It may be time to shrink the playoffs in Texas

Over at Yahoo's Prep Rally blog, Cameron Smith examines an 81-5 victory by Dallas Lincoln over Seagoville...in the PLAYOFFS.

Now, in Class 4A and Class 5A, just like in football in those bigger classifications, four teams from each district make the playoffs. When that happens, things like an 81-5 beat down have a chance to happen. Seagoville entered the playoffs eight games under .500, while Lincoln entered as the No. 12 team in the state.

I've never personally understood the need for four playoff teams from a district, because of this very reason. It's bad enough that in smaller district's there are times when more than half of the teams in the district make the playoffs, as is the case in Slocum/Grapeland's five-team district.

I realize that there are times when district's are loaded and the three (or maybe four) teams that make the playoffs can all compete. But, more often than not that isn't really the case.

I think it's probably time for the UIL to shrink the size of the playoff fields, especially at the 4A and 5A level. I'm okay with three teams from each district making the playoffs, but four seems a bit excessive.


There are other ways to do it, and Arizona does their playoff positioning based on a BCS-style points system with the top-16 teams getting in. I don't like that, because in that scenario there could be times when no team from a region (AZ's version of districts) would get in. Granted, they've got far fewer teams.

There is no perfect system, but whatever system we have in place has to be tweaked from time to time to make sure things are on an even playing field, especially in the playoffs. If a team blows out another team in a district game, that's one thing. After all, district's are built geographically so there is always going to be room for disparity. In the playoffs, however, the UIL should strive for the best teams to participate.

There might be those who feel like the more teams that make the playoffs the better, because being a playoff could breed confidence no matter your record. I disagree. I'd be willing to bet that if you asked the Seagoville girls today which they'd rather have done, at least some of them would've said miss the playoffs all together.

What do you think? Vote in the poll at right and leave a comment or two.