Following Wednesday’s special meeting of the IHSAA Board of Control, football’s district and group assignments are now available.

District and Class 4A group assignments are effective for the 2020 football season only. More information on the Class 4A success model is available below.

 

 

2020 ASSIGNMENTS

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FORMAT & PLAYOFF QUALIFIYING

Class 4A
  • Teams: 40
  • Groups: 7
  • Teams Per Group: 6 / 5
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • At-Large Berths: 16
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • Group Games (Per Team): 3 / 2
  • Assigned Games (Per Team): 2 / 3
  • Non-Group Games (Per Team): 4

 

Class 3A
  • Teams: 54
  • Districts: 9
  • Teams Per District: 6
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • Automatic Qualifiers: 9
  • At-Large Berths: 7
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • District Games (Per Team): 5
  • Non-District Games (Per Team): 4

 

Class 2A
  • Teams: 54
  • Districts: 9
  • Teams Per District: 6
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • Automatic Qualifiers: 9
  • At-Large Berths: 7
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • District Games (Per Team): 5
  • Non-District Games (Per Team): 4
Class 1A
  • Teams: 54
  • Districts: 9
  • Teams Per District: 6
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • Automatic Qualifiers: 9
  • At-Large Berths: 7
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • District Games (Per Team): 5
  • Non-District Games (Per Team): 4

 

Class A
  • Teams: 60
  • Districts: 10
  • Teams Per District: 6
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • Automatic Qualifiers: 10
  • At-Large Berths: 6
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • District Games (Per Team): 5
  • Non-District Games (Per Team): 4

 

Eight-Player
  • Teams: 68
  • Districts: 8
  • Teams Per District: 4 with 9 / 4 with 8
  • Playoff Qualifiers: 16
  • Automatic Qualifiers: 8
  • At-Large Berths: 8
  • Regular Season Games (Per Team): 9
  • District Games (Per Team): 8 / 7
  • Non-District Games (Per Team): 1 / 2

 

More Information…

 

  • The 2020 football postseason will begin on Friday, Oct. 30 for all classes.
  • Week 1 of the 2020 football season is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 27.
  • The IHSAA plans to release complete team schedules in March pending a classification appeal by a member school, to be heard by the Representative Council.
  • Priority lists for non-district opponents will be available for member schools on Friday, Feb. 7 and are due by Sunday, Feb. 16.
  • Varsity football schedules will be compiled and created by the IHSAA for a one-year cycle only. 
  • The IHSAA’s Ratings Percentage Index will continue to be used for ranking at-large qualifiers.

 

Class 4A Success Model Schedule

  • The new success model used for Class 4A was designed with the intent of adding competitive games to regular season scheduling of the large-school class. It measures a program’s last four years of football through: a) Ratings Percentage Index; b) Playoff Success.
  • The results of that model are available HERE.
    • The model used ranking within the RPI and ranking of “points” in playoff success (5 for championship, 4 for runner-up, 3 for semifinal appearance, 2 for quarterfinal appearance, and 1 for playoff appearance).
  • Teams are tiered by their ranking within the model. Tier 1 is teams ranked #1-7, Tier 2 is teams ranked #8-13, Tier 3 is teams ranked #14-20, Tier 4 is teams ranked #21-27, Tier 5 is teams ranked #28-34, and Tier 6 is teams ranked #35-40.
  • Every group contains a team from within each tier. Group schedules are designed for teams to play similarly tiered teams. Unlike district play, group play is not round robin. Group contests are as follows…
    • Tier 1: Plays Tiers 2, 3, and 4.
    • Tier 2: Plays 1, 3, and 5.
    • Tier 3: Plays 1, 2, and 6.
    • Tier 4: Plays 1, 5, and 6.
    • Tier 5: Plays 2, 4, and 6.
    • Tier 6: Plays 3, 4, and 5.
  • In addition to group games arranged by tiers, Class 4A teams will play two “assigned games” against teams from similar tiers of other groups. Teams from Tiers 1 and 2 are together, Tiers 3 and 4 are together, and Tiers 5 and 6 are together.
  • Two groups have five teams instead of six with the model omitting one Tier 2 and one Tier 6 team. Assigned games due to the schedule gap have been added from approved tiers.
  • The five total group and assigned games may not be scheduled consecutively as they are in district play.
  • In the group format, there are no district champions or group champions. All 16 playoff qualifying spots will be considered at-large through RPI.
  • Through BEDS numbers, one school has been added to 40-team field in Class 4A: Iowa City, Liberty.
    • Iowa City, Liberty was a playoff qualifier in Class 3A and joins Tier 3.
    • Waukee Northwest will begin 4A varsity play in 2021.