Playoff Outlooks: Week 8
We continue to break down what it will take for each of the team in our viewing area to make the post season and whom they may face when they get there. We’ll be utilizing projections offered to us by IHSA football playoff guru Steve Soucie of the Kankakee Daily Journal. You can find his full projections at edgytim.rivals.com and we strongly urge that you do that!
Playoff points are determined by the number of wins your opponents have and remember that there are no quads this year in any of the classes in the Channel1450.com area. There will be a north bracket and a south bracket seeded 1-16, with No. 1 playing No. 16, No. 2 playing No. 15, etc.
(7-0) Sacred Heart Griffin – 28 Playoff Points
Southeast is the only thing standing between the Cycs and the Week 9 CS8 title game against Rochester.
SHG remains the No. 2 seed in the 6A South Bracket behind Lincoln-Way North but their Round 1 matchup changes from Rock Island to Galesburg this week. The Silver Streaks have a 4-3 record, which is good enough for a first place tie currently in the Western Big 6.
(4-3) Glenwood – 31 Playoff Points
The Titans took a huge step towards playoff eligibility last week picking up their fourth win against SHS. That means they’ve got two chances to get the necessary fifth win. The Titans will be an underdog on Friday at Eisenhower, but they’ll almost certainly carry favorite status into the Week 9 matchup against a Jacksonville team they’ve owned for 21 years.
Soucie still doesn’t have Glenwood in his 6A field of 32 despite the fact they have more playoff points than 16 seed Centennial. The Titans have a lot of people to prove wrong.
(3-4) Southeast – 32 Playoff Points
The Spartans hopes for back-to-back playoff berths likely ended in Week 7 with a loss to Eisenhower. SHG will almost surely put it to rest on Friday.
(2-5) Springfield High – No Longer Post Season Eligible
(4-2) Eisenhower – 30 Playoff Points
The Panthers win streak is at five and after Friday’s win over Southeast they said they’re not close to satisfied with that. Eisenhower knows the value of hosting a first round game and if they can beat Glenwood in Week 8 and Springfield High in Week 9, they may very well be in a position to do that.
Until then, they can expect to travel. Soucie has them heading to Highland in the 5A South Bracket in Round 1. Highland fell to Taylorville last year in the second round. This year, the Bulldogs are 6-1 and were averaging 43 points per game before being held to just 3 points by Troy Triad in Week 7. The Central State 8 and other Central Illinois teams have had pretty dominant success over teams from Mississippi Valley Conference in recent years.
(4-3) Jacksonville – 31 Playoff Points
The Crimsons will essentially secure their spot in the playoffs with a win over Lincoln on Friday. They would do themselves a huge favor by running that record to 6-3 by beating Glenwood in Week 9.
Jacksonville was the No. 16 seed in the 5A South Bracket last week and this week they’re a No. 12 seed. The difference for the Crimsons is a matchup with Champaign Central rather than undefeated and No. 1 seed Washington. This isn’t new territory for the Crimsons who’ve done damage with a low seed quite often in recent years.
(2-5) Lanphier – No Longer Post Season Eligible
(7-0) Rochester – 28 Playoff Points
Rochester will be 8-0 after Friday’s game at MacArthur and a perfect regular season will be on the line against SHG in Week 9.
It looks like Soucie is assuming a loss to SHG in that CS8 title game, because Rochester is the No. 4 seed in the 4A South Bracket. That sets them up to host Alton Marquette in Round 1. The same Alton Marquette that Pawnee beat 30-7. Sooooo, yaaaaa…. There is a potential rematch with Herrin for the Rockets in Round 2. That may have been their toughest opponent all of last post season.
(7-0) Taylorville – 21 Playoff Points
The Tornadoes get their last regular season test on Friday when they travel to Mattoon. Close that out and Taylorville is staring a perfect 9-0 record in the face along with a No. 3 seed in the 4A South Bracket.
Honestly, the current 4A layout is as good as it gets for the Tornadoes. Based on the brackets, it would mean Taylorville wouldn’t see Rochester until the semifinals at the earliest, and let’s be honest, that’s who everyone’s looking for when they look at the 4A layout. Their first round opponent remains Olney Richland County.
