NSFL Title Belt update after Season 21
![[Image: mewMhEm.png]](https://i.imgur.com/mewMhEm.png)
With the start of Season 22 upon us I wanted to revisit the NSFL Title Belt article that I have written a few entries of and update it. I realized I missed updating the NSFL Title Belt after season 20, so here is an update that covers both season 20 and season 21.
If you are unfamiliar with what this is I start with the winner of the first Ultimus and they are the first team that holds the title belt. From there on every game the team with the title belt plays has the belt on the line and the winner of that game takes the belt. As you can see from the graphic the belt has changed hands many times throughout the now 21 seasons of the NSFL including being on the line for a few Ultimus Championships. If the team that has the belt at the end of the regular season doesn’t make the playoffs then that team simply has the belt to start the next season.
The Otters won the Ultimus in season 19 and with it were the holders of the title belt coming into season 20. After a dominant 37 to 3 victory over the SaberCats in week 1 the Otters traveled to New Orleans in week 2 and lost to the Second Line 30 to 10. The Second Line traveled to Philadelphia in week 3 and kept the belt after a 23 to 13 victory over the Liberty. The Second Line fell apart in week 4 at home against the SaberCats who got the belt for the first time since season 17. They held it for a second week as they put up 48 points on the Butchers in a 48 to 27 home victory. That was the end of their streak as they lost the belt to Austin in a 41 to 10 rout in Texas. The Copperheads didn’t hold on to the belt for long though as they lost in Arizona in a close game 19 to 13. Arizona proceeded to travel to New Orleans and lose to the Second Line 41 to 16. At this point you’ve probably noticed a trend in this season that no team held onto the belt for more than 2 weeks in a row in Season 20. This is vastly different from recent seasons that saw the Otters hold the belt for 7 straight games and the Wraiths hold it for 8 games. That trend continued as the Second Line lost the belt in week 9 to the eventual Ultimus champion Austin Copperheads in New Orleans 36 to 28. But the Copperheads couldn’t hold onto the belt either as they lost to the Yeti in a close 21 to 19 game in Austin. This was the first time an NSFC team had the belt since Chicago had it for a week late in season 19. The belt staying in one conference isn’t too surprising with the way the current schedule works, and will only get worse with the new expansion schedule. There may be whole seasons where the belt stays in one conference and the other conference only has a few opportunities to even get the belt. The Yeti were able to hold onto the belt for another week as they beat the SaberCats in Colorado 43 to 13. They failed the next week though as they lost at home to the Outlaws 27 to 9 in a game where they failed to score a touchdown on their home field. The final week of the regular season came and the Outlaws beat the Liberty at home 27 to 20, but despite finishing with a 7-6 record the Outlaws narrowly missed the playoffs as they were in a three way tie with the Otters and Second Line for 2nd place in the ASFC, but due to the tiebreaker they ended up in the 4th place slot. Since the Outlaws held the belt coming into the playoffs the Outlaws will start Season 21 with the belt. I know the index shows the Outlaws losing to the Copperheads in the Playoffs, but that is just a placeholder game that never actually happened.
Season 21 was another crazy season with a lot of movement for the belt. The Otters had the belt the most at 5 total weeks and the longest streak with 3 in a row. The belt actually bounced back and forth between the two conferences quite a bit in this season. 8 of the 12 teams in the league had the belt for at least one week in this season, and that doesn’t include the Outlaws who started the season with the belt, but immediately lost it in week 1 to Chicago in a 29 to 23 victory for the Butchers. The Butchers lost the belt to the Wraiths in week 2 in a close 27 to 24 loss. Week 3 saw one of those patented bizarre sim results as the SaberCats traveled to Yellowknife and beat the Wraiths 30 to 14. Week 4 saw another team get the belt as the Copperheads beat the SaberCats on the road in a close 22 to 19 win. The Copperheads did win their week 5 game at home against the Hawks to hold onto the belt for a second week. They were not able to win in week 6 as they traveled to Orange County and lost to the Otters 23 to 13. The Otters held onto the belt in week 7 as they were up 30 to 17 on the road in Arizona. The Otters lost a low scoring game in Yellowknife as the Wraiths got the belt back in a 17 to 6 win. The Wraiths again couldn’t hold onto the belt for more than a week as they lost at home to the Yeti 19 to 13. Lots of home losses for the belt holder this season. In week 10 the Yeti lost on the road to the Otters 30 to 14. The Otters kept the belt in week 11 on the road in New Orleans in a close 17 to 13 game. They then took care of business against Chicago at home in a 35 to 17 victory, but in the final regular season game the Otters traveled to Baltimore and were unable to beat the Hawks as the Hawks won 27 to 14 in a game where they were up 21 to 0 at halftime. The Hawks held the top seed in the NSFC heading into the playoffs with a 9-4 record and also had the belt. They maintained the belt in the