1. This week will see the S30 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?
I'm writing this long after the Ultimini and Ultimus are complete (Congratulations, Minnesota and Sarasota!) but I still feel like the first couple questions are interesting.
I'm going to look at the DSFL first, since that's my league. Looking at the North, there was a clear favorite to win the Ultimini, that being the defending champion Minnesota Grey Ducks. They posted a phenomenal 13-1 record, the lone loss being a week 7 road loss at the hands of the Norfolk Seawolves. As everyone knows, even the greatest teams have their bad weeks, but Minnesota did not let the upstart Seawolves derail their season. They won all seven games in the final half of the season, including a 48-24 revenge win over Norfolk in Week 14. With almost five games on the rest of their division, it was almost a given that they would advance to the Ultimini, and indeed they did.
The Portland Pythons took the second spot in the North, but contrary to Minnesota, Portland stumbled into the postseason. Around the midway point Portland was only a half-game behind Minnesota for the division lead, and as I said in my midseason review of the best players, it was off of the backs of their runningbacks, Noah Johns and Jax Baker. While their running production didn't go down, it's clear that something was clogging Portland's gears, finishing the second half of the season at 3-4. Notably, these wins were against the only teams in the league with a losing record (Norfolk, Bondi Beach, and London). Portland's inability to defeat the top half of the league boded disaster for them in the North Championship, and those fears bore fruit as they lost 30-16 against the Grey Ducks in the conference championship.
Before we look at the South, Kansas City needs to be mentioned first. Going into week 14, they needed a Portland loss and a win in order to make the conference championship for the 2nd season in a row. While Tijuana came through, defeating the Pythons 27-10, Kansas City collapsed, allowing Bondi to drive down the field and kick a field goal to tie the game with under 20 seconds to go, and ended up losing in overtime.
In the South, there wasn't a team as dominant as Minnesota was, but a wide array of talent. The Dallas Birddogs captured the regular season title in Week 14 with a 54-21 dismantling of the London Royals, and on the back of a very varied offensive attack cruised to their 2nd straight conference championship. Despite early struggles, losing 4 of their first 6 games, Dallas finished the season 8-1 and bounced back in a tremendous way to prove that they were a championship contender.
The other representative from the South was the defending conference champions, the Tijuana Luchadores. They secured a playoff spot (and their 4th straight CCG appearance) and looked to beat Dallas for the second year in a row and return to the Ultimini. A solid backfield of ReallyInvisible, Burner, and Whip proved to be dangerous as Tijuana hunted for an Ultimini. The road to a championship went through Minnesota, however, and despite Tijuana knocking off Dallas and setting up a rematch of the 2044 Ultimini, they were unable to defeat Minnesota in the Ultimini.
Looking at the ISFL playoffs, Arizona once again cruised into the playoffs, with New York and Austin claiming the WC spots in the ASFC. Much to my dismay (my predictions are hot garbage as per usual), New York wiped the floor with Austin in the wildcard game before getting shut out by the Outlaws in the championship game. In the NSFC, which was a much tighter race, Berlin upset the Wraiths after losing three straight to finish the season before top seed Sarasota ended their run with a 30-24 victory in the NSFC Championship. Arizona was heavily favored going into the Ultimus but lost to a relentless passing attack from Mike Boss Jr. (20/30, 254 yds, 3/0 TD/INT). A late garbage-time touchdown was their only visit to the end zone in a 27-10 loss. Sarasota proved the best team in the league with their Ultimus win in dominant fashion and look to obtain more pieces in the draft to repeat next season.
The Ultimini was not particularly surprising. Minnesota was a force to be reckoned with all year and aside from one fluke game, nobody was able to defeat their dominant offense powered by Kazimir Oles Jr. and John Huntsman. Tijuana put up a much better fight this year in the Ultimini but was ultimately unable to win in the end.
As for the ISFL playoffs, New York definitely seemed lost in the conference championship. They were dominant against Austin but were curbstomped by Arizona, proving unable to repeat as champions. Berlin was able to overcome a 3-game losing streak to beat Yellowknife, but was unable to beat a streaking Sailfish squad. Sarasota played above their level and hope to improve on a dangerous team next year and have a shot at repeating.
