The road through November just got its map. In Kentucky, pairings are now set in all six KHSAA classifications for the second round of the high school football playoffs, with games scheduled for Nov. 12-14.

Tennessee is on the same page: TSSAA brackets for the 2026 playoffs are out, laying out the second-round pairings across the state as surviving teams learn who stands between them and a deeper run.

Illinois didn't wait. The IHSA played its second-round games on Nov. 6-7, with statewide scores rolling in Friday night as the field was cut in half again.

It's the sorting phase of the postseason — the week where pretenders are gone, brackets stop being hypothetical and every remaining team can count the wins between itself and a state title. Kentucky and Tennessee teams get a few days to study their draws; in Illinois, half the bracket is already home for the winter.