A more cynical fellow might have read last week’s news of potential scheduling shifts in state high school football with an absorbing, “well, duh.”

But then, that would be a more cynical fellow, who would later refer to ideas about district scheduling from two years ago and wonder why the wheels of change must grind so grudgingly. No, really. Sean Patrick Bowley of GameTimeCT.com and Matt Glasz of Coast Guard Academy generated innovative plans that trumpeted enrollment-based scheduling for the entire state.

Their ideas got cursory acknowledgement and then went the more familiar route of innovation in education: benignly ignored.

Yet now we learn of more earnest plans between the Southern Connecticut Conference and Eastern Connecticut Conference, who are discussing a football-only scheduling concept based on enrollment, but with user-friendly geography, too, thus making for reasonable travel.

The ECC’s five “Division I” schools for next year, otherwise known as The Schools Nobody Else Wants To Play — Ledyard, NFA, New London, Fitch, East Lyme — would in theory join the 19 SCC schools to create a 24-school, three-division, eight-team enrollment-based scheduling format that guarantees ample league games, still leaving room for local rivalries.

District scheduling would eliminate the concept of playing within a conference, which would surely spawn debate. But after we dispense with all the rhetoric — and worse, the “back in the good ol’ days when I played” drivel, the truth would become clearer:

School size determines success or failure more in football than any other sport. Football's inherent unfairness over the years centers on small- and medium-sized schools bound by conference affiliation forced to play enough bigger schools, perpetually imperiling playoff chances.

Does that sound familiar? Turns out the problems of the ECC reflect problems across Connecticut.

For every Class S Ansonia, there’s scores and scores of other Class S and Class M schools that cannot compete against bigger brethren. And after all the bromides — I love, “well, just get better,” as if there’s some pill to take — the facts remain: Small schools sit at a competitive disadvantage.

Coaches and athletic directors have balked at enrollment-based scheduling in recent years for many reasons, not the least of which is ending conference rivalries. Except that the SCC/ECC plan adds a geographic component to quell absurd weekly travel and potentially preserve games between schools of close proximity.

The result: Every game that determines playoff qualification would come against a like-sized school. It is the best and fairest way for everyone. And who’s to say that other conferences and regions wouldn’t be interested in mimicking the ECC/SCC proposal?

It’s time for more creative thinking in Connecticut high school sports, especially within football, whose scheduling and playoff rhythms are handcuffed by the calendar, Thanksgiving and enrollment, not necessarily in that order. Wheels spin furiously within the sport, yet with little traction, the result of applying traditional processes of thought to issues that require some ingenuity.

Two years ago, for instance, Glasz divided the state's 146 teams at the time into 20 divisions based on enrollment and location, maintaining a 32-team playoff format with quarterfinal, semifinal and championship rounds.

I’d suggest structures that guarantee eight district games, thus enabling schools to keep their Thanksgiving game and one other local rivalry. Example: New London could keep NFA and Ledyard if all parties agreed.

This is about the greater good. It is virtually impossible to convince coaches and athletic directors at any level to think about the greater good. The ECC is the quintessential example, with its pervasive “all for none and none for all” anthem. The dramatic personae will view district scheduling not with an eye for fairness and balance, but through whether they can win. If they can win, it's a good idea. If they can't, it's bad. Except that district scheduling suggests all schools ought to be able to win playing opponents of the same size.

I’d love to see the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, the state’s governing body for high school athletics, get involved here. The CIAC should be interested in equity for all the kids.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius