BOONE — The IHSAA Board of Control, which in October altered the size of each class playing prep football in Iowa, opted Wednesday to maintain the current playoff system of 16 qualifiers per class. The decision was one of several that will change high school football in the state for at least the next two seasons.
Each school will continue to play nine regular season games. The Iowa Football Coaches Association and the Playoff Advisory Committee had recommended keeping the nine-game regular season but urged expanding the postseason to 32 teams in Classes 3A, 2A, 1A, A and 8-Player, with 24 Class 4A teams qualifying.
The Board of Control rejected the playoff proposal outright, stating they were concerned to end the playoffs before Thanksgiving and thereby limiting overlapping, as much as possible, with the winter sports seasons.
“Player safety is the number one priority,” IHSAA Executive Director Alan Beste said in a press release. “We are also committed to playing early round postseason games on Friday nights. Keeping 16 qualifiers per class allows for maximum recovery time between games and maintains high school’s Friday night tradition.”
Thus rejected was the IFCA proposal of 32 playoff teams that would have had playoff rounds held Thursday, Oct. 25, Wednesday, Oct. 31 and Tuesday, Nov. 6. Semifinals would be held a week later, with championship games Monday, Nov. 19 and Tuesday, Nov. 20.
The new format for 2018-19 is as follows:
- Class 4A: 42 teams, seven districts of six teams each; four non-district games per team.
- Class 3A, 2A, 1A: 54 teams, nine districts of six teams each; four non-district games per team.
- Class A: 62 teams, with eight districts of six teams and two districts of seven teams; four non-district games per team in six-team districts and three non-district games per team in seven-team districts.
- 8-Player: 65 teams, seven districts with eight teams and one district with nine teams; two non-district games in eight-team districts and one non-district game in the nine-team district (Week 0 games a possibility).
One of the changes likely to have the most impact is the manner in which playoff teams will be determined. Under the new plan, only the district champion or teams tying for a district title will receive automatic qualification.
All nine games will now count toward postseason qualification and the 17-point tiebreaker has been completely jettisoned. All at-large qualifiers will now be determined by a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) formula.
The RPI uses a team’s overall win-loss percentage (37.5 percent of index), team’s opponent’s win-loss percentage (37.5 percent) and team’s opponent’s opponent’s win-loss percentage (25 percent). Class differences between non-district foes will not effect RPI.
Beste noted the NCAA uses RPI in several men’s and women’s sports and said he believed it would help create the strongest possible field of 16 in each class by factoring in each team’s success, the strength of their opponent’s record and the success of each opponent’s other opponents.
District alignments will be released later this week.
