The first reviews are in on the postseason ranking system for prep football in Georgia, and with three first-round games remaining to be played in Classes AAA and AA on Saturday, the computers seemed to be calibrated correctly, at least when it comes to the GHSA’s public school programs.
The NCAA basketball-style rating system, which seeded public school teams one through 32 in Classes AAA, AA and A Division I, saw only six upsets among the 45 games completed as of this evaluation. Only one top-eight seed lost: Social Circle in Class A Division I.
Four of the upsets occurred in Class AAA, with the other two in A Division I. The Class AA bracket did not have an upset, though two games remained to be played.
Unfortunately for Northwest Georgia, two of the six public school upsets involved local teams as No. 15 Heritage lost 28-14 to No. 18 Southeast Bulloch in AAA, while No. 14 Gordon Lee was defeated by No. 19 Elbert County 28-13 in A D-I.
As expected, the numbers were not good for the three GHSA regions involving teams from the Times Free Press coverage area in those classifications. Regions 7-AAA, 7-AA and 7-A Division I went a combined 4-12. That included first-round wins by Fannin County, which is the top seed in AAA, and Rockmart, which is No. 1 in A D-I.