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RIP Joe Pinkos. I did not know him but always looked forward to seeing how my team would be predicted to do. His rankings will definitely be missed and prayers to his loved ones and family who knew the legend.

Josh, consider making the "Pick 'em" contests (regular season and/or playoffs) an 'official' part of this site and name the contest after Joe. "The Pinkos Pick 'Em.' RIP to Joe and peace and condolences to his family.

I never met him and can only speak from the standpoint of his tremendous contributions to the world of high school football which cannot be overstated. However as I get older, I appreciate times gone by and cherish what lies ahead because we all have to make that journey sooner or later. Peace to his family and all those that are directly affected by Joe's passing that had the pleasure of knowing him personally. One day, it will all make sense. RIP Joe...

My worst fears have been confirmed. I suspected that all was not well with JOE P. Rest in Peace!

tried to tell you boss man… homestead with the victory. dade kids just do it a lil different

At the start of the season I would guess at some of my picks and get them right. As the year progressed I'd research teams and make a pick based on common opponents, average margin of victory, etc. My picks started to fall off. I've gone back to just guessing.

Also followed Joe Pinkos HS football forecast week by week for the past many years prior to participating on this forum. I was amazed at how an individual could analyze every game statewide with such accuracy and consistency over time. He truly was a respected source of information and will be sorely missed by all, especially his family in mourning. Our hearts go out to all of them. Rest in Peace Joe, from all your fans.

Yes agree! RIP.

That's because all 17968 people still go to school in Madison.

Big urban schools are always going to poach from smaller schools with less resources. It’s unfortunate but I understand why it happens and there’s not much that can be done to stop it at a local level. As far as scheduling, it would behoove any team that expects to make a deep playoff run to schedule some tough quality opponents. Don’t have to break your back playing the IMG’s and STA’s of the world but playing some tough area opponents (i.e, Cardinal Gibbons, American Heritage, Central,) would certainly help as you get an understanding of the physicality and power of other teams. Beating up on local garbage isn’t going to prepare you for an opponent like STA or AHP in the playoffs. Have to challenge yourself in order to bring your play to the next level.

Treasure Coast seems like a very tough game for anyone. But, I have a hunch their style of play will be a favorable matchup for Apopka. Apopka is excellent against the run, with a great LB group. Darters have a great shot there IMO. But I think 8A is Venice's to lose.

I feel sorry for West Orange having to make the almost 4 hour bus ride to Venice the day after Thanksgiving and then all the way back. But that final score is very very misleading. Although it may seem Venice dominated from start to finish, West Orange wasn’t out of the game in the first half and had chances in the third quarter and even in the first few minutes in the 4th to mount a comeback. In their first drive of the second half Orange drove the ball down to Venice’s 12 yard line only to throw a bad interception that cost them a touchdown. Still only 21-7 at that point so while maybe not ideal they weren't getting squished. Congratulations to the Warriors on a great season. They played really well, but Venice just wears you down by the 4th quarter. Interested to see how they play against Columbus.

What an exciting time of the year! The temperatures are starting to cool off and the playoffs are really heating up! As we prepare for the 3rd round, I'd like to take a few moments to discuss my unsolicited opinions regarding RPI. I will freely admit that I was not (still not) a fan of the formula used. For me, I believe it was a drastic change from what I was accustomed to but change is inevitable right? With that being said, as I skimmed through the remaining teams and their seeding, I must say I'm impressed. Of the 32 games in the 3rd round, all 32 games include at least one team 3 seed or higher representing 87.5% of all teams still in the title hunt. That's really amazing to see that materialize. One would expect all #1's to win but that's why they play the game, LOL. On the flip side, the lone 8 seed still alive accounts for ~1.5% 1 seeds - 28 or ~44% 2 seeds - 16 or 25% 3 seeds - 12 or ~19% 4 seeds - 1 or ~1.5% 5 seeds - 2 or ~3% 6 seeds - 2 or ~3% 7 seeds - 2 or ~3% 8 seeds - 1 or ~1.5% 8A 1 Seminole 3 Apopka 1 Palm Beach Central 2 Treasure Coast 1 Venice 2 West Orange 5 Columbus 2 Palmetto 7A 1 Buchholz 7 Nease 4 Lake Gibson 3 Melbourne 1 Tampa Bay Tech 6 Wharton 1 St. Thomas Aquinas 2 Homestead 6A 1 Pine Forest 2 Mosley 1 Vanguard 3 Jones 1 Jesuit 7 Hillsborough 8 Plantation 3 Northwestern 5A 1 Baker County 3 Wakulla 1 Merritt Island 6 Satellite 1 Clearwater 3 Sebring 1 Killian 3 Central 4A 1 South Walton 2 Bolles 1 Cocoa 2 The Villages Charter 1 Lakewood 3 Clewiston 1 Gulliver Prep 2 Cardinal Gibbons 3A 1 Trinity Catholic 3 Florida State University H 1 Lakeland Christian 2 Benjamin 1 Berkeley Prep 2 Clearwater Central Catholic 1 Chaminade-Madonna 3 Cardinal Newman 2A 1 Trinity Christian Academy 2 Munroe 1 Orlando Christian Prep 2 Zephyrhills Christian Ac 1 First Baptist Academy 2 Northside Christian 5 John Carroll Catholic 2 Champagnat Catholic 1A 1 Baker 2 Chipley 1 Blountstown 3 Madison County 1 Chiefland 3 Union County 1 Hawthorne 2 Pahokee Forgive me as I'm watching college football, Cowboy Bebop on Netflix and typing so my focus is all over the place. I guess what I'm really trying to say is no system is perfect. However, for all the imperfections that people have outlined regarding RPI, do you believe the FHSAA got it right this year?

