Video: Should Division II Overhaul the Playoff System? - with Mike Racy

[KleShreen]

No...all NFL teams just don't all over haul themselves every season.

The Bengals drafting at the top for a few years finally started paying off. They would be like IUP getting more money and recruiting more players and rising back up but you would demand they play every Semi final on the road based on "past history"

The Rams had been to a Super Bowl a few years prior. They went for broke last year as the window was shutting on their aging roster and the refs made sure they got through the window and screwed over the Bengals..based on reputation of course.

The Lions never figured out how to win in an era of free agency and a salary cap. A lot of teams are in that boat......

So...if the Lions make the playoffs...the need to play on the road until they prove themselves. I was told that was a fair system for foosball.

lol you are making comparisons that don't make any sense. The NFL doesn't have a committee which determines playoff teams or seedings. The NCAA does. There's no postseason in NCAA that doesn't have humans making decisions on who makes it and who is seeded where, besides the sports which use timing systems like track, cross country, and swimming. The NFL doesn't have human decisions being used for playoffs, because professional sports is all on an equal playing field when there's a salary cap involved, so record is all that is needed. The "disadvantage" for the Lions if they were to make the playoffs would be in their lack of experience for playoff atmosphere football.

[KleShreen]

I think the benefit of the doubt should certainly be in play at times and Region 1 hasn't earned it yet. I truly thought Shepherd might be on their way to establishing themselves as the bully of Region 1 when they beat GV in 2015 and then lost a very tough game against UNA the following year in the national semi's in 2016. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have happened as they got bum rushed the last couple years in the national semifinals. I agree with your last paragraph synopsis.

I can assure you however, that Shepherd's VP of athletics (former player on the fball team) has a mission to get the Rams to be nationally competitive and not just regionally. It's been a climb, but scholarships have increased incrementally in his tenure to the point where I think the Rams are in the 28-30 range now. Goal is to get to the full amount of 36 and I do think they will get there eventually.

I also think Ashland could end up being that team as well. Facilities are great there and in a good recruiting area. I've heard that funding has been good as well, so shouldn't be any reason really why shouldn't be in the conversation either. It hasn't bore out fully yet, but I don't think SR1 is going backwards is I guess what I'm trying to say. It's incrementally trying to get there at least amongst a few teams.

Ashland could be. They were never able to get out of the region while in the GLIAC, but they're one of the few schools now in SR1 that seem to be investing the resources needed to compete nationally. And maybe Shepherd will get there as well. Would be great for everyone.

[KleShreen]

Then the semi final games in that setup have to be at a neutral site. I don't care if 10 people show up in the stands. FCS needs to do that too...always giving the Dakotastan State schools the advantage has gotten really boring. The final 8 in basketball go to a neutral site...there is no reason why they can't play two games in a day at neutral site...hell...why not take those games back to Florence....make it feel like the Good Old Days for some of you.

I like how D1 does their semi final games in the bowl game...neither team has the true home field advantage.

if you can't agree on that then my belief that this is all about making sure the playoffs are tilted for the advantaged few and there is no point to having a division wide playoff system is spot on.

All it takes for an SR1 team to host a semifinal is to actually face decent competition in their non-conference schedule. But the only teams anyone in SR1 is scheduling in non-conference are fellow SR1 teams and HBCU's. So if they get to the semifinals, they have a poor SOS. That's an easy fix on SR1's end. That's on you guys. Face some competition outside of your own bad region, and beat them, and then get to the semifinals. The "advantaged few" are the "advantaged few" because they challenge themselves in non-conference play and win in non-conference play as a region. There's nothing stopping IUP from playing Colorado Mines in their non-conference week. Instead, they schedule, yet again, another SR1 team in Ashland. That's not going to help anything. It's just going to weaken your own region's OWP and SOS.

