Inside Georgia's Bold New High School Playoff Plan

In a story first published by the Fired Football Coaches of Georgia “X” account, we have learned the details of a bold new postseason plan set forth by the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) that will begin across all sports starting in the 2026-27 school year.

From Region Standings to Rankings

According to Fired Football Coaches of Georgia, the GHSA will begin using the Playoff System Rankings (PSR) to determine which teams qualify for the postseason and how those teams will be seeded.

Essentially, it is an RPI system that closely mimics the one used by the NCAA to identify the top 32 teams.

Under its previous system, the GHSA employed a simple “top four teams” method in which the top four teams from each region would advance to the postseason.

Breaking Down the PSR Formula

According the FFC report, the PSR is a three-part weighted system and offers a clean break-down of exactly how things will work.

35% Winning Percentage (WP) Your record.
35% Opponents Winning Percentage (OWP). Your Opponents Records.
30% Opponents Opponents Winning Record (OOWP). Your Opponents Strength of Schedule.

You down with OOWP?

If you coach ball in the State of Georgia you'd better be. But wait, there's more.

All Wins Are Not Created Equal

According to the numbers compiled by the analytics staff at FFC, home and away wins count as 1.0 points while neutral site games and non-GHSA opponents count as 0.9 points, with schools being capped at 20% for non GHSA opponents.

What this means is that schools near the state's borders who regularly schedule games against out-of-state opponents must be more strategic in their planning moving forward. Colquitt County head coach Sean Calhoun says it will allow him to do more things with the Packers schedule moving forward.

“I definitely like the flexibility because you play all those teams, and they’re really, really good,” Calhoun said. “You look at what big-time college football teams do.

“They’ll pay those schools to come in, and they’re really paying for a win, and you’re paying for a week to where your starters hopefully don’t have to play the whole game because you’ve got to find a rest every once in a while.”

Who’s In & Who's Out

Under the old “top four” system things were pretty easy to figure out. If you were one of the top four teams in your region you qualified for the postseason.

PSR has muddied those waters.

Eight region champions will receive one of top 16 automatic bids, and subsequently host one playoff game. The remaining 16 spots will be filled on an at large basis, based on the PSR.

Worth County head coach Jeff Hammond likes the new format and the opportunities for additional teams beyond the top four to advance to the postseason.

“In the past, people were against larger regions because you only get four teams into the playoffs,” Hammond said. “Now, you can have a large region and get seven or eight teams (in the playoffs), so the fifth or sixth team that’s really good doesn’t get left out.”

Thus, 65% of your playoff fate is tied to teams you don't control.

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