Cocoa has a lot of respect for Pahokee. Never count them an easy team to play no matter the classification. They may lose to much bigger teams but it is always a decent game. justsayin...

How the hell did you turn this into a Madison thread?

I hope that more officials would realize that nobody shows up to the game to see them. Also, reading the rule book time and time again is critical. High School Football is about the players.

I don't have any assessments but I'm simply waiting for the fun of the playoffs. I'm glad to see Tenoroc make their first ever school appearance in the post season (someone fact check that). I hope it's not short-lived. Can Lake Gibson defeat Lakeland twice in the same season? The pressure is on now, LOL. Can battle tested Bartow give Edgewater a game? Eight of the 10 schools have been to the show at least once in their existence. Will Lakeland Christian add their name to that list? I'm sure the Bloodhounds and Braves will debate for year about the outcome of the game canceled by weather. I hope the Hounds maintain the win at all cost drive into the postseason. 1A Ft. Meade at Wildwood 2A Victory Christian (Lakeland) at Foundation 3A Lakeland Christian (Bye) Frostproof vs Windermere Prep 4A Tenoroc (Lakeland) at Clewiston 6A Auburndale vs Belleview Lake Wales at Port St. Lucie 7A Lakeland at Lake Gibson Bartow at Edgewater My hope is that all the schools in the great state of Florida remain injury free and enjoy the remainder of the season. Good luck to all of our Polk County representatives, EXCEPT Lake Gibson. Nothing personal, just business.

Here you go! Population base on 2020 census numbers: County Population # Playoff Teams Miami-Dade 2701767 17 Broward 1944375 19 Palm Beach 1492191 15 Hillsborough 1459762 15 Orange 1429908 13 Duval 995567 14 Pinellas 959107 10 Lee 760822 8 Polk 725046 10 Brevard 606612 8 Pasco 561891 6 Volusia 553543 4 Seminole 470856 3 Sarasota 434006 3 Manatee 399710 2 Osceola 388656 1 Lake 383956 3 Marion 375908 5 Collier 375752 4 St. Lucie 329226 4 Escambia 321905 3 Leon 292198 5 Alachua 278468 5 St. Johns 273425 2 Clay 218245 2 Okaloosa 211668 3 Hernando 194515 2 Santa Rosa 188000 1 Charlotte 186847 2 Bay 175216 2 Indian River 159788 1 Martin 158431 1 Citrus 153843 0 Sumter 129752 3 Flagler 115378 0 Highlands 101235 2 Nassau 90352 1 Monroe 82874 0 Walton 75305 3 Putnam 73321 1 Columbia 69698 2 Jackson 47319 2 Gadsden 43826 2 Suwannee 43474 0 Levy 42915 1 Okeechobee 39644 0 Hendry 39619 1 DeSoto 33976 0 Wakulla 33764 1 Bradford 28303 1 Baker 28259 1 Hardee 25327 0 Washington 25318 1 Taylor 21796 0 Holmes 19653 1 Madison 17968 1 Gilchrist 17864 1 Dixie 16759 0 Union 16147 1 Jefferson 14510 0 Gulf 14192 2 Hamilton 14004 0 Calhoun 13648 1 Franklin 12451 0 Glades 12126 0 Lafayette 8226 1 Liberty 7974 1

10 - Polk 10- Pinellas 13- Orange 14- Duval 15 - Hillsborough 15 - Palm Beach 17 - Dade 19- Broward

Tenoroc gonna win the state title over lakewood 45-21

Jesse, you need to call the FHSAA. Obviously they screwed something up. When I clicked on the brackets for 1A, it showed Madison as a number 3 seed. WTF?!?!? They don't even get a bye? How can the number 1 team in the state be the third seed in their Class 1 region??? Forget the phone call -- head to Gainesville right now and camp outside the FHSAA offices so you can bring this miscarriage of justice to their attention first thing tomorrow morning so they can correct it.

