Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

The final week of the high school football regular season will look and feel much different than years past, in a variety of ways. 

In most years, football fans, coaches, and players would be delving into the various playoff scenarios for their teams, to determine if they are safely in the postseason or perhaps have some work to do.

At WSN, we would have released several playoff projections by now and would be working on a special playoff scenarios preview for this final Friday. Our plans for Friday night would include a Facebook Live event as we collect the final scores and break down the math to determine who would be among the 224, 11-player football teams to qualify and who would be left at home. Then, we'd all wait for the official field to be announced by the WIAA, followed by the regional groupings a bit later.

Instead, with the number of teams participating in football this fall reduced by about 30% as some opt for the alternate spring season and the decision by the WIAA to limit the postseason to just two levels without a true state tournament or champions, there will be quite a bit less craziness or intrigue to Friday night.

The WIAA has indicated they still plan to determine a 224-team playoff qualifying field, if necessary, using the existing criteria. From there, teams will be broken into seven divisions and placed in eight-team regional groupings. The new automated seeding process will be applied to seed each eight-team grouping from number one to number eight. 

For 2020, those eight-team groupings will then be broken down further into two, four-team pods "regionally and competitively when possible" according to the WIAA. Ideally, the top four seeds in each region would be grouped together, with number one playing number four and two taking on number three. The bottom four teams would be grouped together, with five facing number eight and six taking on number seven. However, based on the WIAA guidance of grouping teams regionally and competitive when possible, there could be slight adjustments to the pods in the event of significant travel.

The higher-seeded team will host, if on the approved site list. The default for games will remain 7 pm on Friday but can be changed to Saturday upon agreement by both teams.

The WIAA's estimated schedule for releasing information this weekend is:

Friday, Nov. 6

Midnight - release tournament field of 224 - broken into 7 divisions.
12:30 a.m. - run auto-seeding program
1:30 a.m. - release 8-team groupings/brackets by division 

Saturday, Nov. 7

Brackets released - Time TBA

As of this writing, there are 197 of the 250 teams left offering fall football that have opted in to the WIAA's two-week postseason structure. That means the WIAA will likely not need to use criteria to determine the qualifiers, as all teams will make it into the postseason. So that part of the playoff process will not have the uncertainty or anticipation normally associated with the final Friday night.

The most interesting part of the process will likely be determining the eight-team regional groupings and then applying the new automated seeding process to further break them down into four-team pods. The assigning of teams to regional groupings is the one somewhat subjective part of the process remaining, and has always elicited a good amount of discussion and debate.

Once the four-team pods are determined, the matchups will be set by the automated seeding and we will know, for a brief time anyways, what Level 1 will look like. Of course, as we've seen each week, expect some cancelations after the brackets are announced as teams deal with COVID exposures, tracing, or challenges.

Teams that win their Level 1 game will be advanced to Level 2, where they will face the other winner from their four-team pod, with officials assigned by the WIAA.

Teams that lose their Level 1 matchup do not have to advance to play the loser of the other game. However, those teams do have the option of scheduling any opponent in Level 2, if they choose.

As we have seen, this year requires a large amount of flexibility, and there is no doubt we will see some cancelations or adjustments to the postseason schedules. Just what that will mean and how many impacts there will be are about the only intrigue we'll get this year.

According to information provided by the WIAA, 61 teams in 11-player football have opted out of the postseason, including eight that have previously announced a move from the fall to the spring. It is unclear how many of these teams will be done after the regular season, and how many may schedule their own opponents in Level 1 and/or 2 instead of participating in the WIAA postseason. The list of opt-outs includes:

Abbotsford
Almond-Bancroft
Athens *
Barron
Berlin
Boscobel *
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser
Chippewa Falls
Delavan-Darien *
Dodgeville *
Dominican
Elmwood/Plum City
Fall River/Rio
Hayward/Lac Courte Oreilles *
Hillsboro
Holmen
Hope Christian
Horicon/Hustisford *
Iowa-Grant *
Ithaca
Johnson Creek
Kenosha Tremper *
Kewaunee
Living Word Lutheran
Manitowoc Lutheran
Marathon *
Menasha
Merrill *
Montello/Green Lake/Princeton
New Berlin Eisenhower *
Niagara/Goodman/Pembine
Notre Dame
Omro
Osceola *
Owen-Withee
Pardeeville
Pecatonica/Argyle
Platteville
Port Washington *
Random Lake *
Reedsburg *
Regis *
Rib Lake/Prentice *
River Falls
Roncalli
Saint Francis
Sparta
St. John's Northwestern Academies
Thorp *
Union Grove *
Waukesha South
Wausau East
Wauwatosa East *
Wauwatosa West *
West Bend East *
West Salem
Westosha Central *
Whitehall
Wild Rose *
Wilmot Union *
Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln

With 197 teams currently opted in to the WIAA postseason, it makes it very easy to project the divisional splits. Those are included below in the tab titled "Projected Divisional Placement".

The WIAA will select 13 qualifiers for the 8-Player postseason using the existing criteria. Those teams will be placed into four-team groupings, with two levels of postseason just like 11-player, which means no full state tournament or champions. Teams with a three-year enrollment average of more than 200 are not eligible for the playoffs, which leaves 33 programs.

However, Auburndale switched to 8-player late and is ineligible, while Mercer/Butternut, Sevastopol, and Washburn will play in the spring.

Additionally, Belmont, Bowler/Gresham, Bruce, Clayton, Elcho/White Lake, Florence, Gillett, Gilman, Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas, Luck, Marion/Tigerton, Mellen, New Auburn, Newman Catholic, Port Edwards, Prairie Farm, Shell Lake, Suring, Tri-County, and Wausaukee have opted out of the postseason.

This leaves 9 teams eligible for the playoffs, to fill 8 postseason spots:

Alma Center Lincoln
Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah
Frederic
Greenwood
McDonell Central Catholic
Northwood/Solon Springs
Siren
Three Lakes
Wabeno/Laona

The 8-player qualifiers and matchups are expected to be released late Friday night.

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.