According to Jason Frakes covering KHSAA meetings. The decision has been made to begin using RPI rankings in the second round instead of third round as it is used now. 

Interesting.  Could make for some long distance blowouts in round 2.

Great that they have a system used for the 2nd round

Sad the system is RPI

Do better Kentucky. RPI is a horrible predictor of strength of schedule/talent/team. 

I was looking at what this would have bhanged in 4A (if anything), and one significant change jumped off the page....

Among teams that reached the second round in Districts 5-8, Highlands was the #3 team (4th overall).  Covington Catholic was the #6 team (9th overall).  Both of those teams reached the region finals/third round in the actual format, but they'd have played in the second round of the new format, opening the door for another team to advance.  Johnson Central would likely have been that team, as they'd have matched up against Ashland, who they'd already beaten 35-0.  Johnson Central would have been hosting a region final against either Highlands or Corbin instead of sitting at home, while Boyle County would have hosted either Corbin (if Highlands beat CovCath) or Covington Catholic (if CovCath beat Highlands).  Just thought that was interesting - Johnson Central lost out on one, maybe even two rounds.

Which again shows how inept RPI is.

Do better KHSAA! Please help give these kids a better system to crown champions.

I think this is a good idea.  A lot of times 2 sister districts are stacked with really good teams while other districts are much weaker.  You have top 10 ranked teams playing in the 1st and second rounds while others are getting a much easier path to the 3rd round.

Getting closer to an east vs west conference set-up with seeding from the get go. 

I like the option of RPI from round 2 on. 

Class 1A would have looked like this for the 2nd round in 2026.
East
Raceland vs. Williamsburg 
Pikeville vs. Paris
Middlesboro vs. Hazard
Sayre vs. Nicholas Co

West
KCD vs. Bishop Brossart 
Campbellsville vs. Bethlehem 
New Cath vs. Louisville Holy Cross 
Covington Holy Cross vs. Newport

Just now, Bac2369 said:

I like the option of RPI from round 2 on. 

Class 1A would have looked like this for the 2nd round in 2026.
East
Raceland vs. Williamsburg 
Pikeville vs. Paris
Middlesboro vs. Hazard
Sayre vs. Nicholas Co

West
KCD vs. Bishop Brossart 
Campbellsville vs. Bethlehem 
New Cath vs. Louisville Holy Cross 
Covington Holy Cross vs. Newport

It won't be much different, but it will give some different opponents to schools that don't typically make it beyond round 2. I like the idea.

3 minutes ago, gchs_uk9 said:

It won't be much different, but it will give some different opponents to schools that don't typically make it beyond round 2. I like the idea.

I agree. Sayre and Nicholas County would have benefited in round 2 this past season if this would have been implemented. The three games that would have been an all out war in round 2 would have been Hazard vs. Middlesboro(which was a battle) and Newport Central Catholic and Louisville Holy Cross, and Newport and Covington Holy Cross(which was a battle tested game).  The potential matchups in other classes from last season would be really exciting to see how the landscape of it changed. 

I like it if nothing else you don’t get stuck playing the same teams year in and year out it gives you a chance at some new blood.

On 5/6/2026 at 4:00 PM, Paul Dean said:

Interesting.  Could make for some long distance blowouts in round 2.

I was thinking the same thing! If the worst RPI has to travel 3-5 hours to face the #1 RPI to take a big loss, why wouldn't they just forfeit like some first rounders do? I think this might open a can of worms fellas.   

You can’t dislike the KHSAA strongly enough. Doubling down on RPI is ridiculous. Get rid of it. 

Our playoff system in comparison to other states is well....boring. This is a step in the right direction at least. 

Part of the thrill of playoffs is qualifying. That is going away nationwide it seems with more states finding ways to let more teams qualify. We luckily can't get any more teams in the playoffs at this point.

The next thrill is seeing who you have each week and getting a new opponent you may not normally get to prepare for. At least starting now (2027) in week 2 of "Playoffs" that can start to happen. Even if it is going to be an East vs West scenario. 

On 5/7/2026 at 1:30 PM, AppalachianTactician said:

Getting closer to an east vs west conference set-up with seeding from the get go. 

I can see this happening very soon.