(S23) - Ultimus Week

[Matty7478]

2) This week will see the S24 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. In 800 words or more, recount any of the previous playoff cycles of either league. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse or Cinderella teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? How did the title game play out, and which players made their mark on the field? Tell the story of those playoffs as completely as you can. Do not simply recount your own experience in those playoffs or that of a singular team.

Season 22 of the NSFL (now ISFL) was my first year in the major league as a player, and for that reason it will forever hold a place in my heart as one of the more interesting playoffs that has happened in recent memory. To begin, it is important to recall that this was also the year of expansion in the league, with the 10 current teams being joined by 2 new teams looking to make a mark; the Honolulu Hahalua, and the Sarasota Sailfish. One of these teams would fail to make any real impression on the playoff picture this season, while the other would make quite the splash in their first season as a team. With this in mind, let us begin our conversation about these playoffs by recounting the adventures of the NSFC.

It would not be incorrect to say the NSFC was altogether dominated by one team; the Yellowknife Wraiths. The team that would always just come up short on the big occasion after laying waste to the league did the second part yet again, storming through the entirety of the league and entering the playoffs comfortably with an 11-2 record and home field advantage for their entire playoff run. Behind them - in what bizarrely would be a plucky underdog position due to the pure domination of the Wraiths - would be the Colorado Yeti. The Yeti stormed out to a 5-0 record to start the season, but a massive lull around the mid-season mark where they went 1-5 including all their inter-conference meant they fell off the pace compared to their Wraith counterparts. People knew that they had the talent on their team to maybe do something special, but it would surely take a lot to overcome such a dominant Wraiths team again like they had done in Week 1 of the season. The final team in playoff contention in the NSFC would be the biggest surprise so far with the expansion Sailfish making it in on conference record over the Philadelphia Liberty. As a new team, making it this far was an accomplishment in itself for them, and truthfully no-one expected anything more from them as Wildcard week approached.

Meanwhile in the ASFC, there was carnage to be had throughout the conference. To put it succinctly, this was the scarier conference by a large distance; the team that eventually missed out on playoffs would have the same record as the easy 2nd place Yeti in the other conference. A team that never had to worry about the kerfuffle however was the Orange County Otters. As ever in this timeframe, the Otters dynasty was too strong for most opposition - with the only team able to beat them consistently being the San Jose SaberCats. An 10-3 record would only be enough for an away game against the Wraiths in the Ultimus should it come to that - but bets were still on the Otters to go far either way. The next 2 teams were decided by 3 teams all within half a game of one-another: the Copperheads, the Second Line and the SaberCats. Sadly, the plucky story of the SaberCats winning against all the odds was derailed with a 3-3 record to end the season, making them miss out on the playoffs in a tiebreaker against the Second Line after being forced out by the Copperheads on the last week of the season.

After all of that action, the Wildcard round had finally arrived. First up on the NSFC side, the expansion underdogs in the Sailfish faced off against the strong Colorado Yeti team. And, almost unsurprisingly, the Yeti absolutely dominated the new Sailfish team. The Yeti had the best of Sarasota from the moment the game started and, with as especially strong performance from McDummy, they dispatched of their fishy rivals with great precision. The ASFC matchup would be much more fun however, as the 8-5 Second Line travelled to the 8-4-1 Austin Copperheads. Home field was seen to be of massive advantage in what would be considered a great ground-based matchup - and while there was a lot of running, plenty of respect should be given to the 2 QBs in Francisco and Cole who commandeered their team's passing attacks like no-one else would. Eventually late in the 4th quarter, Ryan Leaf Jr. - a player who had been a thorn in the side of the Second Line all afternoon - would run the ball in one last time to give the Copperheads the win 34-27 in an exciting Wildcard matchup.

