As I looked at the potential playoff pairings, I noticed an oddity in the tiebreaker procedure that AHSAA uses. I will not give team names but this situation is occurring in Alabama in at least two regions.
Teams A, B & C are tied with 6-1 records. During the season, Team A beat Team B, Team B beat Team C and Team C beat Team A. All three beat their remaining region opponents.
According to the tiebreaker procedure, you follow the following steps:
1. Head to head. They were all 1-1. This one doesn't break the tie.
2. Head to head in non-region games (games played against each other in addition to their region games). They only played each other once. This doesn't break the tie.
3. Best record against other teams in their region that were non-region games. There were none. This doesn't break the tie.
4. Best record against non-region common opponents. They did not play any non-region opponent who was common to all three. This doesn't break the tie.
5. "The team whose defeated required (region) opponents have the most victories." This will take a little discussion.
Team A's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team C. Team B's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team A. Team C's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team B.
Team A's defeated region opponents combined record was 22-32.
Team B's defeated region opponents combined record was 21-33.
Team C's defeated region opponents combined record was 20-34.
If Team A wins this Friday, Team C adds one to its opponents' win column.
If Team B wins this Friday, Team A adds one to its opponents' win column.
If Team C wins this Friday, Team B adds one to its opponents' win column.
In other words, Team B needs the following to happen in order to tie Team A in this tie breaker: A win by Team C and a loss by Team B. If this happens, Team B adds a point for a win by Team C but Team A does not add a point due to Team B's loss.
As strange as it sounds, the only way that Team B can become region champion is to lose this Friday and then have Team C win its game as well. If this happens, you look at the next tie breaker (The team with the most victories. Team B would have 8 wins and Team A would have either 6 or 7 wins). Team C can't win the region but if Team A wins and Team C loses, it ties Team B for second in the region and you go on to the next tie breaker.
Is it just me or is there something wrong when there are a number of schools who need to lose in order to either win their region or to have a home game in the first round of the playoffs?
Teams A, B & C are tied with 6-1 records. During the season, Team A beat Team B, Team B beat Team C and Team C beat Team A. All three beat their remaining region opponents.
According to the tiebreaker procedure, you follow the following steps:
1. Head to head. They were all 1-1. This one doesn't break the tie.
2. Head to head in non-region games (games played against each other in addition to their region games). They only played each other once. This doesn't break the tie.
3. Best record against other teams in their region that were non-region games. There were none. This doesn't break the tie.
4. Best record against non-region common opponents. They did not play any non-region opponent who was common to all three. This doesn't break the tie.
5. "The team whose defeated required (region) opponents have the most victories." This will take a little discussion.
Team A's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team C. Team B's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team A. Team C's defeated region opponents are all region opponents except Team B.
Team A's defeated region opponents combined record was 22-32.
Team B's defeated region opponents combined record was 21-33.
Team C's defeated region opponents combined record was 20-34.
If Team A wins this Friday, Team C adds one to its opponents' win column.
If Team B wins this Friday, Team A adds one to its opponents' win column.
If Team C wins this Friday, Team B adds one to its opponents' win column.
In other words, Team B needs the following to happen in order to tie Team A in this tie breaker: A win by Team C and a loss by Team B. If this happens, Team B adds a point for a win by Team C but Team A does not add a point due to Team B's loss.
As strange as it sounds, the only way that Team B can become region champion is to lose this Friday and then have Team C win its game as well. If this happens, you look at the next tie breaker (The team with the most victories. Team B would have 8 wins and Team A would have either 6 or 7 wins). Team C can't win the region but if Team A wins and Team C loses, it ties Team B for second in the region and you go on to the next tie breaker.
Is it just me or is there something wrong when there are a number of schools who need to lose in order to either win their region or to have a home game in the first round of the playoffs?
Last edited:
I agree don't lose on purpose for any reason. But, really some regions are so loaded that all the playoff participants are going to be better than several regions champions. Hoover's region swept all their games a couple years ago and ended up as the last four teams in the northern 6A bracket. Now, with the restructuring of the brackets you aren't going to see that situation anymore. But, just to illustrate the point of some regions being loaded and teams better than their record might indicate I will point out Clay County and Lineville's region (2A - R5). Most seasons at least their top three seeds move on. This year Lineville entered the playoffs with a 3-7 record as a fourth seed and proceeded to eliminate the 2A - R6 champ and came within five points of eliminating that same regions three seed and moving to the third round. Also their three seed, Woodland, eliminated the two seed from 2A - R6.
