For those who don’t know, the football team has been eliminated from playoff contention due to the loss against LaSalle in a heartbreaking game.  The football team had a great season and went 6-4, with three of the four losses coming to the top three teams in the state.

It was easy to see the team grew so much throughout the season and got better and better every week.  Every game they made the outcome close.

The only blemish on this was a 40-7 loss against Lakewood St. Ed’s, who is the 3rd team in state, after a five hour drive to Cleveland.

Taking Elder’s playoff spot was Moeller who finished the season 4-6, and if you recall, Elder punished them, 42-14 at home.

Now you may be thinking, which most people are, how does Moeller get into the playoffs and not us?  Well, that is all because of the OHSAA point system.

Yes, that is right, a computer decides who gets a chance to win a state title and who doesn’t and this is the part that causes controversy.  Now you can read all how the point system works right here, but here is a summary of how it works:

Basically the point system has two levels.

Level 1 is your total amount of wins against teams based on their division.  You get 6.5 points for wins against Division I teams and 6 for division II teams.  You then add up all the points from your wins and divide them by the total amount games played at that point in time and that’s the average for the first level.

Level 2 takes into account the records of other teams and again takes the amount of wins from each opponent and what division team they beat and does the same math as level one.  So Elder has beaten six teams, four of them being division I, one being division II, and one being division VII.  So add up all the first level points each team has and then divide by 100, meaning that each team has played a full schedule (10 weeks – 10 games). Then multiply by 10 just to move the decimal places back one to make numbers easier to compare and those are your level 2 points.

Add the two levels together and that is your average points.  Pretty complicated, but it makes a little sense.  I understand that the system tries to reward teams for beating teams with good records.  Teams with good records equals a good team, right?

Well lets take Milford, a team who finished 8-2 and made the playoffs.  Before playing Anderson, a division II team who finished 9-1, the combined record of all the teams Milford defeated, before Anderson, is 17-53.

Now this is where the point system is flawed.  Milford played Anderson, who is a powerhouse in division II, and played a good game and came out with one point win.  Since Anderson was undefeated at the time, Milford received a lot of points from that win.

All that is needed is one fluke win over a team with an undefeated or close to undefeated record and you skyrocket towards first.

What’s the difference between Anderson, Milford, and Elder.  Strength of schedule is something the point system does not account for.

Elder had one of  the top five toughest schedules in the state.  Its obvious that some teams have simple schedules such as Milford.  They were only tested once this season and that was Anderson.

There is no reason to not have all GCL teams the playoffs (besides irrelevant D2 LaSalle) as it is recognized as one of the toughest leagues in the country.  Strength of schedule should mean something, if not everything.

Teams should be rewarded for playing a tough schedule. It shouldn’t be enough to win one game against a team that is above .500 and, bam, you’re in the playoffs.

Another aspect that should be added is the eye-test.  Has the OHSAA actually watched teams play?Because then it would be pretty obvious to see the mistakes made by the point system.

I know it would be hard to get a committee of members together to agree on all the teams and be able to tell how good they are from just watching them, but I would at least to encourage them to do what the College Football Playoff Committee does.

The system needs to be changed and I know a lot of people feel this way.  Not just Elder fans, but many other confused fans of other schools wondering how they didn’t get in in front of a team who has a losing record.

It’s just more motivation for the team next year. They need to prove that they belong and they will conquer the spotlight.