High school football has its first RPI standings of the season for all six classes
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association unveiled its first RPI standings for all six of its football classes and the math offers some surprises, though there are still six weeks left to sort it all out before the seedings take hold and the postseason begins.
Perhaps the biggest surprise comes in Class 5A where Woodford County and Graves Country rate 1-2 ahead of Frederick Douglass and South Warren.
The Broncos have been almost a unanimous Class 5A No. 1 since the Associated Press media rankings came out after Week 3 and South Warren rated as Dave Cantrall’s No. 1 Class 5A team this week. Cantrall ranks Woodford at No. 8 and Graves County at No. 12.
The KHSAA’s “Ratings Percentage Index” is based on a formula that includes a team’s winning percentage, their opponents’ winning percentage and their opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. It also weights games against teams in other classes differently with wins against smaller class opponents multiplied by a factor less than that of larger opponents.
Kentucky Country Day is No. 1 in Class A. Lexington Christian is No. 1 in Class 2A by almost a full tenth of a ratings point over No. 2 Mayfield. Christian Academy-Louisville ranks tops in 3A with Boyle County No. 1 in 5A and Male at No. 1 in 6A.
The KHSAA began using its RPI formula in 2019 to seed its football playoffs beginning in the third round or “regional championship” round in each of the classes. The eight remaining teams in each class at that stage are separated by east and west and then seeded so that, for instance, the top ranked team in the east plays the bottom ranked team in the east. The RPI seedings are set by the final week of the regular season and carry over into the state semifinals, as well.
Last season, teams were able to back out of games for any reason to accommodate issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This season, if a team must back out of a game due to COVID-19 protocols, that game is declared a forfeit and affects its RPI rating. The KHSAA has detailed how it is attempting to lessen that impact on its website.
Here are the top 10 teams in each class, according to the first KHSAA RPI ratings of the 2021 football season. Complete ratings are at KHSAA.org.
Class A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Kentucky Country Day | 5 | - | 0 | 1.59577 | 0.40573 | 0.70949 | 0.91337 |
| 2 | Pikeville | 5 | - | 0 | 1.27241 | 0.53882 | 0.71333 | 0.84793 |
| 3 | Russellville | 4 | - | 1 | 1.06788 | 0.65915 | 0.62377 | 0.79159 |
| 4 | Sayre | 4 | - | 0 | 0.9 | 0.73035 | 0.56155 | 0.73909 |
| 5 | Raceland | 3 | - | 1 | 0.89834 | 0.62276 | 0.59859 | 0.71196 |
| 6 | Betsy Layne | 5 | - | 0 | 1.09358 | 0.46701 | 0.52733 | 0.7044 |
| 7 | Bethlehem | 4 | - | 1 | 0.95873 | 0.46365 | 0.65608 | 0.69466 |
| 8 | Bishop Brossart | 5 | - | 0 | 1.0898 | 0.4167 | 0.54304 | 0.69019 |
| 9 | Paintsville | 2 | - | 2 | 0.63394 | 0.88335 | 0.51901 | 0.68676 |
| 10 | Eminence | 4 | - | 1 | 0.92426 | 0.5209 | 0.60175 | 0.68633 |
Class 2A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Lexington Christian | 5 | - | 0 | 1.33859 | 0.92339 | 0.59732 | 0.97089 |
| 2 | Mayfield | 5 | - | 0 | 1.41275 | 0.54821 | 0.66129 | 0.88473 |
| 3 | Beechwood | 5 | - | 0 | 1.33202 | 0.43184 | 0.68495 | 0.82284 |
| 4 | Green County | 4 | - | 0 | 0.98994 | 0.54372 | 0.53822 | 0.69825 |
| 5 | Butler County | 3 | - | 1 | 0.97272 | 0.48487 | 0.60024 | 0.69023 |