So sorry to hear this. His game forecasts were second to none. I always compared mine to his to see if I was in the right ballpark. RIP Joe. You’ll be missed.

Went and watched last Friday against Mosley. Triple Option is nasty. They have 2-3 rbs that can take it the distance any given snap and qb is 6’ 3” about 235-240 and a tough runner. I’ll be at game Friday night against jones

Why baker County driving over 5 hours to get blown out by Miami Central. They can save money not going, everyone would understand. Nobody would be upset with them.

You're right any school can lose and sooner or later does. Dade is no different. You said you didn't care about the 60's and 70's but those times add to Dade's overall title count? You can't have it both ways. The weird facts according to you are still that, FACTS! For example, you stated that Southridge dominated the 90s and I call bull on that. Southridge went 1-2-1 and I don't give a damn where you went to school, no one is going to look at that record and say, "Southridge dominated the 90's". I respect the fact that Southridge made it to the finals 4 times in the same decade. That is legit especially back then. However, you could've easily mentioned CC or NW as they both managed better finals records in the 90's than Southridge. From 90-99, Dade went 5-2-1, the tie and losses all came from Southridge. Segregation was prevalent everywhere in the south. Miami wasn't the only city that had to deal with that. Segregated black schools have been closed and/or converted all over Florida/America without a doubt. Polk County has the same story; Rochelle in Lakeland - fed directly into Kathleen high, Union Academy integrated into Bartow, Roosevelt in Lake Wales served Lake Wales, Frostproof and smaller communities, and Oakland in Haines City just name a few that started Polk County's early football history. Same story, albeit on a smaller scale than what happened in Miami. That's a different history lesson altogether and the detriment that followed is not one soon to be forgotten. Everyone knows that Dade has more rings. Again, not debating that. Hell, since 8 classes were created, it's been easier than ever to get to the finals. With the sheer amount of schools that Dade has, Dade arguably has the easiest path to the finals. I mean 21 titles in 10 years is unheard of and due to realignment, Dade has the good fortune to not have all their powerhouse schools in the same class. It is what it is. Florida football is what it's all about.

Dade (4) 2701767 - Columbus, MNW, MC and Champagnat Broward (3) 1944375 - STA, Cardinal Gibbons and Chaminade Hillsborough (3) 1459762 Jesuit, TBT and Berkeley Orange (3) 1429908 - Apopka, Jones and OCP Polk (2) 725046 - Lake Gibson and Lakeland Christian Brevard (2) 606612 - Merritt Island and Cocoa Alachua (2) 278468 - Buchholz and Hawthorne Duval (2) 995567 - Jax TC and Bolles Washington (1) 25318 - Chipley Madison (1) 17968 - Madison County Levy (1) 42915 - Chiefland Collier (1) 375752 - First Baptist Leon (1) 292198 - Florida High Pinellas (1) 959107 - Lakewood Baker (1) 28259 - Baker County Escambia (1) 321905 - Pine Forest Highlands (1) 101235 - Sebring St Lucie (1) 329226 - Treasure Coast Sarasota (1) 434006 - Venice

Don’t give em facts!!!! Lol. He ain’t taking his cheerleading outfit off! It’s easier to talk loud than talk smart!!!!

I find the Dade/Broward argument rather hilarious. UP here in Central Florida, I have always considered Orlando to be: Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties with the extended area also including Brevard, Volusia and Lake counties. The truth of the matter is that it is not unusual for kids to transfer from one of all the counties above to another even though the rate of transfers seems to be greater in South Florida. With that said, I am happy for whatever team from Greater Orlando that is successful in the playoffs and see no need to get into arguments as to who is more successful or who depends on recruiting whose talent. In large, urban metro areas the argument seems kind of pointless to me.

The Jones victory over Vanguard was not improbable. Jones was the more talented team. Vanguard fought back, and proved with a winning program that that truly are, but Jones could have put the game away a little earlier than they ended up doing. The Tigers will be very tough to beat going forward. Elijah Williams is a great High School Football Head Coach.

