Bottom Third
The San Jose Sabercats team had a decent showing in a pre-season, where they went 2-2 and the fans alongside with players absolutely had rights to wait at least a decent performance in an inaugural season. Fast forward, the team went 4-10 and didn't make the playoffs. What was the reason of it? First of all, the QB situation was very bleak - Christ never lived up to his hype and he wasn't a hard worker in a practice facility either. He lead team to 1-7 record before San Jose management brought Ethan Hunt via trade. It surely helped the team as Hunt managed to post a 3-3 record, but it was too late - San Jose lost their chances way before that trade happened. Also, the morale of this team was pretty much low and some players weren't pleased with the direction of SJS. The frustration resulted in Bowers Jr. and Hunt not wanting to play in San Jose anymore, which didn't help them either. Well, not everything went wrong in this season, but the aforementioned problems were enough to put the Sabercats to sleep. It remains to be seen when this team will be able to solve these problems, but I think they have a fine future with a loyal core who are interested to make San Jose great.
Playoff Review
Yellowknife Wraiths vs Colorado Yeti
Both teams had an identical 8-6 record so it promised to be a grueling matchup. It indeed was grueling as both teams were doing very good at defence. Most of points came from field goal with Archibald Booter capitalising all his two FG to add 6 points to his team's scoreboard. It was more like a sudden death matchup, where one single mistake can kill all chances for competing for the Ultimus Cup. And Yellowknife was that team who made a mistake as DJ Law posted the first and only TD with Kicksit goal. 13-6 and Colorado made the finals.
Arizona Outlaws vs Orange County Otters
Like the North duo, these team had the same record, this time 9-5. This game as more fun as teams scored 49 points in total, although the first three quarters weren't much exciting. Zona was controling this game though as OC had too many turnovers. But the Otters still had a chance: they were down by 9 after three quarters and then Westfield+Turkenton duo managed to cut Zona's lead to two. But then the Outlaws offense went off with 21 unanswered points and took the game by a storm. 36-13 and the Outlaws in finals. Which lead us to...
Championship Game Recap
...the Ultimus Cup game. The Yeti had a tough game in semi's, but the fans were expecting they can give Zona a run of their money. But the Outlaws' offense was on hot streak after OC and quickly scored a TD. And then Nuggent made his FG to make it 10-0 after first. By the way Nuggent went 3/3 from FG: he proved his legs aren't shaking even when the pressure comes up. The second Q, and the things went even worse for Colorado as Stormblessed posted another TD. Bojo Kicksit managed to give some hopes to the Yeti with 2/2 from FG to make it 16-6. Unfortunately for them, these were last points for Colorado. Nuggent restored the 16-point lead in the third quarter and the Yeti needed a Patriots' alike miracle to get back into this game. But it didn't happened - the 4th quarter TD from Washington was a nail on the coffin for the Yeti. 29-6, the Arizona Outlaws team won the Ultimus Cup in a pretty one-sided game and proved to everybody they are a better playoff team and have stronger nerves than any other team players. Also, we need to name Ryan Flock as the game hero as his interception return in start of this matchup just messed up Colorado's plans.
Future Talent
We have 85 prospects so far, hence it's hard to say who is the best of them. A lot of eyes are on Greg Clegane due to his solid 4-sack performance against the Outlaws, but there's also one more S2 waiver player who had a good day in the same game. This guy is being already recognized by some members and there's definitely a reason why Blaster Blade is being on the spotlight as well. He managed to shut the Otters' offence down with 4 tackles among with 1 tackle for loss and what's more important, 1 sack on Mike Boss which destoyed all Otters' chances for a comeback. His performance in finals wasn't much spectacular as Colorado's offence was wrecked by Flock's interception, but he still put his name to a game board with one tackle. Say what you want, but even one tackle is a contribution, especially if your team is winning. His regular season performance should be mentioned as well - an astonoshing 17 tackles for loss (good for tie 2nd with his teammate Tuck) plus 7 sacks shows us he is ready to become a defensive boss. He definitely is one of the contenders for being drafted in first round at least.
Playoff Series MVP
It's not an easy task to chose the MVP - I'm sure there are a lot of guys who played very well regardless of their team performance. So I'll just name Ryan Flock as the playoff MVP. He was a valuable defensive guy for the Outlaws in regular season and he didn't stop in post-season either. His stats weren't something at wow level, but it doesn't takes away his value in playoffs. First of all, he had a solid performance against the Otters: 4 tackles, 1 pass deflected and 1 interception against Boss' pass which ended in Nuggent's field goal. And then he took the crown in first minutes of the finals against Colorado when he completily wrecked their offense, especially Noble who made the bad pass to his hands. Not only Flock stole the ball, he managed to score a touchdown and that moment just killed the Yeti team. After that, Zona controlled that game and never gave their opponents a chance as Colorado players weren't even able to score a TD. I also want to praise Nuggent - his field goals were helping his team to gain the momentum and I could've picked his as the MVP as well, but I still think Ryan Flock was more valuable to his team.
