So if I was King for a Day and had the authority to rule over everything that was the IHSA Football Playoff system?

Well, here we go then. All Hail King EDGY?

1. Seed each class of the state playoffs 1-32- Currently, we seem to flip flop between seeding each class either as 2 brackets of 16 teams or 4 8 team quads depending upon travel. Personally, the two 16 teams brackets I feel are a marked improvement from the original 4 8 team quads, yet this is still a flawed system on many levels.

Now, the IHSA over the past few years has stated many times that they have no real interest in ensuring that the best two teams make it to a state final. Huh? Yes, no need to back-track on that statement. The current IHSA playoff system wants to ensure that equal parts of the state have an equal chance to make it to the state finals regardless of the competition level. To the state association, location is king.

In my first act as King for the Day? Bye bye location and welcome to a true seeding per class. I know the naysayers will argue the cost of travel these days, yet how much of the educational experience are kids missing these days because they won't ever get to experience say a 2-3 hour bus ride to a different area of the state for a game? I say they are missing one of the best parts of the state playoff experience.

From a competition standpoint? No question we would have great match-ups regardless of location and yes, hopefully the best teams regardless of location would make the state finals. Let's stop trying to take the competition out of competitive sports. Look kids, in the state playoffs as well as in life. someone will lose and someone will win. It's life, and the sooner we teach that lesson and stop handing out trophies and pizza to everyone, the better in my book.

2. Under no circumstances shall any two conference foes face each other in the first round- Nothing gets me more upset with our current state playoff system than when two teams who face each other get to square off again in Week 10. It gets even worse when two conference teams who just played each other in Week 9 get to play each other in Week 10. It's silly and unfair in my book. If you seed 1-32 and those two teams face each other still in the bracket, then by all means move one team down and another up until you can avoid those types of match-ups.

3. Day and time of all playoff games shall be determined by the home team- End of story. Don't wanna play on a Friday night in the playoffs as the visiting team? Well, if the home team claims they want Friday night, then under my reign of terror the home team sets the day and time. The only allowable scenario is travel. If the visiting team needs to travel say more than 150 miles for a game, then let's revert back to the current system and let the administrators and coaches handle it. If they can't handle it, then the IHSA gets involved and sets the time and date.

I have plenty more, and I could write an entire blog on the 8 class football system we have now in Illinois, but maybe we'll say that subject for another day.

Hey, the King for a Day only has so much time to gets things done.

So what would you do if you were King or Queen for a Day?