Scheduling Tough Is Not the Answer for Some

[OldSchoolLion]

I hear so much today about scheduling and being battle-tested.  For years, the schedule of Lakeland and Armwood have been questioned.  Edgewater's regular season opponents this year had a combined regular season record of 42-58.  Only 2 of those teams made the playoffs, and both of them lost in the first round.  All 3 of these teams have coasted through the playoffs so far.  In 1A, Hawthorne's schedule paled in comparison to Pahokee's.  Wekiva scheduled a tough OOS opponent this year, but it did not help last night.  Look at some of the teams this year that made an effort to play tough non-district opponents and are sitting at home now.  

Am not implying it's unimportant to play a challenging schedule.  There is simply lots of "proof" over the years that having a solid game plan and executing it against a specific playoff opponent is often more important than who one played during the regular season.  ...that and the coaching art of peaking a team.

 

[Hwy17]

29 minutes ago, OldSchoolLion said:

I hear so much today about scheduling and being battle-tested.  For years, the schedule of Lakeland and Armwood have been questioned.  Edgewater's regular season opponents this year had a combined regular season record of 42-58.  Only 2 of those teams made the playoffs, and both of them lost in the first round.  All 3 of these teams have coasted through the playoffs so far.  In 1A, Hawthorne's schedule paled in comparison to Pahokee's.  Wekiva scheduled a tough OOS opponent this year, but it did not help last night.  Look at some of the teams this year that made an effort to play tough non-district opponents and are sitting at home now.  

Am not implying it's unimportant to play a challenging schedule.  There is simply lots of "proof" over the years that having a solid game plan and executing it against a specific playoff opponent is often more important than who one played during the regular season.  ...that and the coaching art of peaking a team.

 

Couldn't agree more! 

[Floridatech]

To some extent 

[skyway]

There are two advantages (along with some disadvantages): 1) Easier to keep players healthy in what could be a marathon, 15 game season. 2) Easier to conceal both effective schemes you might employ later as well as to conceal weak points on your team.