Official brackets will be released on Sunday but we take our first crack at projecting the 5A football playoff pairings. 24 teams get into the bracket with the top eight seeds earning first round byes next week.
RPI determines which teams get into the playoffs but then the football committee can use other factors to seed the teams. That criteria includes a formula based on other polls from Packard, MaxPreps and the CHSAA coaches poll. Head to head results can also move teams if they’re seeded next to one another in the bracket. For example. if the #5 seed has beaten the #4 seed, they can flipped in the bracket but if they’re not touching one another on the side line; no movement will occur. So if the #6 seed has beaten the #4 seed, it won’t impact the bracket.
Other factors include the Metro 10 conference where only the champion is guaranteed a spot in the bracket and a maximum of two teams overall can be in the playoffs. The seeding committee has the option but is not required to take a second team from the conference. So teams from the RPI Top 24, other than conference champion Smoky Hill, are not automatically in the bracket.
For our pairings, we do put in a second team as we’ve selected league runner-up Prairie View as the 24th seed.
We’ll be curious on where Smoky Hill is placed in the bracket. For the second straight, the Buffs rolled through the conference without a loss and this year they also picked up a non-league win against Overland to close the regular year at 10-0. We have them 10th in the bracket.
Here’s our first look at the bracket; based on RPI numbers from this morning. Again more factors that we cannot finalize at this time because Packard rankings won’t be updated until Sunday are not involved in this seeding.
FIRST ROUND BYES
#1 Cherry Creek
#2 Ralston Valley
#3 Valor Christian
#4 Regis
#5 Columbine
#6 Grandview
#7 Pomona
#8 Fairview
FIRST ROUND MATCHUPS
#9 Cherokee Trail vs #24 Prairie View (winner plays #8 Fairview)
#10 Smoky Hill vs #23 Fountain Fort Carson (winner plays #7 Pomona)
#11 Eaglecrest vs #22 Rocky Mountain (winner plays #6 Grandview)
#12 Legend vs #21 Overland (winner plays #5 Columbine)
#13 Arapahoe vs #20 Mountain Vista (winner plays #4 Regis)
#14 Mullen vs #19 Castle View (winner plays #3 Valor Christian)
#15 Highlands Ranch vs #18 Lakewood (winner plays #2 Ralston Valley)
#16 ThunderRidge vs #17 Doherty (winner plays #1 Cherry Creek)
We could see Columbine dropping a bit since they lost head to ead to Pomona but RPI has them in the fifth spot so we placed them there. Smoky Hill as mentioned could also move up but we believe the committee will push Cherokee Trail ahead of them. That move also prevents Smoky Hill from meeting league rival Prairie View in a first round game. We also flipped Overland and Mountain Vista in the bracket to avoid the Trailblazers from meeting Arapahoe in round one. Doherty was also bumped up two spots to prevent Castle View from facing either ThunderRidge or Highlands Ranch in the opening game.
Again, these are projections only and do not play a role in the official brackets presented by CHSAA on Sunday.
