2024 STORYLINES TO FOLLOW: Rural classification taking on new playoff format in test

New playoff format could test for future changes in football and other team sports as well.

Welcome to the 2024 Florida High School Football season with practices now underway around the state! We will present a plethora of storylines over the coming days that will impact the 2024 season as part of our 2024 Storylines To Follow series and we will update this as we go through the days and weeks leading up to kickoff of the 2024 season!

RURAL CLASSIFICATION TAKING ON NEW PLAYOFF FORMAT IN TEST

The Rural classification will take on a pilot project over the next two years that will create two playoff brackets of 16 teams each, which will be considered an A Division and B Division bracket. The teams would be ranked in the Top 16 in the A Division bracket and play a four-round championship bracket, while the next 16 teams would be in the B Division bracket and play a four-round bracket. The teams would be ranked using the FHSAA MaxPreps Playoff Power Rankings, with teams being seeded based upon their ranking.

This change in the playoff process was about creating a plan to help establish a closer level of competition between schools in high school sports in Florida. This comes as transfers in high school athletics have continued to change the landscape and have made an imbalance of competition a much wider divide.

The goal at the end of the day is to have the two best teams, regardless of where they are located in the state, play for the state championship, thus eliminating the four regions that the other classifications have with no assignment of a region or even a district given for the Rural classification.

It should be noted that the A Division champion would be considered the state champion in the Rural classification, while it is still unknown if the B Division bracket champion will have any title, but most expect that the B Division champion will not be called a state champion.

The pilot format will be measured over the next two years, including running clocks and margin of victory in the postseason compared to seasons past, plus polling all coaches and athletic directors in 2025 in both rural and other classifications to determine their thoughts regarding the pilot project.

MORE IN THE 2024 STORYLINES TO FOLLOW SERIES

• New classifications will set tone

• How many defending state champions will be able to repeat?

• SSAA moves to 10-game schedule

• FHSAA playoff power rankings will shift more toward MaxPreps rankings

• Rural classification taking on new playoff format in test

• Where are the FHSAA State Championships going to be played at?