With this result, the Conference Championship matchups were set. First up would be the NSFC; the Wraiths hosting the Yeti, coming off a big win over Sarasota. This game was largely set up to be a defensive masterclass and for the most part it was. Both kickers had their moments to shine, but sadly for Yellowknife Dougie Smalls missed a 54 yarder that would've put more pressure on the Yeti to perform. They may have dominated nearly all season and had been massive favourites to pull through against the Yeti in this game, but a 41 yard FG by Silver Banana sealed a hard-fought 17-16 win for a Yeti side who could barely dream about what was happening at this point in the past. To find out who would host them in the Ultimus, the Otters would host the Copperheads in what many would likely consider one of the greatest offensive Conference Championship games in recent memory. With only 6 punts on the day, kicking was a premium with both teams throwing for over 260 yards. However, while Austin could only add 76 rushing yards to that throwing prowess, Orange County added 187 yards of rushing to their total - bringing their total yards to 448 on the day. With a masterclass from Armstrong especially who threw for 4 Touchdowns on the day, the Otters would take this game 50-38 in what was an absolute barnstormer of a match. This confirmed the Ultimus matchup: the dynasty of the Otters would face off against the underdog Yeti...

...And for a while during the game it looked as if it would be completely one-sided. Going into half-time, the Otters had a commanding 14-3 lead, and a Bigby TD on the other side of the half brought the lead to 21-3. All this had done in the grand scheme of things however, was make this Ultimus match one of the craziest of all-time because of what happened next. Before the end of the 3rd quarter, Wolfie McDummy would punch the ball in on the goal-line to make the score 21-10. Soon after, as the game ticked into the 4th, the Yeti charged down the field again with reckless abandon - and after Vincent punched in the ball and the 2 point conversion was converted, the game had a score of 21-18. The Otters were reeling, but they knew all they had to do was chew the clock and then get the stop they needed. And as such, they took as much time as they could in their next possession. By doing so - after a field goal from Alex D. - the Yeti found themselves down 24-18 with 4 minutes left on the clock. This would set up 3 chunk plays that would define this game, and this entire season, in the history books:

3:33 - 3rd & 10 - McDummy completes pass to Bishop for 19 yards
2:15 - 3rd & 6 - McDummy completes pass to Owens for 32 yards
1:10 - 2nd & 4 - McDummy completes pass to Bishop for 10 yards

And with that pass - with 1:10 to go - the Yeti scored to go up 25-24. While the Otters got as far as midfield, they couldn't get their Field Goal unit out fast enough to get a kick off. And as such, the Colorado Yeti would become S22 Ultimus Champions. The most unlikely of winners, in the most unpredictable and crazy of finals, in what was truly an unpredictable year no matter which way you look at it. If any other team in the playoffs won - save for Sarasota - it likely would not be a huge surprise. But that just speaks to the talent that was shown at this point in history, brought about largely from an expansion that shook the landscape of the league forever.

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[platanocat]

19) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees.

Marlon Alexander is an up and coming Offensive Linebacker in the S25 prospects draft class for the DSFL. His current build archetype is structured around the ‘run blocker’ class. Standing at over 6’5” and weighing in at 340lbs, Alexander boasts an intimidating on field presence. As for hard numbers, Marlon currently sits at 84 total TPE. He currently sits at a strength score of 78, and is still able to maintain a speed score of 57. As for his position scores, Marlon has a pass blocking score of 60, and a run blocking score of 75. All of these can of course be improved in time for the DSFL draft.

While he doesn’t seem to be as intent as others are in completing written TPE tasks, he seems to be active on twitter and has already made his own podcast that has turned some heads early on in the scouting season. These two money-making ventures should net him a huge income, allowing him to afford weekly trainings as well as high tier equipment early in the season. As far community activity goes, Marlon Alexander is extremely active on Discord. This could be highly beneficial to his career later down the road by establishing important connections and building relationships with existing ISFL players and staff.

[platanocat]

20) Show your player hoisting the championship trophy. Graphics only.

[GlimsTC]

6) The playoffs have finally arrived. Choose one playoff team that is not your own from either league and recount how they got here in 400 words or more. What challenges and hurdles did they face in the regular season? Did they cruise into home field advantage or have to fight off contenders for the wild card? Are they led by MVP players on offense, or is a stifling defense the engine to their success? Don’t be afraid to go deep.

