All that's standing in the way of a new AAAA football playoff system is approval from the S.C. High School League's executive committee.
Later this month, the committee will vote on a proposal hammered-out by a committee of the state's Class AAAA principals, which would change the state's format starting with the upcoming school year.
The new format calls for the top 32 schools to qualify for the Class AAAA football playoffs. The backet will then be split into two separte tournaments based on schools' enrollment. The top three teams in each of the state's eight Class AAAA regions qualify for the playoffs. The other eight at-large slots will be decided by the points system already in use. The points system decides seeding in each bracket. The new system eliminates the Upper State and Lower State brackets.
In the old playoff format, Class AAAA's largest schools, known as the Big 16, were automatic qualifiers to the Division I football playoffs, no matter their records. Last fall, five teams sporting winning records didn't make the Class AAAA playoffs. The Big 16 postseason football tournament had seven teams with losing records.
To read more, click on The High School Football Huddle headline "Changes In AAAA Playoff System Coming".
