Steve Soucie explains how the 2022 IHSA playoff field will come together

148 are already in. How do the other 108 earn their place?

Providence Catholic Byron Olson (53) in action on Friday, Sep 16, 2022, at New Lenox.

Unlike all of the other sports sanctioned by the IHSA, football is the only one that requires a school qualify for the postseason.

Like it or hate it, there’s an additional sense of accomplishment added to each of the 256 teams invited to play past Week 9.

But it is a mystery to most as to how it is decided as to who gets that ticket to participate and who does not.

The first teams placed in the 256 team field are conference champions.

There are 69 conferences in the state of Illinois that include teams that are eligible for the playoffs.

But all of them do not receive that automatic bid designation. The IHSA standard for conference champions to receive bids is that a minimum of six teams be involved in a conference to earn that bid. As such, no divisions of the CCL/ESCC or the SouthWest Suburban leagues are eligible for the automatic bids. The Heart of Illinois Small Division also doesn’t qualify for a bid as the league has just five teams.

The Southern Illinois River-to-River Mississippi does, however, despite having just five teams. The league received a two-year exemption because of a defection by one of its teams to another league.

One league has the requisite number of teams – the Big Twelve – but does not give a conference champion bid because all teams do not play each other in the 11-team league.

Teams that have already clinched conference championship berths are Mahomet-Seymour, Stillman Valley, Johnston City, Chester, Columbia, St. Teresa, Sacred Heart Griffin, Deerfield, Noble/ITW Speer, Phillips, Amundsen, Simeon, Hyde Park, Goode, Prairie Central, Reed-Custer, Cumberland, Mt. Carmel, IC Catholic, St. Francis, Pekin, Hersey, Highland, Lake Zurich, Lena-Winslow, Macomb, Mount Vernon, Lemont, Richards, Carterville, Benton, Plainfield North, East St. Louis, Princeton, Rockridge, South Elgin, Seneca, Bismarck-Henning, Downers Grove South, York, Moline, Camp Point Central and Greenfield.

Teams that are on track to claim a conference championship berth in Week 9 are Maine South, Payton, St. Charles North, Neuqua Valley, Huntley, Tri-Valley, Sycamore, Richmond-Burton, Annawan-Wethersfield, Palatine, Belvidere North, Wauconda, Maroa-Forsyth, Pana, Kankakee and Plainfield South.

Fifty-nine bids will be given to conference champions, which leaves 197 bids left to be filled.

Next up are any teams who are not conference champions or from leagues (or independents) that do not qualify for automatic bids which have already won six or seven games on the season.

Eighty-nine teams qualify for the playoffs by this measure. That brings us up to 148 teams, with 108 bids left to fill.

There are 79 teams in the state that have already reached the five-win group. Six of those teams (Chester, Deerfield, Phillips, Richards, Plainfield South and Downers Grove South) have either clinched a conference championship or is in line to claim one.

So there are 73 teams at the five-win level in line for at-large berths. Combining the 148 teams that have already secured berths and the 73 five-win teams that are playoff eligible and not officially clinched that leaves 222 teams in position to claim the 256 spots in the field.

Next up are teams that are 4-4. Sixty-six teams that are 4-4 have an opportunity to reach five wins. There is a 67th team in this group, Mount Vernon, but they are a conference champion and it does not matter if it wins a Week 9 game against Mt. Carmel to get to five wins, it is in the field regardless.

Thirty-four teams are needed to complete the field entirely with teams that have a minimum of five wins. If that number is not met, four-win teams with high playoff points are needed to fill out the field until 256 spots are filled. But we’ll get to that later.

Of the group of 67 teams trying to get to the five-win level, 16 of them are playing one another:

4-4 vs. 4-4 Games(Projected Class in parentheses)
Erie (2A)vs.Morrison (1A)
Agricultural Science (4A)vs.Chicago Richards (1A)
Princeville (1A)vs.Stark County (1A)
Nokomis (1A)vs.Dupo (1A)
Nazareth (5A)vs.Benet (5A)
St. Viator (5A)vs.St. Patrick (5A)
Maine West (7A)vs.Highland Park (7A)
Noble/Pritzker (5A)vs.Noble/Rowe-Clark (2A)

From this group, eight teams will reach five wins while the other eight will drop into the five-loss group. That puts us at 230 teams in the five-plus win group and 26 spots yet to fill with 50 4-4 teams hoping to fill those spots.

