It’s that time of the high school football season when Friday night football gets played on Tuesday night, when teams accustomed to playing once a week play three times in 10 days, when everybody is trying to get to U.S. Bank Stadium.

We know this raises questions, and we have answers. Here’s your playoff season tutorial:

Q: When does the regular season end?

A. Wednesday’s games, in Week 8, ended the regular season.

Q: When do the playoffs start?

A: The playoffs begin for classes 5A down to Nine-Player on Tuesday, Oct. 21. The playoffs begin for Class 6A teams Friday, Oct. 24.

Q: When will we see playoff brackets?

A. The 32-team Class 6A bracket will come out midmorning Thursday. Watch stribvarsity.com for that news. Most other brackets also will be revealed Thursday. The Minnesota State High School League will have the filled-out brackets on this page. The daily schedule will be on the Strib Varsity Football Hub.

Q: Why does Class 6A have its own schedule?

A: Class 6A creates a 32-team state tournament bracket — that’s every team in the class — and does not have section playoffs.

Q: Do the other classes have section playoffs?

A: The other classes go through three rounds of section playoffs before arriving at state quarterfinals Nov. 6-8, the same time the Class 6A teams get there.

Q: What’s the schedule for the section playoffs?

A: The first round is Tuesday, Oct. 21, but some teams have byes into the second round, which will be played Saturday, Oct. 25. The teams still standing after the second round play Friday, Oct. 31. That schedule makes it possible for teams to play three games in 10 days.

Q: What’s the Class 6A state tournament schedule?

A: The first games are Friday, Oct. 24. The second round is Friday, Oct. 31. Then on to quarterfinals Nov. 6-8, semis Nov. 13-15 and finals Nov. 21-22.

Q: When do the playoffs move to U.S. Bank Stadium?

A: Semifinals in all classes will be played Nov. 13-15 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Championship games will be played there Nov. 21-22. The Prep Bowl, as those games are known, is the week before Thanksgiving this year. Here’s the schedule for semifinals and championship games.

Q: Now we know when games are played. But where?

A. Class 6A: All 32 teams will play Friday, Oct. 24, at the home of the highest seed in each game. When winners play a week later, on Halloween, Oct. 31, the site again will be driven by highest seed. Those winners advance to Nov. 6-8 quarterfinals at sites already set; here’s the MSHSL page with those details. Survivors play semifinals Nov. 13-15 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Finalists meet Nov. 21-22 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Class 5A down to Nine-Player: Section playoff games Oct. 21, Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 will be played at the home of the highest seed. Sites for the Nov. 6-8 quarterfinals are already set; find those here. Survivors play semifinals Nov. 13-15 at U.S+. Bank Stadium. Finalists meet Nov. 21-22 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Q: Can you explain Class 6A?

A. Here’s the easy part: The 32 teams in Class 6A are from the 32 schools with the largest enrollments in Minnesota. That number sets up perfectly for a single-elimination bracket along the lines of NCAA basketball. Now the complicated part: The teams are divided into four eight-team sections, grouped geographically, and then seeded. Those seeds determine which of four eight-team state tournament brackets teams are assigned. The Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 8 seeds in each bracket come from different sections. Same with the 2, 3, 6 and 7 seeds.

To ensure competitive balance, restrictions are in place:

• Teams from the same section cannot potentially play each other until the state tournament quarterfinals.
• No. 1 seeds cannot potentially face each other until the state semifinals.
• The Nos. 1 and 2 teams from each section cannot potentially meet until the state championship game.

All of this is driven by a couple of goals: competitive balance and making the games a showcase.

Q: Now we want to know more about the other classes. What you got?

A: Here’s the breakdown from the MSHSL on how football teams in Minnesota are classified:

Class 6A: The largest 32 schools.

Class 5A: The next 48 schools/cooperatives.

Class 4A: The next 48 schools/cooperatives.

Class 3A: The next 54 schools/cooperatives.

Classes 2A and 1A: After the largest 182 programs are separated into classes, schools/cooperatives with enrollments of 150 or fewer are divided equally into two groups based on enrollment. The bigger schools make up Class 2A. The rest go to Class 1A and Nine-Player.