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SJS Playoff Seeding Question: Guaranteed 1st Round Home Games for League Champions?

MTsince2004

MTsince2004

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Dec 14, 2010
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Are league champions guaranteed a home playoff game in the first round? I'm curious if anyone has seen this seeding criteria somewhere in writing on the cifsjs.org website or elsewhere. Looking at the SJS D1 bracket specifically, both Turlock and Edison are expected league champions who are situated in the #9 and #10 spots according to Cal Preps. The results of Friday's games probably won't change things much for them. Will they be moved up into the #7 and #8 spots, or will they be left where they are?
 
I believe that rule is still in place. We played Vacaville a few years ago in the first round, we were the 8 seed, they were the 9. They won their league and we did not, so we traveled to them. It makes sense to have it that way.
 
That was definitely the rule a few years ago. The format was changed last year, introducing Cal Preps into the equation. All D1 league winners got home games, but they were all rated top 8 anyway. Did the guaranteed home game rule actually continue or did it just work out that way?
 
It's my understanding that league champ are not guaranteed a home game. Just that they are guaranteed a playoff spot. My guess is that the seeding committee would side with a league champion with close decisions. But I don't think it is a guarantee.
 
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SearsPoints said:
It's my understanding that league champ are not guaranteed a home game. Just that they are guaranteed a playoff spot. My guess is that the seeding committee would side with a league champion with is a close decision. But I don't think it is a guarantee.
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That's what I'm thinking. Close matters, but it's not guaranteed. It makes it tough to predict brackets without clarity. It will be interesting to see what the Section does and then compare it to last year to look for the pattern.
 
You are no longer guaranteed a home game if you win your league.
 
I’m not sure if it’s true or not but I heard a rumor that Rocklin has to play all playoff games on the road even if they are the higher seed. Rumor has it SJS took away their home playoff games due to a rules violation during dead period. Can anyone confirm?
 
bulldogmgc said:
I shared this before ...

Per brackets, for example for D1, http://cifsjs.org/sports/fball/2019-20info/footballd1bracket_19.pdf, host team will be highest seeded team (footnote).

Hence, league champions are not guaranteed home field unless they are a higher seed.
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I meant specifically in initially seeding them in the top 8 so that a league champ would be guaranteed ONLY one home game. After that, seeding is all that matters, as happened last year with most of the SFL teams.
 
I know the question was for SJS, but in the NCS a designated league champion is guaranteed a home game unless they are playing another designated league champion. It used to be for more than 1 round, but then cooler heads prevailed. As far as I know, no effort is made in the seedings to avoid league champs from meeting in the first round. So a #6 seeded league champ would host a game against a #3 seeded non-league champ.
 
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MTsince2004 said:
I meant specifically in initially seeding them in the top 8 so that a league champ would be guaranteed ONLY one home game. After that, seeding is all that matters, as happened last year with most of the SFL teams.
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No guarantee. It is very difficult to determine how the section playoff committee will handle seeding. But, the odds with only 12 teams in the D1 playoffs are in the favor of league champions being in the 1-8 seedings and having a home field game to kick it off. The last 4 teams (9-12) tend to be teams that finish 2nd (or 3rd and maybe 4th in bigger leagues). However, this year it is quite possible that Edison (SJAA league champion) may get seeded out of the top 8 seeds due to these other teams having a stronger SoS. Turlock, as CCAL league champion, may be on the bubble, as well. Should Lincoln-Stockton lose to St. Mary's-Stockton, should Lincoln-Stockton be seeded above Edison? If Lincoln-Stockton plays a close game vs St. Mary's-Stockton, I doubt it. Should St. Mary's-Stockton blow out Lincoln-Stockton (doubtful), I could see Edison get seeded above Lincoln-Stockton. But, there are still other potential non-league (at-large) champion teams, besides Lincoln-Stockton, that would be seeded above Edison, I would think, such as Oak Ridge, Davis, and Del Oro. Hence, schedule a stronger pre-league set of games if your league is weak, like St. Mary's-Stockton (plays in weak TCAL league, with 2 teams only standing out).

Turlock has played a couple of tough teams in CVC and Central (Fresno) and beating Tracy (convincingly 43-14), I could see them landing a top 8 seed.
 
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Assuming no guaranteed homes games for league champs, Turlock has a chance at #8. However, it is just as likely that the 2nd place team in the Delta (CO or Davis) and TCAL (if Lincoln), and the 3rd place team in the SFL (Del Oro) will get a home game ahead of them.
 
ESPN Ken said:
Thanks. It is clearly not there. I heard the rumor from the father of a Rocklin varsity player.
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I stand corrected. From the Bee article about the playoff brackets:

“Rocklin is the top seed in D-II, but the Thunder (7-3) will not host any section playoff games. The school violated section bylaw 201a last spring, a pre-enrollment contact. In this case, eighth-graders were working out in the Rocklin weight room – a seemingly harmless act, but a violation of section policy.”
 
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John Mellencamp said:
I stand corrected. From the Bee article about the playoff brackets:

“Rocklin is the top seed in D-II, but the Thunder (7-3) will not host any section playoff games. The school violated section bylaw 201a last spring, a pre-enrollment contact. In this case, eighth-graders were working out in the Rocklin weight room – a seemingly harmless act, but a violation of section policy.”
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Not your mistake. The section didn't post it. I find it strange that there was nothing on the Section's sanctions page if this happened last Spring.
 
ESPN Ken said:
Not your mistake. The section didn't post it. I find it strange that there was nothing on the Section's sanctions page if this happened last Spring.
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If you knew the entire story you would be SYH.....How grown men come to this conclusion is beyond me?
 
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section punishes Rocklin with having to go on the road and then sets them up to go to either Whitney or Lincoln ensuring their fans have an easy path to travel and make their money at the gate. Nice.
 
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John Mellencamp said:
section punishes Rocklin with having to go on the road and then sets them up to go to either Whitney or Lincoln ensuring their fans have an easy path to travel and make their money at the gate. Nice.
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What about the rest of the punishment? How about the player suspensions?
 
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