(Word Count: 841)
I'm writing this long after the Ultimini and Ultimus are complete (Congratulations, Minnesota and Sarasota!) but I still feel like the first couple questions are interesting.
I'm going to look at the DSFL first, since that's my league. Looking at the North, there was a clear favorite to win the Ultimini, that being the defending champion Minnesota Grey Ducks. They posted a phenomenal 13-1 record, the lone loss being a week 7 road loss at the hands of the Norfolk Seawolves. As everyone knows, even the greatest teams have their bad weeks, but Minnesota did not let the upstart Seawolves derail their season. They won all seven games in the final half of the season, including a 48-24 revenge win over Norfolk in Week 14. With almost five games on the rest of their division, it was almost a given that they would advance to the Ultimini, and indeed they did.
The Portland Pythons took the second spot in the North, but contrary to Minnesota, Portland stumbled into the postseason. Around the midway point Portland was only a half-game behind Minnesota for the division lead, and as I said in my midseason review of the best players, it was off of the backs of their runningbacks, Noah Johns and Jax Baker. While their running production didn't go down, it's clear that something was clogging Portland's gears, finishing the second half of the season at 3-4. Notably, these wins were against the only teams in the league with a losing record (Norfolk, Bondi Beach, and London). Portland's inability to defeat the top half of the league boded disaster for them in the North Championship, and those fears bore fruit as they lost 30-16 against the Grey Ducks in the conference championship.
Before we look at the South, Kansas City needs to be mentioned first. Going into week 14, they needed a Portland loss and a win in order to make the conference championship for the 2nd season in a row. While Tijuana came through, defeating the Pythons 27-10, Kansas City collapsed, allowing Bondi to drive down the field and kick a field goal to tie the game with under 20 seconds to go, and ended up losing in overtime.
In the South, there wasn't a team as dominant as Minnesota was, but a wide array of talent. The Dallas Birddogs captured the regular season title in Week 14 with a 54-21 dismantling of the London Royals, and on the back of a very varied offensive attack cruised to their 2nd straight conference championship. Despite early struggles, losing 4 of their first 6 games, Dallas finished the season 8-1 and bounced back in a tremendous way to prove that they were a championship contender.
The other representative from the South was the defending conference champions, the Tijuana Luchadores. They secured a playoff spot (and their 4th straight CCG appearance) and looked to beat Dallas for the second year in a row and return to the Ultimini. A solid backfield of ReallyInvisible, Burner, and Whip proved to be dangerous as Tijuana hunted for an Ultimini. The road to a championship went through Minnesota, however, and despite Tijuana knocking off Dallas and setting up a rematch of the 2044 Ultimini, they were unable to defeat Minnesota in the Ultimini.
Looking at the ISFL playoffs, Arizona once again cruised into the playoffs, with New York and Austin claiming the WC spots in the ASFC. Much to my dismay (my predictions are hot garbage as per usual), New York wiped the floor with Austin in the wildcard game before getting shut out by the Outlaws in the championship game. In the NSFC, which was a much tighter race, Berlin upset the Wraiths after losing three straight to finish the season before top seed Sarasota ended their run with a 30-24 victory in the NSFC Championship. Arizona was heavily favored going into the Ultimus but lost to a relentless passing attack from Mike Boss Jr. (20/30, 254 yds, 3/0 TD/INT). A late garbage-time touchdown was their only visit to the end zone in a 27-10 loss. Sarasota proved the best team in the league with their Ultimus win in dominant fashion and look to obtain more pieces in the draft to repeat next season.
The Ultimini was not particularly surprising. Minnesota was a force to be reckoned with all year and aside from one fluke game, nobody was able to defeat their dominant offense powered by Kazimir Oles Jr. and John Huntsman. Tijuana put up a much better fight this year in the Ultimini but was ultimately unable to win in the end.
As for the ISFL playoffs, New York definitely seemed lost in the conference championship. They were dominant against Austin but were curbstomped by Arizona, proving unable to repeat as champions. Berlin was able to overcome a 3-game losing streak to beat Yellowknife, but was unable to beat a streaking Sailfish squad. Sarasota played above their level and hope to improve on a dangerous team next year and have a shot at repeating.
(Word Count: 841)
