Mike Brown, sports correspondent
Coaches wanted it and they finally got it when the GHSA made the bold decision to implement for this school year a power rating system to determine playoff teams for all sports that use 32-team playoff brackets.
Known as the Postseason Rankings Formula—PSR for short—teams no longer have to finish in the top four in their region to qualify for the playoffs. Qualifying will be based on a formula consisting of a team’s record, its opponents record and its opponents’ opponents record.
That’s a lot, obviously, to absorb and track but it isn’t new to the GHSA which has been using it for Classes 3A, 2A, A Division I and 3A-A Private. They saw enough of it to implement it by a 66-1 vote for all classes.
Only the eight region champions will be guaranteed a spot in the playoffs and an opening round home game. The remainder of the field will be filled by 24 at-large teams. Some regions could see more than four teams in the playoffs while others may have only its region champion qualify.
While region play is important, what PSR does is make every game on the schedule important. Beating up on weaker teams may make a win-loss record look good but it will not necessarily get you in the playoffs. There could be a scenario where a 4-6 team is in post-season play while a 7-3 squad is sitting at home.
Bryan County football is an excellent example of how the revised system could be beneficial. The last two years the Redskins have missed the playoffs. Had PSR been in place, they would have been in the field.
Due to reclassification the Redskins will be playing in Class 2A this season. Last year they were in a highly competitive Region 3A-DII where they finished fifth while going 5-5 overall, 4-4 in region play.
Coach Cherard Freeman considered, as did many others, Region 3A-DII to be the strongest in the state. The PSR ratings backed him up. Six teams in the region including Bryan County would have made the playoffs. The Redskins would have been a No. 24 seed.
The new system has encouraged teams to play a stronger non-region schedule with every game now counting towards qualifying for the playoffs.
“We should have made the playoffs last year,” Freeman said. “We went to Metter and didn’t play very well and it cost us.”
“I feel like this year we should make the playoffs, too,” Freeman said.
“We’ve got a tough region but I want to get in with some wins. Get in and feel like you’ve earned it.”
There’s a strong possibility the Redskins could be a fifth-place team again this year but it won’t necessarily mean the end of the season. The new region will include Calvary Day School, Screven County, Metter, Savannah Christian and Savannah High as football playing members.
The Redskins, who will host Ridgeland, S.C., in a pre-season scrimmage at 7 p.m. on Aug. 14, will be an underdog against everyone except the Blue Jackets so its non-region games will be doubly important.
“Our mindset this year is we’ve got 10 region games,” Freeman said. “We’ve got to treat every game like it’s a region game. We’ve got to get them all.
“That’s the approach we’ve got to take,” Freeman said. “You don’t know what Treutlen is going to be, what Islands is going to be, what Warren County is going to be and so forth.”
Bryan County opens the season at home on Aug. 21 against Treutlen County followed by road games at Portal and Islands, a home game with Windsor Forest and a trip to Warren County before beginning region play.
The move up didn’t lighten the load for the Redskins. Calvary Day lost to Hebron Christian, 28-21, in last year’s Class 3A-A Private state championship game, Screven County reached the Elite Eight while Savannah Christian, Treutlen, Metter and Warren County were all playoff teams.
Freeman, however, is undaunted by the task ahead.
“This region is tough,” Freeman said, with an emphasis on ‘tough’.
“But it’s exciting because of the fact we can still play in one of the toughest regions in the state. Playing tough teams is going to make us better.”