In many other IHSA sports, teams will often take an easing into the season approach.

But football is the only sport sanctioned by the organization where you don’t have an automatic qualification into the postseason, so scheduling becomes a delicate balance between making sure the regular season prepares you for that potential postseason slot while making sure it isn’t too difficult for a team gets there.

A total of 501 schools are entered in the IHSA State Series this season, which is actually a nine-team increase over last year’s grouping of 492. But for many of them, the schedule still was not completely settled until very recently.

In the end, just seven schools do not currently have a complete nine-game schedule. But the scramble to get that number down to that smallish number was very much active much deeper into the offseason that in recent memory.

It was especially a problem for those teams that usually find themselves at the top of the state’s football pyramid. Many programs would ordinarily welcome the challenge of playing one of the state’s top teams, but with such a small margin for error in a quest to snag one of the coveted 256-playoff slots, it is a risk most are unwilling to take.

So many of the top programs are finding the only opponents willing to fill those nonconference spots on their schedules are other superpowers.

And for high school football fans, that created some potentially explosive early-season matchups.

A pair of defending state champions ran into that problem and solved it by squaring off in what has to be one of the most eagerly anticipated season-opening matchups, with Class 7A state champions Mount Carmel locking horns with Class 6A state champions East St. Louis in a matchup at the new home of the IHSA state finals on Thanksgiving weekend, Illinois State University, on Saturday, Aug. 26.

Other interesting nonconference games in the first few weeks include Lincoln-Way East/Kenwood (Week 1), Brother Rice/Maine South (Week 1), Marist/Glenbard West (Week 1), Nazareth/Kankakee (Week 1), Joliet Catholic/Providence (Week 2), Hinsdale Central/Bolingbrook (Week 2) and Plainfield North/Naperville Central (Week 2).

Out-of-state opponents were relatively common for other programs that couldn’t find an in-state solution. Defending Class 8A state champion Loyola had to wait until summer to find a willing opponent in Grand Rapids Catholic Central. The Ramblers were far from the only team that had to venture out of state to fill the slate. Joliet Catholic, for example, is making a lengthy road trip to Iowa City to take on City High in the opening week.

That trip looks like a picnic compared to the trek Wheaton Academy is taking in the first week. It will travel to Austin, Texas, to play St. Michael to kick off the season. East St. Louis also has a trip to Texas scheduled to play Atascocita in Week 3, and the road warrior Flyers will also play St. Frances Academy out of Baltimore in a showdown of national powers in Week 2. The Flyers may have to find yet another out-of-state superpower willing to play them, as its Week 9 opponent recent dropped them.

Here’s a breakdown of scheduled games against out-of-state opponents:

East St. Louis isn’t the only defending state champion that has a vacancy on its schedule, as IC Catholic has still yet to secure a Week 2 opponent.

Other schools missing one game on their schedule at this point are Montini (Week 1), Fisher (Week 2), Madison (Week 8), Moline (Week 6) and East Moline United Township (Week 8).

The Moline and East Moline United Township schedule vacancies were created by the loss of Rock Island Alleman to the ranks of schools participating in 11-man football. Alleman hopes to return to that level of play in 2024. If neither of those teams finds a replacement, they will receive forfeit wins.

Three schools are returning to the ranks of 11-man football this season. Fisher and Sandwich are back in the mix after taking last varsity season off due to program numbers issues. Westmont, after playing a limited schedule last season, has restored itself to a full schedule as a member of the newly formed Chicagoland Prairie Conference.

The increase in overall eligible schools for the postseason was largely due to another realignment in the Chicago Public League. That included a newly formed division of schools, the CPL White Central, that has teams that were largely been ineligible for the postseason now gaining that status. Only the top two finishers in that division will make the field.

The ranks of 8-man football decreased by one program and will enter the season with 27 participating programs. Harvest Christian’s program was removed from the group after failing to get started last season, while Aquin recently announced it won’t compete in 2023. The 8-man ranks did add a new program, St. Anne, which last played 11-man football in 1979.