Wednesday in Iowa: The Ridiculous Round in High School Playoff Football

A few years ago, the Iowa High School Athletic Association decided to double its number of playoff teams in football. It went into effect for the 2008 season.

That was interesting, since there already were 16 playoff teams in Class 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, A and 8-man. That was 96 playoff teams by my math, a lot for a state Iowa's size.

Now, there are 192 playoff squads.  Of the 48 Class 3A teams, 32 advance to the playoffs.

I believe the excuse for expanding the playoffs was "participation." Uh huh. I guess playing a nine-game season isn't participation enough.

So without further ado, I present to you some of tonight's premier matchups in Iowa playoff football:

Waukee (3-6) at Fort Dodge (8-1)

Urbandale (3-6) at Council Bluffs Jefferson (9-0)

Waterloo East (3-6) at Bettendorf (9-0)

Valley (3-6) at Mason City Newman (9-0)

Dunkerton (4-5) at Northeast Hamilton (10-0)

North Iowa Buffalo Center (2-7) at LeMars Gehlen (8-1)

Marshalltown (3-6) vs. West Des Moines Dowling (9-0)

And (drum roll, please) ... North Butler (2-7) at North Tama (9-0)

Somewhere in the state, there probably is a 1-8 team bitter over getting nosed out of a postseason berth. The juniors should use this as motivation to go 2-7 or even 3-6 next year so it can then get in a school bus and travel to face a 9-0 team on a cold Wednesday night.

Participation.