Friday night lights will be coming to a close this week for roughly half of the football-playing schools in the IHSA. For the other half, it means that the first part of the season is done and that it's time to embark on their postseason journey.
Below, we've projected the full fields, brackets, seedings and records for each of the eight classes in the postseason, which begins on Nov. 1. The official playoff brackets from the IHSA will begin to be released at 8 p.m. on Oct. 26.
Seven new teams, including Dee-Mack, were added into the latest bracket projections from CSM following key wins in Week 8 that either secured a team's playoff eligibility or significantly helped it.
Changes in seeding projections affected some teams more than others and the number of 4-5 teams projected to make the playoffs increased from four to five. Morton, Peoria Notre Dame and Dee-Mack all enter Week 9 at 4-4 and needing a win to secure their playoff berth, while the Potters are the best candidate of the three to sneak in if they finish at 4-5.
Through careful research, analysis, and adhering to the IHSA’s method of determining qualifiers and matchups, which you can read here, these are our updated projected brackets for all eight classes for the postseason.
It’s important to note that these are projections and that the official brackets themselves may fluctuate, but thorough analysis has been done of remaining opponents, projected final record, and projected playoff opponent for every playoff qualifying team in the state, as well as some that are just outside of the 256 that qualify. The official IHSA brackets will be revealed on Saturday evening.
Notes on the playoff outlook and scenarios are included for all local teams (Peoria and Bloomington-Normal area) projected to qualify under the brackets for each class.
Check out the projected brackets for each class 1A-8A below: