Linder’s playoff projections

The final night of the Iowa high-school football regular season is fast approaching, and so is the first playoff reveal in the new era of postseason qualification.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association plans to release a list of qualifiers - 16 in each class - by midnight Friday, a couple of hours after the games have concluded. Brackets will be next, a few hours later.

- District champions get first priority in seeding and hosting in the first round. In the quarterfinals, that is thrown out the window, and higher RPI get home-field advantage regardless of district finish.

- In the case of a three-way tie for a district title (and if all three teams go 1-1 in a round robin amongs each other), all are designated as district champions, provided the number of district champions doesn't surpass 16.

- In the event of a two-way tie, on the other hand, the winner of head-to-head is the district champion, the loser is simply an at-large candidate.

- The IHSAA will make all efforts, whenever reasonable, to avoid first-round matchups between teams from the same district. It will also try to come fairly close to true seeding (1-vs.-16, 2-vs.-15, etc.), with common sense used for geography.

- Brackets will be reseeded for the semifinals in the UNI-Dome. So don't think of a class as a 16-team bracket. Think of it as four brackets with four teams each. As a result, the East-vs.-West championship games are gone; it's completely possible to see, for example, a Valley-Centennial championship in 4A.

With those guidelines in place, here's a final attempt at projecting the playoff brackets. All outcomes for Week 9 are merely predictions from the BC Moore computer.

Class 4A

(*district champion)

Ankeny Centennial Quadrant

#9 Cedar Rapids Prairie (7-2) at #8 Johnston (7-2)

#15 Ankeny (5-4) at #1 *Ankeny Centennial (9-0)

West Des Moines Valley Quadrant

#10 Fort Dodge (7-2) at #7 *Waukee (7-2)

#16 Southeast Polk (4-5) at #2 *West Des Moines Valley (9-0)

Cedar Falls Quadrant

#11 Indianola (7-2) at #6 *West Des Moines Dowling (7-2)

#14 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (6-3) at #3 *Cedar Falls (9-0)

Iowa City West Quadrant

#12 Pleasant Valley (5-4) at #5 *Bettendorf (8-1)

#13 Urbandale (6-3) at #4 *Iowa City West (8-1)

Class 3A

(*district champion)

Sergeant Bluff-Luton Quadrant

#9 *Carroll (6-3) at #8 *Norwalk (6-3)

#15 Spencer (7-2) at #1 *Sergeant Bluff-Luton (8-1)

Lewis Central Quadrant

#12 Harlan (7-2) at #6 *Oskaloosa (8-1)

#14 Sioux City Heelan (7-2) at #2 *Lewis Central (9-0)

Cedar Rapids Xavier Quadrant

#11 Clear Creek Amana (8-1) at #7 *Decorah (7-2)

#13 Pella (8-1) at #3 *Cedar Rapids Xavier (9-0)

Solon Quadrant

#10 Waverly-Shell Rock (8-1) at #5 *North Scott (8-1)

#16 Western Dubuque (7-2) at #4 *Solon (9-0)

Class 2A

(*district champion)

PCM Quadrant

#8 *Williamsburg (6-3) at #7 *West Liberty (6-3)

#16 West Marshall (6-3) at #1 *Monroe PCM (9-0)

Algona Quadrant

#10 Benton Community (8-1) at #6 *Crestwood (6-3)

#15 Ida Grove OA-BCIG (6-3) at #2 *Algona (9-0)

BHRV Quadrant

#11 Chariton (8-1) at #9 *Carroll Kuemper (5-4)

#12 Spirit Lake (7-2) at #3 *Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley (8-1)

Waukon Quadrant

#13 Greene County (8-1) at #5 *Union Community (7-2)

#14 Southeast Valley (6-3) at #4 *Waukon (8-1)

Class 1A

(*district champion)

Bellevue Quadrant

#10 West Branch (8-1) at #7 *Wilton (8-1)

#16 South Hamilton (7-2) at #1 *Bellevue (9-0)

South Central Calhoun Quadrant

#11 Interstate 35 (8-1) at #8 *Treynor (8-1)

#13 West Lyon (7-2) at #2 *South Central Calhoun (9-0)

Van Meter Quadrant

#9 Osage (7-2) at #6 *West Sioux (8-1)

#15 Underwood (6-3) at #3 *Van Meter (9-0)

Pella Christian Quadrant

#12 Mediapolis (8-1) at #5 *Dike-New Hartford (9-0)

#14 Mount Ayr (7-2) at #4 *Pella Christian (7-2)

Class A

(*district champion)

Hudson Quadrant

#10 *Lynnville-Sully (8-1) at #8 *Durant (7-2)

#16 Highland (7-2) at #1 *Hudson (9-0)

Garrigan Quadrant

#12 North Tama (8-1) at #7 *Edgewood-Colesburg (8-1)

#14 Wapsie Valley (7-2) at #2 *Algona Garrigan (9-0)

Westwood Quadrant

#9 *Mason City Newman (7-2) at #6 *Hinton (8-1)

#15 West Hancock (7-2) at #3 *Westwood (8-1)

AHSTW Quadrant

#11 BGM (8-1) at #5 *Sioux Central (8-1)

#13 Akron-Westfield (7-2) at #4 *Avoca AHSTW (9-0)

8-Player

(*district champion)

Ar-We-Va Quadrant

#13 Audubon (7-2) at #7 *Fremont-Mills (8-1)

#16 Rockford (7-2) at #1 *Ar-We-Va (9-0)

Northwood-Kensett Quadrant

#14 Lenox (7-2) at #5 *Exira-EHK (8-1)

#15 Newell-Fonda (7-2) at #2 *Northwood-Kensett (9-0)

Iowa Valley Quadrant

#10 *Midland (9-1) at #6 *Turkey Valley (8-1)

#11 Don Bosco (8-1) at #3 *Iowa Valley (9-0)

Southeast Warren Quadrant

#9 *Central City (8-1) at #8 *Gladbrook-Reinbeck (7-2)

#12 New London (8-1) at #4 *Southeast Warren (10-0)