I agree with Ray that this should be Venice's game. The main things Columbus has going for them right now is their coaching and scrappy nature. They don't have the size this year to go man to man with the Indians. As for the BT game, I will say that that was Columbus' 2nd back to back 7hr+ road game (they played Benedictine in GA the week before), and played that game without our starting RB. We played an ugly game there (2 turnovers and sloppy execution on offense overall). But the past few games, the ugly spots have been smoothed over by some real grit. I am impressed with how they have turned their season around since that Palmetto loss. All this said, Columbus needs to score on nearly every possession in order to keep pace with that Venice O. The size of this team looks on par with the kids from CM. And yes, we were up on them 17-10 in the first half, but their size were too much for 4 quarters for our guys. I see Venice as much the same. My heart says 30-28 Columbus win with a field goal. My head says 21-35 Indians. Should be a great game. Go Explorers!

Columbus had a good schedule this year but to say it was better than Venice's overall schedule just because they stayed within 2 scores of Chaminade-Madonna is lame. Bartram Trail beat Columbus and yet last week they got hammered by Apopka at home. I suppose anything is possible and although I am not a betting man I certainly would take that one as the odds are extremely good on Venice's side.

They earned home field by their consistent performance all year long and in the playoffs it is a huge advantage, particularly if the road trip is over 2 hours long. Jones has to travel to the panhandle from central Florida while Apopka to the Treasure Coast. Cardinal Gibbons comeback win was definitely an impressive feat and that is what champions do as Jullian rightly points out. STA is just STA and no one expected Homestead to have a chance, again playing away from friendly confines. Most thought the game between Pahokee and Hawthorne would be more competitive, but despite the penalty complaints the result was as Jullian describes "A DEMOLITION". So hard to blame refs for losing in a game you get run all over in.

A wandering mind can be a good thing! One last point: even if there were a perfect way to determine RPI and seeding, the best teams don't always win. There have been and always will be upsets.

It’s round 2 of the playoffs and we have a great 1, Dillard will be on the road once again ; traveling to the bottom of the map to play very solid homestead team or as they call themselves “yooostead” lol. the trash talk from the broncos has already started & they claim they’re gonna blow Dillard out etc etc. BOTH teams only have 1 Loss & BOTH teams dismantled their first round opponent. we have a long drive ahead especially with traffic but I already know we’re gonna pack the stadium like we always do. at this point just call us the road warriors because If we take care of business Friday we will be back in the road to ST THOMAS, letsss gooooo Dillard. @VeniceIndiansFootball @Jullian

What a defensive struggle as both sides dominated the offense the entire game. Difference in the game again was too many turnovers by OHS especially a bad punt snap deep in our territory that led to a safety . West Orange managed one sustained drive the entire game for the only offensive TD. Osceola managed one sustain drive the entire game for their only TD. Game was 9-7 with 18 seconds left in the game and we tried a desperation play and turned it over for the 4th or 5th time deep in our territory and they turned it into a TD with time expiring. Final of 16-7 doesn't reflect the fact that outcome was still in doubt till the final seconds. Congrats to them getting the win, but I still feel we were the better team but again self-inflicted wounds was the difference. Future looks bright for Osceola as they now have a year with a returning offensive line of underclassmen (Freshmen, sophs and juniors) 7 or 8 deep; only loss on the OL is a senior we moved over from defense at tackle. We knew that to be our weakness to begin the season and even though they continued to improve throughout the year, they had a tough time matching up with top notch DL like Cocoa and West Orange. Our defense should be just as strong if not better returning most key players including 4 starters in the DL, including both 4* prospects John Walker and Derrick LeBlanc each with dozens of offers including Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Auburn, Texas, etc... Great season for our Kowboys, so hold your heads high as you made your fans proud. GO KOWBOYS.

Not how it works.. but you've been told this before

Man, can you imagine the outcry if schools could rearrange their schedules throughout the season now. Would be fun for a few though ....

Shout-out to the longest consecutive, still running, public school, playoff streak in Florida*. It's been an up and down year, but the high pedigree (28 yrs) continues.... Buc Forever. (*) Lakeland High's consecutive streak started in 1993. But in 2010 the FHSAA vacated their playoff results. Tampa Plant knocked them out in the semi-finals.

Congrats on 4A Madison County making the 1A playoffs. And sorry James Madison Prep Charter. Your time will come.

