MPSSAA Shortens Football Season From Ten Games to Nine, Expands Playoff Brackets

In April, the MPSSAA passed a proposal that had spent years in the making. At the association's spring meeting, the MPSSAA voted to double the number of teams that make the playoffs. This helped balance the field between regions; it helps teams with winning records who may have been held out of the playoffs in previous years.

Going forward, 32 teams will make it to the playoffs in each classification, instead of the previous 16. 128 schools (32 from four classifications) will still get a chance to play ten total games (nine regular season games plus the first round of the playoffs) while 52 will have their schedule shortened to nine.

Read more about the proposal here from Herald-Mail Sports: https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/sports/proposal-would-shorten-football-season-expand-playoffs/article_d62457ec-0661-11e9-9782-ef34a0c3019b.html

The Baltimore Sun also recently detailed the changes and reaction from coaches around the state. Read the article here: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-county/sports/bs-sp-football-changes-20190508-story.html