The team's playoff run I will be covering is the Kansas City Coyotes. From the accounts I've read, many considered them to be an underdog coming into this season. Prior to the 23rd season, the Coyotes had placed dead last in their division and the DSFL in general with a W/L of 5-9. During that same season, they also failed to win a single game on the road, going 0-7 there. With that said, it was clear things needed to change, and with how S23 went, it's incredibly clear things did change. Not only did the Coyotes manage to lead the division with a 7-7 record, they also managed to win some games on the road this season which was arguably a huge reason they found success this season, and they also beat the London Royals (who also went 7-7) to make it into the Ultimini with results completely beating expectations for this season. Despite this, it wasn't an easy path to the Ultimini by any means, and the team did have its struggles. The team teetered around a .500 W/L ratio for a good bit of the season, and even ended up going on a 3 game win streak between weeks 8-10. Things were looking good with the final few weeks of the regular season coming up, and the Coyotes were sitting at a 7-3 record. But things got scary when they proceeded to lose the final 4 games before the playoffs, all of which were losses by one possession. The team just couldn't close out games when needed, partially due to an inconsistently performing offense. But with their spot in the playoffs still secured, they did not lose hope and managed to secure a narrow victory against the Royals to make it into the Ultimini, finally stopping their choking streak. And while they may not have won the Ultimini, they managed to show that this team still has a fire in it, and is set to takeoff once again once they secure a few more pieces. As for this season though, the pieces they did have that really stood out was a stellar defense that absolutely helped the Coyotes to secure their spot in the playoffs. Just looking at the rankings, The Coyotes defense was 1st in both conference and league in points allowed and rushing yards allowed, 1st in conference and 2nd in league for yards allowed, and 2nd in conference and 5th in league for passing yards allowed. This defense gave the offense plenty of opportunities to get to work and for the most part, it shows. Their offense was nothing to sneeze at, leading the conference in yards a game and passing yards gained, but it ultimately fell victim to penalties and the inability to clutch games at times. The effort must still be commended though, especially on the part of their QB, Covington III, who had a whopping 2,570 passing yards. All in all, while it wasn't the easiest path to the championship game, it was a promising path that the Coyotes should look proudly at as they move into the next season.

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19) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, highlights, or anti-Semitic Instagram posts. I’m joking about that last one, please don’t bring up bigotry.

One of the more interesting OL prospects in this upcoming DSFL draft is a player by the name of Ananda "Mothra" Adyan. Adyan, unlike many of the prospects who have declared their intent for the draft, built his sports background off of years of training in taekwondo. Additionally, Adyan is from Jakarta, Indonesia, designating him as one of the few players in the league coming from overseas. Despite these two things, which would usually lead someone down the path of a different sort of calling, Adyan managed to build an interest in Football and dedicated himself to becoming a player who could play with the best of them. After he had stopped pursuing his passion in taekwondo, Adyan picked up flag football and eventually the more traditional football and got to work learning the sport. Since his first snap in Football, Adyan has always played on the offensive line, specifically as a guard and tackle. Thanks to this, he has not only managed to learn the ins and outs of the position, but it gave him time to build his body around it. Adyan weighs in at an impressive 340 LB (154 KG) with a towering height of 6 FT 5 IN (1.96 M). Based on this alone, he fits the archetype of a linemen to a T. Adyan also enters the league with an impressive 76 overall grading in strength, making him the 3rd strongest offensive linemen in the draft class, just a bit under Macho Weber and Hugh McGree. Additionally, his overall grading of 75 in pass-blocking is tied for best in class. It's clear he falls under the role of a pass blocking linemen, but it is important that he try to balance out his run protection as well moving forward. Due to his taekwondo background, one can also assume he will have no trouble becoming not only stronger, but faster and more durable too. His body is used to the sort of intense training that comes with contact sports even without a majority background in Football, and it will show over time. When it comes to Adyan, what you'll be getting is a player who many will underestimate initially, but in due time will become a star of the league if he continues to focus on the right things.

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23) Present your argument for the playoffs MVP. Show their stats and impact on the games that they played.

After reviewing all the stats, I believe the playoffs MVP for the DSFL specifically should be Melvin Murder-Moose of the Norfolk Seawolves. Murder-Moose is arguably why the Seawolves not only made it to the Ultimini, but won it. Scoring a whopping 27 points, they out-scored every player in the playoffs while additionally making every single kick they lined up for. In the game against the Birddogs, for example, out of the 19 points scored by the Seawolves, Murder-Moose was responsible for 13 of those points. The final score of that game was 17-19, so one can absolutely attribute the win to Murder-Moose, as if even a single missed kick occurred, Seawolves lose this game. Even crazier, is that more than half of their kicks came from 30+ yards, with a 40-49 yarder being scored as well. Moving onto the championship game, Muder-Moose was responsible for 14 of the Seawolves 26 points. While these points were ultimately not needed in the 6-26 point victory over the Coyotes, it goes to show the consistency and reliability of Murder-Moose, with the majority of their non-XPA kicks being made from 30-39 yards out. Putting all of this together, I feel it is absolutely deserved for Murder-Moose to be considered the MVP of the DSFL playoffs.

