(S2) - PT #3 - Bold Predictions

[Jogn]

The NSFC will continue to be a knife-fight for playoff spots, particularly the home field advantage given to the #1 seed and whoever emerges, bloody and broken as they may be, will steamroll over the ASFC Champion in a reversal of the situation last year.

While the Outlaws have outscored and been scored against less than the Yeti, their record is only 1-1 against playoff teams, having racked up wins against the directionless Otters, the still raw Liberty, and the struggling Legion. Their 275 yards/game is 6th in the league, pointing to a team that relies on their blitz-heavy defense to carry the team's water.

The Sabercats, 0-1 against playoff teams (1-2 if you consider the playoff-adjacent Hawks) have the opposite problem - an offense that is putting up 23 points per game despite only really improving at running back, but a defense that's lead 4 of their 5 games to be decided by 4 points or less. It's possible that Ben Longshaw absorbed Angus Winchester's soul in the offseason, and that a recieving corps whose 3rd best reciever is averaging 35 yards per game will continue to click, but it seems that if a good corner can be stuck on Bradley Cook and Shane Weston the Cats offense would start to falter.

The NSFC doesn't contain any perfect teams, but the competition hasn't revolved around single units carrying the rest of the team. All 3 of the Yeti, Wraiths, and Hawks seem to be more complete teams, which is why the real battle for the Ultimus will be fought in the NSFC Championship Game.