The GHSA Executive Committee voted on Oct. 6, 2025, to move forward with major changes to the state’s playoffs selection process, as well as renaming each of the classifications, effective with the 2026-2027 school year.
Executive Committee Member Explains Changes for Playoff Teams
Danny Redshaw, senior associate athletic director for Lowndes High School and member of the GHSA Executive Committee and Reclassification Committee, explained the changes that the new format will bring and what it all means for Georgia high school teams and their fans.
“The biggest change for the 2026 season, by far, is how the GHSA determines the 32 playoff teams in each class,” Redshaw said. “No longer will the top four teams from each region automatically advance to the state playoffs. Only the region champ will be guaranteed a playoff berth.”
He said that winning the region will also guarantee the region champion a first-round home playoff game.
How the GHSA Playoff Power Ranking Formula Works
Redshaw explained the formula that will determine each team’s power ranking number.
“This formula is called the postseason ranking formula,” he said. “Teams will be power ranked based on their winning percentage, their opponents’ winning percentage, and their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.”
The bottom line is pretty simple at the end of the day, Redshaw said.
“In the simplest of terms, you need to play good teams and win games,” he said.
This will change the approach that many teams have used in scheduling weaker opponents to simply make their win-loss records look good. They can still schedule those types of teams, but in the end it may have a negative effect on their power rankings, which will determine their seedings and if they even qualify for the state playoffs.
In addition to football, other sports that will be using the new postseason ranking formula must also play a minimum number of regular season games, according to Redshaw.
“The minimum number of games they must play include football (nine), softball (20), volleyball (30 matches), basketball (22), baseball (20), soccer (14), lacrosse (14) and tennis (14).”
It’s worth pointing out that the new postseason ranking formula is similar to the points-based system that the GHSA has used over the past two seasons to rank the playoff teams in Class 3A, Class 2A, and Class 1A-Division I, along with Class 1A-3A Private.
Class 7A Returns, Class 1A Will No Longer Be Divided
Redshaw said the GHSA will eliminate the two divisions that have previously split Class 1A, thus creating a unified Class 1A-7A structure.
The overall number of classifications will remain the same, but 6A will become 7A, 5A will become 6A, Class 4A will become Class 5A, Class 3A will become Class 4A, Class 2A will become 3A, Class 1A-Division I will become Class 2A, Class 1A-Division II will become Class 1A with no private schools, and the Private classification will now consist of private teams from Classes 2A-4A.
Why Are the Classifications Changing?
There are two major reasons for the changes, as Redshaw explained.
“The goal is to get the best 32 teams from each class from across the state into the playoffs,” he said. “When a region clearly has five or six teams that deserve to be a playoff team as one of the 32, then those teams deserve to be there.”
“Another goal is to have the best teams playing in the semifinals and finals,” Redshaw said, echoing the thoughts of many fans and coaches across the state (including this observer). “Many times we’ve had the best teams playing in the second or third round because of the old seeding system.”
Of all the changes brought forth, this is the one that I applaud the GHSA for addressing.
The changes to the GHSA playoffs will go into effect for the 2026-2027 school year.
