SDHSAA football advisory sends 12-team playoff proposal to AD vote for third time

Dec. 1—PIERRE, S.D. — Once again, a 12-team football playoff format is set to go before South Dakota high school activities directors next spring.

A proposal for the change was passed through the South Dakota High School Activities Association football advisory committee during a meeting on Monday.

It is the third time in recent years that a proposal to alter the current 16-team playoff format in Class 11B and the nine-man division will be put to a vote at the annual ADs conference, according to SDHSAA executive director Dan Swartos. On each of the first two occasions, changes were voted down.

The latest proposal was brought forward by Howard coach Pat Ruml, the nine-man coaching representative on the committee. It calls for a 12-team playoff in Class 11B and the three nine-man classes, cutting the No. 13-through-No. 16 seeds that currently qualify and giving the top-four seeds a first-round bye.

"When you're talking about having 22 teams in a class and taking 16 of them for playoffs, I think that percentage (of qualifying teams) is a little off," Ruml said. "Eight is probably not enough ... but 10 or 12 could be doable. Do you think the 13-through-16 (seeds) want to make playoffs?"

Class 9B representatives have expressed a desire to keep the 16-team bracket, but Classes 9AA and 9A are much more open to a condensed playoff field, according to Ruml. Swartos noted that if the cut line between the 12th and 13th-place finishers was applied to this year's standings, it would have roughly separated teams over .500 from those below .500 in terms of winning percentage in all four classes.

Elk Point-Jefferson coach Jake Terry, the Class 11B and 11A coaching representative, agreed with Ruml's position, adding that the cost to schools, especially those tasked with making lengthy trips, doesn't always make sense.

"I think the 13, 14, 15, 16, they don't necessarily, financially, want to drive five hours across the state to play one game of football for what could be a tough one," Terry said.

In the SDHSAA rule-making process, advisory committees in each sport and activity vote on rules proposals, which are then advanced to the state's athletic directors at the South Dakota Interscholastic Athletic Administrators annual conference, where each high school has a vote on the matter. That vote is non-binding but provides a recommendation to the SDHSAA Board of Directors, which needs to approve any rule change with two rounds of voting before it can be enacted. The SDHSAA executive staff also provides comments and recommendations on the proposals to the SDHSAA board.

Armed with the figures, Terry pointed out that first-round games this season were decided by averages of 38.1 (9B), 34.3 (9A), 35.3 (9AA) and 23 (11B) points per game. Current rules call for the game to be ended early if the score reaches a 50-point margin at halftime or beyond, while a running clock is started if the margin reaches at least 35 points in the second half.

"In nine-man, it's borderline running clock average (margin) across the board. Class 11B is a little bit more competitive, but from year to year, you're obviously going to have some variance with it," Terry said. "There's just not a lot of close first-round games."

Swartos explained that a key sticking point was concerns about being assigned a bye week in the final week of the regular season and then earning a first-round playoff bye. In that situation, a team would have two idle game dates in a row and nearly three full weeks between its final contest of the regular season and when it opened the postseason.

For football, the SDHSAA handles scheduling for all member schools. Since there are an odd number of nine-man and Class 11B teams, it necessitates teams taking bye weeks on a rotating basis throughout the regular season, with some teams getting an idle date on the final available game date.

"It's been voted down, I think, mostly because of the fear that (schools) might have two bye weeks in a row," Swartos said, "which is understandable, but I don't know that there's a way around it."

A point was made that, in the event the 12-team playoff proposal succeeds and South Dakota forms a six-man football class in the future, the postseason format could be re-evaluated again at that time.

Even with the knowledge that similar ideas have been defeated recently, the proposed playoff format change was voted through the committee without resistance.

"I think it's worth a proposal to at least push it on to the ADs and make them make another decision on it," Terry said. "To me, that's a discussion worth having with the larger group."

"I think you're still going to struggle to get this through all the ADs," offered Brian White, the Sully Buttes AD and AD representative. "But I don't think throwing it out there is the worst idea."

* A new seed points system for Class 11B and the nine-man divisions, where there are eight regular-season games, will also be sent to the AD conference for consideration after passing through the committee. The plan includes more thresholds for seed-point values based on opposing winning percentage, increasing the values for a win and decreasing the values for losses.

* The committee approved updates to the football handbook regarding forfeit procedures and playoff seeding tiebreakers, and advanced those changes to the ADs.

* A subcommittee is handling discussions regarding the introduction of success factor classification.