Usually when athletic teams are placed in a playoff bracket, those that win and move on tend to face tougher competition next time out. As for the winner of Friday's Class 6A high school football state playoff game at Ooltewah, that scenario might end up taking a while.

No. 7-ranked Farragut (8-2) will be the team traveling to No.-5 ranked Ooltewah (9-1) for a first-round game at 7 p.m.

Each was ranked No. 1 at some point this season, most recently Ooltewah. The Owls lost that ranking after losing their final regular-season game in overtime at ninth-ranked McMinn County (8-2).

By a vote of 5-4 by its Board of Control, the TSSAA went to a new format for football this season. Changes were made in the regular season in trying to allow teams to cut down on travel.

The postseason changes include an additional classification, but with the implementing of wild cards, teams did not know their opponents until the TSSAA made brackets available on its Web site on Saturday.

"There are a few things I don't like about the new playoff system," Sequatchie County principal and TSSAA Board of Control member Tommy Layne said. "The Farragut-Ooltewah matchup in the first round is one of them."

Layne said he has had numerous phone calls the last three days, and there are cases when coaches like the new system, particularly because of the regular season.

Many called because they weren't satisfied with their team's draw. In this case, neither is pleased.

"When I saw it I said, 'What a mess-up,'" Ooltewah coach Benny Monroe said. "Eddie Courtney came down and we traded film and he was beside himself."

Courtney coaches the Admirals. He's not surprised to be playing Ooltewah in the playoffs. He's surprised it's not a few rounds deeper.

"Our biggest surprise was not having a first-round home game with an 8-2 record," Courtney said. "Then you don't find out who you're going to play until right before the playoffs start, and we get the team that was ranked No. 1 the week before. I'm sure Benny didn't like it any better than I did."

Layne said the state organization will likely re-examine the situation at the next board meeting, which is Nov. 19. He said a decision could be made as early as January.

Speaking from a personal standpoint, Layne said he didn't think anything would change next season because teams that ended up with four home games this year deserve the six they have lined up for next year. He's willing to listen if someone has a solution that doesn't conflict with that.

The regular season isn't without its problems. In some cases all one team had to do was beat another to earn a postseason berth.

For instance, Cleveland (3-7) is in because it defeated Walker Valley (1-9) -- the only other Class 5A team in the Chattanooga area. Also in 5A, White County was winless until the Warriors beat Cumberland County last week, and now they're in.

"Under the old format we figure we would've been a No. 2 seed," Courtney said. "You knew four teams from your region were going to make the playoffs and the 1 and 2 seeds would be playing at home in the first round. None of these so-called districts is even, so there's going to be controversy. There's no structure to the districts."

There's also no strength of schedule taken into consideration. Class 3A playoff team Tyner (6-4) played one team in its classification all season -- the rest were in higher classes -- and its reward is playing at top-ranked Alcoa in the first round.

Farragut's and Ooltewah's nondistrict schedules were filled with nothing but teams that ended up in the playoffs, but Courtney said he's concerned the new system will encourage teams to try harder to schedule less competitive games to fatten their overall records. He thinks that sends the wrong message.

"I guess when it's put in perspective it's only a game, but it's a job for some of us," Monroe said. "It just seems to me there's got to be a better way to handle this thing. It's a messed-up situation that has to be fixed."