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[siddhus]

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks [200 words each]
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.

13) Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.

Well, lets look at Jim Waters. It is his rookie season, and he lit the league on fire. He led the league in pass deflections, while also recording three interceptions. I think he des

15) Choose your favorite non-playoffs game of this season, whether your own team or another. Explain what was so special and why the winner ultimately came out victorious, including key players and moments.

17) Choose any award from the past 22 offseasons that you think should’ve gone to a different contender. Why was your chosen candidate’s season superior to the actual winner?

Let us go back to the wonderful Season 20. It was my second ever season in the league, and I was the starting running back for the Myrtle Beach Bucaneers. I ended up winning Offensive Player of the Year, but that was not enough. I needed to win that MVP award. Well, that award ended up going to Zach Vega of the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Well, I can admit Vega had a really good season, but let's look at his team. Vega had Baby Yoda on his team, who had the second most rushing yds in the season, second to only me. Well, in my opinion, MVP should go to the player most valuable to their team, so if you have someone that is valuable as Vega, he should not be winning the award. If you look at the Bucaneers we had Chris Ramos. That was his rookie season, and he had more interceptions than TDs, making me the best on team. That just proves that I was more valuable. As a running back, in a league which is based on running backs being overpowered, the best runningback is not always noticed, because so many people have done the same. But lets look at the leaderboards. Sarvepally had the 8th most rushing yards in a season, proving how good he was. And this was with Vega being 250 TP, and Sarvepally being under 200 TPE, most of his season. So now you look at the stats, and tell me who you think should deserve it.

18) Create a billboard, magazine cover, or video game cover depicting a superstar of the league. Graphics only.


24) The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?

[RansackTheUniverse]

7) Awards season is a big part of the offseason festivities. Take the stand, in 400 words or more, for one or more players that are not your own, and argue why they should receive awards glory. They can be your teammates or anyone in the league. How did their stats and on the field contribution contribute to their case this year?.


Taking a look at the battle for QB of the year, it is quite clearly a two horse race. Franklin Armstrong and Jay Cue had without a doubt (in my opinion) better seasons at quarterback this year than anyone else. While plenty of other quarterbacks had impressive seasons – Cooter Bigsby, Easton Cole, Wolfie McDummy, Dexter Banks, to name a few – they were not impressive enough to put them in the discussion for QBOTY.

Deciding between Jay Cue and Franklin Armstrong is definitely not an easy decision, however I believe that Jay Cue did enough to put himself just above Armstrong. While Armstrong finished the season with the best QB rating and TD to Int ratio of all QBs, I think a lot of that can be attributed to the team he has around him. The Otters defense was fantastic this season, but so was the Outlaws, so I will consider that a wash and go no further with that. Where we really see the difference, is the run game. The Otters finished number one on the season in rushing yards, yards per rush, and rushing touchdowns. Armstrong was definitely a big part of their rushing attack, contributing 436 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs. But Jay Cue contributed to Arizona’s run game even more, adding 583 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. Unfortunately for Cue, his team still managed to finished second last in rushing yards (and were last in rushing yards by running backs). This meant that while the Otters were likely facing stacked boxes and single coverage on their wide receivers as defenses worked to slow down their run game, Jay Cue faced defenses that were able to focus solely on the quarterback without worrying about the run game. To me, that makes his 3944 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns (both good for tops in the league) all the more impressive. Sure, he through 5 more picks than Armstrong did, but that’s to be expected when you’re facing defenses focused on the pass all game. Not to mention, the strength of the Otters entire team meant that Armstrong was not often playing from behind, and rarely had to take chances and force the ball downfield.

