Joe Wiley, head football coach at Valley Lutheran, likes the new playoff system.
“The new Playoff format is an improvement, in my opinion. It certainly helps us as our schedule tends to be very difficult. This means that we will get a lot of points from that tough schedule, but there are some really strong teams in D5, “which is what we bump up to with SASAs combined enrollment” making it even tougher of a climb for us. However, I feel it benefits us far more than it hurts us,” he said.
nder the old system, playoff divisions were set on Selection Sunday, after the 256-team field has been determined. Now equal divisions are set prior to the season. 543 schools played 11-player football in 2018; each Division would have had 67- 68 teams.
Under the old system, automatic qualifiers were set with 6 wins, or 5 wins with an 8-game schedule. Now there are no automatic qualifiers.
Under the old system, a team had to have, to be considered for the playoffs 5 wins or 4 wins with an 8-game schedule.
All teams now are considered under the new system. The top 32 teams are determined by playoff points.
Under the old system, additional qualifiers were determined… By playoff points, adding a Class A team, then Class B, then Class C, etc. There’s no additional qualifiers under the new system.
Under the old system, points for a win were points for a win Class A = 80 points; Class B = 64 points; Class C = 48 points; Class D = 32 points. Under the new system, it’s Div 1 = 60 points Div 2 = 55 points Div 3 = 50 points Div 4 = 45 points Div 5 = 40 points Div 6 = 35 points Div 7 = 30 points Div 8 = 25 points.
Under the old system, bonus points for opponents wins and losses Team A gets more points (8) for each win by an opponent. Team A defeats, and less points (1) for each win by an opponent Team A was defeated by.
Under the new system, Team A gets points for each of its opponents wins, regardless of whether or not Team A defeated the opponent.
Bonus Point Multiplier was 8 or 1 under the old system. Under the new system, the multiplier changes depending on the size of each opponent: Div 1 = 6 points Div 2 = 6 points Div 3 = 5 points Div 4 = 5 points Div 5 = 4 points Div 6 = 4 points Div 7 = 3 points Div 8 = 3 points.