Brian: as for me, I love speculation....

My esteemed colleague, Mr. Fisher, has said that he would rather not speculate as to who will end up playing where and against whom in the first round of the football playoffs, and maybe some coaches would just as soon rather wait until Friday morning's power point tallies are released as well. But as for me, since I have the means to crunch numbers by creating possible scenarios based on my predictions, then speculating on potential playoff matches becomes one of my favorite hobbies at this time of the year. So that's what this post is about. If you're wondering who your team will end up playing on Tuesday night, then keep reading, ***but with the understanding that what you read is based solely on my own personal speculation. Some of it may come true, some of it may end up being a little off, and in some cases, I might accidentally overlook something and send a team on a road trip when in reality they end up staying home and gearing up for the winter sports season a few weeks early. So with that in mind, what could it hurt? (Just don't start developing game plans just yet.) ;-)

First of all, in Class 11AA, obviously our main concern is the Pierre Governors, who carry a 5th overall seed out of the top 16 into Thursday night's clash with Aberdeen. Now, if you have read my 11AA picks from below, and if all of those picks come true (I did go 8-0 in my 11AA picks last week), then I see Pierre dropping one spot to #6 overall and possibly hosting the #11 seed in the first round, and I predict that team to be Brookings, a team the Govs beat, 36-14, back on Sept. 18, in the Bobcats' Homecoming game. I predict the top 5 seeds to be Aberdeen, Washington, Brandon Valley, O'Gorman, and Roosevelt, ahead of Pierre. That would set up a possible rematch for Pierre with #3 Brandon Valley in the second round, but at Brandon, assuming both teams win in the first round. Now, if Pierre beats Aberdeen, which certainly could happen, then the Govs probably will still get no higher than a #5 seed and probably face RC Central in the first round. One swing possibility in the higher seedings could occur if O'Gorman beats Washington in SooFoo, but that looks like they will only swap seeding possibilities if that happens. Further down in the standings, these predictions could really get messy if RC Central happens to beat Stevens, or some bigger upsets take place tonight as well. It looks like Spearfish will be the odd team out this year, unless they beat Sturgis tonight.

In 11A, there shouldn't be too many surprises. It looks like all the region playoff brackets will have teams playing within their own region. The most important game in the area might be in Chamberlain, where if the Cubs beat Todd Co. (on KPLO tonight), they will be in the playoffs, despite having what would only be one win. If the Cubs can beat Todd Co., who sits at the top of the Region 3 seedings, then it's conceivable they could actually win their way through the region and make it all the way to the semifinals! That semifinal matchup for the Cubs wouldn't be very favorable, but that would definitely be something to play for.

For 11B, there are plenty of possibilities, but my prediction for Stanley Co. is that they will be in the playoffs, whether they win or lose tonight at home against Miller (on KGFX). The Buffs get a lot of help with opponent wins on the season, thanks to the win totals of teams like Winner, Mobridge, Bennett Co., Platte, but they should also get added help tonight with possible wins from Custer and Chamberlain. The question is, where will the Buffs be playing? In their own Region 4, Winner, Bennett, Mobridge, and Red Cloud should have a solid clamp on the top 4 seeds, so Stanley Co. will end up as an at-large team in another region. Their power point average will likely be high enough to bump out a 4-seed from any of the other regions, but it looks like Region 3 will have the lowest power average of their 4-seed. There are two huge games tonight in Region 3 pairing their top 4 seeds against each other that will help answer this question. Platte plays at Wagner, with the winner gaining the top seed, while Elk Point-Jefferson plays at Bon Homme tonight, and the winner of that game should get the 3-seed, but the loser will likely be left out of the playoffs, with Stanley Co. moving in to the region as the at-large team. Now, if the Buffs win tonight, I predict they will have a high enough power average to become the 3-seed, so they would travel to the #2 seed, which again will be the loser of that Platte-Wagner game. If the Buffs lose to Miller tonight, I still see the Buffs going to Region 3 as the 4-seed, which would send them to the top seed - the winner of that Platte-Wagner game. Not only that, but a Miller win tonight will actually put them in the playoffs, probably as a 3-seed in Region 2, which would set them up for a first round game at Flandreau.

Since this is getting fairly long, I'll split the 11-man and 9-man playoff posts - read on below for the 9-man predictions.