Iowa High School Football Regular Season Reduced To 7 Weeks For 2020

All schools will qualify for the postseason under plan.

Iowa's 2020 high school football season has been changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Iowa High School Athletic Association announced on Friday.

A seven-week regular season will be held, with all teams making the playoffs. Teams will have the option of scheduling between 5-7 games during that period. 

Iowa has usually played a nine-game season — four non-district and five district games — with 16 teams in each class qualifying for the playoffs. Under the 2020 plan, teams in Class 3A, 2A, 1A and A will play their five district games in their current scheduling order, with the option of playing two non-district games. Teams in Class 4A, the largest schools in the state, will schedule their games.

The first practice date of August 10 and first competition date of August 27 are unchanged with the revision. Playoffs would begin on Oct. 16, and the state semifinals will be November 13-15 and the championship games on November 20-21 will remain as scheduled.

Schools have until August 17 to notify the IHSAA of whether they want to play for the 2020 season.

Iowa schools had their spring sports seasons canceled because of the pandemic, but played a shortened baseball and softball season beginning in mid-June. The state baseball tournament started Friday, with the state softball tournament beginning next Monday.

Eight in-state players are among the commitments to Iowa's 2021 football recruiting class.

Ankeny's Brody Brecht (left), a commitment in Iowa's 2021 recruiting class, will get a chance to play his senior season under the IHSAA's revised scheduling plan announced Friday. (Lee Navin/Des Moines Register-Imagn Content Services)

The IHSAA plan

Regular season: A seven-week regular season will be conducted. Teams will have the option of scheduling five, six, or seven games within those seven weeks.

Playoffs: All teams in all classes will qualify for the postseason. Brackets will consist of six rounds for each classification. The IHSAA will determine postseason pairings with geography, quality, and team availability as primary considerations. This is intended to be a one-time measure for postseason formatting.

Optional dates: Week 1 and Week 2 will be optional game dates. Opponents, locations, and participation may be determined by member schools in 11-player football.

District games: Teams in Classes 3A, 2A, 1A, and A will play their scheduled district games in the previously established order. This change means the prior Week 5 becomes Week 3, Week 6 becomes Week 4, etc., in this revised plan.

Class 4A: Participating schools will schedule their own regular season games. The previously announced group format and success model will not be implemented in 2020. The IHSAA encourages conferences to collaborate in creating their schedules.

Eight-player: Teams will play Week 3 through Week 9 of their previously announced schedules in what is now Week 1 through Week 7. Due to the number of teams in the classification, Eight-Player has opponents scheduled on the optional dates of Week 1 and Week 2. Teams in Eight-Player may opt out of those contests, but may not change opponents or locations unless an agreement is reached with all participating teams and the IHSAA.

Missing games: Due to the potential of positive COVID-19 cases forcing players and teams to miss games in the 2020 regular season, the revised plan does not penalize teams with a loss or forfeit due to state, county, or local health department determinations. A missed game due to COVID-19 will be considered a “no contest” and will not be made up. Schools may work with the IHSAA and new possible opponents should they have open dates due to scheduled opponents missing games.

Out-of-state games: Teams with scheduled games against out-of-state opponents may attempt to reschedule those games during the optional Week 1 or Week 2.

Team participation: Providing for start dates as currently scheduled, the IHSAA requests member schools state their intent to participate in football’s regular season and postseason by August 17.