MaxPreps Football Rankings: See where your favorite team sits among the best of Florida

A new football season, a new ranking system.

After years of utilizing its own ranking system, the Florida High School Athletic Association is now using team rankings directly from MaxPreps. The rankings are determined by a team's wins and strength of schedule with wins over highly-ranked opponents (dubbed "quality wins").

This should, realistically, give more clarification come the end of the regular season, knowing exactly who is in and who is out of the playoffs when the end of October is here.

Pensacola Catholic is the top team in the state of Florida from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, sitting at No. 35 overall. The Crusaders are also the fifth-ranked team in all of Class 2A.

As far as the playoffs go, for the regional tournaments, in Classes 1A-7A, there are eight qualifiers in each tournament. Four of those qualifiers will be district champions, while the remaining four spots will go to at-large bids based on the MaxPreps rankings (the next four-highest teams that are not district champions).

The rural classification will have a play-in game with the 13th-20th best teams across the state, and then the first round will have the top 12 seeds getting a bye, moving on from there.

We still have awhile to go. But, for now, here are the full rankings by each classification with local teams and their ratings, according to the MaxPreps updated rankings on Aug. 25.

Class 6A

• Pace (36.70) – first in District 1-6A, fourth in Region 1-6A, seventh in Class 6A, 48th overall in state (strength of schedule: 28.8)
• Navarre (18.40) – second in District 1-6A, ninth in Region 1-6A, 21st in Class 6A, 115th overall in state (strength of schedule: 41.5)
• Tate (13.40) – third in District 1-6A, 11th in Region 1-6A, 25th in Class 6A, 142nd overall in state (strength of schedule: 4.2)

Class 5A

• Gulf Breeze (5.20) – third in District 1-5A, ninth in Region 1-5A, 30th in Class 5A, 210th overall in state (strength of schedule: 0.8)
• Milton (-11.00) – fourth in District 1-5A, 14th in Region 1-5A, 50th in Class 5A, 358th overall in state (strength of schedule: 27.9)

Class 4A

• Escambia (32.50) – first in District 1-4A, third in Region 1-4A, 10th in Class 4A, 58th overall in state (strength of schedule: 9.4)
• Pine Forest (25.70) – second in District 1-4A, fifth in Region 1-4A, 14th in Class 4A, 90th overall in state (strength of schedule: -18.4)
• Booker T. Washington (-16.20) – third in District 1-4A, 12th in Region 1-4A, 54th in Class 4A, 398th overall in state (strength of schedule: 5.2)

Class 3A

• West Florida (9.40) – first in District 1-3A, fifth in Region 1-3A, 17th in Class 3A, 170th overall in state (strength of schedule: 32.5)
• Pensacola (-18.30) – second in District 1-3A, 11th in Region 1-3A, 50th in Class 3A, 413th overall in state (strength of schedule: 25.7)

Class 2A

• Pensacola Catholic (41.50) – first in District 1-2A, first in Region 1-2A, fifth in Class 2A, 35th overall in state (strength of schedule: 18.4)

Rural

• Northview (-8.00) – third in Region 1, 14th in rural, 338th overall in state (strength of schedule: -13.3)
• Jay (-19.80) – fourth in Region 1, 21st in rural, 418th overall in state (strength of schedule: -35.6)
• Central (-64.30) – seventh in Region 1, 34th in rural, 566th overall in state (strength of schedule: 0.0)

Way-too-early playoff picture

What kind of ranking information would this be without a playoff bubble watch – even if we are just one week into the regular season. Things will change weekly, but that doesn't change the fun of keeping up with regional playoffs.

After all, the playoffs will be here before you know it. Here are the playoff brackets if the season were to end today .

Note: district champions are determined by the head-to-head record among the teams. For the playoff watch, this is assuming the district champion is the top-ranked team within the district.