Of those 50 teams, 21 are playing opponents with records below the .500 mark, 28 teams are playing opponents with records above the .500 mark. One is playing an out-of-state team that currently has a .500 record (Quincy Notre Dame vs. St. Louis John Burroughs).

Here’s a breakdown of those games.

4-4 teams vs. below .500 teamsWeek 9 Opponent
Providencevs.St. Laurence (3-5)
Sullivanvs.Clinton (3-5)
Westinghousevs.Brooks (2-6)
Sennvs.Steinmetz (0-8)
Corlissvs.South Shore (2-6)
Burlington Centralvs.McHenry (3-5)
Johnsburgvs.Harvard (0-8)
Marengovs.Plano (3-5)
Ottawavs.Woodstock (2-6)
Conantvs.Schaumburg (3-5)
Olympiavs.PORTA (0-8)
Althoffvs.Alton (1-7)
Rich Townshipvs.Leo (2-6)
Belleville Eastvs.Granite City (1-7)
Plainfield Centralvs.Joliet Central (0-8)
Spring Valley Hallvs.Bureau Valley (1-7)
Westvillevs.Georgetown-Ridge Farm (0-8)
Willowbrookvs.Berwyn-Cicero Morton (3-5)
Beardstownvs.Pleasant Hill (1-7)
Brown Countyvs.Carrollton (2-6)
Madisonvs.Trenton-Wesclin (2-6)
4-4 teams vs. above .500 teamsWeek 9 Opponent
Winchester (West Central)vs.Mendon Unity (5-3)
Rock Islandvs.Quincy (6-2)
Lincolnvs.Triad (6-2)
Rockford Lutheranvs.Winnebago (5-3)
Floravs.White County (7-1)
McLeansborovs.Sesser-Valier (6-2)
Marian Catholicvs.Carmel (5-3)
New Triervs.Maine South (6-2)
Deer Creek-Mackinawvs.Eureka (7-1)
Lislevs.Peotone (5-3)
Breese Mater Deivs.Mount Zion (5-3)
Arcolavs.Villa Grove (5-3)
Casey-Westfieldvs.Olney East Richland (6-2)
Chicago Christianvs.Ridgewood (5-3)
Mortonvs.Washington (5-3)
Rolling Meadowsvs.Prospect (7-1)
Buffalo Grovevs.Hersey (8-0)
Lakesvs.Grayslake Central (5-3)
Havanavs.Elmwood (5-3)
Illini Westvs.Macomb (8-0)
Greenvillevs.Vandalia (6-2)
Cahokiavs.O’Fallon (7-1)
Hillcrestvs.Oak Forest (5-3)
Joliet Westvs.Plainfield South (5-3)
Orionvs.Rockridge (7-1)
Bartlettvs.Glenbard East (7-1)
Hinsdale Centralvs.Glenbard West (7-1)
Oak Park-River Forestvs.York (8-0)

Whichever teams win from each group with join the 256-team field. If all of the teams playing teams with losing records plus the lone out-of-state game win and reach the five-win group – coupled with all of the teams playing teams with better than .500 records recording a defeat – it would leave the field four teams short of 256 teams with at least five wins.

In reality, there’s probably a blend of the two groups with a few of the 4-4 teams losing to teams with below .500 records and a few of the teams playing above .500 record teams pulling off an upset to try to work their way into the field.

Let’s start with what happens if we don’t get 256 teams at five wins or better.

The remaining spots have to be filled with four-win teams with the highest amount of playoff points (opponents’ victories).

Here’s a look at the teams with the most amount of points in the four-win group in order of points through eight weeks of play:

4-4 TeamPlayoff Points
Buffalo Grove50
Nazareth46
St. Patrick46
Benet44
Providence44
Oak Park-River Forest44
Rolling Meadows42
Hinsdale Central42
Beardstown42
New Trier41
Quincy Notre Dame41
Rock Island41
St. Viator40
Cahokia40

Obviously any of these teams can remove themselves from the list by winning their fifth game, but the list can’t be limited to just teams with 4-4 records at this point because 3-5 teams have the opportunity to join the other teams in the 4-5 group with a Week 9 win.

3-5 TeamPlayoff Points
Bloomington46
Herrin45
Barrington44
DePaul Prep43
Dyett43
Kewanee43
Glenbard North42
Bishop McNamara42
Freeburg41
Evanston41
DuQuoin41
Momence41

You get the leading candidates to take the open spots from whoever ends up in the 4-5 pool after the conclusion of this week’s games. With additional points factored in from Week 9 it appears it will take at minimum 47 points to have a chance to earn one of those bids.