At the end of the day, many will look at this as a decision between volume (Jay Cue), and efficiency (Franklin Armstrong). I do believe that’s the case to some extent, but I also believe that if Cue had been able to attempt less passes, his volume obviously would have dropped, but his efficiency also would have increased (and the reverse is also true for Armstrong). But for me, the deciding factor is that Jay Cue did what he did with less around him, while Armstrong did what he did with one of the best teams in the league around him.


9) Pick any position, and determine whom in your view is the greatest player to ever suit up at that position. Why do you view them as the GOAT? What achievements, records, accolades, or statistics do they hold? How do they stack up against the other legends in their position, and why does your chosen candidate come out on top?


While there have been plenty of great cornerbacks to play in the ISFL and NSFL, one stands clearly above the rest. Dermot Lavelle is without a doubt the greatest corner to ever suit up at the position. While he may have played at a time where it was easier to rack up bigger interception and pass deflection numbers at cornerback, it doesn’t change the fact that Lavelle absolutely dominated in a way that no other cornerback ever has in the ISFL. Lavelle currently holds the career records in all three major stat categories for defensive backs - pass deflections, interceptions, and defensive touchdowns. That alone is more than enough to show that Lavelle was undoubtedly the greatest corner to ever play in the ISFL. His 249 career pass deflections was so far out of reach that had it not been for the recent change to a 16 game seasons, it was almost guaranteed that no one would ever top his mark (no other player has even got within 60 PDs of Dermot’s total). And even now with the 16 season, it will still be an extremely tall task for someone to make it to 250. His 57 career interceptions is mightily impressive as well, as no other player has gotten within 10 of his mark, and only 2 players have made it to within 20.

In addition to his extremely impressive career statistics, Lavelle had an astonishing level of consistency. He made the Pro Bowl in every single one of his 13 seasons, a feat that not many others have been able to accomplish. It is somewhat surprising to see that Lavelle only managed to take home one defensive player of the year award (and even more surprising that he only won one defensive back of the year award). One has to wonder whether this was in part due to the expectations that Dermot built for himself. When Lavelle had a spectacular season, absolutely no one was surprised. However when a less highly regarded player has a similar season (even if it was slightly worse than Dermot’s) people would be more likely to take notice due to the expectations they had defied. It is more than likely that this prevented Lavelle from taking home more DPOTY and DBOTY awards. He did also manage to win a single Ultimus title, in the 2023 season, and while other players have managed to win more championships, it is hard to knock Dermot too much for this, as he is just one player out on the field out of a whole team.

Based on all of this, it seems to be clear that no one else really even comes close to challenging Lavelle for the title of the greatest ISFL cornerback of all time

[r0tzbua]

12) This task is exclusive to non-recreate rookies of the S23 class and later. In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?

As a very recent rookie, this (and many other of the Ultimus Tasks) are kind of hard to fulfil, especially since I have not been drafted yet. But I will try my best to elaborate on the other questions and my general experience in my first week and a bit in the league. Like masses of other prospects from this class, I learned about the league via Reddit. I was always interested in “Forum RPGs” and things that are alike so I was immediately intrigued about this new thing I just saw. I instantly looked all over the forums, sucked up all the tutorials and tips and knew I wanted to be a part of this. Creating the player was very straightforward, the creation tool helped immensely and I loved the tutorial videos which helped me understand the first basic steps. After being originally a little bit overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information the more I read about everything the more it started to make sense and I got very excited about learning more. The two discords (DSFL as well as ISFL) were extremely helpful in getting more in-depth knowledge although I feel that more of those great video tutorials would help a lot with the rookie onboarding, which I think I mentioned in the Rookie Survey anyways.

The real fun for me began when scouts started asking me questions via forum PM and Discord messages though. After that I got invited into some of the locker rooms and met a whole bunch of really great people, especially some fellow non-recreate S25 rookies like me. Especially nice and fun conversations were had in some of the locker rooms (and I have got to stress the amazingness of Platanocat, you’re a fun person to virtually hang with, next to a lot of other people around there of course). I also got invited in some of the more banter-filled locker rooms which I enjoyed a lot as well. Generally, the whole community has been amazingly welcoming and friendly everywhere I went.

I sadly can’t say too many things yet about how my player will perform or has performed, but in retrospect, I wish I had changed around some of the stats when I created him since I feel like I did not put enough emphasis into strength and speed and wasted points on things like “Hands” because I thought it would help with Interceptions early on.


