How the UIL Football Playoffs Work: Classifications, Divisions and Districts Explained

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Every November, Texas high school football turns into a six-week tournament that ends with a dozen state champions crowned in an NFL stadium. If you’ve ever wondered what “5A Division II” means, why your team made the playoffs with a losing record, or how a bracket that size works, this guide explains it in plain English.

Who runs Texas high school football?

Public high school football in Texas is governed by the University Interscholastic League (UIL), based in Austin. The UIL sets the rules, groups schools by size, and runs the playoffs. Many private schools play in a separate association, TAPPS, which has its own playoffs.

Conferences: what 1A through 6A means

The UIL groups schools into six conferences by enrollment. The biggest schools play in 6A and the smallest in 1A. Every two years, in the winter of even-numbered years, the UIL releases a new “realignment” that moves schools up or down based on their latest enrollment counts and sets the districts each school will play in. Realignment day is a big deal in Texas, because it decides your rivals for the next two seasons.

• 6A: the largest schools, mostly in big cities and suburbs.
• 5A and 4A: large and mid-size schools, including many suburban and small-city programs.
• 3A and 2A: small-town Texas, where Friday nights still empty out the town.
• 1A: the smallest schools, which play six-man football on an 80-yard field.

Divisions: why there are two champions per conference

Each conference is split into Division I (the larger schools in that conference) and Division II (the smaller ones), and each division crowns its own champion. Six conferences times two divisions equals 12 state champions every December.

How a school lands in a division depends on the conference:

• In 6A, all schools play in the same districts during the regular season. When the playoffs start, the two qualifiers from each district with the largest enrollments go to the Division I bracket and the other two go to Division II, according to the UIL football manual.
• In 5A through 2A, schools are split into Division I and Division II districts at realignment, so a team knows its division before the season starts.

How teams qualify for the playoffs

The regular season is about 10 games: a few non-district games in late August and September, then district play. District games are the only ones that count toward a playoff spot.

• 2A through 6A: the top four teams in each district advance.
• 1A six-man: the UIL manual lists the top two teams in each district.

That’s why a team can go 2-3 in non-district games and still make the playoffs: what matters is finishing in the top four of the district. When teams tie in the standings, each district sets its own tiebreakers ahead of the season, usually head-to-head results first and then point differential or a coin flip.

The road to state: each playoff round

The bracket is a single-elimination tournament. Lose once and your season is over. For the largest brackets, the rounds are:

1. Bi-district: district champions play fourth-place teams from a neighboring district, and second-place teams play third-place teams.
2. Area: bi-district winners meet.
3. Regional semifinal: the field is down to 16 per division.
4. Regional final: the winner is regional champion, one of four left in the division.
5. State semifinal: usually at a neutral college or NFL-size stadium.
6. State championship: played in recent years at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

The playoffs usually start the second week of November and finish in mid-December. Because each round has a winner advancing the next week, teams that go all the way play 15 or 16 games, a lot of football for high school players.

Home field and neutral sites

In the first round for 5A and 6A, the higher district finisher picks between its home field and a neutral site both teams agree on. Later rounds are almost always at neutral sites chosen by the two schools, often big stadiums halfway between the towns. That’s how you end up with two small-town teams from opposite ends of a region playing in a 12,000-seat district stadium on a Saturday afternoon.

What is six-man football?

Many of the smallest Texas schools don’t have enough players for 11-man football, so they play six-man. The field is 80 yards long and 40 yards wide, every player is eligible to catch a pass, the player who takes the snap can’t run the ball past the line of scrimmage unless it is first handed or tossed back, and a field goal is worth four points. Games end early under a 45-point mercy rule, so scores like 60-14 are common. Six-man has its own bracket and its own state championship games.

Common questions

Why does Texas crown so many state champions?

With more than 1,000 UIL football schools ranging from a few dozen students to several thousand, the UIL splits the field so schools play others their size. The Division I and II split inside each conference started so that the smaller schools in a conference would have a fair shot.

Can a team with a losing record win state?

It’s rare, but yes. Only district games decide qualification, and once you are in the playoffs, anything can happen.

Where can I follow the brackets?

The UIL posts official brackets on its playoff brackets page. Schools and local newspapers post game times and sites each week, usually by Monday.

For fans following the playoffs

Playoff games often mean long drives to neutral sites and cold December nights. A few things that help:

• A waterproof stadium blanket for late-season night games.
• Hand warmers for those rare Texas cold fronts in December.
• Dave Campbell’s Texas Football, the preseason magazine Texans call “the Bible,” to know every team before the season starts.

Read next: Texas High School Football Programs With the Most State Championships.