Class 1A football playoffs are quickly approaching and we start the annual process of projecting the 16 team post-season bracket. As in the past, conference champions earn automatic bids with the remaining nine spots determined by RPI standings as seasons’ end. One change this year involves league champions not being guaranteed a home game in round one.
Once conference races and RPI determine the playoff qualifiers, the football committee can then use additional information to place teams in the bracket. Included in that information is a formula based on combined rankings of MaxPreps, CHSAA (Coaches), RPI and Packard. We posted those rankings for this week on Wednesday and you can see them here.
Conference races also factor into the bracketing as teams cannot be seeded higher than a team that finished ahead of them in their respective league standings. The system in place calls for all league champions to be placed on the seeding board. Then one team is given the top overall seed and the second place team from that conference of the number one seed is then placed on the seeding board with the remaining league champs. Then a number two seed is selected and the process continues until all 16 teams are placed in the bracket.
Teams can also be moved based on head-to-head results, geographic purposes and to avoid conference matchups in the opening round.
First up for our bracket is picking the conference winners. If a team currently stands alone atop their respective conference we use them as the league champion. This week, those clubs include Platte Canyon, Strasburg, Rocky Ford and Centauri. We used RPI numbers to break ties in the leagues that have more than one team sharing the top spot so Holyoke is the choice for the North Central, Florence in the Tri Peaks and Meeker on the Western Slope. The Cowboys are tied with Hotchkiss in first but would get our nod anyway based on a 28-7 non-conference win over the Bulldogs early in the season.
With our conference champions selected, next up are the wildcards and based on RPI, those teams are Limon, Colorado Springs Christian, Highland, Hotchkiss, Wray, Flatirons Academy, Rye, Buena Vista and Yuma. Peyton is 16th in RPI but would be bumped in favor of Platte Canyon. The Huskies are #22 in RPI this week but currently lead the Foothills so they get in automatically as a league champion.
So now, we start placing teams in the bracket using the additional criteria and head to head results.
- #1 Holyoke vs #16 Platte Canyon
- #8 Highland vs #9 Hotchkiss
- #4 Florence vs #13 Rocky Ford
- #5 Meeker vs #12 Rye
- #3 Limon vs #14 Buena Vista
- #6 Colorado Springs Christian vs #11 Flatirons Academy
- #7 Centauri vs #10 Wray
- #2 Strasburg vs #15 Yuma
We stick to RPI for the most part but move up Centauri from ninth to seventh as we hope the committee rewards conference champions a bit. The Falcons will win the Southern Peaks crown while Highland and Hotchkiss could finish second in their respective conference.
If RPI is strictly followed then let’s put Centauri in the ninth spot and that creates a minor change in the pairings.
- #1 Holyoke vs #16 Platte Canyon
- #8 Hotchkiss vs #9 Centauri
- #4 Florence vs #13 Rocky Ford
- #5 Meeker vs #12 Rye
- #3 Limon vs #14 Buena Vista
- #6 Colorado Springs Christian vs #11 Flatirons Academy
- #7 Highland vs #10 Wray
- #2 Strasburg vs #15 Yuma
The change in the bracket creates two regular season rematches as Florence-Rocky Ford and Wray-Highland have already met this season. Criteria tries to avoid conference teams squaring off in the opening round but does not mention teams that met in non-league games. So the committee could easily leave the bracket in this order.
For geography, the only big travel game has Rye going to Meeker. The Thunderbolts also face Buena Vista this week so based on that result, the teams could be exchanged in the bracket.
Other changes could involve Holyoke and Limon if the Badgers win the North Central crown. That would probably move Strasburg to the top overall seed with Limon #2 and Holyoke #3. Another change could involve Florence. The Huskies are currently 4th in RPI but could move up higher if they beat Centauri and Colorado Springs Christian to close the season. Losses in both also change their outlook. If they lose to CSCS, then they cannot be seeded higher than the Lions. A head to head loss to Centauri could also drop the Huskies even farther.
