- April 19, 2024
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“No one would care if we were 5-5 and going (to the playoffs), because went 4-1 in the district.”
Coach Robert Ripley is right. No one would ask him about the playoff system, if they were average but won enough division games to advance. I, however, would still raise the issue. Last year, covering Seabreeze, who went 3-6 in the regular season and advanced to playoffs, I can’t say I was a fan.
This football season has concluded for a lot of good teams with impressive records, while others go on, who may have a losing record. But, is that fair? I think so. Playoff teams are determined based on the division record. If you win your division games, you advance. Because each team plays the same opponents, no one can argue the fairness involved. My issue concerns the other five to six games on the schedule. What’s the significance? According to Ripley, the “The rest are honestly just practice.” I would also agree with him there.
I understand that colleges look at stats and players’ performances throughout a season, and other games generate revenue for the program, but the better wisdom would suggest that teams treat those non-division games like practices. When teams trade game films for preparation against my squad, they’d be in for a rude awakening, when we come out in an entirely different formation with different personnel. I’d rest some of the best players midway through games and play the less talented for the majority of games. Then, when I get to division games, our opponents wouldn’t know what to study. Yea, we may go into our division schedule 0-3, or better, if we’re lucky or good enough, but we would be fresh and unpredictable, unlike our competition.
With most sports topics, hindsight is always better, and spectators are always the best coaches, because our logic doesn’t breed consequences. But I wonder how long a coach would last, if he adopted that system, and it worked to perfection… Would he be considered a genius, if he finished three straight seasons at 5-5, winning all or nearly all of his division games, while losing others, but getting into the playoffs? Or would he get fired for losing a bunch of exhibition games? We’ll probably never found out because that system is too risky. I guess that’s why Ripley said, “It’s just the nature of the beast.”
