Small 2A Watch 2025

[Bill Spinks]

Texas had 8-man football up until 1976, when the UIL phased it out due to dwindling interest. At the end there were only four districts in the whole state. Gunter was a long-time 8-man team and continued playing outlaw 8-man in 1976 and 1977 before moving to 11-man in 1978.

 

[Techman32]

Texas had 8-man football up until 1976, when the UIL phased it out due to dwindling interest. At the end there were only four districts in the whole state. Gunter was a long-time 8-man team and continued playing outlaw 8-man in 1976 and 1977 before moving to 11-man in 1978.

Dwindling interest 40 years ago. I love and played 6man but the thought of having 3 divisions doesn't set right with me. Thanks for the information though. I personally would like to see 6, 8, and 11man. No more dodging hard opponents or scheduling issues that way. Especially if the cutoff number keeps going up. Wasnt the original cutoff number for 6man in the mid 70s or 80s? Now its 104.5. Just my thoughts

 

[ModeratorMike]

Dwindling interest 40 years ago. I love and played 6man but the thought of having 3 divisions doesn't set right with me. Thanks for the information though. I personally would like to see 6, 8, and 11man. No more dodging hard opponents or scheduling issues that way. Especially if the cutoff number keeps going up. Wasnt the original cutoff number for 6man in the mid 70s or 80s? Now its 104.5. Just my thoughts

Assuming I'm reading this chart correctly, and the asterisks mark where the 1A classification split between 11-man and six-man, the six-man cutoff was 95 from 1986-1994. Then from 1994-2004 I'm not entirely sure what the number was. There are two lines with asterisks on those years, but assuming the lowest was the six-man cutoff, that means for those 10 years it went down to anywhere between 79 and 96, depending on the meaning behind the asterisks on those years. From 2004 to 2014 it was 99.9. Since 2014 it's been 104.9.

It did go up drastically from the 1974 to 1976 alignment but, unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible, it looks like the cutoff for six-man has only risen by 10 in the last almost 40 years.

https://realignment.uiltexas.org/alignments/2024/2024_Historical-Data.pdf

 

[SimplyPut]

In Colorado, the cutoffs at one time were:

0-75 - 6man
76-125 - 8man
126+ - 11man

I think the following would work:

0-70 - 6man
71-139 - 8man
140+ - 11man

schools could always "play up" if they chose to do so. 11man schools would just have to narrow the width of their fields to 40yds to play 8man

I really like this, and I think these numbers would take most of the excuses away. But I truly believe that there would

 

[Techman32]

I really like this, and I think these numbers would take most of the excuses away. But I truly believe that there would

I like it too plus teams in new mexico will play a half 8man and half 6man. Imagine if Gordon played all 3 types of football since teams keep dodging them lol

 

[SimplyPut]

Age is showing here, accidentally hit post reply before done. I think it was a sign to shut up. But I will end by saying I hope 8 man never returns to Texas. I have watched a couple games here in Oklahoma, dumbest game ever.

 

[Techman32]

Assuming I'm reading this chart correctly, and the asterisks mark where the 1A classification split between 11-man and six-man, the six-man cutoff was 95 from 1986-1994. Then from 1994-2004 I'm not entirely sure what the number was. There are two lines with asterisks on those years, but assuming the lowest was the six-man cutoff, that means for those 10 years it went down to anywhere between 79 and 96, depending on the meaning behind the asterisks on those years. From 2004 to 2014 it was 99.9. Since 2014 it's been 104.9.

It did go up drastically from the 1974 to 1976 alignment but, unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible, it looks like the cutoff for six-man has only risen by 10 in the last almost 40 years.

https://realignment.uiltexas.org/alignments/2024/2024_Historical-Data.pdf

It was 99.5 when I played

 

[Techman32]

Age is showing here, accidentally hit post reply before done. I think it was a sign to shut up. But I will end by saying I hope 8 man never returns to Texas. I have watched a couple games here in Oklahoma, dumbest game ever.

Meh, to each his own.

 

[CVguy]

8 man football not only had a different sized field, but different rules from 6 man. The rules were more like 11 man, but with differences. The 8 man field was 90 yds long and 150 feet wide. 11 man is 100 yds long and 160 feet wide, 6 man 80 yds long and 140 feet wide. A problem I see, regardless of what the cutoff numbers are, is there are already schools that bounce back and forth between Div 1 and Div 2. I don't see that changing and if it's between 6 man and 8 man, then the school would have to alter their field every 2 to 4 years and learn to play with different rules, or make the decision to stay 8 man. I have heard of a few teams that played 8 man that disliked it so much, they opted to just go ahead and move to 11 man.

 

[CVguy]

Assuming I'm reading this chart correctly, and the asterisks mark where the 1A classification split between 11-man and six-man, the six-man cutoff was 95 from 1986-1994. Then from 1994-2004 I'm not entirely sure what the number was. There are two lines with asterisks on those years, but assuming the lowest was the six-man cutoff, that means for those 10 years it went down to anywhere between 79 and 96, depending on the meaning behind the asterisks on those years. From 2004 to 2014 it was 99.9. Since 2014 it's been 104.9.

