Whitney & Nick’s Declassified USQ Qualifier Guide

Written By naresh edala

By Whitney Ho and Nick Love

Whitney & Nick’s Survival Guide to Understanding USQ Qualifiers + Predictions 

The Real USQ Season Starts Now. All the other tournaments, invitationals, round robins and scrimmages have just been to hit a quota.

Before we get into the article, which is technical and all you really care about are some unsolicited takes on who we think will win, here are some definitions for people both familiar and unfamiliar with USQ Nationals:

  • National Qualifier:

    • Region-based tournament that allocates bids for teams to compete at USQ Nationals

  • College Division 1

    • The top collegiate division. Teams usually must either win their Qualifier outright or place in the top three to receive a bid. What we mean when we say “National Championship.”

  • College Division 2

    • The secondary collegiate division. Allows for teams in rebuilding years to still compete at Nationals for a D2 championship. No bid required, open to any team wishing to participate.

  • Club Competitive Division

    • The top club division, similar to College D1.

  • Club Open Division

    • The secondary club division, similar to College D2.

  • Bid

    • A reserved spot at USQ Nationals in College D1 and Club Comp, allocated based on finish at Qualifiers.

  • At-Large Bid

    • A bid allocated to teams based on prior season standing if they did not receive one at their respective Qualifier.

  • USQ Standings

    • The way that USQ categorizes teams. Tracked stats are point differential, strength of schedule and game penalties to get an overall score.

For those unfamiliar, national qualifiers are a way to determine teams that are allotted into the different tiers of competitiveness in Quadball, those being: 

  1. College Division 1 (D1)

  2. College Division 2 (D2)

  3. Club Competitive Division (Comp)

  4. Club Open Division (Open)

The winners and top teams of these national qualifiers receive what are called bids, or your ticket into a respective division of Quadball. Teams that want a shot at winning a national title or playing highly competitive games with the best teams in the country are looking to secure their bids at these qualifiers.

For college, there are a total of 16 bids available in Division 1 Quadball. Twelve of these bids are going to be awarded through national qualifiers. The other four will be distributed through the “at-large” system starting on March 23rd. If a college team doesn’t secure their bid outright through a national qualifier or through the at-large system, then they will be placed in College D2. Bids are allocated to qualifiers by the number of teams that intend to attend that particular event. 

For Club there are a total of 16 bids available in order to play Club Competitive. Twelve of these bids are distributed across four national qualifiers. The other four bids are being distributed by the “at-large” system starting on March 23rd. Teams that don’t secure their bid through either national qualifier or through the at-large system will be placed in Club Open.

Teams who earn bids to USQ Nationals at a qualifier must complete these standard play requirements by March 29, 2026:

  • Compete in at least eight USQ official games*

  • Compete against at least six different USQ official teams*

  • Attend three events, of which one must be a USQ national qualifier

*Club teams can only fulfill this requirement by playing other club teams. College teams can use games against club teams to count for this requirement. Cross-division games (college vs club) don’t count for official USQ standings.

Understanding At-Large Bids

“The hell if I know – I just put a ball through the hoop. Ask Amanda Dallas or Christian Barnes.” -Nick Love, January 27, 2026

So true, king. Historically, at-large bids are awarded to the teams who didn’t receive a bid, but were top-ranked in the regular season prior to March 22. A past example would be the 2022-2023 season, where SHSU had done consistently well in the regular season, but placed 3rd overall at the Southwest qualifier and lost out on a D1 bid due to score differential of other games. They were awarded an at-large bid later that season due to their previous record and recorded games, giving them an opportunity to still compete in College D1.

Teams that do not earn bids from a qualifier must complete these extended season play requirements by March 22, 2026:

  • Compete in at least 10 USQ official games.*

  • Compete against at least eight different USQ official teams.*

  • Attend four events, of which one must be a USQ national qualifier.

*Same rules apply from above.

Additionally, teams who aim for an at-large bid can reduce their season play requirements back to the standard play requirements by competing against at least one opponent who competed at a different national qualifier. They must still complete the requirements by March 22, 2026 to be eligible.