18) Create a billboard, magazine cover, or video game cover depicting a superstar of the league. Graphics only.




20) Show your player hoisting the championship trophy. Graphics only.

[ForSucksFake]

TIER III

PT Championship Week

17) Choose any award from the past 22 offseasons that you think should’ve gone to a different contender. Why was your chosen candidate’s season superior to the actual winner?

No disrespect to Ramza, he was certainly the best QB. But I feel Alejandro Chainbreaker had a more impressive year and meant more to his team. Norfolk had a stacked team. They had Dre Matthews, who won WR of the year. Running the ball, they also had two running backs at or near 1,000 yards rushing. Chainbreaker anchored the Minnesota Grey Ducks defense AS A ROOKIE and was a contender for MVP in a big year for offensive players. I feel every DSFL season has QBs and RBs that you can just plug and play in awards season. There's always a QB who has middling stats that is better than the rest. Every season's best RB has over 1,000 yards and touchdown numbers in double digits. To see a defender have the year that Chainbreaker did is special. Again, no disrespect to Ramza, he was extremely efficient. But he also split reps with Luke Skywalker, who is a damn good quarterback himself. Even with splitting QB reps, Norfolk also had a nasty run game. It just feels cheap to me to throw the MVP every single season to the best quarterback or best running back. Just look at the numbers for the two Norfolk QBs. They're almost interchangeable. Skywalker had 100 fewer passing yards, one less TD, and two more picks and threw two fewer passes. Skywalker didn't even make the QB of the year ballot. Again, an incredible year for Ramza, but Chainbreaker was a straight monster.

TIER II

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10) History is not always kind to the losers. Tell the story of a team who you view as an all-time great but who did not win the title game. Why was that team so dominant? What were the major focal points of their offense and defense, and who were the star players? What makes them so special? What was the reason that they ultimately fell short of immortal greatness?

Once again, I am going to tell the story of the S22 Minnesota Grey Ducks. This is perhaps, the greatest Grey Ducks team ever. They didn't win the Ultimini but they deserve to be remembered. They cruised to the first seed in the S22 DSFL Playoffs and ended up losing a close game in the first round. When you look at that team, it was stacked. Tychondrius Hood won Offensive Rookie of the Year and Wide Receiver of the Year. Placing third in the WROTY race was his teammate Daymond Brooks. Julio Jones won his first of two-straight Offensive Lineman of the Year Awards. Lamar Jackson would win offensive rookie of the year the next year in the ISFL. Sim SnowBow would win DSFL MVP in S22. Buck Thornton won his second Defensive Back of the Year Award and Defensive Player of the Year in S22. Dex Kennedy was all over awards season in S22. The year after, Tyron Shields would be an ISFL Pro Bowler and was also a finalist for ISFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in S23. Phiip Stein would be in the Kicker of the Year conversation, CLG Rampage and DeWalt took home GM of the year. The team represented half of the NFC Pro Bowl team. They had everything but the Ultimini. Oh, did I mention that team also included Mario Von Pebbles, Ray-Ray Jackson, and Matt Krause? That was a team of destiny, but destiny can be quite cruel. Off the field, the S22 Grey Ducks changed DSFL culture for better or worse. Minnesota became a place opposing teams wanted to play in because of how fun the environment was. Call them infamous or notorious if you have to, but the S22 Grey Ducks deserved better. They deserve to be remembered even if they are untitled. I just remember feeling so empty when all of these Grey Ducks were nominated for awards because it felt like they had the best team that year. Several Grey Ducks were nominated for major awards. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a ton, but that's just how stacked Minnesota was in S22. It's hard to say how they would have fared if they made it past the first round because Tijuana is so dominant every year, but since they didn't I'll just pretend they would have smoked the Luchadores. With most of the team dispersed across the ISFL, it feels like I'll never see a team quite like that Ducks team again. I really feel like it was a missed opportunity.

[Attopax]

In 400 words or more, how has your experience been in the league? Who have you met that has made your time here more fun, friendly, and exciting? Have you been satisfied with your player’s early start? What was it like being drafted for the first time? Do you have any comments or suggestions for the entire league that you think should be implemented?

