MSHSAA Announces New Football Playoff Format and Seeding Information
Nine-game regular season and eight-team districts highlight new format.
Columbia, Mo.- At its April Board Meeting, the Missouri State High School Activities Association Board of Directors unanimously voted for a new football playoff format for the 2012 football season.
The new format will create a nine-game regular season with schools scheduling all nine of these games. The 10th week will be the beginning of the District Championships. Teams will be placed into districts comprised of eight teams and seeded by a point system over the nine-game regular season. The third game of the championship series would be the district championship game, eight district champions and eight district runner-ups being crowned.
The district champions would then advance to the quarterfinals of the state series. There shall be two districts in 8-Man, four districts in Class 6, and eight districts each in Classes 1-5. Schools are grouped in districts based on geographical location. Classes 1-4 and Class 6 will consist of eight teams. Class 5 and 8-man will be based on the number of teams in the region and the higher-seeded teams (1-2) will get byes in the district tournament if necessary.
This format would more closely resemble the district championships in all of our other team sports. If the current start date is kept in place, the playoff games will still follow the Wednesday-Monday-Saturday format.
Another unique nuance to this format is the financial split of the Week 10 game. Because each school will only have the ability to schedule games one through nine, its schedule may be five home and four away games or four home and five away games. In Week 10 the higher seed will host the game (#1 seed would host #8 seed, #2 seed would host #7 seed, etc.). To make Week 10 financially equitable to all schools, the gate receipts (minus expenses) will be split 60/40, with the host team receiving 60% of the gate and the visiting team receiving 40% of the gate.
The classification process will remain the same, with the largest 32 schools based on enrollment figures will be in Class 6. Class 1 will consist of the smallest 64 schools, the next 64 schools will make up Class 2, the next 64 will make up Class 3 and the next 64 will make up Class 4. The remaining schools will comprise Class 5, which were 51 during the 2010 season.
2012
Football Playoffs (Nine-Game Regular Season)
Week
10 District Playoffs
GENERAL INFORMATION
1.
Registration: All schools that have indicated
participation in the state football series will be assigned to a district.
Schools will be assigned to districts for a two-year basis.
2.
Classification: A school's classification will be
determined by its co-ed enrollment in grades 9-12 as of the fourth Wednesday in
September for public schools. For private and parochial schools, the official
enrollment will be as of October 1. The enrollment for all boys’ schools shall
be doubled for classification purposes; the enrollment for all non-public
schools and charter schools (2012) shall be multiplied by 1.35 for
classification purposes.
The classification for playoffs
shall be determined as follows:
a. 8-Man Football: Schools shall be in
one class; only schools with enrollments of 200 or less may participate in 8-Man
football.
b. 11-Man Football: Schools will be
divided into six classes; this started with the 2002 season.
c. By enrollment:
i. The largest 32 schools shall be in Class 6
ii. The smallest 64 schools are placed in Class 1
iii. The next 64 schools are placed in Class 2
iv. The next 64 schools are placed in Class 3
v. The next 64 schools are placed in Class 4
vi. The remaining schools are placed in Class 5
Note:
If two or more schools of identical
enrollment fall at a class breaking point, they shall be assigned to a class
using the previous year's enrollment. If more than 320 schools register for
football, Class 5 becomes the catch-all class. In 2010 there were 339 schools
registered for 11-man football, thus Class 5 had 51 schools in it.
3. Number of Districts: There shall be two
districts in 8-Man, four districts in Class 6, and eight districts each in
Classes 1-5.
4. District Assignment Procedure: Schools are grouped in districts based on
geographical location. Classes 1-4 and Class 6 will consist of eight teams.
Class 5 and 8-man will be based on the number of teams in the region and the
higher-seeded teams (1-2) will get byes in the district tournament if necessary. 8-man will have play-in games to the district
tournament. Each team in the district will be seeded after week nine using the
point system described in this manual.
5. Minimum Games: A team shall have scheduled at least half
(five) of the number of contests permitted (nine) to be eligible for
participation in the playoffs (By-Law 312).
6. Individual Minimum: In part, By-Law 312 indicates: "No
individual student shall be entered who has not represented his or her school
in interscholastic competition in that sport during the season.” In football, this means a player must have
played in at least one regular season contest (game playing Weeks 1 through 9) before
the district contest.
7. Regular
Season:
Teams will schedule Weeks 1 through
9. Weeks 1 through 9 will be used to
calculate the points earned for seeding purposes only. (This manual will outline the point system.)
8. District Games Committee: Each district will assign a local Athletic
Director to serve for the two-year cycle as the District Chairman. Each district will assign two Athletic
Directors to serve on the games committee for the two-year cycle.
9. District Officials: It is the responsibility of
the District Games Committee to hire officials for the first round of the
districts (Week 10). In Classes 1-4 and Class 6, this would be four crews. The crews would be assigned after Week 9 to
the games with the least amount of conflict.
In Class 5 and 8-man, the committee would hire two or three crews,
depending on their bracket. After Week
10, all officials will be assigned
by the MSHSAA office. The MSHSAA office
will work with a committee of Athletic Directors during the summer of 2011 to
put in place a football draft similar to Basketball for selection of week ten
officials.
