IHSA Football Playoff
Pairings “For Dummies”
Pairings “For Dummies”
Pairings are so because of a spelled-out system, not simply carte
blanche ...
blanche ...
The following sentences were never uttered in the Illinois High School Association office
during last year's football pairings night:
“Why don't we put Amboy and Sterling Newman against each other (in the first round)?”
“I have an idea. Why don't we put teams from the same conference against each other?”
“For Class 1A, let's put Forreston and East Dubuque together.”
“Nah. I have a better idea.”
“What's that?”
“How about instead of East Dubuque, we put Forreston against Lena-Winslow.”
“Okay, that sounds good.”
No person, or group of people decides football playoff pairings in such a way.
When fans tend to disagree with the choice of games, they are often led to imagining a
scenario in which such discussion happened. Then they mold it in a way that makes the
fan's personal opinion look good.
Fans, let put any “superior” knowledge aside for a moment.
For years, the IHSA has had a system in place in regards to which playoff teams go up
against each other. In fact, the system is spelled out in public on the IHSA website on a
page titled “How the Football Playoff Pairings are Determined”.
In short, here are the steps:
The first step is selecting the 256 teams to participate in the playoffs based on wins,
playoff points and/or the combined wins of defeated opponents (if need be).
Once 256 teams are decided, the second step is to line up the 256 schools based on
IHSA enrollment (including multiplier situations).
Step three is to make any multiplier-waiver changes. Any multiplier-effected team in the
field of 256 that has not won a playoff football game in the past six years will have its
enrollment reverted to the actual number of students enrolled at the school. St. Bede is
the lone area playoff-eligible example of such a school.
Step four is to group the enrollment-lined field into eight equal parts of 32 teams each:
Class 8A down to 1A.
The fifth step is to make any “play-up” changes. East St. Louis is the only football-playing
school to request to play in a specific higher class than normal. If the Flyers originally fall
in any class lower than 7A, it will be moved up to 7A due to the school's choice to play up
in classification to that class. The East St. Louis change effectively means that the
smallest 7A school will become the largest school in 6A.
The only carte blanche step in the entire playoff pairing formulation comes in the sixth
step: taking each of the eight groups of 32 teams each and dividing them up into two
halves per group. No rule states exactly how this step is to be enforced.
By now there are 16 sub-groups of eight teams each, where two sub-groups are in one
group (class) based on enrollment.
Within these 16 sub-groups comes the seventh step: seeding each team 1-16 based on
wins, playoff points and/or the combined wins of defeated opponents (if need be). If two or
more teams are still tied for a particular seed after these three factors, a third and/or
fourth tiebreaker will be used.
By now, exact pairings – of one versus 16, two versus 15 and so on – should be
determined. Seeds one-through-eight will host games (except Maine South, via an IHSA
punishment). If any first-round pairing in a 16-team sub-group involves a trip of 150 miles
in a straight line (“as the crow flies”), the affected sub-group may be further split into two
eight-team sections – unless, according to the IHSA, “doing so increases the anticipated
travel involved during the first two rounds of the playoffs.”
Any questions?
The biggest question regards step six: the splitting of the 32-team group into two sixteens.
The rules state that a split has to occur, meaning the IHSA cannot simply decide to seed
teams 1-32.
Again, there will be no 1-32 seeding situations this year. Such a debate has originated
from the Chicago suburbs based on the close proximity of its schools, but does not keep
in mind schools from the entire state of Illinois. Furthermore, smaller schools cannot
afford, during this economic crisis, to travel far distances unless the need is great.
The step six split is done by geographical location of the 32 schools per class. In other
words, the IHSA decides the geographical border dividing the two sub-groups of 16. This
is the only carte blanche decision by the IHSA. No north-south or east-west provision is in
place. Adhering to IHSA Policy No. 19, titled “Grouping and Seeding State Tournament
Series”, “the geographic principle is essential to regulating the character of interscholastic
competition.” In short, to level the inbalance of resources between upstate and downstate.
Most classes have a defined geographic border, with the exception of two.
Classes 5A and 6A usually have a construed border in the division from 32 into two
sixteens, as no vertical nor horizontal line divides the group. Such a dividing line is often a
slanted one, with the Chicagoland area on one side and the rest of Illinois on the other
side. The dividing line is so placed in order to not only create fairness and equity, but to
also maintain educational context within the program. The IHSA has an objective to be fair
to all of its member schools, and to not give one side – be it Chicagoland or downstate
Illinois – an edge over the other.
