Football Playoffs for Roseville, Other High Schools Now Computerized

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 last Wednesday night.

Roseville is the No. 7 seed in Section 2AAAAA and will go on the road to face No. 2 Mounds View in the first round Tuesday. The Mustangs beat the Raiders 27-7 in their regular-season matchup.

Concordia Academy edged Minnehaha Academy for the No. 3 seed in Section 4AAA. Both teams went 5-3 in the regular season, but Concordia did so against a slightly tougher slate of opponents. The Beacons will host No. 6 Como Park in the first round. Being No. 3 instead of No. 4 means that if the Beacons win in the first round, they would play at St. Anthony Village (6-2) instead of St. Croix Lutheran (8-0) in the semifinals.

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. One of them is Chris Simdorn, head football coach at Roseville High School.

"I don't think that the new system is completely accurate. The system has to take more into account than just a win," Simdorn told Roseville Patch. "Strength of schedule does not come into play with the new system (beating 4A schools). 

"I don't think that the system was communicated to schools in the proper format; it is very apparent from some of the backlash that a lot of coaches do not support the system," Simdorn added. "Overall, I do not think the new system is an improvement."

Meanwhile, Lakeville North was locked in a tight battle with Owatonna for the No. 1 seed in Section 1AAAAA heading into its final regular-season game, but coach Brian Vossen doesn't think that should have been the case.
“We should get the one seed, win or lose (Wednesday) night,” Vossen said last week before the seedings came out.
Vossen said his Panthers have played a much tougher schedule than the Owatonna Huskies and should be rewarded for it.
“We have seven 5A wins (wins over Class AAAAA opponents) and are ranked fourth in the state,” Vossen said. “Owatonna has two 5A wins and will likely get their third (Wednesday).
“(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 to. 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.
St. Michael-Albertville coach Jared Essler, on the other hand, is 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.
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, 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 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.