to be able to sell all of you on the idea of why it works, but I certainly hope before the end of this to sway you in my direction.
== Pella 2009, Dike-New Hartford 2010
Pella finished second for the Class 3A state championship in 2009 (I goofed, thanks to Jeff Moss for correcting my wishful thinking about Pella beating Harlan). Under the old format, they would have been left for dead at the side of the road after the fifth week. Pella lost two of their first three district games and ended up with a 4-3 district record, finishing fourth in their district. 6-3 Pella went on to beat an 8-1 Williamsburg team, a district champion, in the first round (it was termed as the “substate” round, but has since been recognized as a full round of the playoffs by the IHSAA)…a 9-1 Grinnell team in the second round, an 11-0 Centerville team in the quarterfinals, a 10-2 New Hampton team in the semis, and then losing to a 13-0 Harlan team in the championship game. Once again, under the old rules, this team isn’t given a chance to be state champions, and they are just going through the motions in weeks 7-8-9 in anticipation of the banquet a week or so after the final game.
Dike-New Hartford this year. Yes, they got thumped in the 1A championship game by traditional power West Lyon, but they aren’t there in the end if a third-place district team isn’t allowed to qualify.
== Three teams at 6-1
The district Clear Lake’s district was matched up with in the playoffs had three teams with 6-1 district records and one team with a 4-3 district record. Decorah, West Delaware and Waverly-Shell Rock each had their loss inside that trio of schools (Decorah to Waverly, Waverly to West Delaware, West Delaware to Decorah). Under the old format, whoever ended up being in third place with the tiebreaker was left out. Then you’d wonder why a team that was possibly 8-1 overall and 6-1 in their district was being left out of the playoffs, while a team with a 5-2 district record and 5-4 overall record was being allowed in? The only team from District 4 not to win their first round game this year was Oelwein, who you can honestly say had Clear Lake on the ropes for three-plus quarters. Look back to our Dike-New Hartford example of this year (it wasn’t a three-way tie) of a third-place team taking home a big trophy and some pride in being runner-up.
== Some districts have more quality teams in them that others. I think this truly shows in the number of #3 and #4 seeded teams beating #1s and #2s in the first round of the playoffs (Classes 3A thru 8-Man) in the first three years of the expanded playoffs, as well as the number of lower seeds knocking off higher seeds in the 4A playoffs:
— 2010
8-Man — 3
Class A — 4
Class 1A — 3
Class 2A — 2
Class 3A — 4 (including a #1 seed, a 9-0 team losing to a 5-4 team)
Class 4A (higher losing to lower seed) — 4 (including two 3-6 teams winning, beating a 9-0 team and an 8-1 team)
Total number of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round — 20
Percentage of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round (96 games) — 20.8%
— 2009
8-Man — 3 (including a #1 seed, a 9-0 team losing to a 3-6 team)
Class A — 2
Class 1A — 5
Class 2A — 2
Class 3A – 4
Class 4A — 4 (including a 4-5 over an 8-1)
Total number of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round — 20
Percentage of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round (96 games) — 20.8%
— 2008
8-Man — 4
Class A — 4 (including a #1 seed, a 5-4 team beating a 7-2)
Class 1A — 2
Class 2A — 5
Class 3A — 4 (including a #1 seed, a 5-4 New Hampton team beating a 9-0 squad)
Class 4A — 2 (including a 4-5 over an 8-1)
Total number of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round — 21
Percentage of lower seeds beating higher seeds in first round (96 games) — 21.9%
I personally think that a 20% success rate of lowers seeds beating higher seeds is substantial proof that the playoffs are not watered down in this format, and you see several notations above that show that a 9-0 or 8-1 team is not guaranteed a cakewalk in their first round game.
That being said, congrats to all the area teams, and congrats to the championship teams in each class. The Iowa City area definitely shines in the football spotlight with two champions (Regina, Solon) and one very close runner-up (City High losing in overtime) playing under the dome this past weekend.
