QRF Scoring System Gives St. Michael-Albertville Football Home Field

In years past, high school football coaches across the state followed the same routine on the Wednesday before Minnesota Education Association weekend. 

Wake up. Go to school. Play your final regular-season game. Start preparing for your first-round playoff opponent immediately after that game.

Only this year, most coaches did not know who they were playing in the first round until Thursday morning at the earliest.

That's because this year, the Minnesota State High School League adopted the Quality Results Formula system for seeding teams, and the complex tabulations involved in figuring each team's QRF were not complete Wednesday night.

But with a 42-20 route over Elk River, St. Michael-Albertville looked to be moving up. The Knights were 3-0 vs. 5A teams, and passed every test. Their two losses were an on-the-road upset at Big Lake, and a home loss to Rogers. With the Royals a conference champion and State 4A runner-up the loss didn't hurt bad enough to knock STMA down the ladder that is the QRF.

The QRF system is the creation of Ryan Weinzier, owner of the minnesota-scores.net website, who has been using it to come up with unofficial ranking information on his site for several years. This year, he tweaked the system, removing margin of victory bonus points so as to not offer an incentive for teams to run up the score, and the Minnesota State High School league adopted it as its official method.

While some coaches like the new system or are taking a “wait-and-see” approach, others aren't so thrilled.

Put coach Jared Essler down as a big fan. He said it's beneficial for his team because they don't have any common opponents with the teams in their section, which made it difficult to seed them accurately in the past.

Essler said he also liked the idea that QRF “takes the politics out” of seeding, something that was sometimes a problem with coaches voting for seeds.

Up the interstate a bit, coach Jason Telecky of Monticello probably isn't as big a fan. His Magic finished 4-3, the first time the squad has had a winning season in five years. However, the Magic will be the No. 4 seed, behind Becker, a team Telecky beat 42-7.

Why? Becker beat Class 5A opponent and conference foe Elk River. Telecky lost. Both were fourth quarter decisions.

Down at Lakeville North, the Panthers were locked in a tight battle with Owatonna for the No. 1 seed in Section 1AAAAA heading into its final regular-season game, and coach Brian Vossen didn't think that should have been the case.

“We should get the one seed, win or lose (Wednesday) night,” Vossen said Monday night. “But if we lose it is likely that Owatonna will get it.”

Vossen said his Panthers have played a much tougher schedule than the Huskies and should be rewarded for it.

“(QRF) doesn't account for strength of schedule. They have five 4A games. We play a full 5A schedule, and all of our opponents do, too. It should be a no-brainer.”

The Panthers won and Owatonna lost Wednesday, so Vossen's Panthers wound up getting the top seed by a large margin.

Simley's Rex King said QRF is neither the problem nor the solution.

“QRF is not the savior we need to get three of the top five or six teams out of the same section,” he said. “We are diluting out state playoffs when an unranked team is allowed to participate because of a weak section.”

Instead King wants a system where 32 teams per class get in (Class 6A is added to the mix next year), get seeded and play a 32-team bracket, regardless of what section they're from.

Like it or hate it, coaches on both sides of the issue agree on one thing: They don't fully understand it.

And so far, Weinzier has been unwilling to reveal the secret formulas involved in calculating QRF, citing “intellectual property rights” and the possibility that coaches may try to manipulate the system if they know exactly how it works. 

But a careful study of the numbers reveals how the system works.

In Class AAAAA, for example, teams ultimately get 48 points for a win over another Class AAAAA team. Teams also get 21 more points for each win by any Class AAAAA opponent they beat during the season. 

Lakeville North's Week 8 win over five-win Prior Lake, for example, is worth 153 points, and their victory over two-win Burnsville last week is worth 90 points. Add up all eight of their games, and Lakeville North has 993 points, or a 124.1 QRF rating for the season, up considerably from the team's 90.4 rating of a week ago.

With every team in Class AAAAA—the numbers are smaller in other classes, so the potential for points swings is less dramatic—able to make similar jumps on a weekly basis, it's easy to see why it takes a little time to tabulate each week. 

And while the wait is more than a lot of coaches would prefer to bear, Henry Sibley coach Tom Orth is willing to give the new system a chance.

“We will see how it plays out,” he said. “Hopefully (QRF) will be the best option.”

Football playoffs in all classes start Tuesday across the state.