Region 1-6A

• No. 1 Mandarin* vs. No. 8 Fletcher
• No. 2 Buchholz* vs. No. 7 Oviedo*
• No. 3 Bartram Trail vs. No. 6 Nease
• No. 4 Pace* vs. No. 5 Oakleaf

Region 1-6A has no position-jumping, since each presumed district champion – Mandarin (2), Buchholz (3), Pace (3) and Oviedo (4) – are within the top eight teams in the region. Navarre, ranked ninth in the region, would be the first team out of the playoffs.

Region 1-5A

• No. 1 Niceville* vs. No. 8 Mosley
• No. 2 Mainland* vs. No. 7 Fleming Island
• No. 3 Lincoln* vs. No. 6 Chiles
• No. 4 Beachside* vs. No. 5 Ponte Vedra

Similar to above, Region 1-5A's four presumed district champions – Niceville (1), Mainland (4), Lincoln (2) and Beachside (3) – are within the top eight, and actually take the top four spots. That makes the at-large bids easy, going to the next four highest ranked teams. Gulf Breeze, sitting in ninth in the region, would be the first team out.

Region 1-4A

• No. 1 Choctaw* vs. No. 8 Rickards
• No. 2 St. Augustine* vs. No. 7 Ed White
• No. 3 Escambia* vs. No. 6 Columbia
• No. 4 Riverside* vs. No. 5 Pine Forest

Region 1-4A is essentially the same as Class 4A, with the four presumed district champions – Choctaw (2), St. Augustine (3), Escambia (1) and Riverside (4) – all claiming the top four spots in the region. The Pensacola area would have an at-large bid with Pine Forest slotting in at No. 5 in the region, and would travel to Riverside to begin the tournament.

Region 1-3A

• No. 1 Raines* vs. No. 8 Ribault
• No. 2 Wakulla* vs. No. 7 Yulee
• No. 3 Bishop Kenny* vs. No. 6 Menendez
• No. 4 Baker County vs. No. 5 West Florida*

Just like in the other classes above, Region 1-3A has the district champions – Raines (3), Wakulla (2), Bishop Kenny (4) and West Florida (1) – within the top eight teams of the region. However, Class 3A is a bit different here in one situation: West Florida, despite being the higher seed, would host Baker County since the Jaguars are the presumed district champions, and Baker County (District 2) is an at-large bid team behind Wakulla.

Region 1-2A

• No. 1 Pensacola Catholic* vs. No. 8 Taylor County
• No. 2 Bolles* vs. No. 7 Baldwin
• No. 3 Florida High* vs. No. 6 Walton
• No. 4 Gadsden County vs No. 5 Marianna*

Region 1-2A is essentially the same as Class 3A. Marianna (District 2), as the presumed district champion, would host Gadsden County (District 3), since the latter is an at-large bid team, behind District 3's top team, Florida High. Other than that, the district champions – Pensacola Catholic (1), Bolles (4), Florida High (3) and Marianna (2) – are within the top eight, and there won't be any jumping of teams here, either.

Rural

Play-in Round

• No. 13 Moore Haven vs. No. 20 Munroe
• No. 14 Northview vs. No. 19 Sneads
• No. 15 Port St. Joe vs. No. 18 Dixie County
• No. 16 Cottondale vs. No. 17 Wildwood

First Round

• No. 1 Hawthorne vs. Cottondale-Wildwood winner
• No. 2. Madison County vs. Port St. Joe-Dixie County winner
• No. 3 Chiefland vs. Northview-Sneads winner
• No. 4 Williston vs. Moore Haven-Munroe winner
• No. 5 Union County vs. No. 12 Fort Meade
• No. 6 Pahokee vs. No. 11 Blountstown
• No. 7 Holmes County vs. No. 10 Lafayette
• No. 8 Fort White vs. No. 9 Chipley

As aforementioned, the rural classification is a bit different with the top 20 teams making the playoffs, and the top 12 teams getting a bye from the play-in round game. As of now, Northview would host Sneads in the play-in round. Jay, ranked No. 21 in the rural classification, would be the first team out of the playoffs if the regular season ended today.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: MaxPreps Football Rankings: See where your favorite team sits among the best of Florida