(S27) Ultimus Week

[124715]

Long Form Task 1) This week will see the S26 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? Who do you think will win the final? If you’re writing this after the finals were decided, were you surprised by the outcome?

Ten teams made the playoffs this season - the Pythons, Coyotes, Birddogs, Luchadores, Hahalua, Outlaws, Second Line, Sailfish, Butchers, and Yeti. All of them took different paths to the playoffs.

Let’s start with the DSFL champion Birddogs. They had narrowly missed the playoffs just last season, but reloaded through the draft with a pair of WR additions and some key defensive reinforcements. Indeed, it was Dallas’ offense that buoyed the team to a headline-making 11-1 record, with Joilet Christ Jr. performing like an MVP and a pair of rookie wideouts playing out of their minds. Dallas stumbled at the end of the season, suffering losses to the Pythons and Coyotes in quick succession, but still entered the playoffs with home field advantage over the entire field. Dallas won two thrillers in a row to seize the Ultimini trophy for the first time in franchise history.

One of the teams they eked out a win against was the Tijuana Luchadores. Seemingly a DSFL playoff mainstay, the Luchadores had suffered a sub-par season last year with the rotating carousel of Boo Tee and Franklin Ali-West at QB. This year, they reloaded with the highly-touted IsHe… ReallyInvisible. The Luchadore offense ran through the running game with ReallyInvisible plus Preston Parker, Drip Dad, and Lonnie Jackson. Their defense was also stout at all levels. However, the lack of any semblance of a passing game hurt them throughout the season, and eventually did them in in the postseason as the Luchadores just couldn’t keep up with the Birddogs.

The Pythons were hailed as the team to beat from the start of the offseason. Sending out a loaded roster featuring an entirely capped secondary and 150+ TPE starters at pretty much every position, there was even buzz that the Portland squad might complete the first ever undefeated season in ISFL/DSFL history. That didn’t happen - a pair of close, unexpected, and probably unlucky losses hit Portland quickly, and at the season’s midpoint, they didn’t even have the league’s best record. With most of their roster capped and thus not improving, their TPE advantage quickly dwindled. They lost in the first round of the playoffs to the surging Coyotes.

Speaking of the Coyotes, they took pretty much the opposite path from the Pythons. Coming off a 1-13 campaign where they earned the first overall pick, the Kansas City squad stumbled out to a dreadful 2-7 start that had most of the league thinking, “oh well. Same old ‘Yotes.” However, the roster had been steadily improving, and the Coyotes rattled off six straight wins en route to an Ultimus appearance. In the championship game, Kansas City suffered a devastating loss in a 23-21 thriller that saw the Coyotes choke away a 21-7 lead to the Birddogs. Still, the season was a massive improvement from the one prior.

Improvement is a great theme to jump leagues with. The Honolulu Hahalua also rebounded from a 13-loss, first overall pick campaign to seize their conference #1 seed with an 11-4-1 record. The offense was reliable in the field position game all season and the defense was electric, holding teams under 20 points per game. Unfortunately, a close loss to the Second Line in the playoffs ended their Cinderella story.

The Second Line got off to a slow start, but quickly pulled their season together and made a last-minute push for the playoffs on the backs of a dynamic passing offense headed by MVP QB Ben Slothlisberger. Their defense did just enough all season long, and New Orleans pulled off a pair of upsets in the playoffs to make the Ultimus, where they nonetheless got their lunch eaten by Sarasota.

The Outlaws made up the third part of the ASFC’s playoff representation. They featured a strong offense lead by one of the ISFL’s only reliable run games, and the defense was no slouch despite some weaknesses throughout. Unfortunately, a tough playoff loss ended their season prematurely.

The eventual champion Sarasota Sailfish featured a stacked roster on every level, including another one of the reliable run games. RB Raphtalia Chan carried the ground game while the air offense ran through a trio of strong receiving targets. The defensive unit featured elite players at every position, too, and while they didn’t play up to this level during the regular season, they turned it on for the postseason. With a strong offense and a strong defense, they buzzsawed their way through the playoffs and won the Ultimus in convincing fashion.

The Chicago Butchers received an inordinate amount of hype before the season off their entirely-human offensive line and three-deep of 1000 TPE CBs. However, they weren’t unbeatable on the field, with their passing defense still having some chinks in the armor, and despite the solid O-Line their rushing offense was never reliable. The inconsistency did the Butchers in in the postseason, and the Yeti eliminated them in the first round.

The Yeti are the final team of the playoffs. With a reckless air raid offense and an all-out blitz defense, the Yeti won by pressing opponents against the wall and daring them to fight back. Predictably, it led to some painful losses, but also some wild upset wins, and also whatever the heck that week 16 tie against Honolulu was. The Yeti knocked off the preseason favorite Butchers but got smoked by Sarasota in the NSFCCG.

890 words