[LDUB]

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

Answer: This goes to the heart of what has been tracked and documented all along - Piedmont already underwent a serious off-season review regarding this offense for: numbering of potentially eligible players, scrimmage kick offense, being in the spirit of the rules and potentially making a travesty of the game. And...Piedmont's offense already passed all of those tests and more - otherwise the A-11 would have never seen the light of day, etc. In terms of teams get creative and then rules are changed to outlaw what they are doing...that would be fine and dandy if Piedmont had not already undergone the entire evaluation process beforehand, and if the majority of the feedback had not been so good.

Yes, it passed the test, it is legal. That has nothing to do with the rules committee deciding that the A-11 is not the intent of the numbering exception and adopting the NCAA rule.

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

2. The question about keeping a balance between offense and defense raises a great point...and there is not a "football" man in the country that believes an overall Piedmont record of 7 - 4 in anyway shape or form conveys an unworthy balance in favor of the offense vs. the defense.

7 - 4 is not 10 -1 or 11 - 0, etc. It is a good record but not great.

Maybe Piedmont would have been 3-8 without the A-11.

And it does create a change in the game. In a normal offense there are 5 players numbered 50-79 who will never be eligible to catch a forward pass. The defense can easily identify who is eligible and who is not. The A-11 changes that.

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

And, if smaller Offensive teams must play larger and physically superior Defensive teams based on league scheduling and/or alignment Classification set forth by state or local governing bodies...then doesn't the A-11 help keep that balance so the smaller offensive teams can be more competitive against the larger Defensive ones?

No. The NFHS (or any rules makers) do not write the rules to allow smaller (less talented) schools to have a better chance at beating larger (more talented) schools. You are completely missing the point. The rules create a balance between the offense and the defense, not between good teams and not so good teams.

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

*Repsectfully, that was the overwhelming opinion of nearly everybody who had hands on experience with the A-11 this past season. Realistically, does anyone truly believe the NFHS and CIF are going to discount that pure fact?

I have no idea what the CIF does, but it would not surprise me if the NFHS decided that the A-11 was not the intent of the numbering exception and adopted the NCAA rule.

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

It was the Number One compliment put forth about the A-11, that it allowed smaller Offensive Teams to more evenly compete vs. their Larger Defensive Foes.

Replace smaller with bad and larger with good and see if everyone still feels the same.

"A-11 allows bad Offensive Teams to more evenly compete vs. their good Defensive Foes."

Should the rules be written to give less talented teams a better shot at winning?

Originally Posted by KurtBryan

It was the Number One compliment put forth about the A-11, that it allowed smaller Offensive Teams to more evenly compete vs. their Larger Defensive Foes.

Otherwise, there would be no point in utilizing an offense like the A-11...so again in Reality, the A-11 is in line with the NFHS Mission of helping to keep things competitve between Offense and Defense.

You just contradicted yourself. You said that the A-11 creates a balance between the offense of small schools and the defense of large schools (giving the offense an advantage in some way). Then you say that it creates a balance between the offense and the defense. You can't have it both ways.

Personally, I think the A-11 is a great idea. But I also think that it is exploiting the numbering exception. A great idea within the rules, but I would not be surprised if the rules were changed to make it illegal.

I think you should accept the fact that the A-11 was not the intended use of the numbering exception, and that there is a good possibility that the NFHS will eventually adopt the NCAA rule, especially if the A-11 becomes more widespread.