The San Jose Sabercats team had a decent showing in a pre-season, where they went 2-2 and the fans alongside with players absolutely had rights to wait at least a decent performance in an inaugural season. Fast forward, the team went 4-10 and didn't make the playoffs. What was the reason of it? First of all, the QB situation was very bleak - Christ never lived up to his hype and he wasn't a hard worker in a practice facility either. He lead team to 1-7 record before San Jose management brought Ethan Hunt via trade. It surely helped the team as Hunt managed to post a 3-3 record, but it was too late - San Jose lost their chances way before that trade happened. Also, the morale of this team was pretty much low and some players weren't pleased with the direction of SJS. The frustration resulted in Bowers Jr. and Hunt not wanting to play in San Jose anymore, which didn't help them either. Well, not everything went wrong in this season, but the aforementioned problems were enough to put the Sabercats to sleep. It remains to be seen when this team will be able to solve these problems, but I think they have a fine future with a loyal core who are interested to make San Jose great.
Playoff Review
Yellowknife Wraiths vs Colorado Yeti
Both teams had an identical 8-6 record so it promised to be a grueling matchup. It indeed was grueling as both teams were doing very good at defence. Most of points came from field goal with Archibald Booter capitalising all his two FG to add 6 points to his team's scoreboard. It was more like a sudden death matchup, where one single mistake can kill all chances for competing for the Ultimus Cup. And Yellowknife was that team who made a mistake as DJ Law posted the first and only TD with Kicksit goal. 13-6 and Colorado made the finals.
Arizona Outlaws vs Orange County Otters
Like the North duo, these team had the same record, this time 9-5. This game as more fun as teams scored 49 points in total, although the first three quarters weren't much exciting. Zona was controling this game though as OC had too many turnovers. But the Otters still had a chance: they were down by 9 after three quarters and then Westfield+Turkenton duo managed to cut Zona's lead to two. But then the Outlaws offense went off with 21 unanswered points and took the game by a storm. 36-13 and the Outlaws in finals. Which lead us to...
Championship Game Recap
...the Ultimus Cup game. The Yeti had a tough game in semi's, but the fans were expecting they can give Zona a run of their money. But the Outlaws' offense was on hot streak after OC and quickly scored a TD. And then Nuggent made his FG to make it 10-0 after first. By the way Nuggent went 3/3 from FG: he proved his legs aren't shaking even when the pressure comes up. The second Q, and the things went even worse for Colorado as Stormblessed posted another TD. Bojo Kicksit managed to give some hopes to the Yeti with 2/2 from FG to make it 16-6. Unfortunately for them, these were last points for Colorado. Nuggent restored the 16-point lead in the third quarter and the Yeti needed a Patriots' alike miracle to get back into this game. But it didn't happened - the 4th quarter TD from Washington was a nail on the coffin for the Yeti. 29-6, the Arizona Outlaws team won the Ultimus Cup in a pretty one-sided game and proved to everybody they are a better playoff team and have stronger nerves than any other team players. Also, we need to name Ryan Flock as the game hero as his interception return in start of this matchup just messed up Colorado's plans.
Future Talent
We have 85 prospects so far, hence it's hard to say who is the best of them. A lot of eyes are on Greg Clegane due to his solid 4-sack performance against the Outlaws, but there's also one more S2 waiver player who had a good day in the same game. This guy is being already recognized by some members and there's definitely a reason why Blaster Blade is being on the spotlight as well. He managed to shut the Otters' offence down with 4 tackles among with 1 tackle for loss and what's more important, 1 sack on Mike Boss which destoyed all Otters' chances for a comeback. His performance in finals wasn't much spectacular as Colorado's offence was wrecked by Flock's interception, but he still put his name to a game board with one tackle. Say what you want, but even one tackle is a contribution, especially if your team is winning. His regular season performance should be mentioned as well - an astonoshing 17 tackles for loss (good for tie 2nd with his teammate Tuck) plus 7 sacks shows us he is ready to become a defensive boss. He definitely is one of the contenders for being drafted in first round at least.
Playoff Series MVP
It's not an easy task to chose the MVP - I'm sure there are a lot of guys who played very well regardless of their team performance. So I'll just name Ryan Flock as the playoff MVP. He was a valuable defensive guy for the Outlaws in regular season and he didn't stop in post-season either. His stats weren't something at wow level, but it doesn't takes away his value in playoffs. First of all, he had a solid performance against the Otters: 4 tackles, 1 pass deflected and 1 interception against Boss' pass which ended in Nuggent's field goal. And then he took the crown in first minutes of the finals against Colorado when he completily wrecked their offense, especially Noble who made the bad pass to his hands. Not only Flock stole the ball, he managed to score a touchdown and that moment just killed the Yeti team. After that, Zona controlled that game and never gave their opponents a chance as Colorado players weren't even able to score a TD. I also want to praise Nuggent - his field goals were helping his team to gain the momentum and I could've picked his as the MVP as well, but I still think Ryan Flock was more valuable to his team.