[GorillaTeacher]

I don't think the portal is bearing out the doomsayer predictions. A minuscule fraction of the portal entries find new homes at 4 year institutions, even less moving up divisions. The NFL is designed to entirely level the playing field with their scheduling and salary cap. Parity is the name of their game. Its why 1st place teams play 1st place teams and so forth, the lowest performing teams pick first and get first claim on waiver pick ups. That is the reason why so many NFL teams seem to come out of nowhere each season, (see 2022 eagles, 2021 bengals), it all comes due eventually in the NFL.

[IUPNation]

I think the benefit of the doubt should certainly be in play at times and Region 1 hasn't earned it yet. I truly thought Shepherd might be on their way to establishing themselves as the bully of Region 1 when they beat GV in 2015 and then lost a very tough game against UNA the following year in the national semi's in 2016. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have happened as they got bum rushed the last couple years in the national semifinals. I agree with your last paragraph synopsis.

I can assure you however, that Shepherd's VP of athletics (former player on the fball team) has a mission to get the Rams to be nationally competitive and not just regionally. It's been a climb, but scholarships have increased incrementally in his tenure to the point where I think the Rams are in the 28-30 range now. Goal is to get to the full amount of 36 and I do think they will get there eventually.

I also think Ashland could end up being that team as well. Facilities are great there and in a good recruiting area. I've heard that funding has been good as well, so shouldn't be any reason really why shouldn't be in the conversation either. It hasn't bore out fully yet, but I don't think SR1 is going backwards is I guess what I'm trying to say. It's incrementally trying to get there at least amongst a few teams.

Exactly.

But expect insulting comments back about Ashland being so scared and running away from the GLIAC...despite the fact they won the GLIAC in 2017 prior to their departure (with several of their friends in tow as well).

The Ashland/IUP series is going to be very good the next four years. I don't expect IUP will keep beating them like we have done so far in 2017, 2018 and last year.

Shepherd ran into a buzzsaw in Ferris. Their coach was able to keep a roster that was excellent before Covid and lost the Natty to become quite a formidable veteran force for two more seasons. Am I jealous of that? Absolutely! The biggest difference between IUP/Shepherd and the high and mighty is depth..and that is where the lack of funding comes in. It's not that our 11 starters are that bad in comparison they would put up some kind of a fight even if they will most likely lose...we just don't have the quality second and third stringers they do that they can just insert if players go down or need to rotate in and out during a game to keep them fresh and not miss a beat. The backups at Ferris could start at IUP without question...and we'd get better!!

[IUPNation]

lol this wouldn't make any sense, because NFL teams can entirely overhaul themselves every off-season to be more or less competitive. They are all on relatively equal footing. The Bengals were a laughing stock and then overnight turned themselves in to arguably the best team in the AFC before the 2021 season. The Rams went from being the Super Bowl champions to being one of the worst teams in the league in one off-season. It happens regularly. Just now, the Lions "respect" is coming in the form of being more respected in the media and on betting odds. But they still have to prove it on the field.

Also, you're literally the one being a butthurt snowflake about people pointing out your region essentially never winning anything in the playoffs against the other regions.

No...all NFL teams just don't all over haul themselves every season.

The Bengals drafting at the top for a few years finally started paying off. They would be like IUP getting more money and recruiting more players and rising back up but you would demand they play every Semi final on the road based on "past history"

The Rams had been to a Super Bowl a few years prior. They went for broke last year as the window was shutting on their aging roster and the refs made sure they got through the window and screwed over the Bengals..based on reputation of course.

The Lions never figured out how to win in an era of free agency and a salary cap. A lot of teams are in that boat......

So...if the Lions make the playoffs...the need to play on the road until they prove themselves. I was told that was a fair system for foosball.

[Ram040506]

Because things in college football don't change drastically from season to season. It's not like all of a sudden the GLIAC or MIAA's best team is going to not be competitive when one season ends and the next begins. It's not like the top team from the NE-10 is all of a sudden going to be a powerhouse in one off-season. That just doesn't happen outside of extreme circumstances. That's why conferences at all levels of college football are perceived the way they are. That's why everyone knows there's a Power 5 and Group of 5 in FBS. That's not going to change overnight.

