IHSA Football Bracketology: Forecasting all eight classes ahead of Week 8

There are few things that sport fanatics love more than brackets. 

Thankfully for high school football fans in Illinois, the time for those is coming soon with the postseason paths for 256 playoff qualifiers set to be released on the evening of Oct. 25. 

The IHSA playoffs will look different this year with more private schools’ enrollments being multiplied, which has sent a number of powers jumping up a class or two. As a result, some public schools are forecasted to move down a class from what they’ve been used to. 

Washington and Metamora are prime examples as our projections put Washington as the largest school in Class 5A while the possibility of Metamora being in Class 4A is looking increasingly more likely.  

Area private/non-boundaried schools Bloomington Central Catholic (Class 3A) and Normal U-High (Class 5A) are both projected to move up a class from where they played in last season.

A common theme across classes has been a lack of dominance and more parity throughout the year. Some teams in Class 5A and Class 6A — where arguably the most parity has been seen — could still host a playoff game with a 6-3 record. 

Our projections currently have five 4-5 teams making the field. The first teams out include Paxton-Buckley-Loda, Concord Triopia, Elmwood/Brimfield, Orion, Chicago Dyett, Genoa-Kingston, Woodstock Marian Central Catholic, Collinsville and Naperville North. However, all it takes is for one domino to fall and whatever was just said above or projected below could change in a big way.

Check out Clutch Sports Media’s projected brackets for Class 1A through Class 8A below.

Want to read more?

Subscribe to clutchsportsil.com to keep reading this exclusive post.

Subscribe Now