About
About MFPI
The Mississippi Football Power Index is an independent computer rating of high school football teams in Mississippi. It currently rates 225 teams across MHSAA Classes 1A through 7A.
Who publishes it
MFPI is an independent Mississippi sports analytics project operated by Jon Ross Myers for Mississippi Sports Group. Jon Ross Myers is responsible for the site, its rankings and its corrections; reach the editor at editor@sportsmississippi.com. MFPI is free to read, with no paywall or account, and is supported by advertising and direct sponsors. Sponsorship never influences how a team is rated.
MFPI is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA), MaxPreps, Google, or any school or school district.
What MFPI calculates
A win-loss record does not tell you much on its own. A 4–0 team that has played four winless opponents and a 3–1 team that has played the toughest schedule in the state are not the same team. MFPI puts every program on one scale by asking two questions at once: whom did you play, and how did you do against them? MFPI itself calculates the opponent-adjusted team ratings, strength of schedule, every component percentile, the final 1–100 rating, statewide and class ranks, and the week-to-week comparisons. It is a rating of results so far, not a poll, a prediction or a betting line, and it has no official standing with the MHSAA.
Where the underlying facts come from
- Teams, classes and regions: the official MHSAA 2025–27 football classifications.
- Schedules and scores: the official MHSAA score center.
- Media rank and media strength of schedule (20% of the rating): the MaxPreps Mississippi football rankings.
- Filling gaps: when the MHSAA score center has no final for a game that should be over, MaxPreps team schedules are checked, and a result is accepted only when both teams and the date agree. MaxPreps ratings are also used as a starting estimate for out-of-state opponents.
Each team page lists every counted game, score, site and opponent, so the underlying results can be checked. How conflicts and missing data are handled is described on the corrections and standards page.
How often it updates
Ratings are recalculated once a week in season, after a Tuesday 11:00 a.m. Central cutoff. The weekly run is automated and can start a little after the cutoff. Every run is checked before publication; games with conflicting or impossible listings are held out rather than guessed. When data is incomplete — fewer than 95% of the games due by the cutoff verified, a stale media table, or a held-out listing — the week is still published, labelled provisional. Only a calculation failure keeps the previous week up, and the page always shows its real date. A team with no verified results has its rating marked provisional on its own page.
People and automation
Data collection, matching, calculation and validation are automated, and rankings publish every week from the data available — marked provisional when data is incomplete. Weekly Analysis articles are generated automatically from the published data and labelled as automated analysis; they are not individually reviewed before publication. Source conflicts, team-identity questions and corrections are decided by a person.
The full calculation is documented on the methodology page. Questions and corrections: contact.