Conversely, if more than 256 teams qualify for the field with five victories or more, those five win teams that do not have an automatic bid for winning their conference are sorted out by playoff points. The teams with the fewest playoff points in this scenario would be removed from the potential field until the list holds only 256 teams.

Here are the teams that could find themselves at 5-4 with the fewest number of playoff points:

TeamWeek 9 opponentPlayoff Points
Madison (4-3)vs. Trenton Wesclin (2-6)22
Argo (5-3)vs. Evergreen Park (6-2)26
Nokomis (4-4)vs. Dupo (4-4)26
Plainfield Central (4-4)vs. Joliet Central (0-8)28
Conant (4-4)vs. Schaumburg (3-5)28
Highland Park (4-4)vs. Maine West (4-4)28
Oswego East (5-3)vs. Plainfield North (8-0)29
Marian Catholic (4-4)vs. Carmel (5-3)29
Dupo (4-4)vs. Nokomis (4-4)29
Princeville (4-4)vs. Stark County (4-4)30
Maine West (4-4)vs. Highland Park (4-4)30
Reavis (5-3)vs. Richards (5-3)30
Ridgewood (5-3)vs. Chicago Christian (4-4)30
Robinson (5-3)vs. Pontiac (1-7)30
North Lawndale (5-3)vs. Payton (6-2)30

If there is a tie for the last spot or spots in the playoff field the tie is broken by the following steps:

• Head-to-head result if teams have played

• Number of teams played that qualified for the playoffs

• Number of wins accumulated by opponents that qualified for the playoffs

• Number of points allowed against playoff qualifiers

• Coin flip

Once the field is set with 256 teams the schools are sorted by their pre-established football enrollments.

Four schools are using the optional “playing up” option in the IHSA bylaws. IC Catholic will voluntarily move up to Class 3A for the postseason despite its actual enrollment placing them in Class 2A (or possibly 1A). East St. Louis voluntarily moves up from Class 5A to Class 6A, while Loyola moves from Class 7A to Class 8A.

Joliet Catholic isn’t jumping a class per se but instead using an addendum in the rule that allows a team if they slide to a lower classification than expected than they would play up to the class they intend to play up. If Joliet Catholic were to slide into the 3A field (they are close to the line currently) they would be automatically restored to the Class 4A field.

The eight classifications are then broken into groups of 32 teams each. In Class 1A through Class 6A the 32-team groups are broken into groups of 16 and 16 by a north/south geographic split. Class 7A and Class 8A are 32-team brackets with no geographic split.

Seeding then occurs with nine win teams placed in the bracket first, followed by eight, seven, six and five wins teams. If needed, four win teams that qualified are placed at the bottom of the bracket.

Seeding ties are broken inside of the win groups by playoff points. If teams are in the same win group with the same number of playoff points, ties are broken by a tiebreaker of the number of playoff points accumulated by defeated opponents. The only exception being for undefeated teams, as both of those tiebreakers are the same number and can’t break the tie. A random number generator is used to split the tie in that case.

So now that we’ve gone to into the great detail of what could come in Week 9. Here’s a quick review and primer on the steps it will take to fill the field of 256:

  • There are currently 221 teams that have already achieved five wins, plus one team that appears to be a conference champion that will finish with four wins, to make 222.
  • That leaves 34 spots left to fill.
  • 8 spots will be taken by the winner of 4-4 showdown games.
  • That leaves 26 spots left to fill.
  • 1 team (Quincy Notre Dame) is playing a 4-4 team from out of state.
  • If they win, that leaves 25 spots; if they lose that leaves 26 spots left to fill.
  • There are 21 teams that are currently 4-4 that are playing sub .500 teams in Week 9.
  • Assuming all win, that leaves four/five spots* left to fill. (*dependent on QND result)
  • There are 28 teams that are currently 4-4 that are playing teams with above .500 teams in Week 9.
  • If all lose, that would leave four/five spots available for 4-5 teams
  • Every team that wins from the group of 28 teams reduces that number, counting down from 4 or 5.
  • If any of the teams from the group of 21 teams loses that number increases, counting up from 4 or 5.
  • If that number finishes at zero at the end of all games, all five win teams make the field and no four win teams do.
  • If that number finishes as a positive number, the number that is how many four win teams are needed to fill the field.
  • If that number finishes as a negative number, that’s the number of teams with five wins that will need to be eliminated from the field to set it. Teams with the smallest amount of playoff points in the five-win group are eliminated first.