Coming into Week 4, the Wraiths were 3-0. Week 4 saw them come up against defending Ultimus champions the Orange County Otters on the road. They then continued their California road trip to play the San Jose SaberCats. They finally returned home to play the Legion. Let's see how the games went.
Week 4 - @ OCO
Probably the game that everyone had circled on their calendar, the YKW went into the OC to take on the Otters. Both offenses were firing and the defenses were stingy. This one had all they hype of a great and exciting game. And it was. Both team played great. OCO took it 26-20 in the end so at least it was close. Right? Well maybe not so much.
You could take a look at the stat sheet and see that Akselsen had another dominant day with over 450 passing yards and say "How did YKW lose?". Or you could look Kennedy and Cook burning the OC secondary all game for over 250 combined yards and say "Wow, how did OCO ever win?" Well, aside from Cook and Kennedy, the OCO defence was much better than the YKW defence on this night. Maybe not every week, but in this matchup, the OCO was pretty much world class.
First we will get some of the other stats out of the way. Time of possession was fairly equal. Each team took 6 penalties, neither team turned it over. Both teams did struggle to run the ball efficiently. So it really was OCO's defence stopping drives. There are two stats that stand out.
1) YKW 31 rushing yards. YK isn't known for their overpowering run game, but usualy we can muster up more that 31 yards on 13 attempts. Tough to win games when you're stuck in 2nd and 3rd n long.
2) 3rd Down Efficiency. This is a stat I mention a lot. It tells a lot about how well a team can move the ball down field. Sometimes teams (especially YKW) rely on big 30+ yard plays to get into scoring position. Good consistent teams can nickel and dime their way down the field no matter the situation. On this night against OCO, YKW was 1/12 on third down. 1/12. That's insane. A contributing factor to this is likely the rough night running the ball.
One more point about how good OCO was this week is that for how much YKW gets credit for their D-Line, OCO's D-Line probably had a better night. Holding YKW to 31 yards and picking up 5 sacks against the an Ultimus finalist really just proved how well rounded OCO is.
Verdict: Sim gods got it right. OCO is too good.
Week 5 - @ SJS
The second game on the Cali road trip went much better for the Wraiths. They came away with a 27-20 game. The game stats did reveal that this game was a close one. Time of possession was fairly equal, as DSan Jose out possessed Yellow Knife by about a minute and a half. Both Teams were roughly 30% 3rd down conversion rate, with the Wraiths (35%) slightly better than the Cats (27%). Neither team had any turnovers, and there were only 2 penalties during the entire game, both on San Jose for 15 yards. So with tunrovers, penalties, and 3rd down efficiency all being so equal, what was the major difference in this game?
To me, the score differential was due to Matt Akelsen and the YKW defence.
1) Matt Akselsen. He was dominant again. It may sound repetitive, but he had another game throwing over 400 yards, along with a touchdown, 56% completion and no turnovers. Just another great game from the offence's leader. This was also another game where Kennedy and Cook went off for 250+ yards. Again, talking about the passing game might seem repetitive, but it's what this offense lives and dies by. I was pretty much writing the same things about the Portland Pythons offence last season. Having dominant offences can always keep a team in the game, not matter the score, no matter the game. As seen in this game, YKW put together a 81 yard drive to score with 3:50 lefft in the game and converted a 2 pt conversion to secure a win. This game was a toss-up for 50 minutes until Akselsen got the ball in the 4th quarter.
2) YKW defence. As mentioned above, the defence was pretty okay for the entire game. When YK scored with 3:50 left, SJ had the ball back with plenty of time left to tie it up. The Wraiths turned it up a notch to prevent the scored. For the last 3:50 of the game, Yellow Knife had the ball for under 50 seconds. San jose had the ball for over 3 minutes and only managed to pick up 24 yards on two separate drives. For a team that has been carried by the offence all year, it was nice to see the defence step up and secure a win.
Verdict: Sim god got it right. YKW was slightly better on offence this game.
Week 6 - vs LVL
The poor Legion. Coming in to this game they were 0-5. The Wraiths just had a huge rebound win against a very good Sabercats team. Things were not looking promising for the Legion. And well, the game went as you' expect. 33-13 for the Wraiths. Logan Noble threw 6 interceptions and even their workhorse Savea could only pick up 65 yards on 19 carries. I think the Legion were just overwhelmed, as they have been all season. Luckily, I think they have some really good pieces and lots of picks in a very strong S6 draft.
Anyways, onto the game. The score was deceiving in this one. I don't this YKW had that good of a game, but because of the difference in skill, the Wraiths were able to put up some good numbers. The trio og Jarden, Kennedy, and Cook put up over 300 yards receiving, Bubba Nuck ran for 73 yards on 14 carries, and the defence had 3 sacks, 6 INTs, and 8 pass deflections. Those are all incredible stats, but did the team play that well?
Well, not really. YKW was only 1/13 on third down. Meanwhile the YKW defence let the Legion go 5/14 on third down (36%). The Wraiths also took 6 penalties for 59 yards. So really, the individual stats were great, but it wasn't that good of a game for the Wraiths as a team. If we played this way against the Cats the week prior, it would have been a pretty bad loss. It just so happens we played a weaker team.
Verdict: Sim gods got it right. TPE difference were too much.