The MAC isn't going to come out in fall of 2023 and start busting ass all over the Big Ten. But hey, maybe they can pick up a couple wins here and there in the regular season over P5 schools, maybe the MAC can produce one team who threatens the CFP discussion this year or next year, and if they can do these things year-after-year and improve upon them over a long term, the conference can start being regarded as competitive on a national scale and start getting considered for the same spots that the current #3 Big Ten teams are being considered for. It's no different in FCS, or D2, or D3.

There's schools which build a great system around football and are competitive. Whether that is facilities, whether that is coaching, whether that is strength training, whether that is nutrition, whether that is academic support staff, whether that is an environment around athletics that breeds success across the entire department, schools go at it from all different angles all around the country. Ferris doesn't have great facilities. Their facilities are kinda garbage. They're in a boring AF part of Michigan. But yet they're on the brink of being a dynasty. Why? Because they invested in coaching and recruiting and training, it paid off, and now they're one of the perennial powerhouses because they've had success and kids want to play where they can win.

Maybe if the PSAC can at least be competitive in a national semifinal next year, and then maybe they can win a national semifinal in 2024, and then maybe they can be competitive in a national title game in 2026, and maybe they can win a national title in 2028, then maybe the conference and region will get more respect. But as it stands, there's 50 years of futility by the conference and region as a whole once they get past quarterfinals and have to face national competition. So they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt of anything. And when your region gets its opportunity on a national stage to showcase what the best of D2 has to offer, they've been getting embarrassed for decades, and it has made D2 football look like a joke. You don't care about that because you've said that being good in the region is all that matters. The other three regions are trying to win national championships. Even if SR1 could produce one program who actually appears like they're taking it seriously on a national scale, and runs roughshod over the entire region and plays competitive games in the semis and finals, it would improve the perception of the region. But there's not a single school who has been willing to make that commitment in decades in SR1. Meanwhile, there's 8+ schools trying to be competitive on the national stage in each of the other regions, and it shows every time in the semis and finals when the same regions keep having success and the same region keeps having no success.

I think the benefit of the doubt should certainly be in play at times and Region 1 hasn't earned it yet. I truly thought Shepherd might be on their way to establishing themselves as the bully of Region 1 when they beat GV in 2015 and then lost a very tough game against UNA the following year in the national semi's in 2016. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have happened as they got bum rushed the last couple years in the national semifinals. I agree with your last paragraph synopsis.

I can assure you however, that Shepherd's VP of athletics (former player on the fball team) has a mission to get the Rams to be nationally competitive and not just regionally. It's been a climb, but scholarships have increased incrementally in his tenure to the point where I think the Rams are in the 28-30 range now. Goal is to get to the full amount of 36 and I do think they will get there eventually.

I also think Ashland could end up being that team as well. Facilities are great there and in a good recruiting area. I've heard that funding has been good as well, so shouldn't be any reason really why shouldn't be in the conversation either. It hasn't bore out fully yet, but I don't think SR1 is going backwards is I guess what I'm trying to say. It's incrementally trying to get there at least amongst a few teams.

[IUPNation]

That's not what I said lol. Literally all anyone is asking is that each region not be guaranteed a semifinals spot. Just stop making it regional, make it a national bracket, so the possibility of the actual best four teams making the semifinals is on the table.

Then the semi final games in that setup have to be at a neutral site. I don't care if 10 people show up in the stands. FCS needs to do that too...always giving the Dakotastan State schools the advantage has gotten really boring. The final 8 in basketball go to a neutral site...there is no reason why they can't play two games in a day at neutral site...hell...why not take those games back to Florence....make it feel like the Good Old Days for some of you.

I like how D1 does their semi final games in the bowl game...neither team has the true home field advantage.

if you can't agree on that then my belief that this is all about making sure the playoffs are tilted for the advantaged few and there is no point to having a division wide playoff system is spot on.