wildcard round as they had a bye. In the NSFC Championship game at home they lost a heartbreaker to the Wraiths. It was a weird game that started with 0 points scored in the first quarter and then Yellowknife exploded for 24 points in the second quarter. They proceeded to score no more points the rest of the game. The Hawks settled for two field goals in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and were down 24 to 6 heading into the fourth. They scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to make it a 5 point with 49 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough time to complete the comeback and the Wraiths were heading to another Ultimus and this time they had the belt as well. The Wraiths traveled down to New Orleans to take on the Second Line who had taken down the Otters in overtime in Orange County to get to the Ultimus Championship. The Second Line took complete control of the game from the start as they scored the first 20 points. The defense didn’t give up a score until a field goal with just under 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Second Line followed up that field goal with a touchdown from Forrest Gump and when the Wraiths scored another field goal in the fourth the Second Line followed that up with a Marcella Toriki score to make it 33 to 6 with just under 6 minutes remaining in the game. The Wraiths finally found the endzone with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Second Line took the Ultimus and the title belt. Interestingly, the Second Line had not held the title belt at all this season until they took it in the final game of the season.
Now we are starting a new season with two new teams coming into the league. Will either team be able to hold the belt at all in their inaugural season? Will the Second Line be able to hold onto the belt for long in this season. Will one team keep it for a long streak or will it bounce around like it seems to want to do as of late. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
With the start of Season 22 upon us I wanted to revisit the NSFL Title Belt article that I have written a few entries of and update it. I realized I missed updating the NSFL Title Belt after season 20, so here is an update that covers both season 20 and season 21.
If you are unfamiliar with what this is I start with the winner of the first Ultimus and they are the first team that holds the title belt. From there on every game the team with the title belt plays has the belt on the line and the winner of that game takes the belt. As you can see from the graphic the belt has changed hands many times throughout the now 21 seasons of the NSFL including being on the line for a few Ultimus Championships. If the team that has the belt at the end of the regular season doesn’t make the playoffs then that team simply has the belt to start the next season.
The Otters won the Ultimus in season 19 and with it were the holders of the title belt coming into season 20. After a dominant 37 to 3 victory over the SaberCats in week 1 the Otters traveled to New Orleans in week 2 and lost to the Second Line 30 to 10. The Second Line traveled to Philadelphia in week 3 and kept the belt after a 23 to 13 victory over the Liberty. The Second Line fell apart in week 4 at home against the SaberCats who got the belt for the first time since season 17. They held it for a second week as they put up 48 points on the Butchers in a 48 to 27 home victory. That was the end of their streak as they lost the belt to Austin in a 41 to 10 rout in Texas. The Copperheads didn’t hold on to the belt for long though as they lost in Arizona in a close game 19 to 13. Arizona proceeded to travel to New Orleans and lose to the Second Line 41 to 16. At this point you’ve probably noticed a trend in this season that no team held onto the belt for more than 2 weeks in a row in Season 20. This is vastly different from recent seasons that saw the Otters hold the belt for 7 straight games and the Wraiths hold it for 8 games. That trend continued as the Second Line lost the belt in week 9 to the eventual Ultimus champion Austin Copperheads in New Orleans 36 to 28. But the Copperheads couldn’t hold onto the belt either as they lost to the Yeti in a close 21 to 19 game in Austin. This was the first time an NSFC team had the belt since Chicago had it for a week late in season 19. The belt staying in one conference isn’t too surprising with the way the current schedule works, and will only get worse with the new expansion schedule. There may be whole seasons where the belt stays in one conference and the other conference only has a few opportunities to even get the belt. The Yeti were able to hold onto the belt for another week as they beat the SaberCats in Colorado 43 to 13. They failed the next week though as they lost at home to the Outlaws 27 to 9 in a game where they failed to score a touchdown on their home field. The final week of the regular season came and the Outlaws beat the Liberty at home 27 to 20, but despite finishing with a 7-6 record the Outlaws narrowly missed the playoffs as they were in a three way tie with the Otters and Second Line for 2nd place in the ASFC, but due to the tiebreaker they ended up in the 4th place slot. Since the Outlaws held the belt coming into the playoffs the Outlaws will start Season 21 with the belt. I know the index shows the Outlaws losing to the Copperheads in the Playoffs, but that is just a placeholder game that never actually happened.