High school sports, according to the IHSA, exist “to enrich the educational process” of
student-athletes. High school sports, contrary to what its die-hard fans think, do not exist
simply for an entertainment purpose.
Getting back to the pairing process, the IHSA does not decide exactly which teams go up
against one another. Such a sentence as “The IHSA has decided that Lena-Winslow and
Forreston are to meet in the first round” does not entirely make sense. The only thing the
IHSA actually decides that Saturday evening is the geographic border seperating the two
sub-groups of 16. Everything else has already been spelled out in advance.
Quite often such sentences as the one mentioned in the previous paragraph are uttered
during playoff pairings shows on the radio. The sentence has two parts to it: “The IHSA
has decided that” and “Lena-Winslow and Forreston are to meet in the first round.” When
we emphasize, and even mention, the first part of the sentence over the second part, we
are emphasizing the decision over the pairing. No decision will be made, however the
pairing will be made.
Also, to say that the IHSA itself makes such decisions is vague.
If we tinker with the sentence to read, “Lena-Winslow and Forreston are to meet in the
first round, according to the IHSA playoff pairing process,” we are explaining exactly why
such a pairing is so.
In terms of conference or division teams going against one another, if the general thought
of that is not well-liked then the reason for the occurance (“the IHSA said so”) tends to be
emphasized over the actual pairing as a blaming reference.
When it comes to the playoffs, the goal is to win five games to get that coveted state title –
regardless of who a team plays. No matter if the teams played three weeks before, or
even the week before, it doesn't matter who a team faces, the goal of winning five games
is all that is important.
Also, as to the argument of “the playoffs are meant to pair teams that haven't seen each
other,” since when? Since the days of boys basketball district tournaments, roads to state
tournament success have always involved the elimination of nearby teams in the road's
earliest stages.
What playoff pairing disareements boil down to is a matter of which weighs more: the
desires of the high school sports fan, or the educational needs and goals of the athlete.
That is an easy one to figure out.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and has to add that the "for
dummies" reference only means that this info is "for the rest of us." He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat (at) yahoo (dot) com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
during last year's football pairings night:
“Why don't we put Amboy and Sterling Newman against each other (in the first round)?”
“I have an idea. Why don't we put teams from the same conference against each other?”
“For Class 1A, let's put Forreston and East Dubuque together.”
“Nah. I have a better idea.”
“What's that?”
“How about instead of East Dubuque, we put Forreston against Lena-Winslow.”
“Okay, that sounds good.”
No person, or group of people decides football playoff pairings in such a way.
When fans tend to disagree with the choice of games, they are often led to imagining a
scenario in which such discussion happened. Then they mold it in a way that makes the
fan's personal opinion look good.
Fans, let put any “superior” knowledge aside for a moment.
For years, the IHSA has had a system in place in regards to which playoff teams go up
against each other. In fact, the system is spelled out in public on the IHSA website on a
page titled “How the Football Playoff Pairings are Determined”.
In short, here are the steps:
The first step is selecting the 256 teams to participate in the playoffs based on wins,
playoff points and/or the combined wins of defeated opponents (if need be).
Once 256 teams are decided, the second step is to line up the 256 schools based on
IHSA enrollment (including multiplier situations).
Step three is to make any multiplier-waiver changes. Any multiplier-effected team in the
field of 256 that has not won a playoff football game in the past six years will have its
enrollment reverted to the actual number of students enrolled at the school. St. Bede is
the lone area playoff-eligible example of such a school.
Step four is to group the enrollment-lined field into eight equal parts of 32 teams each:
Class 8A down to 1A.
The fifth step is to make any “play-up” changes. East St. Louis is the only football-playing
school to request to play in a specific higher class than normal. If the Flyers originally fall
in any class lower than 7A, it will be moved up to 7A due to the school's choice to play up
in classification to that class. The East St. Louis change effectively means that the
smallest 7A school will become the largest school in 6A.
The only carte blanche step in the entire playoff pairing formulation comes in the sixth
step: taking each of the eight groups of 32 teams each and dividing them up into two
halves per group. No rule states exactly how this step is to be enforced.
By now there are 16 sub-groups of eight teams each, where two sub-groups are in one
group (class) based on enrollment.
