The regular season's over. So no messing around. Let's just get right to it:

First mad props to Riverside, which beat Greybull 35-21. Matt Craft ran every which way through the Buffs' defense and finished with -- are you ready? -- 294 rushing yards. Although both teams are on the road in the first round of the playoffs, this was a big win for the defending champion Rebels as they try to gain some momentum heading into the postseason.

Second mad props to Thermopolis, which knocked off Lovell. The more I think about it, the more I think that this was not a flukey win at all. Thermopolis has had a solid defense all season, and tonight that defense came up with four interceptions and generally hounded the Bulldogs' passing game into submission and left it looking sort of like this. Granted, this game didn't affect the playoff make-up that much -- Lovell's still the five seed, going to Pinedale; Thermop is still the eight seed, going to Glenrock -- but mentally, this has to be a huge lift for the Bobcats.

Third mad props to Star Valley, which knocked off Worland 14-0 and made me sad at the same time. Sad? Well, yeah. The Braves have finally started clicking. They'd be a scary team if they could have made the playoffs. But they didn't make the playoffs. And that kind of makes me sad -- because I think the Braves could be that one team no one really wanted to play in the first round.

Now, for something outside the Bighorn Basin....

Fourth mad props to Pine Bluffs, which whomped Saratoga 41-8. What took the Hornets so long? I really thought this was the year they'd break through and cause some damage in the East. And if not for a one-point loss to Lingle, they could be in the playoffs. Instead, they'll have to settle for winning the last two games of the season and find some solace in the fact that they did, eventually, find that other level they'd been waiting for all year.

Fifth mad props to Upton, which solidified a playoff spot by beating Normative Services in OT. Matt Lougee was the Bobcats' savior; he scored the game-tying touchdown with 2 minutes to go, intercepted a Wolf pass during NSI's OT possession, then scored the game-winning touchdown on Upton's subsequent drive. Only the appearance of a bear and a Webelo would have made this game any better.

Now, onto the thing everyone is waiting for anyway: the playoff shakedown.

I've posted the brackets below in a post of their own (please remember these are PROJECTED power ratings and brackets; real brackets won't be out from the WHSAA until today sometime). But there were a couple things that stuck out. First was how close the battle for the last Class 4A spot ended up. Rawlins, with a PPR (projected power rating) of 25.94, wound up with the eighth spot. Star Valley finished ninth at 25.88. And defending champ Jackson looks like it won't even get a chance to play in the postseason; the Broncs are 10th with a PPR of 25.75. (FWIW, Wheatland was 11th at 25.28). As its reward, Rawlins gets to go to play Douglas, a team that beat it 48-0 about a month ago, in the first round.

In 5A, thanks to what's probably the highest-scoring Trona Bowl in history (certainly, the highest-scoring Trona Bowl in the past 50 years, as Green River and Rock Springs combined for 88 points in the Wolves' 57-31 victory), the brackets shook out almost exactly as I thought they might. Natrona will go to Green River in the most intriguing of the first-round games. Remember, though, last year, no team was safe in the 5A first round, as three of the four home teams lost in the quarterfinals. And then Cheyenne East, the only home team to win in the first round, went on to win the title.

Class 2A shook out a bit differently due to Riverside's win and Rocky Mountain's loss to Pinedale. Riverside, Greybull and Rocky went 6-7-8 as the West Conference earned five of the eight seeds. Speaking of such, conference balance was pretty much thrown right out with the bathwater ... 3A also finished unbalanced as the East earned five of the eight seeds ... as did 5A, where the South got five of eight ... as did 1A, where the East took five of eight.

And, for once, the first-round playoff pairings do not feature a single game where the participants played against each other in Week 8. Finally.

So there you go. The playoffs start next week. Did Week 8 change your mind at all about who might be the favorites for the state titles? Comment below if you think of something relevant. :)

Projected playoff pairings are right below this post; I'll post official pairings as soon as I get them.

This week: 24-5 (83 percent). This year: 190-61 (76 percent).

Posted by patrick.schmiedt@trib.com