If a team that has already qualified for Nationals through a secure bid wins another bid at a later USQ National Qualifier, that extra bid doesn’t go to the next best team at that qualifier. Instead, it becomes an at-large bid that can be awarded to another team. Ex: If Reign secures a bid at Garland and then gets another bid at Champaign, the Champaign bid becomes an at-large bid.

Long story short: if you play really bad at qualifiers and you did well in the beginning of the season, they’re your get out of jail free card. Don’t rely on them. Don’t play bad.

As most notably in the sport, we have to learn some rules before trying to have some fun.

Important to know regarding A/B teams: (Creighton / Blue Jay, BoomTrain / Trainwreck, New York Slice / New Jersey Dice, Lost Boys / Second Stars). Players who play in national qualifier games are locked into that team for other national qualifiers. Ex: Molly Potter cannot play for NJ Dice at Garland, Texas and then play for NY Slice in York County.

Schedule for Qualifiers

When looking at the schedule for qualifiers, Day One is pretty straightforward — teams will play round robin games in their pools and try to both win and score as many points as possible to set themselves up for a good seeding for Day Two. Also, they’ll have to ref a few games in between so take your ref test. I’m talking to YOU, yes YOU!

Day Two is where it gets a little tricky — based on win percentage and point differential, teams will be seeded and move onto bracket play, which works like your traditional March Madness bracket. Usually, the top one or two teams after Day One will get a bye. It’s win or go home after that, and the last team standing will be crowned champions. The remaining bids will be based on final rankings at the event.


How to Stay in the Know

Thanks for your patience while we got the logistics out of the way. Next up: Fast Takes with Fast Break’s partners-in-crime.

College

Garland, Texas: 2 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: SHSU, Texas, Texas State, UCLA, UTSA

Nick: With only two bids up for grabs, I think they go to Texas State and SHSU. Though the loss to SHSU early in the year and then the loss to Creighton don’t help Texas State’s resume when it comes to being the best team in the country, I think they could easily find their way to National Champions come April. I think SHSU is a pretty strong team, and barring UCLA coming into Texas and shaking things up, I think they’ll find their way to D1.

Whitney: As a current senior at TXST and the PR, Social Media, and Marketing Executive Board member for the team, this region is my territory, and I have a lot to say about it, but I’ll try to keep it brief. Texas State is the best in the Southwest and a clear title contender, and no one is really going to question that (if you are, please DM me). As to where we stand against the rest of the nation, the Creighton game was electric, and I personally cannot wait until we get the opportunity to play them again. UVA, same thing — can’t wait to see y’all. Relentless. In terms of the second bid, I’m also going to give it to SHSU. Andrew Acosta and Spencer Quintana alone are so much of a threat, and they have some solid support all around. If you had asked me at the beginning of the season, I would’ve said UTSA is the Southwest’s dark horse, but SHSU really surprised me (clearly) and have been pretty consistent throughout the year. I think out of the Southwest, SHSU is the clear No. 2, and at Nationals, teams shouldn’t underestimate them in the slightest.

Howard County, Md.: 6 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: Boston, Brandeis, Brown, CWRUcio, Emerson, Harvard, JMU, Middlebury, Pitt, RPI, Rutgers, Triangle United, Vermont, UVA

Nick: The Massachusetts Quadball Conference is my favorite part of USQ, and watching games on Saturdays has been the highlight of my fall. That being said, the number of teams playing and how close a lot of these games have been makes this the most interesting qualifier for the college division. I think UVA, Rutgers, Boston University get their bids handily if they played as they did in the fall. Harvard is interesting as they had a skid in the second part of the MQC season, but I think they are still a great team that can walk out with a bid. RPI had a rocky start to the season and then picked it up towards the end, which I think can get them the 5th. The 6th bid could easily go to any of these teams on any given day depending on who is available. If they travel well I’m giving my 6th to CWRUcio. 