Within these 16 sub-groups comes the seventh step: seeding each team 1-16 based on
wins, playoff points and/or the combined wins of defeated opponents (if need be). If two or
more teams are still tied for a particular seed after these three factors, a third and/or
fourth tiebreaker will be used.
By now, exact pairings – of one versus 16, two versus 15 and so on – should be
determined. Seeds one-through-eight will host games (except Maine South, via an IHSA
punishment). If any first-round pairing in a 16-team sub-group involves a trip of 150 miles
in a straight line (“as the crow flies”), the affected sub-group may be further split into two
eight-team sections – unless, according to the IHSA, “doing so increases the anticipated
travel involved during the first two rounds of the playoffs.”
Any questions?
The biggest question regards step six: the splitting of the 32-team group into two sixteens.
The rules state that a split has to occur, meaning the IHSA cannot simply decide to seed
teams 1-32.
Again, there will be no 1-32 seeding situations this year. Such a debate has originated
from the Chicago suburbs based on the close proximity of its schools, but does not keep
in mind schools from the entire state of Illinois. Furthermore, smaller schools cannot
afford, during this economic crisis, to travel far distances unless the need is great.
The step six split is done by geographical location of the 32 schools per class. In other
words, the IHSA decides the geographical border dividing the two sub-groups of 16. This
is the only carte blanche decision by the IHSA. No north-south or east-west provision is in
place. Adhering to IHSA Policy No. 19, titled “Grouping and Seeding State Tournament
Series”, “the geographic principle is essential to regulating the character of interscholastic
competition.” In short, to level the inbalance of resources between upstate and downstate.
Most classes have a defined geographic border, with the exception of two.
Classes 5A and 6A usually have a construed border in the division from 32 into two
sixteens, as no vertical nor horizontal line divides the group. Such a dividing line is often a
slanted one, with the Chicagoland area on one side and the rest of Illinois on the other
side. The dividing line is so placed in order to not only create fairness and equity, but to
also maintain educational context within the program. The IHSA has an objective to be fair
to all of its member schools, and to not give one side – be it Chicagoland or downstate
Illinois – an edge over the other.
High school sports, according to the IHSA, exist “to enrich the educational process” of
student-athletes. High school sports, contrary to what its die-hard fans think, do not exist
simply for an entertainment purpose.
Getting back to the pairing process, the IHSA does not decide exactly which teams go up
against one another. Such a sentence as “The IHSA has decided that Lena-Winslow and
Forreston are to meet in the first round” does not entirely make sense. The only thing the
IHSA actually decides that Saturday evening is the geographic border seperating the two
sub-groups of 16. Everything else has already been spelled out in advance.
Quite often such sentences as the one mentioned in the previous paragraph are uttered
during playoff pairings shows on the radio. The sentence has two parts to it: “The IHSA
has decided that” and “Lena-Winslow and Forreston are to meet in the first round.” When
we emphasize, and even mention, the first part of the sentence over the second part, we
are emphasizing the decision over the pairing. No decision will be made, however the
pairing will be made.
Also, to say that the IHSA itself makes such decisions is vague.
If we tinker with the sentence to read, “Lena-Winslow and Forreston are to meet in the
first round, according to the IHSA playoff pairing process,” we are explaining exactly why
such a pairing is so.
In terms of conference or division teams going against one another, if the general thought
of that is not well-liked then the reason for the occurance (“the IHSA said so”) tends to be
emphasized over the actual pairing as a blaming reference.
When it comes to the playoffs, the goal is to win five games to get that coveted state title –
regardless of who a team plays. No matter if the teams played three weeks before, or
even the week before, it doesn't matter who a team faces, the goal of winning five games
is all that is important.
Also, as to the argument of “the playoffs are meant to pair teams that haven't seen each
other,” since when? Since the days of boys basketball district tournaments, roads to state
tournament success have always involved the elimination of nearby teams in the road's
earliest stages.
What playoff pairing disareements boil down to is a matter of which weighs more: the
desires of the high school sports fan, or the educational needs and goals of the athlete.
That is an easy one to figure out.
Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and has to add that the "for
dummies" reference only means that this info is "for the rest of us." He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat (at) yahoo (dot) com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
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Related:
It Shouldn't Matter
Who You Face
High School Football's
“Christmas” Has
Turned Into
Unneeded Mass
Hysteria ...
(column from 10/28/10)
It Shouldn't Matter
Who You Face
High School Football's
“Christmas” Has
Turned Into
Unneeded Mass
Hysteria ...
(column from 10/28/10)