A new era: UHSAA releases first-ever football RPI rankings


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Millard Eagles will forever hold the distinction. They were the team with the highest Rating Percentage Index (RPI) in the first-ever Utah High School Athletics Association RPI rankings.

What will that mean when the season comes to an end? Maybe something. Maybe nothing. Regardless, it felt like the new era of Utah high school football officially began Monday when the first RPI rankings were released by the UHSAA.

It will be these rankings — not region records — that will determine seeds in the 2019 state playoffs.

Corner Canyon (5-0) topped 6A, Salem Hills (5-0) led 5A, Park City (5-0) was No. 1 in 4A, with Manti (4-0) and Millard (5-0) leading 3A and 2A, respectively.

The RPI is determined by a team’s winning percentage (40%), the winning percentage of a team’s opponents (40%) and winning percentage of a team’s opponent’s opponents (20%).

So with some schools having only played four games, things will change — and likely change often — as the season progresses. Here are the top 10 from each class.

Class 6A

1. 1. Corner Canyon 2. 2. Herriman 3. 3. Pleasant Grove 4. 4. Lone Peak 5. 5. Skyridge 6. 6. Syracuse 7. 7. American Fork 8. 8. Riverton 9. 9. Bingham 10. 10. Kearns

Class 5A

1. 1. Salem Hills 2. 2. Springville 3. 3. Woods Cross 4. 4. Farmington 5. 5. Olympus 6. 6. Provo 7. 7. Highland 8. 8. Brighton 9. 9. Lehi 10. 10. Wasatch

Class 4A

1. 1. Park City 2. 2. Green Canyon 3. 3. Dixie 4. 4. Sky View 5. 5. Mountain View 6. 6. Stansbury 7. 7. Ogden 8. 8. Bear River 9. 9. Tooele 10. 10. Pine View

Class 3A

1. 1. Manti 2. 2. Morgan 3. 3. Grantsville 4. 4. North Sanpete 5. 5. San Juan 6. 6. Juab 7. 7. South Summit 8. 8. Delta 9. 9. Summit Academy 10. 10.American Leadership Academy

Class 2A

    1. Millard
    1. Beaver
    1. Milford
    1. Monticello
    1. Duchesne
    1. Kanab
    1. Enterprise
    1. Parowan
    1. North Sevier
    1. North Summit
The complete rankings can be found here.

What we learned:

Winning matters

For the coaches that believed the formula would undervalue actually winning games, that doesn't appear to be the case in the first rankings.

The three remaining undefeated teams in 6A (Corner Canyon, Pleasant Grove, Skyridge) are all in the top five. And that's the trend in each classification.

In 5A, the final two unbeaten squads (Salem Hills and Woods Cross) are both in the top three. In 4A, undefeated Park City is No. 1 with unbeaten Mountain View at No. 5. Manti; Morgan and North Sanpete are the last three undefeated teams in 3A and are all ranked in the top four. All while Millard and Beaver sit atop the 2A rankings as the only teams in the classification with unblemished records.

Names don't

Bingham (3-1) has long been seen as the premier program in the state. And a 3-1 start, with its only loss to No. 1-ranked Corner Canyon, doesn't scream the Miners will be taking a massive tumble from its lofty status. Yet, they came in at No. 9 in the first rankings. Things will likely change (they've played one less game than most teams, after all), but it might be refreshing to some to see the formula doesn't have a bias.

Strong regions rejoice

Part of the reason the UHSAA decided to go to an RPI-based system was to more accurately seed the tournament. Sometimes one region is simply deeper than another — and the association didn't want those teams feeling punished for playing in a stronger league.

Region 4 teams should be happy with what they saw Monday. The region holds five of the top seven spots in 6A, and the team's last-ranked team, Westlake, is sitting at No. 14 — much better than missing out on the playoffs.

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