Dr. D

My son's team is in the 4A-7A FIT and I don't think there are any truly bad teams in this bracket.  It seems like it would be a better tournament if they either combined 1A-3A with the 4A-7A or Rural FIT bracket.  It's still experimental so maybe FHSAA will make adjustments next year?
As far as why is a 2-8 team in the tournament?  Talking to our coach, you have to opt into the tournament.  There are teams out there who opted out so a 2-8 team had to opt in to agree to travel 6 hrs for a meaningless tournament.  Pensacola HS wants to extend their miserable season for some reason?  Maybe they are young and want some more development time?  I dunno, no way I would have opted in.

446; broken down as follows:
7A - 66 6A - 66 5A - 61 4A - 66 3A - 61 2A - 52 1A - 41 Rural - 33

Well its kinda nice to know that the parents of that QB are content with him being at a small Christian school that doesn't break the rules and lawyer up at the last minute. 

Since we can’t get this year’s brackets totally ironed out, why not briefly look ahead to the upcoming Open Division bracket.  Unless amended by the FHSAA Board of Directors, the Open Division will debut in 2026 as a mandatory (not optional) bracket for the top 8 teams in the FHSAA rankings after the regular season.  If the Open Division was in effect this year, these would be the opening round matchups:
#8 Bolles @ #1 DeLand #5 Miami NW @ #4 Buchholz #6 Mandarin @ #3 Vero Beach #7 Carrollwood Day @ #2 Cardinal Mooney Not terrible, but these are some of the teams left out (and their final ranking): Raines (#9); Armwood (#10); Edgewater (#12); Lakeland (#14); C-M (#15); STA (#17).  Once again, relying solely on computer rankings may not achieve the desired goals.   

And the crazy thing is the parents that filed the suit and in a uproar saying the players don't deserve the punishment. Yes they are right about the players not deserving the punishment. But they are acting as if they didn't go into the summer or this brand new season knowing that FTA still had 1 more year of this ban against. They could've easily went to a completely different school or fought it during the summer or beginning of the season to see if they could get in

At which point TFA would file another lawsuit.

At which point TFA would file another lawsuit.

Among the qualities that TFA touts is "A commitment to character development and service to others."  So when you get caught doing something wrong, do you admit to your mistake and accept the punishment?  No, you call the lawyers!
I am not a lawyer (thankfully), so maybe TFA has a legal loophole to wiggle through.  But that doesn't make it right.  What a lesson in "character development."

Among the qualities that TFA touts is "A commitment to character development and service to others."  So when you get caught doing something wrong, do you admit to your mistake and accept the punishment?  No, you call the lawyers!
I am not a lawyer (thankfully), so maybe TFA has a legal loophole to wiggle through.  But that doesn't make it right.  What a lesson in "character development."

Among the qualities that TFA touts is "A commitment to character development and service to others."  So when you get caught doing something wrong, do you admit to your mistake and accept the punishment?  No, you call the lawyers!
I am not a lawyer (thankfully), so maybe TFA has a legal loophole to wiggle through.  But that doesn't make it right.  What a lesson in "character development."

Agree with you 100% and felt that FHSAA would cave to the pressure.  It is an absolute terrible message to send to kids about right and wrong on so many levels, particularly from a private school that cloaks itself in Christianity.  SAD!!!

Been around athletic's long enough to know that penalties don't always stick for schools with rich pockets. And it looks like the First Academy, which has as deep of pockets has anybody in Florida, is finding out that they will be allowed to be in the playoffs this season. 
      One of their lawyers made a valid point that there is inconsistency in the way the fhsaa handles violations across the state. Nobody would argue that with them. The state organization is comical in their failure to do much of anything that is logical or consistent. 
    However, the First Academy absolutely blew past many of the norms, policies and rules that many schools do their best to follow. The old adage /excuse that everybody is doing it is not a defense. (Especially for a school that is run by a church. And on another note, I have personally witnessed interventions on behalf of their track and field athletes, that screamed of impropriety and the influence of money.)
So regardless of what happens with other schools, in inconsistencies, to lawyer up and get to play is not a great lesson for kids or the community. Community. But such is life coaching in Florida. 
I'll be curious to see what other people think about this. But sadly it's not the first time.