[KleShreen]

It's not like you haven't done that in the past. I've seen you past work. Son go ahead but I will only insult you back and even worse. Why should teams that failed in the regular season get a second chance? Why have a regular season at all. Why not just start the playoffs week 1. I guess Grand Valley didn't deserve something like getting the only playoff spot from the GLIAC for beating them in the regular season. You might have won the National Title had they been left home for that loss.



I didn't ignore it. Where are they getting the money if the school is so broke? Can GV use state tax money to funnel into scholarships that is not allowed in other states. You didn't answer that either. Does Grand Valley have some big Sugar Daddy donor for sports that writes checks every year? I would just like to know how a 25000 student school funds it's small college sports programs.



Because I never rationalized that...that is just what you chose to believe what I said. I am just against a small group of schools in D2 deciding how the playoff format should be to only benefit themselves so they get every playoff game at home based on perceived conference strength from top to bottom when said conferences stay in a SILO schedule and never set foot in the regions they are looking to cock block. I know Region 1 is at a disadvantage and I have stated several times that there are too many teams in the playoffs. They never should have gone beyond 16. Your region last year proved that when your week one was as uncompetitive as it could be with the disparity of team strength. I'm not asking for our teams to get an easy shot at the finals. I just want a system that doesn't build in institutionalized discrimination that will always favor the same 8 teams year after year and not give anyone who has improved a shot. That's all.

I mean...little old IUP did beat the GLIAC champion in 2017. That champion made the playoffs and we reached the national semis and was only down by 7 in the 4th. So don't act like it can't happen for a Region 1 team when it comes together even if it was for one season. The arrogance on here is astounding.

I mean let me tell you how it feels to be a Region 1 fan on here. You are a Detroit Lions fans I assume. They suck. They have not won a playoff game in 30 years. They barely have made the playoffs in 30 years. I'm an Eagles fans. We have won more playoff games in the NFC than anyone else since 2000. We won one Super Bowl and got cheated out of two others. So what happens next year if the Lions have a great year playing their crappy NFC North competition and the Eagles get a few dings because the NFC East is harder. How would you like it that the NFL said because the Eagles have the better history, the Lions have to play in Philly until they prove themselves. Also, Philly fans get to mock and insult you about how you suck and you shouldn't be in the playoffs because you have suck for so long and the only time you ever made the NFC Championship game 30 years ...aka the semi finals....you got destroyed by and NFC East team then known as the Washington Racist Logos...now known as the Landover Taco Holders. So the Lions will have to play every playoff game on the road against NFC East and West competition because those divisions have won the most Super Bowls in the NFC until they win on the road in the playoffs and make the Super Bowl by playing every playoff game on the road against those two divisions based on their past history...and Cowturd fans will never stop reminding you about their past history. That is literally what you all want for D2.

BTW...the Detroit Lions will win the NFC North next season. They should still be forced to play every playoff game on the road even if the spread sheet numbers say they deserve a home game.



I'm not ruining threads. I'm a voice from a region that "you people" are pushing aside and not going to listen to and you don't want us to have any voice.

It's not my fault you people can't discuss foosball without turning into the biggest butthurt snowflakes when somebody challenges you.

lol this wouldn't make any sense, because NFL teams can entirely overhaul themselves every off-season to be more or less competitive. They are all on relatively equal footing. The Bengals were a laughing stock and then overnight turned themselves in to arguably the best team in the AFC before the 2021 season. The Rams went from being the Super Bowl champions to being one of the worst teams in the league in one off-season. It happens regularly. Just now, the Lions "respect" is coming in the form of being more respected in the media and on betting odds. But they still have to prove it on the field.

Also, you're literally the one being a butthurt snowflake about people pointing out your region essentially never winning anything in the playoffs against the other regions.

[IUPNation]

Conference champs only is not an indicator of the strongest teams. That bore out in the playoffs this year pretty clearly. That would be a worse system than what is currently happening.

...but it is not discriminatory. As you know I hate anything that discriminates based on something not in their control.

They have to come up with a system that makes it fair when teams not known to be good improve and rise up.