10. Week 10 Gate Receipts: Because
each school will only have the ability to schedule games one through nine, your
schedule may be five home and four away games or four home and five away games.
In Week 10 the higher seed will host the game (#1 seed would host #8 seed, #2
seed would host #7 seed, etc.). To make
Week 10 financially equitable to all schools, the gate receipts (less expenses)
will be split 60/40, with the host team receiving 60% of the gate and the
visiting team receiving 40% of the gate. District admission will be $5.00
11. Week 10 First Round of Districts: The higher seeded team will host the contest
at 7:00 p.m. on Friday night in Classes 1-5. Game may be played on Thursday but
must be mutually agreed upon by both schools, if an agreement cannot be made
the game will be played on Friday. No
Contests shall be played on Saturday, with the exception of weather-related
issues. Class 6 may host on Friday at 7:00
p.m. or Saturday at 1:00 p.m. If two teams
share a local field and both teams qualify as a host team, the higher-seeded
team will have the first option of hosting the game on their field. The lower-seeded host team will have 24 hours
to secure a different field; if they do not, the visitor team will have the
option to host.
12. District Seeding
Procedures:
a.
Points for a Win/Loss or Tie
i. 20 points for a win
ii. 10 points for a loss
iii. 15 points for an overtime loss
Add up the total points and
divide by the number of games played.
b.
Points for Playing Up or Down a Class
i. 10 points CREDIT for
each class you play up (i.e., a Class 1 team plays a Class 3 team: 20 points).
Divided by the number of games you played.
ii. There are no points taken away for playing down.
c. Points for Strength of Schedule
i. Points from opponent’s schedule by taking the sum of the
win/loss record from each team you have played times the points for a win and
loss, 10,20 minus your contribution to the opponents record, divided by the
total number of games played minus the number of games you played. (Your
records is 5W/4L)
Team A: 5W/4L =5x20 + 4x10=140
Team B: 7W/2L = 7x20 + 2x10=160
Team C: 3W/6L =
3x20 + 6x10=120
Team D: 4W/5L =
4X20 + 5x10=130
Team E: 4W/5L =
4X20 + 5x10=130
Team
F: 7W/2L = 7x20 + 2x10=160
Team G: 3W/6L =
3x20 + 6x10=120
Team H: 2W/7L
=2x20 + 7x10=110
Team I: 1W/8L = 1x20 + 8x10=100
Total games
81 Total points 1170
Minus the games
you played 9
Minus the points
you contributed 5x10 + 4x20
=130
81-9=72 1170-130=1040
1040/72=14.44
d. +/- 13 pts for the Score of the game
i. You will calculate the point differential
for each game played not to exceed +13 or-13. You will add the total points together
and divide by the total number of games played.
e. Calculating Your Points: Add all the points from the four categories
above (a-d). Rank the points in order (highest to lowest) and the corresponding
seed (highest to lowest, i.e., 1-8). See
example from 2010 below:
|
Team Name
|
Record
|
Points
|
Seed
|
|
Valle
Catholic
|
8-1
|
52.17
|
1
|
|
Thayer
|
7-2
|
47.83
|
2
|
|
Hayti
|
6-3
|
40.42
|
3
|
|
Chaffee
|
4-5
|
33.69
|
4
|
|
Portageville
|
3-6
|
33.47
|
5
|
|
Cabool
|
2-7
|
30.75
|
6
|
|
Cleveland
NJROTC
|
1-8
|
30.35
|
7
|
|
St.
Vincent
|
2-7
|
28.50
|
8
|
|
Team Name
|
Record
|
Points
|
Seed
|
|
Sikeston
|
9-0
|
48.19
|
1
|
|
Central
(Cape Girardeau)
|
8-1
|
46.07
|
2
|
|
Farmington
|
7-2
|
40.83
|
3
|
|
DeSoto
|
6-3
|
38.25
|
4
|
|
Potosi
|
6-3
|
34.17
|
5
|
|
Hillsboro
|
4-5
|
27.19
|
6
|
|
North
County
|
1-8
|
19.31
|
7
|
|
Perryville
|
0-9
|
14.08
|
8
|
The point system would be
tracked weekly on the MSHSAA website, and schools can follow their progress as
the season unfolds. Out of State schools
will be tracked by the MSHSAA office and entered into the system by Monday
morning at noon, Tuesday at noon following a Holiday.
f.
Seeding Appeal: Two Consecutive seeds (4-5, 6-7, 1-2) who have played head to
head may appeal the original seeding. If two teams have
played Head to Head and their seeds are consecutive they may appeal the seed to
the district chairman. A vote will occur
between the district schools for that seeded positions in question only. The two schools in the appeal cannot
vote. The remaining 6 schools will vote;
it will take 4 votes to change the seed.
This process must take place by noon on Saturday. In classes where only 7 teams are seeded it
will take 3 votes to change the seed. If an appeal is granted and a switch is
made in the seedings another appeal cannot be made with the new seedings.