| 6 | Middlesboro | 5 | - | 0 | 0.92584 | 0.53189 | 0.51696 | 0.66529 |
| 7 | McLean County | 4 | - | 1 | 1.00828 | 0.32537 | 0.59928 | 0.64657 |
| 8 | Hancock County | 4 | - | 1 | 1.11243 | 0.17398 | 0.55772 | 0.61756 |
| 9 | Murray | 2 | - | 1 | 0.69441 | 0.6127 | 0.49731 | 0.60668 |
| 10 | Caldwell County | 3 | - | 2 | 0.66838 | 0.49844 | 0.5702 | 0.57945 |
Class 3A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Christian Academy-Louisville | 4 | - | 1 | 0.96741 | 0.4641 | 0.64963 | 0.69592 |
| 2 | Lawrence County | 4 | - | 0 | 0.92996 | 0.54046 | 0.58865 | 0.69124 |
| 3 | Bardstown | 4 | - | 0 | 0.98988 | 0.46272 | 0.57607 | 0.68123 |
| 4 | Glasgow | 4 | - | 1 | 0.75517 | 0.71607 | 0.51754 | 0.6702 |
| 5 | Russell | 3 | - | 2 | 0.68027 | 0.73873 | 0.56048 | 0.6648 |
| 6 | Mercer County | 4 | - | 1 | 0.95895 | 0.53561 | 0.46259 | 0.66187 |
| 7 | Taylor County | 4 | - | 1 | 0.78125 | 0.63723 | 0.51261 | 0.65025 |
| 8 | Union County | 4 | - | 1 | 0.80778 | 0.55023 | 0.54222 | 0.63797 |
| 9 | Bell County | 3 | - | 1 | 0.82441 | 0.51418 | 0.5256 | 0.62619 |
| 10 | East Carter | 3 | - | 2 | 0.72441 | 0.59352 | 0.49337 | 0.60929 |
Class 4A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Boyle County | 4 | - | 1 | 0.98916 | 0.70398 | 0.70557 | 0.80427 |
| 2 | Lexington Catholic | 4 | - | 1 | 0.98916 | 0.71632 | 0.67203 | 0.79853 |
| 3 | Corbin | 5 | - | 0 | 1.01134 | 0.4255 | 0.63163 | 0.69238 |
| 4 | Letcher County Central | 3 | - | 1 | 0.58284 | 0.7773 | 0.4887 | 0.62266 |
| 5 | Central | 3 | - | 2 | 0.70303 | 0.44323 | 0.56238 | 0.56991 |
| 6 | Bourbon County | 2 | - | 2 | 0.53003 | 0.62647 | 0.48481 | 0.55022 |
| 7 | Hopkinsville | 2 | - | 3 | 0.3813 | 0.73333 | 0.5114 | 0.54354 |
| 8 | Logan County | 3 | - | 2 | 0.63003 | 0.47292 | 0.52004 | 0.54205 |
| 9 | Knox Central | 3 | - | 2 | 0.63003 | 0.47129 | 0.5093 | 0.53825 |
| 10 | Johnson Central | 3 | - | 2 | 0.66455 | 0.40848 | 0.5418 | 0.5381 |
Class 5A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Woodford County | 5 | - | 0 | 1.01513 | 0.37612 | 0.73704 | 0.70805 |
| 2 | Graves County | 4 | - | 1 | 0.81124 | 0.64371 | 0.59524 | 0.6878 |
| 3 | Frederick Douglass | 5 | - | 0 | 1.15002 | 0.21282 | 0.69345 | 0.68503 |
| 4 | Greenwood | 5 | - | 0 | 0.89555 | 0.44745 | 0.54686 | 0.63411 |
| 5 | Great Crossing | 5 | - | 0 | 0.92901 | 0.30987 | 0.61554 | 0.61827 |
| 6 | Cooper | 3 | - | 1 | 0.79001 | 0.41595 | 0.58984 | 0.59904 |
| 7 | North Laurel | 4 | - | 0 | 0.74427 | 0.5396 | 0.48666 | 0.59535 |
| 8 | South Warren | 3 | - | 1 | 0.76001 | 0.45758 | 0.54993 | 0.59113 |
| 9 | Bowling Green | 3 | - | 2 | 0.6339 | 0.55146 | 0.58288 | 0.58974 |
| 10 | Owensboro | 4 | - | 1 | 0.79153 | 0.40778 | 0.56486 | 0.58922 |
Class 6A
| Rank | Team | W | L | WP | OWP | OOWP | RPI | |
| 1 | Male | 4 | - | 0 | 0.9 | 0.5296 | 0.57317 | 0.67231 |
| 2 | St. Xavier | 3 | - | 1 | 0.62511 | 0.75288 | 0.48036 | 0.62641 |
| 3 | Bryan Station | 3 | - | 1 | 0.60541 | 0.74474 | 0.47517 | 0.61511 |
| 4 | Oldham County | 5 | - | 0 | 0.92511 | 0.35233 | 0.55751 | 0.61436 |
| 5 | Ryle | 4 | - | 1 | 0.65323 | 0.70213 | 0.46657 | 0.61435 |
| 6 | Ballard | 4 | - | 1 | 0.67632 | 0.50827 | 0.63807 | 0.60603 |
| 7 | Henderson County | 3 | - | 1 | 0.62511 | 0.58586 | 0.5309 | 0.58311 |
| 8 | Eastern | 3 | - | 2 | 0.47338 | 0.75754 | 0.497 | 0.57992 |
| 9 | Madison Central | 4 | - | 1 | 0.74782 | 0.3333 | 0.60707 | 0.56051 |
| 10 | Manual | 4 | - | 1 | 0.70241 | 0.41287 | 0.487 | 0.53645 |