I feel your pain, but Florida, as a state, got very lucky this year with weather.  Unlike last year, we didn't have any significant hurricane events so, for the most part, and with the exception of a few early-season thunderstorm/lightning cancellations, all games were played.  As pointed out, I think any make-up games had to be played by Tuesday of this week. 
I suspect the top 6 or 7 teams in each region like the idea of a bye week leading into the playoffs.   It gives teams a chance to get healthy before they enter the playoff run.  But, you're right about the teams on the bubble . . . the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th teams are sitting out there not even knowing if they're going to be playing in the playoffs.  But at least we can figure out who's likely to make it and who's likely to be left at home, because we all know the formula that gets used to determine the rankings, right?  

What I don't get is the FHSAA/ADs/coaches had 2 years since the last reclassification to solicit input/analyze data/develop proposals/seek feedback and present options for a vote.  Instead, they roll out this proposal on a Wednesday, everyone now voices an opinion, confusion ensues, and they want a vote on Monday.  What kind of organization operates like this?  Wait, never mind. 

1A-6A + Rural + Open = 8 state championship brackets (still), so no real change.  

Yes.  The FHSAA intentionally built in a bye week for any weather-related make-up games.  There are several games on the schedule tonight.  The final bracket release and the brackets themselves are supposed to be released on Thursday.  First-round games take place on November 14. 

Sorry, meant to say the final rankings and playoff brackets will be released on Thursday.

Yes.  The FHSAA intentionally built in a bye week for any weather-related make-up games.  There are several games on the schedule tonight.  The final bracket release and the brackets themselves are supposed to be released on Thursday.  First-round games take place on November 14. 

This is not rocket science.  In the age of open transfers, the classes need to be based on performance, not enrollment but what the hell do I know?  The FHSAA could pay a consultant $250K for the info that I and a few other posters have provided for free.  Yes, I'm a proponent for reclassifying every year as personnel changes every year, right!?  Beyond disgusted.

I just wasted an hour of my life watching the FHSAA Informational Workshop on YouTube in which this classification proposal was rolled out.  I can start by saying that there is not a transformative, outside-the-box, or innovative mindset by the FHSAA Board of Directors in approaching this topic.  Only one of the Directors stated that he did not believe school enrollment should be a major factor in football classification.  The proposal itself follows a middle ground, offering something to everyone to keep them happy, with the stated goal of attracting independent teams back to the FHSAA.  The Executive Director stated that because Florida is “so different” due to school choice rules, that it is much harder to achieve equitable competition, and that coaches would never agree to proposals based on competitive equity.  So it looks like more of the same if this proposal is adopted on Monday, just dressed up in a different package. 

What I don't get is the FHSAA/ADs/coaches had 2 years since the last reclassification to solicit input/analyze data/develop proposals/seek feedback and present options for a vote.  Instead, they roll out this proposal on a Wednesday, everyone now voices an opinion, confusion ensues, and they want a vote on Monday.  What kind of organization operates like this?  Wait, never mind. 

What I don't get is the FHSAA/ADs/coaches had 2 years since the last reclassification to solicit input/analyze data/develop proposals/seek feedback and present options for a vote.  Instead, they roll out this proposal on a Wednesday, everyone now voices an opinion, confusion ensues, and they want a vote on Monday.  What kind of organization operates like this?  Wait, never mind. 

Huh, 1A and rural have the most F's by far and the least A's. I wonder if the FHSAA has looked at numbers like that to help them make decisions and to create more proposals to be voted on. I was joking, I already know the answer...HELL NOOOOOO they aint doing no s--t like that. Makes too much sense and they would have to apply some effort. Not gonna happen.

