PSR update: Where each team stands with 2 weeks left in the regular season

According to an AJC Varsity audit, 401 teams having incorrect final calculations on the GHSA’s published PSR standings.

Among the notable items from AJC Varsity's analysis of the most recent Post Season Rankings are that 30 teams are predicted to finish outside the top four in their regions but make the playoffs. That number doesn't include smaller private schools, which are guaranteed to make the playoffs. (Daniel Varnado for the AJC 2025)

By Todd Holcomb

1 hour ago

The Maxwell Ratings have been projecting the final order of the GHSA’s Post Season Rankings in each class since preseason. With two weeks left in the regular season, they’ve begun to stabilize.

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The current standings and predictions are below. For a more detailed look at Maxwell’s projected playoff brackets in the eight classes, see them on AJC Varsity.

Here are five observations.

Buford, the No. 1 team in AJC Varsity’s Class 7A rankings, is No. 6 in the PSR and projected to finish No. 10. Because of Buford’s fame as a 2025 champion and several Top 10 national rankings, that is the most conspicuous underseeding. Thomas County Central, Toombs County and Heard County are the only No. 1 teams in the AJC Varsity composite rankings projected to get No. 1 seeds in the playoffs.
The best teams predicted to miss the playoffs, according to the Maxwell Ratings, are Northside of Warner Robins, Lanier, Warner Robins, Sumter County, Veterans, Morgan County and Irwin County. All are Top 25 teams in their classifications, according to Maxwell, but projected to finish outside the Top 32 in their classes. Northside, despite a 3-5 record, is the 17th-best team in Class 6A, per Maxwell.
Thirty teams (not including smaller private schools, which are guaranteed to make the playoffs) are predicted to finish outside the top four in their regions but make the playoffs. Among those are Bainbridge, Berrien, Brooks County, Howard, Loganville, Norcross, Richmond Hill and Tift County. The best of these, per Maxwell, is Tift County, rated the No. 19 team in Class 6A. Ironically, Tift County has lost to Northside of Warner Robins, the best team predicted to miss the 6A playoffs. One of the main goals of the GHSA’s computer rankings are to get the best 32 teams in the playoffs regardless of region finish. Historically, only the top four finishers in reach region qualified.
The 10 teams that Maxwell rates as the most underrated that will make the playoffs (qualifying them for that cliche about “you don’t want to draw them in the first round”) are Clinch County, Early County, Emanuel County Institute, Hebron Christian, Howard, Jenkins, Lithonia, Marietta, Oconee County, Ola, Southwest DeKalb and Tift County.
The GHSA’s published PSR standings continue to have significant errors because of the failure to report timely scores by school athletic directors. According to an AJC Varsity and Maxwell Ratings audit, 82 of the GHSA’s 413 football teams have incorrect records on the GHSA’s PSR list, leading to 304 teams having incorrect opponents’ winning percentages and 401 teams having incorrect final calculations.

Below are the PSR standings as calculated by Maxwell. The list shows each team’s PSR current standings and its projected finish. The GHSA’s published PSR standings are different and less accurate because of school athletic directors’ tardiness in reporting scores.