So that's it for weeks 4-6. Hope you enjoyed.
GRADED
Week 4 - @ OCO
Probably the game that everyone had circled on their calendar, the YKW went into the OC to take on the Otters. Both offenses were firing and the defenses were stingy. This one had all they hype of a great and exciting game. And it was. Both team played great. OCO took it 26-20 in the end so at least it was close. Right? Well maybe not so much.
You could take a look at the stat sheet and see that Akselsen had another dominant day with over 450 passing yards and say "How did YKW lose?". Or you could look Kennedy and Cook burning the OC secondary all game for over 250 combined yards and say "Wow, how did OCO ever win?" Well, aside from Cook and Kennedy, the OCO defence was much better than the YKW defence on this night. Maybe not every week, but in this matchup, the OCO was pretty much world class.
First we will get some of the other stats out of the way. Time of possession was fairly equal. Each team took 6 penalties, neither team turned it over. Both teams did struggle to run the ball efficiently. So it really was OCO's defence stopping drives. There are two stats that stand out.
1) YKW 31 rushing yards. YK isn't known for their overpowering run game, but usualy we can muster up more that 31 yards on 13 attempts. Tough to win games when you're stuck in 2nd and 3rd n long.
2) 3rd Down Efficiency. This is a stat I mention a lot. It tells a lot about how well a team can move the ball down field. Sometimes teams (especially YKW) rely on big 30+ yard plays to get into scoring position. Good consistent teams can nickel and dime their way down the field no matter the situation. On this night against OCO, YKW was 1/12 on third down. 1/12. That's insane. A contributing factor to this is likely the rough night running the ball.
One more point about how good OCO was this week is that for how much YKW gets credit for their D-Line, OCO's D-Line probably had a better night. Holding YKW to 31 yards and picking up 5 sacks against the an Ultimus finalist really just proved how well rounded OCO is.
Verdict: Sim gods got it right. OCO is too good.
Week 5 - @ SJS
The second game on the Cali road trip went much better for the Wraiths. They came away with a 27-20 game. The game stats did reveal that this game was a close one. Time of possession was fairly equal, as DSan Jose out possessed Yellow Knife by about a minute and a half. Both Teams were roughly 30% 3rd down conversion rate, with the Wraiths (35%) slightly better than the Cats (27%). Neither team had any turnovers, and there were only 2 penalties during the entire game, both on San Jose for 15 yards. So with tunrovers, penalties, and 3rd down efficiency all being so equal, what was the major difference in this game?
To me, the score differential was due to Matt Akelsen and the YKW defence.
1) Matt Akselsen. He was dominant again. It may sound repetitive, but he had another game throwing over 400 yards, along with a touchdown, 56% completion and no turnovers. Just another great game from the offence's leader. This was also another game where Kennedy and Cook went off for 250+ yards. Again, talking about the passing game might seem repetitive, but it's what this offense lives and dies by. I was pretty much writing the same things about the Portland Pythons offence last season. Having dominant offences can always keep a team in the game, not matter the score, no matter the game. As seen in this game, YKW put together a 81 yard drive to score with 3:50 lefft in the game and converted a 2 pt conversion to secure a win. This game was a toss-up for 50 minutes until Akselsen got the ball in the 4th quarter.
2) YKW defence. As mentioned above, the defence was pretty okay for the entire game. When YK scored with 3:50 left, SJ had the ball back with plenty of time left to tie it up. The Wraiths turned it up a notch to prevent the scored. For the last 3:50 of the game, Yellow Knife had the ball for under 50 seconds. San jose had the ball for over 3 minutes and only managed to pick up 24 yards on two separate drives. For a team that has been carried by the offence all year, it was nice to see the defence step up and secure a win.
Verdict: Sim god got it right. YKW was slightly better on offence this game.
Week 6 - vs LVL
The poor Legion. Coming in to this game they were 0-5. The Wraiths just had a huge rebound win against a very good Sabercats team. Things were not looking promising for the Legion. And well, the game went as you' expect. 33-13 for the Wraiths. Logan Noble threw 6 interceptions and even their workhorse Savea could only pick up 65 yards on 19 carries. I think the Legion were just overwhelmed, as they have been all season. Luckily, I think they have some really good pieces and lots of picks in a very strong S6 draft.
Anyways, onto the game. The score was deceiving in this one. I don't this YKW had that good of a game, but because of the difference in skill, the Wraiths were able to put up some good numbers. The trio og Jarden, Kennedy, and Cook put up over 300 yards receiving, Bubba Nuck ran for 73 yards on 14 carries, and the defence had 3 sacks, 6 INTs, and 8 pass deflections. Those are all incredible stats, but did the team play that well?
Well, not really. YKW was only 1/13 on third down. Meanwhile the YKW defence let the Legion go 5/14 on third down (36%). The Wraiths also took 6 penalties for 59 yards. So really, the individual stats were great, but it wasn't that good of a game for the Wraiths as a team. If we played this way against the Cats the week prior, it would have been a pretty bad loss. It just so happens we played a weaker team.
Verdict: Sim gods got it right. TPE difference were too much.
So that's it for weeks 4-6. Hope you enjoyed.
Code:
1131 Words. Ready for GradingGRADED
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