This community has been a fresh start for me for online gaming. League leadership, such as Bex, introduced themselves literally seconds after me joining. The whole “waiver wire” concept is very welcoming as it gets a new player into a “team” setting as soon as possible. Joining with a group of friends made it a unique experience, so I got to meet a lot of people that Amidships new already. For example, Sylphreni (having played with Amidships in Tijuana) was a friendly face in London during my waiver year. Given that I was separated from my group of friends, having Syl welcome me in and help provide a nice locker room feel in London gave me a home away from home. Further, being drafted is a very engaging process. Although the DSFL scouting process is a little less engaging as I had hoped, because of the ever-changing nature of the DSFL due to call-ups and so on, I understand. Going first overall was something that was exciting, although nothing like going first overall in the ISFL would probably feel like. However, the ISFL process has been more varied and more engaging which made the hyper surrounding the ISFL Draft that much more intense.

I am proud of Asher’s development thus far. Being able to go to two Ultimini’s is an exciting start to a career, and the most recent one actually had a decent showing! Previously, I had only gotten one or two tackles, so actually making an impact in the playoffs was nice. Also, my Combine stats were exciting, even though I know they aren’t very impactful.

As has been said numerous times before, automating and streamlining the administrative processes of the league would help keep updates accurate and have them happen quicker. Allowing our bankers and updaters to focus more on accuracy as opposed to manually having to input things (thereby increasing the chance of a transposing error) will help with burnout, etc.

Secondly, the rulebooks should probably get refreshed. Although whether rules should be changed or not is a different discussion, the rules in the existing form are (in parts) written very broadly which is sometimes necessary, but the risk you run in doing that is inadvertently making the rules so broad that they are vague and unclear. I have gone to the rulebooks to check things and have been scratching my head over some of the phrasing of the rules, such as ISFL rookie contract rule clauses, as an example. Making the rules more accessible will increase compliance with the rules as well as will allow younger players to have more familiarly and not rely on their Front Office and other leaders to interpret the rules for them.

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Choose your favorite non-playoffs game of this season, whether your own team or another. Explain what was so special and why the winner ultimately came out victorious, including key players and moments.

DSFL Week 6 – Norfolk @ Dallas

Going into Week 6, Norfolk was ripping through opponents and was undefeated going into Dallas. However, Week 6 turned into Norfolk’s fall from perfection. The impressive win by Dallas had a relatively even game statistically, but a massive scoring disparity. Dallas won 24 to 3. The teams had almost equal first downs, same 3rd Down percentage, only had 30 yards between total yards, but Norfolk had 7 penalties for a whopping 48 yards and an additional turnover. After adding in the relatively equal time of possession, the eye-raising part of this game is not that Dallas won, but how decisively they won. Keeping in mind that Dallas was 3-2 at the time, and (while they were by no means written off) the casino could have very well placed Dallas as the underdog or at least have a very close line. After this game, Norfolk went on to lose 4 out of their next 5 games. While they still ended up winning the conference and ultimately the Ultimini, it was the first strike that caused a crack in their armor that very well could have changed the outcome of the season. Prior to Week 6, they were looking unbeatable. Dallas was able to do it soundly, and it helped place Dallas in a position to strike them again in the Conference Championship to go to the big game. That did not happen, but the exciting storyline started here.

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The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?

The ban of inactives in the DSFL was a serious shift. Although some could argue it affected power projections and the competitive nature of some teams, regardless it did necessitate war rooms to abandon any long term strategic plans with drafting if they counted on having some inactives fill holes for them moving forward. Eventually, things will equalize, but it definitely shook things up. Although, one could argue this allowed teams operating without a large pool of inactives supplementing their performance to start rising up and get the recognition they deserve. Even the best front office teams drafting the best rookies would never be able to compete with established (potentially high TPE) inactives that are already solidly built from the very beginning of the season. Hopefully this trend will continue and will allow for the DSFL to become a more competitive league overall with parity between conferences and year-to-year performance. Because teams have such varied starts to seasons based on send-downs and call-ups, the removal of inactives should create a larger ebb and flow year to year. Historically, there have been some legacy teams that have consistently played well and been playoff contenders regardless of their roster changes year by year. Only time will tell if this will have the impact that leadership (and me for that matter) hopes it will.

