The Georgia High School Association Executive Committee has announced that starting in the 2026-27 school year, playoff berths will be determined using a Post Season Ranking (PSR) formula. This ranking system will apply to all sports except golf, track and field, flag football, riflery, swimming and diving.

GHSA’s current ranking system results in regional imbalance, predictable matchups and a lack of statewide comparison. The system guarantees a playoff spot to the top four teams of each region in a classification based on each team’s win/loss ratio. 

This system has been criticized for its disregard to the imbalance between regions. Stronger regions with better-performing teams have teams left out of playoffs because weaker regions automatically get four spots for their poorer-performing teams. The absence of regional comparison has led to an unbalanced playoff line up.

“We wanted the best 32 teams in the playoffs,” GHSA Associate Director Don Corr said. “Letting four teams qualify from every region in the state was not the best way to do it. We had a lot of teams that didn’t belong in the playoffs, and we had a lot of teams not playing very many games that were getting in because they were automatic qualifiers.”

Currently, weaker teams with automatic spots in the playoffs face stronger teams in the first round and quickly get eliminated, resulting in predictable outcomes. 

“In the past, we’ve had whole regions get swept in the first round in the old bracketed format. That means none of them deserve to be in the playoffs,” Corr said. 

The current system doesn’t account for how teams match up outside their regions, limiting statewide comparison. 

“We’ve been in the old system a long time” Corr said. “It’s always the luck of the draw with what regions matched up with what regions and who ended up on your side of the bracket. It was just a blind draw when we put the brackets out there.”

Although guaranteeing playoff opportunities provides exposure and experience for weaker teams that might not otherwise get the chance, it can also cause undeserving teams to advance while stronger teams are left out.  

“Right now, with the top four going, if you’re not in a strong region, then teams that wouldn’t maybe normally go to playoffs get the opportunity to go, so I think that’s a plus for this current system,” Athletic Director Blair Barksdale said. “But, on the other hand, teams that aren’t very prepared or haven’t gotten to that level in that sport yet, they may struggle.”

The new system being introduced in the 2026-27 school year hopes to create a more competitive, balanced system throughout the state.

Only region champions will be guaranteed an automatic spot in the playoffs with all remaining spots filled by the highest-ranked teams based on the PSR formula.

“We’re gonna let one of the region champions get into the playoffs, and they’re gonna get a home game,” Corr said. “If there’s ever a reason the PSR have a tie teams in the ranking, a head-to-head would be the first tiebreaker.”

The PSR formula will consider team records, opponent strength and opponents’ opponents’ strength, similar to the NCAA’s RPI system. Region champions will be seeded 1-8 while the remaining 24 spots will be determined by the PSR formula. Winning percentage will be weighted .35 of the total score while opponents’ win percentage (OWP) and opponents’ opponents’ win percentage (OOWP) will combine to be weighted .65 of the total score. Teams will likely be more motivated to schedule stronger opponents, as doing so can boost their PSR score and improve their chances of earning a playoff spot. 

“Class 1A, 2A and 3A have already used it,” Barksdale said. “We have some of those schools in APS and talking to them, there’s been no serious complaints. You have the top 32 teams going to the playoffs, so it makes the playoffs more competitive. Their thought is that it motivates schools to bring all their sports up to that.”

In addition to the power ranking, teams will also need to schedule a minimum number of regular season games to qualify for the playoffs, which varies by sport. For football, nine games are required. Games will be weighted differently from previous years, with home and away games being changed to be weighted equally both at 1.0, and now the non-GHSA games will be weighted at 0.9. 

“We’re trying to prevent schools from scheduling people they know they’re going to beat just to run up their winning percentage, which will run up their PSR,” Corr said. “All of these non-GHSA schools, we don’t have an OWP or an OOWP on them, so there’s nothing to tell how good they are. So, we have to do something to be fair to all schools, especially our border schools that have to go outside the state to get some games.”

The new system will apply to all classifications, ensuring that the strongest teams advance.

“People wanna play good people,” Corr said. “When you pick up non-region games, you want to pick somebody you have a chance of beating, and you know they’re going to have a good PSR at the end of the year. So, you’re gaining, even if you lose, you’re going to lose on the winning percentage side, but you’re going to probably pick up points on the OWP and the OOWP. So, strength of schedule is important.”

The new playoff ranking system raises questions for Midtown athletics, since the system has never been used before.

Based on previous performance, Barksdale believes the change will have a positive impact because it will allow Midtown’s teams to become more competitive where they struggled with tough region competition prior.

“We were in a tough region, and we were trying to build a program when it’s just so tough,” Barksdale said. “The teams were so tough this year; it’ll be more of an even playing field with that region, so I think it’ll help. I think all our sports should be in that top 32 whether you know it’s in the top 10 or it’s down at the bottom, but I have a feeling that we will be successful, and we will make the playoffs for all sports; that’s my goal.”

GHSA released rankings based on its new PSR system for 2025-26 season sports, for example, on how the system will work. Based on these rankings, the Knights football team was ranked 47th in Class 4-AAAA. The new system will give the program room to schedule better teams and become more competitive, possibly allowing the Knights to move up in the rankings. 

“We’re in a very good region for all sports,” Barksdale said. “This allows sports like football to be competitive and compete, so their win percentage should go up. I think [football head coach Calvin Arnold] already scheduled outside of the region some good teams for next year. I think it’ll give us a better shot. I think we, with the new region classification in this, will feel more success from football and just let coach Arnold be able to really build on it.”

The Knights came close to the playoff this year under the new system and Arnold is already strategizing to adjust to the change in system for next season.

“Everything is based on winning percentage,” Arnold said. “So, the teams that we play, if they have a winning record, then our schedule goes up, so that gives us a better chance of making the playoffs. I’m not going to say it’s going to be hard, but you have to be very strategic about who you’re playing.”

Arnold emphasizes that though scheduling plays a major role, handling new region opponents with the switch to Class 6A from 4A is crucial. 

“The biggest thing is, first, we have to worry about just who’s all in the region,” Arnold said. “We have to make sure we take care of those, and then we reach out to other people to try to find games. We missed our chance of going to the playoffs, but this year, we got to make sure that we just take care of our business – can’t mess around.”