Season 21 was another crazy season with a lot of movement for the belt. The Otters had the belt the most at 5 total weeks and the longest streak with 3 in a row. The belt actually bounced back and forth between the two conferences quite a bit in this season. 8 of the 12 teams in the league had the belt for at least one week in this season, and that doesn’t include the Outlaws who started the season with the belt, but immediately lost it in week 1 to Chicago in a 29 to 23 victory for the Butchers. The Butchers lost the belt to the Wraiths in week 2 in a close 27 to 24 loss. Week 3 saw one of those patented bizarre sim results as the SaberCats traveled to Yellowknife and beat the Wraiths 30 to 14. Week 4 saw another team get the belt as the Copperheads beat the SaberCats on the road in a close 22 to 19 win. The Copperheads did win their week 5 game at home against the Hawks to hold onto the belt for a second week. They were not able to win in week 6 as they traveled to Orange County and lost to the Otters 23 to 13. The Otters held onto the belt in week 7 as they were up 30 to 17 on the road in Arizona. The Otters lost a low scoring game in Yellowknife as the Wraiths got the belt back in a 17 to 6 win. The Wraiths again couldn’t hold onto the belt for more than a week as they lost at home to the Yeti 19 to 13. Lots of home losses for the belt holder this season. In week 10 the Yeti lost on the road to the Otters 30 to 14. The Otters kept the belt in week 11 on the road in New Orleans in a close 17 to 13 game. They then took care of business against Chicago at home in a 35 to 17 victory, but in the final regular season game the Otters traveled to Baltimore and were unable to beat the Hawks as the Hawks won 27 to 14 in a game where they were up 21 to 0 at halftime. The Hawks held the top seed in the NSFC heading into the playoffs with a 9-4 record and also had the belt. They maintained the belt in the wildcard round as they had a bye. In the NSFC Championship game at home they lost a heartbreaker to the Wraiths. It was a weird game that started with 0 points scored in the first quarter and then Yellowknife exploded for 24 points in the second quarter. They proceeded to score no more points the rest of the game. The Hawks settled for two field goals in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and were down 24 to 6 heading into the fourth. They scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to make it a 5 point with 49 seconds left, but it wasn’t enough time to complete the comeback and the Wraiths were heading to another Ultimus and this time they had the belt as well. The Wraiths traveled down to New Orleans to take on the Second Line who had taken down the Otters in overtime in Orange County to get to the Ultimus Championship. The Second Line took complete control of the game from the start as they scored the first 20 points. The defense didn’t give up a score until a field goal with just under 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Second Line followed up that field goal with a touchdown from Forrest Gump and when the Wraiths scored another field goal in the fourth the Second Line followed that up with a Marcella Toriki score to make it 33 to 6 with just under 6 minutes remaining in the game. The Wraiths finally found the endzone with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Second Line took the Ultimus and the title belt. Interestingly, the Second Line had not held the title belt at all this season until they took it in the final game of the season.
Now we are starting a new season with two new teams coming into the league. Will either team be able to hold the belt at all in their inaugural season? Will the Second Line be able to hold onto the belt for long in this season. Will one team keep it for a long streak or will it bounce around like it seems to want to do as of late. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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1481 words![[Image: Untitled-1.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/648139102855888899/948346452843839508/Untitled-1.png)
![[Image: Award_Card_Template_-_S26_DPOY.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/721761354846961716/815756424684503110/Award_Card_Template_-_S26_DPOY.png)
[OPTION]Height: 6'1"
[OPTION]Weight: 195 lbs.
[OPTION]Birthplace: Raleigh, NC
[OPTION]Number: 22
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[OPTION]Career Stats
[OPTION]G || Tck || TFL || FF/FR || Sck || Int || PD || TD
[OPTION]141 || 597 || 1 || 5/1 || 6 || 30 || 163 || 3
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Playoff Stats
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Awards
[OPTION]S26 Defensive Player of the Year, S26 CB of the Year,
[OPTION]S23 Defensive Breakout Player, S23 Defensive Performance
[OPTION]Pro Bowls: S22, S26
[OPTION]===========================================
