The MAIS Playoffs: Everyone’s In, Nobody Understands

I’ve watched and kept up with Mississippi private-school football my whole life. I’ve seen good teams, bad teams, and those underdog runs that feel like a movie. But this new MAIS playoff system? I can’t say I’ve wrapped my head around it.

They trimmed the classifications from six to four: 4A, 3A, 2A, and 1A. Sounds cleaner. Simpler.

Except it’s not.

Each class now breaks into divisions based on some power-point formula that nobody outside the office in Jackson seems to fully understand.

Wins matter. Strength of schedule matters.

But somehow a 7-3 team can end up below a 5-5 team if they played tougher opponents. Try explaining that to parents in the stands.

Here’s what MAIS says they’re doing.

Every team earns “power points” for wins, opponent strength, and classification level. A win over a bigger or stronger school is worth more than beating a weak one. At the end of the regular season, the schools in each class are ranked by those averages.

In 4A, there are twenty schools. The top four form Division I, the next six go to Division II, and the next six drop to Division III. That means sixteen of twenty make the postseason, each chasing a separate championship.

Classes 3A and 2A each have sixteen schools. The top four fall into Division I, and the next eight into Division II. Twelve of sixteen teams make the playoffs there too.

Class 1A plays 8-man football, with two sets of sixteen schools and a similar division split.

That’s where the confusion starts.

The divisions reset after the regular season, meaning two schools from the same class, who might have played each other a few weeks earlier, could now be competing for different titles.

A team that finishes middle of the pack in 4A might still go on a playoff run and win Division II, while another 4A school is crowned the Division I state champion. Both hang banners. Both call themselves champs.

It’s well-intentioned, but it leaves fans wondering which trophy really counts.

At that point, what are we playing for in the regular season?

When the dust settles, we don’t get one champion per class. We get multiple. It feels strange. Like giving out three blue ribbons for the same race.

I get the logic. They want competitive games and shorter bus rides. No one likes seeing a 62-0 blowout three hours from home. But somewhere in fixing that, they made it hard to know what really matters.

If your team wins Division III, are you a state champion?

Technically yes.

But it doesn’t carry the same weight as the old 4A crown. And if your team gets dropped to Division II after a strong season, it feels like being demoted right before the playoffs start.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fairness. I like the idea of balance. But this setup tries so hard to include everyone that it loses its edge. Rivalries get blurred. Titles feel multiplied. And as a fan, I’m left staring at brackets that look more like a science project than a playoff.

Fans will still show up. They will still cheer. But we’ll all still be asking the same question every November: how did we end up with this many champions?