The Iowa High School Athletic Association Thursday announced changes coming to the Iowa High School Football Playoffs set to debut in this upcoming 2018 season.

The State has announced that the current format of 16 qualifying teams per class will remain in-tact, despite recommendations from the Iowa Football Coaches association and the playoff football advisory committe who asked to return to 32 teams. The 16 teams per class allows for all games to be played on Fridays so teams can get a full week's rest between games and have the season finished prior to the Thanksgiving break.

Even though the 16-team format remains in-tact, how teams qualify has changed significantly.

1. Only the district champion or teams tying for a district championship receive automatic qualification.
2. For the first time since the debut of district football, all nine games will count toward postseason qualification.
3. The 17-point district tiebreaker will be eliminated and not factor into qualification.
4. Remaining at-large qualifiers* will be determined by a Ratings Percentage Index formula. The RPI will use three criteria to determine postseason qualification.
   1. Team’s overall win-loss percentage (accounting for 37.5% of the index)
   2. Team’s opponent’s win-loss percentage (37.5%)
   3. Team’s opponent’s opponent’s win-loss percentage (25%)
5. Classification differences between non-district opponents do not affect RPI.

* In the case of Class 1A, up to six teams

The State also will start allowing varsity football teams to play games against nearby opponents in border states – Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Kansas.

Read more about the IHSAA's playoff qualification changes in their press release.

Also on Thursday, the IHSSA announces Classifications and District assignments for the 2018, 2019 seasons. Read our post about those here.