(11-24-24) The 2024 OHSAA’s football computer ratings is once again spot on. Indiana and Illinois playoff process of selecting teams and brackets...not so much.

In the Final Four match-ups…16 of the 28 remaining seeds are #1 seeds, 8 are #2 seeds. The remaining seeds are 1 – #4 seed, 2 – #5 seeds and 1 – #7 seed.

FINAL FOUR SEEDS REMAINING

D I

#1 – 2, #2 – 1, #7 – 1

D II

#1 – 3, #2 -1

D III

#1 – 3, #4 -1

D IV

#1 – 1, #2 – 1, #5 – 2

D V

#1 – 2, #2 – 2

D VI

#1 – 2, #2 – 2

D VII

#1 – 3, #2 – 1

INDIANA

When you know that Indiana‘s system, everybody makes the playoffs, is a blind draw (no seeds) using ping-pong balls places teams in brackets.

About the Draw
To conduct the random drawing for the girls basketball state tournament, the IHSAA places ping-pong balls representing each school in each sectional into a lottery-style air mix machine. A motorized fan in the bottom of the machine blows the balls around the inside of the transparent container and air then forces each ball up through a tube in random order.

For example, the first ball retrieved from the machine will be the visiting team in game one with the second ball representing the home team in game one. The third ball to come out is the visitor in game two and the fourth ball the home team in game two. That same method is followed through all ectionals and regionals.

ILLINOIS

This week Illinois will crown 8 class champions, but their seeding process does not have the success of what Ohio’s system has.

Only 2 #1 seeds out of 16 seeds made the title games. 4 double-digit seeds are up for a title.

IHSA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES

1A- #1 seed vs. #2 seed

2A- #2 seed vs. #6 seed

3A- #6 seed vs. #9 seed

4A- #9 seed vs. #12 seed

5A- #3 seed vs. #6 seed

6A- #1 seed vs. #3 seed

7A- #4 seed vs. #19 seed

8A-#12 seed vs. #14 seed

Selecting the Playoff Teams

The first step is to select the 256 playoff teams. The process proceeds as follows:

  1. All champions of conferences with six or more teams receive a playoff berth. Two-team ties are broken on the basis of head-to-head competition when those teams have played during the regular season. Three- and four-way ties are broken by eliminating teams according to the following steps. If, after any step is applied, only two teams remain, the head-to-head matchup determines the champion.
    1. Most wins in all conference games.
    2. Any team that has defeated all the other tied teams.
    3. If all tied teams played each other, fewest total points allowed in those games.
    4. If all tied teams played each other, highest point differential in those games (from -14 to 14 points in each game).
    5. Fewest total points allowed in all conference games.
    6. Highest point differential in all conference games (from -14 to 14 points in each game).
    7. Most wins in all games.
    8. Random drawing by IHSA Office.

  2. At the request of the Chicago Public League, all teams in the Red, White-North, and White-South divisions are eligible for the IHSA playoffs.
    Additionally, at the request of the Chicago Public League, the top two teams from White-Northwest, White-South Central, White-Southwest, and White-West divisions are eligible for the IHSA playoffs.

  3. The remaining schools are sorted by three categories:
    1. First, by total wins
    2. Second, by combined wins of all opponents
    3. Third, by combined wins of all defeated opponents
  1. Starting at the top of this sorted list, the teams are added to the playoff field until the 256-team limit is reached. In the event of a tie for the 256th position, the following tiebreakers are applied:
    1. Head-to-head competition (if the teams have met)
    2. Number of teams played that qualified for the playoffs
    3. Number of wins by teams played that qualified for the playoffs
    4. Points allowed in games against teams that qualified for the playoffs
    5. Coin flip
    In practice, teams with 9, 8, 7, and 6 wins will always qualify for the playoffs. Teams with 5 wins are “on the bubble,” and the tie is broken by the number of playoff points (the combined wins of all opponents).

Determining the Classes

After the 256 qualifiers have been determined, the schools are broken down into 8 classes of 32 teams each, based on the school’s classification enrollment (from last year’s report to the Illinois State Board of Education, adjusted by the 1.65 multiplier where applicable).

The largest 32 schools based on the official enrollment figures are placed in Class 8A, the next largest in Class 7A, and so on down to Class 1A. If a tie should occur for the final spot in a particular class, a coin flip is used to break the tie.

It is important to remember that a school’s classification is not determined until the 256-team field has been selected on the final day of the season. The classes used in the Associated Press polls are a best guess at the final determinations, but they are unofficial and can be misleading. The fact that the AP ranks a school all season in a certain class has no bearing on the school’s ultimate classification in the state playoffs. This can be determined only at season’s end, after the entire 256-team field is selected.

The chart below shows the enrollment cutoffs for the 256-team field. The multiplier on non-boundaried schools was implemented in 2005. Starting in 2011, any school that had not won a playoff football game in the past six years received an automatic waiver from the multiplier. Starting in 2015, this window was reduced to four years, increasing the number of schools with waivers. Starting in 2019, the window was further reduced to two years.

Grouping and Seeding the Brackets

Once the 32 teams in a particular class are determined, the teams in Class 1A through 6A are grouped by the IHSA Office into two halves of 16 teams each, based on the general location of the schools within that class. In Class 7A and 8A, the teams are not grouped.

Then the seeds are determined by sorting the teams by some of the factors used to determine playoff berths:

  1. Total wins
  2. Combined wins of all opponents, and
  3. Combined wins of defeated opponents

If two or more teams are tied for a particular seed, the following tiebreakers are applied:

  1. Head-to-head record (if exactly two teams are tied)
  2. Random selection by computer

Then the teams are paired according to a standard bracket. In a 16-team field, the pairings are #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15, etc. In a 32-team field, the pairings are #1 vs. #32, #2 vs. #31, etc.

A school’s ranking in the Associated Press poll has no bearing on its seed in the IHSA Football Playoffs. The only criteria used to seed the teams are those mentioned above.