[KleShreen]

So..lets just only have those same teams have the playoff spots and be done with it.

Thank for finally admitting that you think that should be the only fix to the format.

That's not what I said lol. Literally all anyone is asking is that each region not be guaranteed a semifinals spot. Just stop making it regional, make it a national bracket, so the possibility of the actual best four teams making the semifinals is on the table.

[IUPNation]

You've stated this multiple times. But it does happen when a non-conf winner wins the Natty. Like this last year. So FSU shouldn't have made the PO's this season? I'm not in to name-calling, but you're pushing me to throw some at you.

It's not like you haven't done that in the past. I've seen you past work. Son go ahead but I will only insult you back and even worse. Why should teams that failed in the regular season get a second chance? Why have a regular season at all. Why not just start the playoffs week 1. I guess Grand Valley didn't deserve something like getting the only playoff spot from the GLIAC for beating them in the regular season. You might have won the National Title had they been left home for that loss.

And you've not acknowledged my response about state funding at GV. You've raised funding issues multiple times and just use made up comments on your part. GV gets less than 25% of its budget from the state. And they don't charge a separate fee to their students for athletics. So quit your whining about how underfunded IUP is. It's a choice of the school's.

I didn't ignore it. Where are they getting the money if the school is so broke? Can GV use state tax money to funnel into scholarships that is not allowed in other states. You didn't answer that either. Does Grand Valley have some big Sugar Daddy donor for sports that writes checks every year? I would just like to know how a 25000 student school funds it's small college sports programs.

You also haven't rationalized how an inferior program should play for a Natty, just because of their geographic location instead of the quality and record of the program. You wan Teams in the PO's just because they are in some arbitrary region... not because they are considered to be a better team than others.

Because I never rationalized that...that is just what you chose to believe what I said. I am just against a small group of schools in D2 deciding how the playoff format should be to only benefit themselves so they get every playoff game at home based on perceived conference strength from top to bottom when said conferences stay in a SILO schedule and never set foot in the regions they are looking to cock block. I know Region 1 is at a disadvantage and I have stated several times that there are too many teams in the playoffs. They never should have gone beyond 16. Your region last year proved that when your week one was as uncompetitive as it could be with the disparity of team strength. I'm not asking for our teams to get an easy shot at the finals. I just want a system that doesn't build in institutionalized discrimination that will always favor the same 8 teams year after year and not give anyone who has improved a shot. That's all.

I mean...little old IUP did beat the GLIAC champion in 2017. That champion made the playoffs and we reached the national semis and was only down by 7 in the 4th. So don't act like it can't happen for a Region 1 team when it comes together even if it was for one season. The arrogance on here is astounding.

I mean let me tell you how it feels to be a Region 1 fan on here. You are a Detroit Lions fans I assume. They suck. They have not won a playoff game in 30 years. They barely have made the playoffs in 30 years. I'm an Eagles fans. We have won more playoff games in the NFC than anyone else since 2000. We won one Super Bowl and got cheated out of two others. So what happens next year if the Lions have a great year playing their crappy NFC North competition and the Eagles get a few dings because the NFC East is harder. How would you like it that the NFL said because the Eagles have the better history, the Lions have to play in Philly until they prove themselves. Also, Philly fans get to mock and insult you about how you suck and you shouldn't be in the playoffs because you have suck for so long and the only time you ever made the NFC Championship game 30 years ...aka the semi finals....you got destroyed by and NFC East team then known as the Washington Racist Logos...now known as the Landover Taco Holders. So the Lions will have to play every playoff game on the road against NFC East and West competition because those divisions have won the most Super Bowls in the NFC until they win on the road in the playoffs and make the Super Bowl by playing every playoff game on the road against those two divisions based on their past history...and Cowturd fans will never stop reminding you about their past history. That is literally what you all want for D2.

BTW...the Detroit Lions will win the NFC North next season. They should still be forced to play every playoff game on the road even if the spread sheet numbers say they deserve a home game.

You might want to consider to stop ruining threads with your nonsense.

