I'll play devil's advocate just a little. As soon as you inject the "human element," you create a risk of bias. It happens at all levels. In college football, coaches and sportswriters from the south tend to vote for teams from the south while coaches and sportswriters from the midwest tend to vote for the teams from the midwest. To a certain extent, it's natural.
I can see the same thing happening at the high school level if you involve coaches, writers, web hosts, etc. I understand the argument in favor of inserting a little humanity into the process, but that will undoubtedly create a possibility of bias for and against teams based on nothing more than where the teams are located.
Would like to think that pride, integrity, character, honor would prevent the scenario you describe, but this is high school football in Florida. The Week 11 non-district games would be a perfect time to “rest” some key players (“load management” as they call it in the NBA), heal up “injuries”, or give the back-ups some playing time.
The bigger issue is that it is extremely unlikely that MaxPreps will identify the “best” 8 teams in the state. MaxPreps is excellent at ranking teams at the end of the post-season, but not as reliable at the end of the regular season. And why do MaxPreps rankings differ from the FHSAA Power Rankings, the LAZ index, Joshua Wilson’s FPRI, etc (no disrespect to the latter two)? Which one is the most accurate? Without a human element included in the selection process, MaxPreps will identify 8 teams that look the best to their particular variables, weighting, and formula, but this biased process will not guarantee the intent of the Open Division is met – identifying the best of the best.
what happens if, your 8-0, district title is secured, your lingering around the 6,7,8 spot in state max preps rankings. however, you know, your not going to run the gambit of west boca, chaminade, venice, st thomas, columbus, miami central, etc, etc, etc. and,,,,,
coach dumps last 2 weeks of season, 8-2 and fall out of max preps top 8. and run the table in your playoff division....
is it better to be 8th ranked in max preps and lose at some point in that bracket or
10th ranked and roll thru your division to a state title?
is the class 3405-A, state champ better than 2nd round loss in open division
someone does this, i can promise it.