Roxana High School has authored a proposal to the IHSA that would expand the high school football playoffs from 256 qualifiers to 384 qualifiers and alter regular-season scheduling to a “flexed regional” format.
If adopted, the IHSA football postseason would have 48 playoff teams in each classification, which is up from the current number of 32 qualifiers. In Class 1A through Class 6A, the top eight seeds in the north and south brackets would receive an opening round bye, while in Class 7A and Class 8A, the top 16 seeds would automatically advance to the second round.
The “flexed regional” scheduling model would divide the state into regions of at least six teams determined by geographic proximity and enrollment. All playoff-eligible football-playing teams in the state would be divided equally into the eight classifications before the season, which would become the group of teams that are divided into each regional. The 25 smallest and 25 biggest teams in each classification could be flexed into the class either below them or above them if that regional is a better geographic fit.
Regional games would be played in Weeks 4 through 8, and non-regional games would be played in Weeks 1, 2, 3 and 9. The schools would schedule the non-regional games on their own.
Under this proposal, Week 1 of the season would start a week earlier to allow the state championship games to still be played during the week of Thanksgiving.
The IHSA’s legislative council must approve the proposal before being placed on an all-school ballot for a vote from all IHSA member schools. If approved by a simple majority, the policy would go into effect next season.
WRMJ spoke with Roxana High School Athletic Director Mark Briggs and Assistant Principal Adam Miller on Monday.
You can also listen to the conversation on the WRMJ Sports podcast feed on Apple Podcasts or Spotify