Took a different look at this using only games played within classification. No matter how I spin it, we are quite a bit out of whack when it comes to game competitiveness. Only 36% of our games are graded "B" or better.  Even worse, 42% are rated below a "D+".  The same report card for all levels of college rate 52% as "B" or better. Hopefully, whatever the FHSAA comes up with for 2026 will help. Here are the "Fan Interest Report Cards" for Intra Classification contests played through week 10.
    r   
  Class 7A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games    Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 14 10% 10% A  Really Good 4-8 17 12% 21% B+ Good 9-12 9 6% 28% B  Pretty Good 13-17 17 12% 39% C+ Somewhat  18-21 6 4% 43% C  Not Really 22-26 13 9% 52% D+ Poor 27-30 7 5% 57% D  Bad 31-35 16 11% 68% F Horrible 36+ 46 32% 100%               Class 6A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games             Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 12 10% 10% A  Really Good 4-8 15 12% 22% B+ Good 9-12 10 8% 30% B  Pretty Good 13-17 9 7% 37% C+ Somewhat  18-21 11 9% 46% C  Not Really 22-26 13 10% 56% D+ Poor 27-30 3 2% 59% D  Bad 31-35 13 10% 69% F Horrible 36+ 38 31% 100%               Class 5A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games     Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 8 7% 7% A  Really Good 4-8 10 9% 17% B+ Good 9-12 9 8% 25% B  Pretty Good 13-17 7 6% 31% C+ Somewhat  18-21 8 7% 39% C  Not Really 22-26 10 9% 48% D+ Poor 27-30 8 7% 56% D  Bad 31-35 7 6% 62% F Horrible 36+ 41 38% 100%               Class 4A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 11 10% 10% A  Really Good 4-8 14 12% 22% B+ Good 9-12 6 5% 27% B  Pretty Good 13-17 13 11% 38% C+ Somewhat  18-21 11 10% 48% C  Not Really 22-26 6 5% 53% D+ Poor 27-30 5 4% 57% D  Bad 31-35 9 8% 65% F Horrible 36+ 40 35% 100%               Class 3A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 4 4% 4% A  Really Good 4-8 13 13% 18% B+ Good 9-12 6 6% 24% B  Pretty Good 13-17 8 8% 32% C+ Somewhat  18-21 7 7% 39% C  Not Really 22-26 9 9% 48% D+ Poor 27-30 4 4% 53% D  Bad 31-35 6 6% 59% F Horrible 36+ 40 41% 100%               Class 2A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 8 10% 10% A  Really Good 4-8 10 12% 22% B+ Good 9-12 3 4% 26% B  Pretty Good 13-17 11 13% 39% C+ Somewhat  18-21 6 7% 46% C  Not Really 22-26 8 10% 56% D+ Poor 27-30 5 6% 62% D  Bad 31-35 9 11% 73% F Horrible 36+ 22 27% 100%               Class 1A         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games   Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 3 4% 4% A  Really Good 4-8 4 6% 10% B+ Good 9-12 6 9% 19% B  Pretty Good 13-17 4 6% 25% C+ Somewhat  18-21 3 4% 29% C  Not Really 22-26 7 10% 39% D+ Poor 27-30 6 9% 48% D  Bad 31-35 4 6% 54% F Horrible 36+ 32 46% 100%               Rural         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 3 5% 5% A  Really Good 4-8 6 9% 14% B+ Good 9-12 2 3% 17% B  Pretty Good 13-17 7 11% 27% C+ Somewhat  18-21 1 2% 29% C  Not Really 22-26 6 9% 38% D+ Poor 27-30 6 9% 47% D  Bad 31-35 7 11% 58% F Horrible 36+ 28 42% 100%               Indep         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 6 8% 8% A  Really Good 4-8 12 17% 25% B+ Good 9-12 6 8% 33% B  Pretty Good 13-17 10 14% 47% C+ Somewhat  18-21 4 6% 53% C  Not Really 22-26 2 3% 56% D+ Poor 27-30 7 10% 65% D  Bad 31-35 5 7% 72% F Horrible 36+ 20 28% 100%               SSAA         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games Pct Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 13 7% 7% A  Really Good 4-8 15 8% 14% B+ Good 9-12 19 10% 24% B  Pretty Good 13-17 26 13% 37% C+ Somewhat  18-21 16 8% 45% C  Not Really 22-26 24 12% 57% D+ Poor 27-30 14 7% 64% D  Bad 31-35 16 8% 73% F Horrible 36+ 54 27% 100%               TOTAL         Grade Interest Pt Margin Games     Pct     Cumul. A+ Excellent 1-3 82 8% 8% A  Really Good 4-8 116 11% 18% B+ Good 9-12 76 7% 25% B  Pretty Good 13-17 112 10% 36% C+ Somewhat  18-21 73 7% 43% C  Not Really 22-26 98 9% 52% D+ Poor 27-30 65 6% 58% D  Bad 31-35 92 9% 66% F Horrible 36+ 361 34% 100%  

What I don't get is the FHSAA/ADs/coaches had 2 years since the last reclassification to solicit input/analyze data/develop proposals/seek feedback and present options for a vote.  Instead, they roll out this proposal on a Wednesday, everyone now voices an opinion, confusion ensues, and they want a vote on Monday.  What kind of organization operates like this?  Wait, never mind.