On Oct. 8th, 2025, the Board of Managers voted 55-2 to make a significant change to the Sac-Joaquin football playoff format. Now instead of a standard 16-team bracket, only the top eight teams will secure a playoff spot while seeds 9-16 will play in all new bowl games.

Making such a pivotal change in the middle of the season has been controversial and is going to cost four teams their spot in the playoffs this year.

League champions automatically get a spot in the eight-team bracket for their division. If two teams tie for first place, the team that won the head-to-head matchup gets the playoff spot.

This year, the division quarterfinals will now be on Nov. 14, which gives all eight playoff teams a bye the first week following the regular season. The 28 bowl games, across all Sac-Joaquin divisions, will take place on Nov. 7, the week that used to start the playoffs.

Sac-Joaquin is the first and only section in California to have implemented postseason bowl games. In these bowl games, matchups will not be based on rankings alone. The committee will focus on keeping travel schedules to a minimum, while trying to avoid teams from the same league playing rematches within the bowl games.

What Effect Does This Have on Teams Going Into Upcoming Seasons?

Now that the number of playoff teams has been cut down, schedule making is going to be even more crucial in the future. Teams may have to make their non-league schedules a bit easier to focus on winning games rather than focusing on playing competition to prepare for league-play and playoffs.

This cut will incentivize teams to win their league, so that they can ensure a spot in the playoff and likely a home game in the first round.

What Effect Does This Have on Tracy High Football?

For 2025, the Bulldogs cannot win the Tri-City Athletic League, making their road to the playoffs much more challenging. However, with a win on Halloween against the Kimball Jaguars, Tracy will likely earn an At-Large bid into the playoffs as the seven or eight seed this year.