Should the Harbin system be changed?

Interesting post on JJHuddle:

As I sit here worrying whether or not Detroit Crockett will lose their first round MICHIGAN playoff game and hoping and praying that Chardon's 7-3 record will be enough to get them into the playoffs so that we can get a shot at Tallmadge and try to keep up a tradition that started in 1987 of beating undefeated teams in the first round of the playoffs, my annual rant against the Harbin system rises up within me. I'll try not to use the Hilltoppers as an example because it will seem like I'm whining (again).

I'll start with last year's d2 champion, Piqua. They would not have made the playoffs in Region 5 or Region 7. Some will say - but they did make it - so the system works. West Geauga, who went 9-1 with their only loss being by 2 points to a 12-2 Aurora team, did not make it in Region 5 even though they would have made it in every other Region.

Now, this year, Youngstown Ursuline, may not make the playoffs while teams like Kirtland, Gilmour and Cuyahoga Heights get in ahead of them. Why? Because they lost to Mooney and may lose to St. V.

The Harbin fallacy - which many coaches and athletic directors figured out some time ago - is that the system does not reward those who play tough schedules. It rewards those who play opponents with weak schedules.

You can say that our system always gets the right state champion but there's no way to prove that and, if Piqua were in Region 5 or 7 last year, they wouldn't have won a state championship. You can say play tougher people and you'll make it but that absolutely is not the case.

The playoffs are more than about making it to the state championship game. They're about who's hot, who's healthy and who matches up with whom. More than that, they're about seniors on good football teams getting a chance to experience the excitement and to prove their worth in the state tournament.

The system needs to be tweaked so that scheduling is no longer more important than performance on the field. What a travesty it will be if Youngstown Ursuline, probably one of the top 2 or 3 d5 teams in the state, doesn't make the playoffs because they didn't have the foresight to see that East Liverpool and Fitch would yield less harbin points than Wickliffe, Berkshire, Cardinal, Geneva, Edgewood, etc., etc. When a win over Geneva is worth more Harbin points than a win over Lisbon Beaver, there's something wrong with the system. Which do you think is worth more Harbin points - a win over Massillon Tuslaw or a win over Benedictine? Which do you think is more difficult to accomplish on the field?

The Michigan system, which I have become quite familiar with this week, in addition to points for winning awards bonus points based on the opponents' records - even if you lose. Something should be done so that a one point loss to St. Ignatius is not necessarily worth less than a one point win over Ashtabula Edgewood. I'm done.

(link to the thread here).

What do you think?

ohio high school football