(7-0) North Mac – 30 Playoff Points
The Panthers are set for a battle of unbeatens this weekend as they travel to 7-0 Chester on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets are the No. 1 seed based on playoff points in Class 2A. The Panthers are the No. 2 seed based on the same measure in Class 3A. North Mac closes with a gimme against PORTA in Week 9.
The current layout presents a first round matchup against Vandalia that North Mac would host in the 3A South Bracket. The Vandals are 4-3 and you’ll get a good idea of what kind of team they are when they face Pana, the No. 1 seed in the 2A South Bracket, this weekend.
(6-1) New Berlin – 29 Playoff Points
The Pretzels don’t NEED to win Friday’s game against Auburn, but boy would it help them with their seeding in the playoffs. Especially considering the Pretzels Week 9 opponent, West Hancock sports a 5-2 record. The Titans have lost two of their last three, but the losses have come against legitimate competition.
Now, If you’re preparing a sharply written email about how we made a mistake putting New Berlin in the 3A projections instead of the 2A, just go ahead and save that to the draft folder. Soucie had the Pretzels as the largest school in the 2A field last week and they’re the smallest school in the 3A field right now. New Berlin is the No. 5 seed in the 3A South Bracket set to host Sullivan in Round 1 according to the projections.
(4-3) Williamsville – 31 Playoff Points
The Bullets continue to climb themselves out of a self-dug hole with back-to-back blow out wins. That surely provides Williamsville with some confidence as they head to Athens to play a team that either wins this week or watches the post season from the sidelines. If the Bullets don’t get the job done, they’ll have to beat Riverton in Week 9 to be playoff eligible.
Right now the Bullets are the No. 9 seed in the 3A South Bracket which means they’re one spot away from hosting a first round game. Instead, Williamsville is set to travel to Roxanna in the first round. The Shells are on a five game winning streak after losing to Carlinville and Pana in the first two weeks of the regular season and if the Bullets win that they’re looking at an SJO team that they’re all to familiar with in the second round.
(4-3) Pleasant Plains – 29 Playoff Points
The Cardinals can secure their playoff hopes with a win over winless PORTA in Week 8. They’d be smart not to leave their fate up to an Athens team that may still be playing for their post season life in Week 9.
Soucie shows Plains as the No. 11 seed in the 3A South Bracket, which would pit the Cardinals against Marshall in Round 1. Marshall was undefeated before dropping a 31-25 decision to fellow unbeaten Newton in Week 7. Traveling to face this opponent is not an ideal first round setup for the Cardinals.
(4-3) Auburn – 29 Playoff Points
We’re assuming a win against Pittsfield in Week 9 for the Trojans, but we can’t do the same for their Week 8 opponent New Berlin. Auburn hosts that game and on our Upickem site, it’s an exact 50% split between over 400 participants as of early Thursday afternoon. You can call that a coin flip.
Soucie still has the Trojans going to Class 2A and he still has them as the No. 16 seed, set for a Round 1 matchup against No. 1 seed Pana. 2A isn’t nearly as deep as 3A. The No. 2 seed is undefeated Eldorado and the No. 3 seed is Sangamon Valley. That’s why Friday’s game against the Pretzels carries so much weight for Auburn.
(3-4) Athens – 31 Playoff Points
Enter your proverbial “backs against the wall” cliché’s here for Athens. They’ve got two weeks left, they need two wins to get into the playoffs and the two teams they’ve got left on their schedule are Williamsville and Plains who both have four wins right now.
Because of that, Athens, who’s played seven post season games in the last three seasons, is not in Soucie’s 2A projections.
(6-1) Pawnee – 28 Playoff Points
The Indians can lock up back-to-back Prairie State titles for the first time since 1976 if they can beat 4-3 Bunker Hill on Friday. They’ll be the favorites to do exactly that. They close the season against Metro East Lutheran who forfeited that Week 9 game a season ago.
The Indians playoff outlook remains the same as it was a week ago as a No. 5 seed in the south bracket, hosting Red Hill in Round 1. The Salukis beat Casey-Westfield (2-5) 57-7 in Week 7.