Whitney: Definitely a great region to watch – props to MQC for running such a big conference so well. I started doing socials for the Texas Quadball Conference, and it’s a lot harder than I expected because I have to try to keep up with your standard, and no, I’m not doing well in that regard. Anyways, the clear favorites here are UVA and Rutgers, and I’m really happy to see Rutgers in the top four of the FBN Collegiate rankings. I still think Harvard is the third team out of this region, especially with the coaching staff they have. They slipped a little after their strong start, but their film shows that they’ve got a lot of potential and can definitely get back to where they were at the beginning of the season. Boston is my pick for the 4th, and I’ve been a CWRUcio fan since day one (I’m from Ohio so I’m familiar with their game), so I hope they get the 5th bid and continue to grow as a program. I like RPI to get the final bid because like Nick said, they’ve really picked it up towards the end of the year, but I think JMU could also be competitive in this conference and will have to fight it out with CWRUcio and RPI for a bid.

Champaign County, Ill.: 4 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: BGSU, Blue Jay, Creighton, Illini, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mizzou, Purdue / Ball State

Nick: Without too many games under their belt in-region, I think many of the teams here are prone to upsets. I think that Creighton and Illini are locks for securing two of the four bids. In the one time that we’ve seen Blue Jay, they had a few Creighton players in their roster so I’m not totally sure how that team will fare or if they might do an XY format to get to Nationals. I’m hesitant to give Blue Jay a bid, and I think they go into a pot comprising Michigan, Michigan State and Mizzou of teams that haven’t had much exposure this year, but at their peak talent can easily compete in D1. That being said, I think the last two bids go to Michigan and Mizzou. Being a Michigan alum and filled with bias, I know the caliber of players that are currently under Coach Ryan Hsu, and I think they can be competitive against every team in Champaign if the full roster is available. Mizzou had a scary showing at Trick or Beat and ran it back against Illini and showed people that they are a serious team, so I think they’ll pull it out.

Whitney: Besides Creighton, this is a very interesting region for me. A lot of these teams have only played a few games, and it’s hard to judge a high-pressure tournament like Champaign on Trick or Beat V alone. My top two are Creighton and Illini as well, and I would love to see how Illini stacks up against a full-strength Creighton. I’ll give Blue Jay the number three spot pretty confidently, because I think that Creighton has development down in their program, and during their time off from USQ, Blue Jay probably put some serious work in. For the last bid, give me Mizzou. After Trick or Beat V, they dropped from No. 4 to unranked in the FBN Collegiate Rankings, and yeah, they didn’t look good for a second there. But I want to give them the benefit of the doubt because their program has had a lot of success in the past few years and I’d love for them to prove everyone wrong.

At-Large Bids

Nick: If the number of games played didn’t matter, I think UCLA should get a bid in my heart. Although UCLA is unlikely to get the bid, I think that bids will end up going to Brown, Michigan State, Blue Jay and JMU. Karsten Assoua is the best seeker in college, quote me. If Brown can tighten up the quadball game, Karsten can win a game with a catch. MSQ has a lot of college experience through the chaser game that can secure them an at-large bid. If Blue Jay doesn’t outright win the bid at Champaign, I don’t see how you wouldn’t be able to give it to them. JMU has a tough time in the App-5 against UVA, but Levan’s stats show that he’s easily one of the top players and seekers on the East Coast. At the same time, I think JMU could take that 6th from CWRUcio depending on how they travel. 

Whitney: It’s hard to pick just four teams to receive these bids because so many are deserving of them. But based on current standings and what I just predicted, my four at-large bids (for teams I haven’t listed already) would go to Michigan, Michigan State, Brandeis and UTSA. Michigan and Michigan State have been having very underrated seasons, and I think they both can come to Placer Valley and make a huge impact. Brandeis is definitely in a rebuild year, but they still have a few experienced players who can lead the team to success in April. Finally, I hope UTSA manages to steal the last one. They started the year off strong, but they’ve had injury troubles and numbers haven’t looked good recently, which really sucks. I sincerely hope they can continue to grow as a program. But based on their previous record and conditional on whether they can 1) beat both Texas and UCLA and 2) give SHSU a run for their money, I think they’ve earned the last spot, and hopefully they’ll be able to fill their roster up enough to make an impact in D1. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention UCLA after the season they had last year, and I’m excited to see them in Garland. If they can beat Texas and UTSA and manage to fulfill all of the at-large season requirements, I’d say they qualify for the final bid. It’s tough to be the only team still standing in your region, and I respect what they’ve done this season, like playing Lost Boys in a super series to get some games in and traveling to Texas out of all places so they still have a shot at Nationals. I’m definitely rooting for them.

