Meet me in the middle seems to be the philosophy of the majority of IHSA football teams this season.
Just 59 teams have emerged from the first five weeks of the regular season scrum without a loss. It’s lower than the number has been in six years and speaks to the fact that there are fewer teams that are clearly separated from the pack and considerably more depth in most conferences than in years past.
Don’t believe in the depth argument? Consider this: there’s currently 209 teams in the state that have either two or three victories through five wins.
That’s 42% of the schools that are currently playoff eligible. That means that both the groups of teams that are above that threshold and either very close to clinching playoff spots are already in are smaller on both ends than usual.
And what it means for teams in that large group of teams at either two or three wins? At this time of season they are much more likely to be staring at a remaining schedule that features a schedule full of teams that are in exactly the same boat as they are.
It’s also important to note that while there are currently exactly 256 teams in the state with three wins or more, there’s a small handful of teams that despite being above .500 they won’t ultimately be in the playoff field.
The CPL has four divisions of its structure where only the division title win will secure a playoff berth. There are currently 10 teams in those four divisions with at least three victories, but regardless of how many wins those teams amass if they don’t win the division they won’t qualify.
Close calls
Want further proof that this season is spawning an awful lot of toss-up matchups on the field?
A whopping 50 games were decided by eight points or less with several of them hinging on fantastic finishes.
Some of the more notable fantastic finishes:
* Providence upended Wheaton St. Francis on the final play of the game on a hail mary pass from AJ Rayford to Jayden Mikulski.
* After surrendering what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion with 16.5 seconds left, Herscher quickly got in position to kick a game-winning 39-yard field goal as time expired to upend Streator.
* IC Catholic was turned away on a fourth-and-goal inside of a minute to allow Marist to escape Elmhurst with a 34-26 win.
There were countless others around the state that went down to the wire and with a number of looming matchups around the state between teams that look remarkably even on paper expect the list of nailbiters to grow exponentially.
Clearing up the CCL/ESCC
Although just one CCL/ESCC team managed to get to through the first five weeks of the season completely unscathed in St. Laurence there finally seems to be a little division of the teams in the 24-team league.
Directly behind St. Laurence is a clump of eight teams that all sit at 4-1. Barring a stunning second half of the season slide all of those teams are likely playoff bound needing just one win to complete secure playoff eligibility. Even if they don’t, there’s a reasonable chance that most CCL/ESCC teams would have an inside track to the playoffs as an at-large four-win team.
Seven CCL/ESCC teams have slipped below the .500 mark, a number that includes De La Salle, a program that announced it would not be continuing as a varsity program this season. The climb back into playoff consideration will be steep for all of those teams.
Probably most notable of that group is Brother Rice. The Crusaders still have two games remaining against Blue Division teams, including this week’s matchup with Mount Carmel and also St. Ignatius and face a crossover matchup with undefeated St. Laurence. They also face Niles Notre Dame in Week 7. To guarantee a playoff berth, Brother Rice will need wins in three of those four games. A split would give them hope as a 4-5 team, but nothing would be guaranteed.
Conference Kingpins
Two conference have three teams that have moved through the season without a loss.
Both the Western Suburban Silver (Lyons, York and Downers Grove North) and the Lincoln Prairie (Arthur, Sullivan, Nokomis).
Some of that log jam will be cleared this week as Downers Grove North and York play in Week 6, and if DGN clears that hurdle they’ll face Lyons in the following week. Arthur and Nokomis also battle in Week 6. Those two games are part of the five-game slate of games around the state that pair off two 5-0 teams.