Comments about ‘High School Football: Felts Facts Week 3’

Good to see Hillcrest off to a good start! I know they face an uphill battle in 5A.

Why would they cut 5A down to just 16 teams. Would that mean the whole classification would go to the playoffs? Don't you think there would be a lot of schools that would take going down to 4a as a slap in the face? It just doesn't make any sense. There's no good reason for it and it would ruin the league. I say no!

cowboy99: It's about making competition more equitable. The reasoning, whether you agree or not, is that the percentage differences in enrollments between the largest and smallest school in each classification will be reduced. In the current lineup, the largest 5A's are at least twice the size of the smallest. That makes a big difference when it involves hundreds of students.

In the new lineup, the percentage difference will be around 50% instead of 100% or more.

The feeling is that the smaller, current 5A schools would do better among 4A peers of similar size rather than compete with the Alta's and Bingham's of the 5A world.

Regarding playoffs, as I understand it, each classification will have a board that will decide playoff scenarios. So 5A could include all 16 teams or reduce it to eight.

4A could keep it at 16 or include all 32 and have an extra round of games in place of the current Week 10 contests.

The UHSAA welcomes comments about the realignment at Website. I believe the 16-team 5A and 32-team 4A are pretty well set, but input into playoff or other concerns would be appropriate.

Mr. Felt -

I like all your stats and trivia for the week. I was just wonder if there is another book on the horizon that will cover the 1998 season till the present. I have the first book and really enjoy it.

Orem in 3A playing schools like North Sanpete and Juab and Delta? Honestly...

Mr. Felt,

I have seen the official stats and Herriman rushed for 372 yards against Lehi last week and had its first TWO hundred yard rushers...just wondering if there is any sort of precedent there with first-year schools, particularly the team rushing yards? It was a sight to behold, they were up 34-0 in the first half!

Delta is smaller than manti, richfield and emery and they are not growing, If anybody goes down from that region it will be Delta, unless richfield works some magic with their numbers, and suddenly has an enrollment ubder delta's

Can you imagine if Delta comes down...Millard and Delta both 2a at the state championships WOW that would be fun to watch and throw SSummit in and it would be war.

Mr.Felt,
There was a utah prep football playoff game played on Oct 31,2009. That went for 104 points total. Bingham 62 Jordan 42. Just over 98 points.

After tonight, Pleasant Grove will be 3-2 against Bingham.

Bingham puts up at least 45 on them(sorry PG fans) MINER PRIDE!!!!

There will be plenty of schools that will make sure that Delta stays in 3-A, no matter what their numbers are. That will prove that the system is rigged and biased. Richfield will be able to manipulate their numbers once again to their benefit. Just wait and watch.

WWWOOOOOOWWW!!!!Orem, Spanish Fork, Payson and Springville in the same region as Delta, Juab and Sanpete, not to mention the same classification.....
You can't be serious. You been to any of those small towns lately? Delta is the smallest 3-A school, they really are.

Mr. Felt -

Your facts about Alta being 0-3 for the first time since 92 are incorrect. Alta started out 0-3 in 1978, 1987, and 1991.

Black and Silver;

1978, 1987 and 1991 were all before 1992 so that was the last year that Alta started 0-3. Since then, they haven't done so.

I still think taking geography into account is important with the classification, something the UHSAA threw out the window. Like posted above, no sense having Orem drive down to North Sanpete to play games. The Tigers compete just fine with the other 4-A teams around the valley for the most part. I think they would rather travel to Provo for a game than go to Mount Pleasant. Districts need to adjust some boundaries to level their schools, this should be done first. Get Uintah back in 3-A. Unnecessary travel has to be limited in our current economy and tight budgets.

Mr. Felt:

I am sincerely glad that the Deseret News did not lay you off as it did to so many other staffers.

BT1984 -

Thanks for clarifying that. I miss read it.

You're welcome. It happens. Good luck to your Hawks.

I think schools in larger communities should be considered for a higher classification than smaller communities. Schools like Orem, Springville and Spanish Fork may fall in the 3A classification guidelines, but the reality is that they have access to better competition by the fact that they live in Utah County. Smaller communities don't have the same access to competition. This is why Wasatch has been so dominant in 3A over the years in many sports...they choose to travel to SLC and Utah County to compete with the big boys and this has allowed them to achieve. The UHSAA absolutely needs to consider proximity of schools when they create classifications. Sure, make 5A just the huge schools, but the 4A's and 3A's should be treated different.

Mr. Felt,
You say it's about making the competition more equitable. But, it looks like UHSAA is only concerned about it being "equitable" at the big schools. If they drop teams like Manti and Richfield back down to 2A, there will be more than 100% difference between the smaller 2A schools and the bigger. I couldn't find the enrollment #'s for this year, but I remember in previous years Manti and Richfield were much bigger than the likes of Kanab and N. Sevier.