College Qualifier Predictions 

Club

Garland, Texas: 2 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: Brew Cities, New Jersey Dice, Reign QC, Texas Copperheads, Texas Hill Country Heat

Nick: I think these two bids are locks, and potentially, based on seeding for USQ Nationals, we could be looking at an early look at the finals. Reign and Heat take the two bids, but I’ll be glued to the livestream to see who ends up as potentially the No. 1 team in the country after qualifiers.  I’m also excited to see how Dice and Copperheads match up after Copperheads were able to pull a game off of BoomTrain at Space City Invitational.

Whitney: If you guys read my Garland preview, you’d know I get a little wishy-washy about my club predictions, partly because I don’t want to be told I don’t know ball by a bunch of uncs I don’t know. I’m 21 and only a year and a half deep into the sport, okay? I’m still getting the hang of club Quadball. But at the end of the day, Heat and Reign are locks to get the bids. Reign vs Dice will definitely be a nail-biter, but I think Reign will take it despite being at a disadvantage in terms of roster size. I think Heat has the upper hand on Dice due to their roster depth, and realistically, Heat vs Reign is a total toss-up, at least in my opinion. But I think that the FBN voters got it right and Reign and Heat are the clear top two in the club scene. (Yes, I’m a voter. No, I will not tell you what my vote was. See reasoning above.)

York County, S.C.: 4 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: Atlantic Dragons, Carolina Reapers, Chaos, DCQC, New York Slice, Pennsylvania Wolves (formerly Philadelphia Flamingos), River Runners, The Washups, Washington Monuments, BoomTrain

Nick: York County feels very familiar to the Winter Classic, just without Reign and Dice. Bid No. 1 goes to BoomTrain. Due to players being locked into the team based on the qualifier they attend, it’ll be interesting to see who is rostered on BoomTrain, which then determines who is playing on Trainwreck at Champaign. DCQC takes the second bid pretty handily. Chaos gets a bid, but their place is entirely determined based on the roster that they are able to bring. I think that Reapers takes the last bid, but could easily take third at the tournament if Kody LaBauve plays and Chaos is short-rostered. I’m also super excited to see River Runners and who they have on the squad.

Whitney: This qualifier is absolutely packed. With four bids, there’s a lot of potential for who gets a ticket to California, but my top two are definitely BoomTrain and DCQC. BoomTrain is my pick to win the title, and DCQC has always had pretty consistently solid chasers. I’ll give Chaos the third bid, because they had strong showings at Trick or Beat V and USQ Winter Classic but lost to DCQC. The last bid will go to Carolina Reapers, in my opinion. Despite only having one tournament under their belt, the Reapers did well at Winter Classic, and I think they’ll keep the ball rolling heading into February.

Snohomish County, Wash.: 2 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: Bay Area Breakers, Seattle Sirens, Silicon Valley Vipers, Lost Boys, Second Stars, Texas Copperheads

Nick: This is probably the most interesting qualifier out of all of them this year. Based on the season play requirements, teams have to play a certain number of games and teams to be eligible for at-large bids. Copperheads want an outright bid. That being said, I’m not sure the roster that Copperheads is able to bring to Washington will be sufficient to compete. If they bring a full roster, I think that Copperheads takes the bid alongside Lost Boys, considering their wins over Sirens and Breakers. If copperheads don’t have a full roster, give me Lost Boys and Sirens. For now, I’ll give the nod to Copperheads and Lost Boys. More importantly, bring back West Quadball.

