Why Buford will still schedule non-GHSA games that impair its playoff seeding
BUFORD — Buford football coach Bryant Appling was sifting through his Rolodex in the spring, calling coaches across the East Coast.
Appling, in his seventh season as the head man for the Wolves, has plenty of coaches’ phone numbers from over the years. He’s well-known and well-traveled.
Through connections made organically and using Nike as a middle man, Appling tried to fill out his 2026 high school football schedule.
One of the last teams to fall into place was Central of Miami, Florida, who visited Buford Thursday for a high profile interstate showdown. It was the second week in a row the Wolves faced an out-of-state opponent after they visited Mallard Creek in North Carolina, where they won 41-7.
“It was a great experience,” said Buford senior running back Jameer Cantrell. “I love playing against great competition.”
During Appling’s tenure, Buford has played a couple games against non-Georgia foes each year. He says it’s somewhat out of necessity.
“They’re probably going to stick around for us because no one wants to play us,” Appling told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday after defeating Miami Central 18-7. “I hate to say that. I’m not calling anybody out. It’s hard to find games.”
The Wolves have won four state championships under Appling. They’ve reached at least 10 wins every year since 1998. Last year’s team was crowned the consensus national champion, a first in program history.
So there aren’t a bunch of teams lining up to spend a Friday night against a team that will likely be heavily favored.
In the new era of Post Season Rankings, these out-of-state matchups can essentially only hurt Buford’s playoff seeding. The PSR standings were updated Tuesday, with Buford sitting at No. 19.
While the current seeding is a too-early indicator, the Maxwell projections have the Wolves finishing as an 8-seed in the bracket, even though they’re projected to go 10-0 for a second-straight season.
The PSR’s formula is team winning percentage plus opponents’ winning percentage plus opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.
It does not take into account opponent records for out-of-state teams. So, playing competitive teams from outside the GHSA allows for two options: a win with no strength of opponent multiplier or a loss.
Buford’s seeding would benefit more from playing a GHSA opponent that is a perennial 9- or 10-win team.
“What it does is prepare you for later on, if you’ve got to go on the road (in the) third round,” Appling said of playing out-of-state games. “If you’re undefeated, you still have to go on the road because of PSR and no matter what their record was. It prepares you. No matter what, you want to be playing your best ball Week 9, 10, 11 and on. These are the types of games that prepare you for that.”
Appling still sees the benefits of playing elite nonregion games moving forward.
“When I have teams from out of state that want to come up, or we can go to them, it’s a good thing,” Appling said. “I hate it because it makes a difference from you being a 2-seed or an 8-seed. All these kids want to go play college football. This is a college-type atmosphere when you go out of state or a big-time team comes to see you. It’ll probably stick around for us.”
