Football Playoff Pairings, Opening Matchups to be Announced Sunday on NFHS Network
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 22, 2026
The announcement of qualifiers and first-round pairings for this season’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Football Playoffs – the annual “Selection Sunday Show” – will be streamed at 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, on the NFHS Network.
The playoffs for both 11 and 8-player teams begin during the weekend of Oct. 30-31. The top 32 teams by playoff-point average in each 11-player division and top 16 teams by playoff-point average in each 8-player division will qualify. Divisions were determined prior to the start of the season.
Click for the direct link to watch the Selection Sunday Show. That link also is posted to the Football page of the MHSAA website. A subscription is not required to watch the Selection Sunday Show, although viewers must register on the site to view the broadcast.
The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the website following the show, and times and dates will be added Monday, Oct. 26.
To review a list of all football playoff schools and individual school playoff point details, visit the Football Playoff Point Summary page.
The MHSAA Football Playoffs conclude with the 8-Player Finals on Nov. 21 at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome and 11-Player Finals to be played Nov. 27 and 28 at Ford Field. Both games will be broadcast live on the NFHS Network.
Flashback 100: Before Leading Free World, Ford Starred for Champion GR South
October 25, 2024
The only U.S. president from the state of Michigan, Gerald Ford also is the only person to become president without winning an election to become either president or vice president.
But before a career in politics, Ford starred on the gridiron at Grand Rapids South High School. South opened in 1917 and closed as a high school in 1968. Ford graduated in 1931, playing as a senior on a football team that would go undefeated and eventually be named a state champion according to statewide media – whose rankings determined champions before the creation of the MHSAA Playoffs in 1975.
Ford's final game was a scoreless tie played against cross-town rival Grand Rapids Union, a game Union would later forfeit for using ineligible players.
Ford also played basketball and ran track at South. After high school, he attended the University of Michigan and played football for the Wolverines. In 1934, his senior year, he was named team MVP. Following that, he attended law school at Yale and was an assistant football coach for the Bulldogs.
Ford was elected to Congress in 1948 and served 13 terms in the House of Representatives. When Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president in 1973, President Richard Nixon selected Ford as the new VP. A year later, after Nixon resigned, Ford assumed the presidency – becoming the 38th president of the United States.
Ford was inducted into the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 and the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1978. He died in 2006 at the age of 92. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids is the presidential museum and burial place of Ford and his wife Betty.
Previous "Flashback 100" Features
Oct. 18: Mercy Links Legend Becomes World Golf Hall of Famer - Read
Oct. 11: Fisher Races to Finals Stardom on Way to U.S. Olympic First - Read
Oct. 4: Lalas Leaves High School Legacies on Ice & Pitch - Read
Sept. 27: Tamer's History-Making Run Starts in Dexter, Continues to Paris - Read
Sept. 20: Todd Martin’s Road to Greatness Starts at East Lansing - Read
Sept. 13: James Earl Jones, Dickson High Hoops to Hollywood Legend - Read
Sept. 6: Pioneers' Unstoppable Streak Stretches 9 Seasons - Read
Aug. 30: Detroit dePorres Rushes to 1995 Class CC Football Championship - Read
PHOTOS (Top) Clockwise from top left: Gerald Ford headshot from 1929. (2) Ford appears in a team photo with Grand Rapids South that fall. (3) Ford stands in football pants in 1930. (Middle) Ford appears in his uniform in 1928. (Photos courtesy of The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.)