Whitney: Copperheads attending a qualifier in Washington confirms that bid allocation is cutthroat this year. Although it’ll be a close one, I think Copperheads will come out on top in the West if they bring 75% or more of their full roster (save me Hayden Boyes). Despite their 1-7 record, they’re going to be a dark horse going into Nationals, and more teams will have their eyes on them, especially after they upset BoomTrain at Space City. I’m going to take the underdog and say that the second bid will go to the Bay Area Breakers, who are looking really solid this season, even though they don’t have a bunch of games under their belt, and their loss to Lost Boys. However, there’s definitely going to be a battle for the last bid between Breakers and Lost Boys, and I can’t wait to see who comes out on top. West Quadball is so back.

Champaign County, Ill.: 4 Allocated Bids

Participating Teams: BoomTrain, Boston Lobsters, Brew Cities, Chaos, Chicago United, New Jersey Dice, Ohio Apollos, Orlando Quadball Club, Reign QC, Trainwreck, Vermont United

Nick: Top 4 finishers at Champaign: Reign, Boom, New Jersey Dice and Trainwreck. Under the assumption that Reign secures a bid at Garland and Boom Train secures a bid at York, that means that two of the bids turn into at-large bids, meaning six total Club at-large bids would be available on March 23rd. That being said, Brew Cities, Vermont, Boston and Apollos have to make a decent case for why they deserve one of those at-large bids here at Champaign.

Whitney: Another absolutely stacked region. My prediction for the top two finishers are Reign and BoomTrain, which I’m sure surprises no one, but if the rest of my predictions stand, both of those teams will have already received a bid. That leaves two remaining bids, and my locks for this region are Dice and Trainwreck, who I’m certain will finish 3rd and 4th at this Qualifier. Dice is young and has already proved they can compete with the top dogs, and the same thing goes for Trainwreck. The last time these two teams played each other, Trainwreck got the W, but once we see a firm split with BoomTrain, I think Dice is in a good spot to finish 3rd at this Qualifier, with Trainwreck stealing the last bid.

At-Large Bids

These Club Teams have opted out of Club Competitive: Brew Cities, Ohio Apollos

Nick: Six total bids are presumably available. My first five are Sirens, Breakers, NY Slice, Lobsters and Vermont. I think logistically it makes sense that these are the next five up. For the 6th bid, I think it’s a toss-up between Vipers, Orlando and Atlantic Dragons. Something in my gut tells me it’ll go to Vipers, both based on proximity to USQ Nationals and potentially a good showing in Washington.  

Whitney: When looking at these six at-large bids, I think it heavily depends on performances at the qualifiers, but if everything goes the way I think it will, my first bid pick is the Boston Lobsters. They’ve got some great veteran talent and have been really consistent throughout the past few seasons. After that, give me Lost Boys if they don’t get an outright bid in Washington. They’ve gained some great talent and are also one of the few teams in the nation that can consistently run a B team, so I think they’ll definitely get a bid. I would give the next two to Slice and Vermont, two teams that have only won a couple games but have the potential to be competitive. Since Brew Cities and Apollos aren’t eligible, I’ll give a bid to the Pennsylvania Wolves (Formerly known as the Philadelphia Flamingos), who have only played one game but still have a shot if they perform in Champaign. Finally, my last bid goes to the Seattle Sirens. They won Club Open last year after having a great showing at Nationals, and I think they deserve a shot at comp this year. Don’t underestimate them – they’ll definitely be competitive.

Club Qualifier Predictions 

Nick & Whitney’s Hot Takes / Assorted Banter

“I think Lost Boys, Breakers, and Sirens are legit teams and a lot more competitive than a lot of people realize. West coast advantage is going to surprise some people, I promise.” - Nick

“Trainwreck = the new generation (9-1 btw).” -Whitney

“I just want to get to MLQ.” - Nick

“College D1 is basically UVA/Creighton/TXST, a huge gap, and then everyone else. Argue with a wall.” -Whitney

“If God is real, the club comp final will be Reign vs Heat.” -Whitney

“Still waiting for a Ryan Hsu Podcast episode.” - Nick

“I disagree with Nick – while his stats are fantastic, Karsten Assoua is not the best Seeker in college. The best Seeker in college is Bao Hoang. You can quote ME.” -Whitney

“Plz follow us on Instagram @fbn_quadball! Trying to get to 600 followers soon!” -Nick

naresh edala
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