Kentucky’s first high school football RPI standings of the season are out

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s first football RPI standings for each of the six classes raised some eyebrows around the state after they were released Tuesday, but it’s important to note this first release has no bearing on the postseason.

And that’s a good thing for teams like Class 6A’s Frederick Douglass and Class 4A’s Boyle County and Corbin, who suffer in the KHSAA’s RPI formula because it weights out-of-state opponents often at a far lesser value than in-state foes.

This is the first time the KHSAA has released its football RPI after Week 4 — a week earlier than in past years — and the small sample size noticeably exaggerates some of the things its critics like least about it, specifically the underweighting of out-of-state opponents and the multiplier bonus for playing games against bigger in-state schools.

Class 6A seems to be the most out of whack when comparing it to the Herald-Leader’s latest Cantrall Ratings and media rankings.

According to this week’s RPI, Ryle is the state’s No. 1 team with a record of 2-2, and Tates Creek at 3-1 ranks second. Meanwhile Frederick Douglass (2-1) comes in at No. 9. That’s despite Douglass defeating Tates Creek 43-0 last week.

Also of note, Class 6A perennial powerhouse Trinity (2-2) falls all the way to No. 19 in the RPI despite a convincing 36-3 win over No. 8 Bryan Station (2-2) in the season opener.

Compare that to Cantrall, which has Ryle at No. 10, Tates Creek at No. 17, Douglass at No. 1 and Trinity at No. 4. Likewise, the media has Ryle at No. 10, Tates Creek unranked, Douglass at No. 2 and Trinity at No. 4.

Boyle County (4-0), the three-time defending Class 4A champion, is ranked No. 1 in the division by the media and No. 2 by Cantrall, but falls to No. 5 in the RPI behind a 2-2 North Oldham team. And Corbin (3-0), who is Cantrall’s No. 1 overall team in the state and ranks No. 2 behind Boyle in Class 4A’s media poll, is the RPI No. 10 team.

The low standings for Boyle, Corbin, Douglass and others is probably due to their schedules including out-of-state teams that get a generic estimated opponent RPI value of 0.51060. That valuation is given to all out-of-state opponents by the KHSAA, regardless of the opponent’s strength. The generic RPI value is meant to be an average of how all out-of-state opponents would factor in so as to avoid trying to run down all the variables for a team that is not part of the KHSAA.

Regardless, any worry over the KHSAA’s RPI system probably will diminish as the season moves forward and more games enter the RPI formula. That formula includes winning percentage (WP), opponent’s winning percentage (OWP) and opponent’s opponent winning (OOWP) percentage.

The RPIs in each class will be updated weekly based on results through the end of the regular season.

Those final regular season RPI standings will be used to seed each class’s postseason bracket beginning with the third round or “region championships.” At that stage, the eight districts in each class are split into eastern and western halves and the regular season RPI is used to seed each half. The state semifinals are then reseeded regardless of geography.

Here’s a look at the KHSAA’s current RPI top 10s in each class after Week 4. Complete standings can be found online at khsaa.org

KHSAA RPI Top 10s

Class A

Class 2A

Class 3A

Class 4A

Class 5A

Class 6A

Jared Peck

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-488-2883

Jared Peck, the Herald-Leader’s Digital Sports Writer, covers high school athletics and has been with the company as a writer and editor for more than 20 years. Support my work with a digital subscription