With updated RPI standings released in eight man football earlier today, we can now take a very good look at the proposed playoff bracket. These are for projection purposes only and the official pairings are released on Sunday. RPI totals will also change slightly once games from today conclude.
If we get updated numbers yet today, we will make changes to our proposed bracket.
First, the qualifying process. All league champions earn an automatic berth but those champions must finish in the RPI top 10 to earn a home game in round one. The only conference champion that doesn’t fit that requirement right now is Front Range Christian as they sit 22nd in RPI. Pikes Peak Christian is on the bubble at #10 and if they fall out of the top 10, then the bracket could change up quite a bit.
Front Range Christian will also bump a team that finished in the top 16 out of the playoff bracket and right now that team is Sanford as the Indians dropped to 16th with their loss to Sargent on Friday.
Instead of straight RPI seeding this year, a committee is in charge of placing teams in the bracket with criteria of RPI, common opponent, strength of schedule and head to head results. Conference standings come into play as well this year.
To start the seeding process, all league champions are placed on the board and the #1 seed is chosen from that group. Once a team is selected, the #2 team from the conference of the team selected goes up on the board and joins the remaining league champions. Then a #2 seed is selected and the process continues through all 16 seeds.
So to begin with, Hoehne, Front Range Christian, Mancos, West Grand, Sedgwick County and Pikes Peak Christian for up for consideration. We will select West Grand for the top overall seed so Rangely then joins in the discussion. Our number two seed is Mancos and then Sargent joins the group for work on number three.
Some things to consider. Fowler is ahead of Holly in the RPI but the Grizzlies cannot get to the seeding discussion until Holly is placed in the bracket. The same with Merino. Even though the Rams beat Sedgwick County on Friday, they cannot be up for consideration until Sedgwick County, Caliche, Dayspring Christian and Akron are off the board since they finished behind those rivals in the Plains conference.
The one question we have involves travel. The committee does have a chance to move teams in the bracket to reduce travel for schools. That really only comes into play this year for Mancos and Rangely and to be honest, there is a not a good travel partner for either other than West Grand and Sargent. West Grand won’t be paired with Rangely in round one and Sargent will not face Mancos because those two are also conference rivals. Committees typically avoid placing teams from the same league against one another in round one.
Problems will arise in the bracket because Dayspring Christian, Akron and Merino are bunched together in both league standings and RPI. Â A true seed would pair one of them up with Sedgwick County so expect those teams to be shuffled around a bit before the bracket is finalized.
So here we go — our first projected bracket. We value league championships quite a bit so those clubs will get the advantage from use in placing teams in the tournament.
#1 West Grand vs #16 Front Range Christian
#8 Vail Christian vs #9 Pikes Peak Christian
#4 Hoehne vs #13 Akron
#5 Rangely vs #12 Dayspring Christian
#3 Sedgwick County vs #14 Merino
#6 Caliche vs #11 Fowler
#2 Mancos vs #15 Simla
#7 Sargent vs #10 Holly
As you can see, this bracket has an issue with Sedgwick County paired up with Merino in round one as the committee would likely change that since they’re in the same conference. Not sure where they would move the Rams though because two league rivals (Akron and Dayspring Christian) are right above them and exchanging spots won’t fix the problem. They could swap Simla and Merino but that would involve a major travel issue between the Rams and Mancos. Plus, those two squared off in the regular season as well.
Travel could also come into play concerning Holly and Fowler. Per seeding process, Holly must come off the board first and they have the head-to-head win but the Grizzlies would have a shorter trip to Sargent and Holly would make for a good travel partner with Caliche.
One other note is that Pikes Peak Christian would host their game with Vail Christian as they’re a league champion in the top 10 of RPI.
Instead, lets take out conference titles as the deciding factors in seeding and go through the bracket with RPI as the focus. The bracket then looks like this:
#1 West Grand vs #16 Front Range Christian
#8 Vail Christian vs #9 Pikes Peak Christian
#4 Sedgwick County vs #13 Akron
#5 Hoehne vs #12 Dayspring Christian
#3 Rangely vs #14 Merino
#6 Caliche vs #11 Fowler
#2 Mancos vs #15 Simla
#7 Sargent vs #10 Holly
There are still issues with Holly and Fowler mentioned before concerning travel and then Sedgwick County is again paired up with a league rival in Akron. Plus, Dayspring Christian and Hoehne also played in the regular season and the committee could try to avoid that as well. One could also alleviate some issues concerning Sedgwick County pairing up with a league rival by exchanging spots with Mancos at 2-3 but the Bluejays are unbeaten and also picked up a win over Merino and of course Sedgwick County lost to the Rams this week. As a result, Mancos is likely the number two seed. One discussion point that could change that is strength of schedule as the Bluejays are 28th there and all other top seeded teams are well above that.
Right now, it’s a very difficult bracket to lay out — especially the bottom half. Spots 1-9 flow very well but then the committee will get caught up in avoiding conference matchups and travel concerns. We wanted to get this info out and front of our readers for discussion points and will continue to study throughout the day.
Again, the final RPI numbers will adjust slightly based on results from today’s games. Rangely could be the most affected team as they’re third in RPI but could slide a bit even by beating Plateau Valley. The Cowboys are 23rd in RPI and the game will provide a small hit to Rangely’s strength of schedule.