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[Tonzy]

Tier 2x2

6. Everyone loves a good underdog story and in S23 the Austin Copperheads were that underdog. Love them or hate them you have to acknowledge the roller-coaster ride that was the Copperheads season. First of all, this team had really high hopes and expectations going into this season. If you did not have the Austin Copperheads making the playoffs in your season predictions, then odds are most people were questioning your choices. I mean seriously with a team full of playmakers on offense like Mako Mendonca, Easton Cole, and Net Gaines you had to think that the team was going to be putting up some good points all season long. Couple that with a defense led by Kyle Idlewyld, Honda Edmond, and Dermot Lavelle Jr and you have a team that is primed for Ultimus contention.

Austin started off the season on a good note with an expected 37-17 win over Honolulu, but the toughness of the road games really hit them hard the following week as they got crushed by New Orleans 45-16. This game was then followed up by a heartbreaking loss to league favorite Orange County at home where Austin gave up 15 unanswered points in the 4th quarter to lose 31-24. At this point Austin was probably feeling pretty uneasy about the direction their season was heading; especially with their star RB Mendonca only having 159 yards rushing at a dreadful 3.38 ypc. Despite the early red flags for Austin’s season they managed to bounce back and string together 3 wins in a row, which probably gave the team a false sense of security due to the fact that in those games they beat Arizona, San Jose, and Chicago who all ended the season with a combined W-L of 16-32.

This 3-game win streak was then followed by a series of 6 games where Austin went 1-5, which was capped off by a 40-3 stomping by Honolulu leaving Austin scrambling at 5-7. By most of the league’s opinion at this point, Austin was out of the running for the Ultimini and needed to start looking at next season but a strong finish to the season somehow allowed Austin to sneak into the playoffs at 8-8. Making the playoffs finally allowed Austin to show what they were made of as they upset New Orleans at home 20-15 thanks to an outstanding performance by their defense who managed to pick off the Secondline twice. As if this upset wasn’t enough, Austin then headed out to Orange County and put together and amazing performance against the Ultimus favorites, taking down OCO 31-22.

Sadly, the clock ultimately struck midnight on Austin’s Cinderella story as the well-deserving YK Wraiths took them down in the final 38-13; but Austin’s run goes to show that no matter how bleak a season may look, if a team sticks together they can still achieve great things.


8. The Tijuana Luchadores are historically the greatest DSFL franchise in the league…. full stop. Despite having a down season in S23 they were just coming off their 7th Ultimini this season, so success is never too far away. At a team like Tijuana you are always looking at challenging for the Ultimini every season so missing out on the playoffs this season was a tough pill to swallow. More than likely Tijuana is going to lose their star QB Ben Slothlisberger who will be getting called up to the ISFL for S24. Waiting in the wings though is promising young star Mike Boss Jr.; so hopefully he will be ready to fill the big shoes left by the Sloth moving on. Also on the offensive side of the ball their seems to be a good chance that Tijuana will be returning their two star WRs in Doug Howlett and Friedrich Vequain, which means that Boss will have plenty of dangerous targets to help him ease into the starting QB roles. Not only will he have dangerous WRs though, but he could also have the returning OPOY of the DSFL Crowbar Theeks to hand the ball off to.

Obviously, Tijuana’s holes are not really in the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball, but they could use some big guys on the OL to help make everyone better. Thankfully the S25 draft class is loaded full of OL talent so there are plenty of options to help the Luchadores strengthen in this area. The big areas of need for the Luchadores lie on the defensive side of the ball. Tijuana was very thin across the board this past season, especially on defense so their biggest focus has to be filling their holes at DB and DL in the upcoming draft. If Tijuana is also able to keep Maverick Bowie and Adam Schell to help be the heart of their defense next season that would put them in an even better place despite more than likely losing Bane Ka’ana’ana to the ISFL for next season.

The recipe for Tijuana to be successful next year is simple really. Get some bodies in! The Luchadores were so short across the board that the grind of a game really started to wear on them by the time the 4th quarter roll around in games. Having the ability to rotate really helps keep a team strong throughout the game. Tijuana has some super stars on offense that they need to protect, and they have some leaders on defense who need some more bodies around them. If they get all these pieces together, they are my early pick for S24 Ultimini champions.