Indiana High School Football State Champs

In sports, every team, at every level, strives to be the best, or at least beat the best. This is no exception when it comes to Indiana High School Football.

Since football began in the Hoosier state in the late 1800s, teams have tried to prove they are #1. However, the way that teams had to prove this has differed.

There are five distinct time periods in the history of the grid sport in Indiana when it comes to selecting a state champ:

• Nothing official about it (1800s to 1926)
• The sportswriter says... (1927 to 1952)
• The Polls Rule (1953 to 1972)
• Points & Clusters (1973 to 1984)
• Let 'em all in! (1985 to present)   

Nothing official about it (1800s to 1926)

But let's not take anything away from those early teams just because there was nothing official about it. There was no way to prove or disprove who was the best, so, for this era, if a team had a great season and claimed to be the state champs, who are we to argue?

The sportswriter says... (1927 to 1952)

Given with the approval of the IHSAA board of controls, Miller himself would award the trophy, called "Triumph," to the "Most Outstanding Team" in Indiana. (The board made it clear that they did not approve any team as the official champion.)

Even after Miller left to become the Associated Press sports editor for Ohio in 1939, the champion was named by an individual. Another example was the Litkenhous Grid Ratings, developed by Edward Litkenhous, a noted mathematician. Even still, there were a few unknown selectors that our research hasn't yet been able to identify.

The Polls Rule (1953 to 1972)

The International New Service began their own poll in 1956 and the Associated Press started polling the sportswriters in 1959. Thus began the era of the polls.

Other state champion selectors were still out there, such as the Litkenhous Ratings and the Dunkel Index, but it was the AP or UPI (the merger of the UP and INS in 1958) that garnered the most attention.

Points & Clusters (1973 to 1984)

After years of study, preparation and politics, finally, in 1973, to the excitement and joy of all high school football fans, the IHSAA began a playoff system. While it was better than nothing, players, coaches and fans soon found out that it wasn't perfect. A points system was used to qualify for the playoffs, but with only twelve schools advancing (four teams in three classes), many one-loss and even undefeated teams never got the chance to play for a state title.

Even though the playoffs were doubled to 24 teams in 1976 and doubled again to 48 in 1981, the system still needed some tweaking. This came in the form of the clusters in 1983. Every team in the state was put into groups of five or six teams...whoever won the cluster advanced to the postseason. Now every team had a shot. It made sense. But there were some flaws to this method, also.

One drawback was that a team could win their cluster with a 4-0 record, yet finish 4-6 overall and make the playoffs, while a team that finished second in the cluster at 3-1 could finish 9-1 overall, but be left out in the cold.

Additionally, the cluster format, had it remained, might have meant the end to several long-lasting conferences.

Let 'em all in! (1985 to present)

As it stands now, there are five classes. Once the number of football playing schools goes over 320, a format change will need to be adopted, such as a mid-week play-in game or adding a sixth class. Regardless, it's safe to say that we have a pretty good system in place.