10//24/23- Football Playoffs Update

October 25, 2023 Football Blog Updates

The following is to update schools regarding the 2023 Football Playoffs, with particular emphasis on Rounds 1-4.   

OFFICIALS AVAILABILITY AND GAME SCHEDULING

Last week, we held a conference call with our assigners, with the following data gleaned from that call. 

• Clearly, they feel comfortable with assigning, at most, between 85 and 88 crews for the first round if all contests had five officials. We have 95 games currently scheduled. 
• Simply put, we will need to have some schools play on Thursday night or Saturday night if we are going to be able to ensure that full crews of officials are assigned. 
• And be mindful that last year, we had 20 schools desire a full crew of seven officials for the first round. 
• Simply put, the supply/demand equation is not balanced right now. 
• We have around 80 first-year officials and for the most part, the assigners are not as comfortable with those officials in a playoff situation just as most of you aren’t comfortable with first-year players in those postseason situations.

With that in mind, we ask schools to consider moving contests to Thursday, November 2 or Saturday, November 4 wherever possible. The unfortunate truth is that without those moves, I will have little option but to direct game dates be changed so that no kid loses competition opportunity due to a lack of officials.

Thus far, only a handful of schools have completed the FB106 form, with only a couple (as of yet) choosing Thursday or Saturday.

Last year, minimal movement was needed, but with this year’s shortage of officials in addition to the additional teams in the playoffs with the new alignment, there hasn’t been a great deal of movement yet.

If game dates are revised by this office, such will be done this coming weekend so that final logistics can be completed if movement is necessary.  

PLAYOFF INSTRUCTIONS

• Though the instructions have been on the KHSAA website for several weeks, some are just now realizing they need them. 
• See the complete fall instructions link at https://ly.khsaa.org/tm2q
• The first section of those instructions (numbered through page 11) is the general instructions applicable to all championships.
• As football is the final fall championship, those instructions are near the end. 
  • Navigate either 1) to the numbered page 39 of those fall sport instructions to get the football-specific information, or
  • In the table of contents, click on the line that says FOOTBALL SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS on the second page of the table of contents and it will take you directly to those instructions.

WITHDRAWAL FROM PLAYOFFS

• We have already had one team withdraw from the playoffs. 
• Schools should keep the following in mind.
  • For withdrawals made prior to the formation of brackets (the deadline is this week), the penalty is simply removal from the playoffs.
  • If such withdrawal is made after the brackets and standings in all classes are final, the school will be withdrawn from this year’s playoffs, and ineligible for district play in 2024.

PLAYOFF INFORMATION

• 95% or more of the questions you might have are answered either 1) in the instruction manual as described above, or 2) at one of the links on the Round 1-4 pages.
• See all information about the playoff contests for rounds 1-4 at the KHSAA website link at https://ly.khsaa.org/uzmw
• Included in this link are links to the updated information (which are also links in this listing) such as:
  • 2023-2024 Football RPI Data
  • 2023-2024 Playoff Instructions for rounds 1 through 4 for Managers, Teams and Fans
  • 2023-2024 District Football Standings
  • 2023-2024 District Three-way Tie-Breaker Calculations
  • 2023-2024 Football Bracket Builder
  • 2023-2024 Playoff Schedule Submissions by Schools
  • 2023-2024 RPI Round 3/4 Bracket Helper
  • 2023-2024 RPI Based 3rd Round Pairings
  • 2023-2024 RPI Based 4th Round Pairings
  • And all of the playoff brackets in both scoreboard and PDF formats.

FB106 FORM

• As is the case each year, teams hosting playoff games are to complete the FB106 form to inform the office as to game date and time, as well as the first-round officials request. 
• That form is on the KHSAA website at https://ly.khsaa.org/jemw.

TIEBREAKERS

• Provided ALL scores are timely reported this Friday night, we should be able to post the results of all of the tie-breakers soon after the last score is received.
• Because RPI is the tiebreaker for the 4th year, it is imperative that ALL scores be reported in a timely manner.
• See the link above for those results and the notation when those are final.

BRACKETS

• The bracket builder link above shows all brackets in the order that they will be entered, including the sports held for this weekend’s tiebreakers.

3/4 TRACKER

• The Round 3/4 Bracket Helper link above is the easiest way to track the postseason’s first two rounds and impact on the third-round pairings and will be updated as game results are received.

  Thanks and best of luck for a safe last week of the regular season.