HS football in this state is the have's and have nots. I dont know what people expect from coaches at the have not schools. There's not a lot of middle ground with the easy transfer rules. Once your team is a have not, youre stuck in a feedback loop of never getting a chance because you lose any good players to teams that can always reload with transfers. It's a vicious cycle and I can never blame the kids for wanting to go to a winner or perhaps get in front of scouts. It sucks for the kids who stay in their zoned school, though. It's the same teams every year in the playoffs. I remember the old days when teams would rise and fall depending upon which group of kids was moving through their system. Some teams were always good just because they were zoned with a lot of athletes in their neighborhood but they still ebbed and flowed depending upon their kids each year. Now teams just reload with kids from out of their zone. Private schools are at a severe advantage to the point its truly unfair but on the other hand I'm happy for the kids that came out of low income neighborhoods to get a chance at a decent education rather than play for their underfunded D or F rated public HS. I do feel for the kids who have to play for losing teams every year. It's tough and only getting tougher. If I were coaching a have not, I would install a gimmick type of offense like the Gun-T (shotgun version of wing-T) where misdirection and cut blocking help you outscore opponents and at least give you a chance vs superior talent. In the end, though, you still need a stud at QB to run it and that's still not easy to find but at least it's one player versus trying to find a whole team of studs.

Spurrier coming back to Florida Gators??

Our WR are good all will be playing ! And Dindy is bk to play in the playoffs! GO NAUGHTS!!

So, it looks like we may have gotten it somewhat right. The teams are seeded for regional play, with the district winners getting the top four seeds (based on RPI) and the four wildcards (or "at large qualifiers") getting seeds 5-8, based on their respective RPI's. The "higher" (with 1 being the highest) seed hosts through the regional finals. So at least in the regional portion of the playoffs, a district winner always hosts a non-district winner, regardless of RPI (because they would have the higher seed). When it comes time for the state semifinals (i.e., the final four), the regional seeding goes out the window and the four remaining teams in each region are re-seeded 1 though 4, again, based on their regular-season RPI. 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3. This also determines which two teams in each class host the semifinal games (seeds 1 and 2, based on the reseeding, host). In theory, a district runner-up, such as Lakeland, could win their region playing nothing but road games, but then host the state semifinal game against a district winner because Lakeland has a better RPI today than two of the other teams in the semifinals. However, if the number one seeds from each region advance, Lakeland would still be on the road, as those teams (TBT, STA and Buchholz) are the only three teams in 7A that have higher RPI's than Lakeland.

Yes, unless you return the 3 district format per region with more teams in each district with automatic bids for district champ and runner up. Then have two additional wildcards from the RPI system per region; this would likely catch the one or two instances per region that have the 3 strong teams you alluded to. Someone else pointed this out earlier and seems like that would be the best of both worlds.

A fair amount of transferring goes on in the Orlando area. But usually it is the already good teams that draw the bulk of transfers. Thus, programs usually show signs of marked improvement before they make a deep playoff run, Wekiva in 2018 would have been a case in point when they lost a very tight game in the third round to the eventual state champion. Jones was a bit of an exception in the transfer portal four or five years ago when more than half of the better Oak Ridge players followed the coach there. However, even that Jones team made an early exit despite having about 20 kids transfer in in one year.

Congrats to Julian eeking out Cat Scratch and the rest of the top five.

Yeah it sounds complicated to say the least! If they do make it, like u said & was telling my buddy, how unfair to earn the #1 seed & find out u playing Armwood!!!! Crazy is right.

That is correct. The player was ineligible when Armwood played Gaither, Steinbrenner and Crest, but has since been declared eligible. So, he can play tonight and will be eligible to play in the playoffs if Armwood manages to get one of the four wildcard spots in 7A, Region 3. Right now (i.e., before taking into account the forfeits), Armwood had the 5 seed in Region 3 with an RPI of .672. But that's based on a winning percentage of .778. When you change the W's to L's, their winning percentage drops down to .444. Without making any adjustments to the Opponent's Winning Percentage or the Opponent's Opponent's Winning Percentage (which, admittedly, will go up ever-so-marginally when the other teams get credit for wins instead of losses), Armwood's RPI drops from .672 to around .555 . . . which puts them in the same ballpark as the current 8 seed (Largo, at .563) and the current 9 seed (Gaither, at .549). Once the games have been played tonight, the numbers and the seeds will change. What remains to be seen is whether Armwood holds onto to a playoff birth or not. If they do, they're likely to slide in at the 8 spot, which means Tampa Bay Tech would be rewarded with its No. 1 seed by playing Armwood in the opening round of the playoffs. Crazy, huh?

To me, the most important issue is whether any one of those three games that Armwood had to forfeit were part of the Pick 'Ems contest and, if so, did anyone pick Gaither or Steinbrenner to win? (I know nobody would have picked Strawberry Crest to win). This could have a huge impact on who ends up winning the big cash prize!!!

Here I is