I'm not ruining threads. I'm a voice from a region that "you people" are pushing aside and not going to listen to and you don't want us to have any voice.

It's not my fault you people can't discuss foosball without turning into the biggest butthurt snowflakes when somebody challenges you.

[Ram040506]

So you want to reward teams that failed in the regular season with playoff berths they didn't earn.

Got it.

Conference champs only is not an indicator of the strongest teams. That bore out in the playoffs this year pretty clearly. That would be a worse system than what is currently happening.

[IUPNation]

Because things in college football don't change drastically from season to season. It's not like all of a sudden the GLIAC or MIAA's best team is going to not be competitive when one season ends and the next begins. It's not like the top team from the NE-10 is all of a sudden going to be a powerhouse in one off-season. That just doesn't happen outside of extreme circumstances. That's why conferences at all levels of college football are perceived the way they are. That's why everyone knows there's a Power 5 and Group of 5 in FBS. That's not going to change overnight.

The MAC isn't going to come out in fall of 2023 and start busting ass all over the Big Ten. But hey, maybe they can pick up a couple wins here and there in the regular season over P5 schools, maybe the MAC can produce one team who threatens the CFP discussion this year or next year, and if they can do these things year-after-year and improve upon them over a long term, the conference can start being regarded as competitive on a national scale and start getting considered for the same spots that the current #3 Big Ten teams are being considered for. It's no different in FCS, or D2, or D3.

There's schools which build a great system around football and are competitive. Whether that is facilities, whether that is coaching, whether that is strength training, whether that is nutrition, whether that is academic support staff, whether that is an environment around athletics that breeds success across the entire department, schools go at it from all different angles all around the country. Ferris doesn't have great facilities. Their facilities are kinda garbage. They're in a boring AF part of Michigan. But yet they're on the brink of being a dynasty. Why? Because they invested in coaching and recruiting and training, it paid off, and now they're one of the perennial powerhouses because they've had success and kids want to play where they can win.

Maybe if the PSAC can at least be competitive in a national semifinal next year, and then maybe they can win a national semifinal in 2024, and then maybe they can be competitive in a national title game in 2026, and maybe they can win a national title in 2028, then maybe the conference and region will get more respect. But as it stands, there's 50 years of futility by the conference and region as a whole once they get past quarterfinals and have to face national competition. So they don't deserve the benefit of the doubt of anything. And when your region gets its opportunity on a national stage to showcase what the best of D2 has to offer, they've been getting embarrassed for decades, and it has made D2 football look like a joke. You don't care about that because you've said that being good in the region is all that matters. The other three regions are trying to win national championships. Even if SR1 could produce one program who actually appears like they're taking it seriously on a national scale, and runs roughshod over the entire region and plays competitive games in the semis and finals, it would improve the perception of the region. But there's not a single school who has been willing to make that commitment in decades in SR1. Meanwhile, there's 8+ schools trying to be competitive on the national stage in each of the other regions, and it shows every time in the semis and finals when the same regions keep having success and the same region keeps having no success.

So..lets just only have those same teams have the playoff spots and be done with it.

Thank for finally admitting that you think that should be the only fix to the format.

[Redwing]

Giving teams a playoff bid that didn't win their conference title is rewarding mediocrity as well.

You've stated this multiple times. But it does happen when a non-conf winner wins the Natty. Like this last year. So FSU shouldn't have made the PO's this season? I'm not in to name-calling, but you're pushing me to throw some at you.

And you've not acknowledged my response about state funding at GV. You've raised funding issues multiple times and just use made up comments on your part. GV gets less than 25% of its budget from the state. And they don't charge a separate fee to their students for athletics. So quit your whining about how underfunded IUP is. It's a choice of the school's.

You also haven't rationalized how an inferior program should play for a Natty, just because of their geographic location instead of the quality and record of the program. You wan Teams in the PO's just because they are in some arbitrary region... not because they are considered to be a better team than others.

You might want to consider to stop ruining threads with your nonsense.