It did go up drastically from the 1974 to 1976 alignment but, unless I'm missing something, which is entirely possible, it looks like the cutoff for six-man has only risen by 10 in the last almost 40 years.

https://realignment.uiltexas.org/alignments/2024/2024_Historical-Data.pdf

In 1994, the cutoff was changed to "approximately 82". That was done to force schools like Christoval and Ft. Hancock to move to 11 man. They were consistently turning in 92 and 94 as their numbers (for something like 6 years).

 

[Techman32]

8 man football not only had a different sized field, but different rules from 6 man. The rules were more like 11 man, but with differences. The 8 man field was 90 yds long and 150 feet wide. 11 man is 100 yds long and 160 feet wide, 6 man 80 yds long and 140 feet wide. A problem I see, regardless of what the cutoff numbers are, is there are already schools that bounce back and forth between Div 1 and Div 2. I don't see that changing and if it's between 6 man and 8 man, then the school would have to alter their field every 2 to 4 years and learn to play with different rules, or make the decision to stay 8 man. I have heard of a few teams that played 8 man that disliked it so much, they opted to just go ahead and move to 11 man.

Its actually 80×40 just like 6man.

 

[Techman32]

8 man football not only had a different sized field, but different rules from 6 man. The rules were more like 11 man, but with differences. The 8 man field was 90 yds long and 150 feet wide. 11 man is 100 yds long and 160 feet wide, 6 man 80 yds long and 140 feet wide. A problem I see, regardless of what the cutoff numbers are, is there are already schools that bounce back and forth between Div 1 and Div 2. I don't see that changing and if it's between 6 man and 8 man, then the school would have to alter their field every 2 to 4 years and learn to play with different rules, or make the decision to stay 8 man. I have heard of a few teams that played 8 man that disliked it so much, they opted to just go ahead and move to 11 man.

Tanner Woods from Follett (golden boy) coaches 8man at Laverne, oklahoma. He loves it, said he wishes texas brought it back. He said the transition from 6 to 8 to 11 correlates very well even though different rules are in place and oklahoma doesn't have 6man football.

 

[SimplyPut]

Tanner Woods from Follett (golden boy) coaches 8man at Laverne, oklahoma. He loves it, said he wishes texas brought it back. He said the transition from 6 to 8 to 11 correlates very well even though different rules are in place and oklahoma doesn't have 6man football.

Might ask him again about the 8-man field dimensions. I don’t believe your previous post was correct.

 

[Techman32]

Might ask him again about the 8-man field dimensions. I don’t believe your previous post was correct.

Yeah its the same

 

[CVguy]

Might ask him again about the 8-man field dimensions. I don’t believe your previous post was correct.

I looked it up and in Oklahoma, those are the dimensions. However, other states that have 8 man use different dimensions. Some use 100 yds and some use 80 yds.

 

[coach_jshelton]

Tanner Woods is a heckuva underrated Spreadback when talking about all-time greats

 

[Techman32]

Tanner Woods is a heckuva underrated Spreadback when talking about all-time greats

Woods was a nightmare to prepare for, basically unstoppable when he played. Football IQ off the charts, he even called the plays on offense and played both ways.

 

[Roach]

It sure is another interesting conversation whether to start up 8man or on the flip side, create 3 divisions in 6man. I think Texas will.never go 8man again as mentioned above by a different poster. It will be interesting to see if they do decide to increase the cut-off number though. Let's say it goes to 114.5. Would it be better for 3 divisions then or would it be better if it was raised to 119.5? The 119.5 would seem like a big jump up, however, if that happened, I think 3 divisions would be the best option if that were the case. Everyone in any division could still play each other and all teams would still be playing the greatest and most exciting game of football that exist. I kind of really like the idea tbh. Just my two cents

 

[C. LaTransviejo]

It sure is another interesting conversation whether to start up 8man or on the flip side, create 3 divisions in 6man. I think Texas will.never go 8man again as mentioned above by a different poster. It will be interesting to see if they do decide to increase the cut-off number though. Let's say it goes to 114.5. Would it be better for 3 divisions then or would it be better if it was raised to 119.5? The 119.5 would seem like a big jump up, however, if that happened, I think 3 divisions would be the best option if that were the case. Everyone in any division could still play each other and all teams would still be playing the greatest and most exciting game of football that exist. I kind of really like the idea tbh. Just my two cents

With that 119 enrollment number, just how many JV teams are we going to have to schedule for? That number is just a little bit over the top imho.
Do we go back to Freshman team, and JV?

 

[Roach]

With that 119 enrollment number, just how many JV teams are we going to have to schedule for? That number is just a little bit over the top imho.
Do we go back to Freshman team, and JV?

It was just a hypothetical. I originally said 114.5. That's probably more feasible