I recently spoke with Rich Alercio from St. Johnsbury Academy and asked if the VIFL(Vermont’s high school football governing body) or state’s athletic directors were continuing to use the QPR formula as it has stood for the past few years. Let me explain, as it currently stands, when a team wins or loses against their weekly opponent they can either rise in the standings, or fall, depending on whether their opponents have a winning record, or if they have a losing record regardless of what division they play in. A win isn’t always a win. Confused? I am.
Let me try to explain further. As it is now, this formula is used for all teams no matter what division a football team resides in that they compete against. To me, that makes no sense. I’ll give you an example that’s close to home. For St. Johnsbury Academy who has won nine straight games over rival Lyndon(this doesn’t make me happy, sorry coach A) if they play a Lyndon team that doesn’t have a great record – and they did have a very good one this past year – St. J’s QPR can drop significantly in this scenario. It happens all over the state. So why am I going on about this? I cannot for the life of me understand why the state’s AD’s won’t go for “divisional QPR” index rating. That is, only being rated by the teams you play in your own division. It allows for interdivisional rivalry games to have no negative consequences or scenarios as mentioned above. It more closely balances the QPR if teams within a division have a softer schedule than others. If they continue down this road rivalries will be a thing of the past. Lose rivalries – lose football. I don’t want to lose football. I hope someone in that world can respond to me as to why they think it’s a good idea to do QPR(by the way it stands for Quality Points Rating) statewide rather than within one’s division.
Here is the actual formula:
10 points for a D1 win
7 points for a D2 win
5 points for a D3 win
2 points for every win your defeated opponent has.
1 point for a loss when playing up a division
Total divided by total number of games
I also believe that in basketball and hockey, or any sport that uses index points to determine playoff seeding for that matter, that only points obtained within your division should count towards your overall rating for the tournament. The playoff ratings are completely skewed as it stands right now. Why should it be that some teams that play weaker teams from higher divisions are allowed to obtain more points than those who don’t have the same luxury schedule wise? In hoops there should be 16 games within the division you’re in for the regular season and 4 games to play whomever you want. Christmas tournaments or rivalry games that don’t count towards your rating. They can still count on your record but shouldn’t improve or worsen your rating.
Yesterday I had the luxury of calling a baseball game at McDonald Family Field and watched Wyatt Mason throw a no-hitter while striking out twelve of the fifteen batters he faced. His curveball was nasty and his fastball quick. What an absolute horse on the hill! The Vikings and Thunderbirds of Missisquoi are undefeated in division two with one week to go in the regular season.
The St. Johnsbury Academy Hilltoppers suffered their first loss of the season, a 5 to 4 defeat at the hands of South Burlington. SB is a top three ranked team and is very solid. A loss may not be a bad thing for the ‘Toppers as they head into the D1 tournament.
Who is ranked #2 in D1 baseball? Don’t look now but my good friend Mike LaCourse has the Falcons playing some great baseball. At 8 and 1 and winners of five in a row it’s nice to see the resurrection of that program by Coach Lacourse. He’s one of the best humans I’ve ever met.
Scott Blood’s BMU baseball team continues to roll along. The defending back to back(2023 and 2024) champions are 11 and 1 and have lost just one game on the season(to cross river rival Woodsville). Look out D4, the Bucks are looking for a three-peat!
In softball Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc on the team’s schedules. It looks like now Lyndon and North Country will not be able to make up their scheduled game. What a mess it’s been. By the way, speaking of Mother Nature, one of the best lines I ever heard came from my friend Fitzy(everyone has a friend named Fitzy don’t they?). When interviewed after a game by the Caledonian-Record about three decades ago, he said his team played “Mother-in-Law” defense. When asked for an explanation he said, “you know, constant pressure and harassment’. One wonders how that quote went over in his household?
I didn’t watch the NBA’s Eastern or Western Conference finals and can’t pull myself to do it without the Celtics. I can’t stand the Knicks, or their fans, and Tyrese Haliburton is very annoying. I do love SGA, the league MVP, and hope he wins it all.
As for hockey I am following Brad Marchand and the Florida Panthers. I saw a stat today that the Carolina Panthers haven’t won an Eastern Conference finals game since before the iPhone was invented. Crazy stat. The worst stat is they are down 2 to 0 to Marchand and the Panthers – at least for them.
Congratulations to Lyndon Institute’s Kiara Carter on achieving the 400 save milestone as the girls lacrosse team’s goalkeeper. That is quite the accomplishment.
I’m starting to wonder if Memorial Day this week means, ‘do you remember when it rained yesterday?’
On a serious note this is how I really feel about Memorial Day. I thank all of those who gave their life for the greatest country on the planet. They gave their life, and their families lives were changed forever. I think of the courage of the D-Day soldiers knowing full well their chances for survival were slim to none. For those in the first attack on Omaha Beach especially in Company A 116th Infantry the casualty rate was over 90%. Only a few dozen survived out of over 200 men on that fateful day!
I hung my new flag on my deck and thought about the country being in turmoil, a bit lost in its patriotic ways. I’m hopeful that this weekend, no matter your political views or opinions, we can all be patriotic to each other and remember those that perished for all of us to live free and in a democracy!
The opinions expressed by EB are solely his and are not a reflection of those of NSN. If you’d like to reach out to EB please contact him at eberry@nsnsports.net Check out all of Eric’s blogs on www.nsnsports.net