High school football playoff selections are always bound to spark controversy. But this year, the debate is bigger than which teams are in and out.
Across the country, teams are beginning to question the process to determine their postseason fate.
That's because several states switched their playoff ranking formats this season, creating new challenges for teams.
Florida and Arizona are two states who opted to use the MaxPreps rankings to make their postseason brackets. This was a decision that both school boards voted on ahead of the season, but the ranking system quickly created controversy.
In Ocala, Florida, Forest High School was left out of the playoffs after securing an 8-2 record – its first eight-win season in nearly two decades. Instead,
Oakleaf (5-5), a team that Forest beat 21-7 in the regular season, secured the final spot in the Class 5A bracket.
"It's about the kids," Forest head coach John Brantley told USA TODAY Sports. "My kids were extremely disappointed when it came out and we weren't being involved in the playoffs."
The biggest frustration for Brantley was the lack of transparency surrounding the ranking calculations.
“The bottom line is nobody knows what the criteria is," said Brantley. "I mean that's the thing that's got everybody kind of up in arms that probably didn't get a fair shake from the rankings.”
It’s not all about winning
Strength of schedule was a major factor in the rankings, and head-to-head wins held less weight, according to MaxPreps Senior Director of Content Steve Montoya.
"Scheduling is key in the process," he said on the FHSAA bracket release show. "That strength of schedule comes into play."
In Arizona, Tempe High School experienced a similar result. The Buffaloes also finished their season 8-2, but finished four spots shy of the Class 4A playoffs.
"Are we telling people that it's okay to pump your schedule up with a bunch of top-ranked teams and go 2-8," head coach Sean Freeman questioned. "Or is it, 'Hey, this team has six wins or seven wins, they deserve a spot in the playoffs?'"
Tempe even volunteered to play Scottsdale Chaparral, a Class 5A team, when both teams' opponents cancelled their scheduled games. Although the Buffaloes lost 57-0, Freeman was told playing a team in a higher classification could earn them additional points in the rankings.
However, Chaparral went on to finish its season 5-5, which didn't help Tempe's case.
"The rating, a lot of times, is built based off of what your opponents are doing," Montoya said.
MaxPreps said it is taking feedback from both states into consideration to improve the formula.
"We like all this feedback, even if it's negative, because it helps us get better," Montoya said.
Is there a clear-cut solution?
Freeman is already thinking of ways he can create a more appealing schedule for the ranking system next season.
"Me and my assistant coach are already sitting here plotting and planning," Freeman said. "We've got to load up our first five games with top-tier teams that are going to be teams that are going to continue winning throughout the season. That's the way the formula's going."
Freeman, however, noted that resources play a significant role in scheduling games outside of your region.
"That also plays a huge toll," he said. "Now you're talking about nutrition for your kids, you're talking about sleeping schedules and all that to get to games that are maybe an hour or two away from where you're at in your city."
Brantley made a similar argument for his Florida program, saying the new system could force teams to travel on a weekly basis to improve their postseason chances.
"To get in the playoffs you've got to address these situations – it may involve me having to go 120 miles to play a better team to have an opportunity to go play in the playoffs," Brantley said. "We just don't have the money and the resources to do that on a regular weekly basis."
Florida and Arizona aren't the only teams who adopted a new ranking system this season, Georgia introduced a new formula call the Post Season Rankings (PSR).
Under the new format, the top 32 teams in each classification qualified for the playoffs, rather than automatically awarding postseason spots to the top four teams in each region.
The rankings use a formula that also values a team's strength of schedule. That's why Buford, who is ranked No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 national rankings, earned the No. 9 seed in the Class 7A playoffs despite finishing the season with a perfect 10-0 record.
The new system also created confusion for a pair of other teams.
In Class 6A and 2A, Chamblee High School and Coosa High School were originally informed that their teams had made the postseason, but received emails just three hours later stating that updated scores pushed them out of the bracket.
Chamblee, which finished the season 6-4 was pushed out by Veterans, which finished their season 4-6.
Chamblee head coach Bob Swank declined to comment on his team's experience, while USA TODAY Sports did not receive a response from Coosa head coach Jason Howard.
There is no perfect formula to determine rankings, and no playoff system is going to satisfy every team.
At the end of the day, however, coaches simply want more of a say in the process.
"The consensus that I'm getting from a lot of the coaches is that there needs to be a more coaches-driven, athlete-record-driven type of committee where all coaches have a say," Freeman said. "I don't feel that all of us have a say in the system."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: High school football playoffs have a problem: Why winning isn't always enough
