Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

Join the Buckle Up Phone Down movement! WisDOT challenges Wisconsin to put safety first by taking the two most important actions to prevent or survive a crash. Accept the Buckle Up Phone Down challenge. Use your seat belt every trip and put down the phone when driving. Take the Buckle Up Phone Down pledge!

The WIAA football playoff qualification process used to be much more confusing, but with statewide conference realignment that went into effect last year, things are easier to follow. This report attempts to simplify where teams stand as of games played through Week 6. This report will be updated again after each week of the season.

The WIAA 11-player football postseason features seven divisions of 32 teams, for a total of 224 teams that qualify for the playoffs. Those 224 teams are determined after the completion of the regular season, and then split into seven equal divisions.

Teams that have a conference winning percentage better than .500 are guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, thus with every team in the state playing (or being credited with) seven conference games, winning four of them guarantees you a spot in the postseason. A caveat is that there are an odd-number of teams in the state this year, and the Lakeland Conference only has seven teams and is unpaired, so those teams will play six games, meaning four conference wins clinches a spot and three conference wins gets you qualified and very likely in the postseason.

With the number of teams playing 11-player football under 370, there are a number of teams that will finish under .500 in conference play that will make the postseason. However, we do not know how many of those under .500 conference teams will qualify, or which tiebreakers the WIAA will have to go through to figure out which ones make it.

For our purposes, teams that reach three conference wins will be on the "Bubble", having a chance to get in via tiebreakers but not guaranteed a spot.

Through games played in Week Six, 67 teams have clinched playoff spots. 

82 teams are on the Bubble with three conference wins.

85 teams can get on the Bubble with one more conference win.

This Playoff Qualifying Report lists those teams that have clinched a playoff spot, those that are on the Bubble, and those that need one more conference win to get on the Bubble.

The Playoff Qualifying Report will be updated each week for the rest of the regular season.

To view the full WIAA playoff qualifying procedures, click here.

To view Standings for all conferences on one page, please click here.

To view Enrollment numbers and a projected divisional placement for each team for the 2023 season, please click here.

You can sort by the different columns (School, Enrollment, Projected Division, Conference) by clicking on the heading on each particular table.

* - Teams listed with an asterisk have an upcoming game that will be forfeited to them due to a conference opponent on their schedule canceling their season or moving to 8-player. These future canceled games are factored into the information below.

-- In addition to the teams below, Ladysmith, Webster, Grantsburg, Hurley, and Unity from the Lakeland Conference (which has just seven teams and will play six conference games unlike all other teams) have guaranteed themselves a conference record of at least .500 and are almost certainly in the playoffs.

-- Milwaukee South has opted out of the playoffs.

-- Southwestern/East Dubuque (IL) is ineligible for the playoffs.

67 teams

(Guaranteed conference record over .500)

82 teams

(Teams that have guaranteed at least three conference wins)

85 teams

(Teams with two conference wins that need one more to get on the bubble)

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.