(8-19-26) An expanded playoff field is the top story coming into the 2026 high school football season in Illinois.

Related: IHSA Football Proposal Passes, 2026 Practice to Begin August 5

In December, the IHSA announced that member schools voted to adopt a by-law proposal that adds 16 teams per classification to the postseason and moves the start of the football season up one week.

In 2026 the playoff bracket for each class will have 48 teams, up from 32 and there will now be 384 playoff qualifiers statewide, up from 256.

Related: Expanded playoff format leads to wildly different projected brackets

The 1A-6A playoff field will remain split into north and south brackets. The teams seeded 1-8 in the north and south will receive a first-round bye. In the 7A and 8A playoffs, the full bracket will be seeded 1-48 with the top 16 seeds earning byes into the second round.

2026 IHSA Playoff Schedule Dates

  • Opening Round: October 23–24
  • First Round: October 30–31
  • Second Round: November 6–7
  • Quarterfinals: November 13–14
  • Semifinals: November 20–21
  • State Finals: November 27–28 at Hancock Stadium in Normal, IL

In the past teams have needed a 5-4 record to qualify for a playoff spot, but several 4-5 teams have made the playoff field in the past several seasons. The new playoff system will likely see teams with records of 3-6 and possibly a few 2-7 teams will also make it to the playoffs.

The Chicago Public Schools Playoff Factor

From Shaw Media’s Friday Night Drive…Steve Soucie

Although the list of playoff eligible teams stands at 492 (there are 17 more Chicago Public League programs which are not eligible for the IHSA football playoffs), there is exactly the number of teams we had last season. There were five programs that have stepped away from playing varsity football: Litchfield, Watseka, Rock Island Alleman, Fieldcrest and Decatur Eisenhower. Just one returned after a brief varsity football pause in Lisle. The reason the number remained stable was that more CPL teams are eligible this season, but even that comes with a caveat.

The 24 CPL teams in the CPL Red Divisions are all eligible to qualify for the IHSA playoffs in the same fashion as all other IHSA schools, but there are 24 teams in the CPL White Divisions that do not have the same qualification requirements. Those teams only achieve playoff eligibility by either winning their division or being the runner-up in the division and winning a Week 9 game against a sixth-place finisher from one of the Red Divisions. Teams that finish third through sixth in White divisions are ineligible for playoff consideration regardless of record.

RED DIVISIONS

WHITE DIVISIONS

What does all that mean? Although 492 teams are playoff eligible, only a range of 472 to 476 teams are actually technically eligible. One other team, Westmont, doesn’t currently meet eligibility standards for number of games scheduled to qualify for playoff consideration as of now as Westmont has just five games scheduled, below the minimum of six games that is required.

If the high end of that range is met (476), just 92 teams will participate and not make the playoffs.

RELATED:

IHSA Considering Separate State Series Paths, Public And Private https://statelinesportsnetwork.net/2026/08/11/ihsa-considering-separate-state-series-paths-public-and-private