Happy Saturday! Following another exciting week of games, here is another power rankings update. We will mix things up a little bit by doing the ASFC first this time after giving that honor the NSFC the last couple weeks. Enjoy, and feedback is still always welcome.
1. Arizona: 4.9 (Previously 4th with 0.7 Power Points). Following a big win against the previous division leader, the Outlaws fly up the rankings into first in the conference, up from fourth place after week four. The index also puts the outlaws in first, although there are still four teams with a tie in the win-loss category. The Outlaws have the most points for and the fewest points against, though, and find themselves topping the leaderboard. They’ve certainly earned it by winning three in a row, with all three being by more than two scores. As if beating the hot Hahalua wasn’t enough, Arizona managed to do it on the road, earning them some bonus points for the road win. They face off next on the road against a struggling Orange County team. The Otters are currently 1-1 at home on the season.
2. Honolulu: 4.2 (Previously 1st with 4.1 Power Points). Yes, they lost at home. Yes, their point total went up. But not by enough as the Hahalua drop out of first place, a mark they held after weeks three and four. The streak ended with a home loss against Arizona and droops them unceremoniously into third place in the index, sandwiched between the Sabercats and the Silverbacks, who will make up their next opponent. That game will go a long way in untangling the mess that is the ASFC standings, where four teams sit atop the division at 3-2 and the other three are just behind at 2-3. New York is 2-1 at home so far in the still-young-but-aging-fast season. It will certainly be an interesting test for both teams as the Hahalua look to get back to their winning ways and New York looks to find themselves in the playoffs again after their surprising performance last season saw them atop the division.
3. New Orleans: 1.7 (Previously 5 with -0.1 Power Points). New Orleans saw another big improvement in their score as they vault onto the podium in the power rankings standings, despite being one of the teams sitting at the bottom of the conference with a losing record. Their home losses and road wins now cancel out, thanks to their recent victory on the road in Austin. That leaves their score primarily up to fickle point differentials, which they have managed to keep high by blowing out San Jose on the road and keeping their losses close. They will now face one of their toughest challenges of the season: a road game against the red-hot Butchers. After that, though, things get a little easier with back to back home games. It is hard to pick against the Butchers right now and I do not see New Orleans changing that narrative, but who knows. Anything can happen in the world of sim football. Another road win would go a long way in continuing to power NOLA’s climb up the standings.
4. San Jose: -0.6 (Previously 7th with -4 Power Points). In a week with lots of big movement in the ASFC, San Jose simply continues the trend. Beating New York 19-0 on the road does nothing but good things for their score as it provides a nice jump in the right direction of point differentials and gives them a boost by winning on the road. The win launched San Jose to second on the index standings. The Sabercats have been interesting this year as they have failed to win a single game on their home field, yet are undefeated in road contests. They will be hoping to change that as they head into a stretch of three home games against Austin, Orange County, and Chicago. Failing to flip the script would put San Jose at 3-5 through the first 8, making it nearly impossible to push for the playoffs in the second half of the season. They need to start capitalizing on their home field advantage and soon.
5. New York: -0.8 (Previously 2nd with 2.6 Power Points). Up until now, we have seen small changes or big gains. New York shows our first big loss in Power Points. While it is the early season and the scores are more volatile than later in the season, dropping over 3 full points in a single week is not a good sign for a team. New York drops to fifth in the power rankings and fourth in the index, where they sit at the bottom of the tie up of four teams with winning records. Their point differential has dropped into the negatives after getting shut out by San Jose and dropping their second contest in a row. And they must now look ahead to road games against the Hahalua and Wraiths, both of which will surely be tough challenges before they play host to the free-falling Baltimore Hawks. After a strong season last season and some confusion in the standings saw them sneakily take the first seed in the ASFC, New York does not want to be seen as backsliding this season. Winning one of the next two guarantees they come out above .500 going into a very winnable game against Baltimore.
6. Orange County: -2.1 (Previously 6 with -0.7 Power Points). Orange County shows another big drop in points after it looked like they may have started to climb out of the hole they dug themselves into early. After a much needed win against New Orleans, they drop another game to the Sailfish, losing by two scores once again. Their offense is putting up points at the slowest clip in the SAFC and their defense sits near the middle of the table in points allowed, despite being the stingiest in the conference in yards allowed. In fact, they are limiting opponents to only 231 yards through the air per game and less than 75 yards per game on the ground. Yet teams are still finding ways to put up points against the Otters and their early season struggles continue. Yet there is still plenty of hope for the Otters, since through five games they are still only one game out of first place, despite having more losses than wins so far in the season.
7. Austin: -3.1 (Previously 4th with 0.2 Power Points). After climbing out of seventh briefly, Austin drops back down into last in the power ranking standings. The Copperheads have been alternating losing and winning games since the start of the season. Unfortunately, they have lost more than they have managed to win, and they find themselves last both on the index and in the power rankings. While their offense has been competitive, scoring the second most points in the conference, their defense is near the bottom both in the conference and league as a whole. In general, though, it has been an up and down season for the Copperheads. They started sixth, have been as high as fourth, and have now sat at the very bottom in two of five weeks. Their schedule also does not look to be getting much easier in the near future. They will have to drastically improve their performance on defense should they want to make a significant push up the standings.
The ASFC saw significant changes between weeks four and five. Arizona jumped from third to first, unseating Honolulu and becoming the third team to sit in the first slot in the ASFC so far in the young season. Honolulu dropped to second, replacing New York, who fell all the way to fifth. NOLA rose to third while San Jose jumped from last to fourth, climbing over OCO and Austin in the process. The conference as a whole, though, remains very tight with the seven teams combining for records of either 3-2 or 2-3.
The NSFC breakdown begins now.
1. Yellowknife: 7.5 (Previously 2 with 4.1 Power Points). After starting the season in fifth after winning the Ultimus the season before, Yellowknife has reclaimed first place in the power rankings and sit second in the league index. They were helped both by Chicago finally dropping a game and by facing off against the Hawks who haven’t won a game and have allowed over 100 points against more than they have scored. The Wraiths started the season with a tough loss on the road against the Butchers, but have won every game since. The last two wins have come by more than two sores. Their offense sits near the middle of the pack, but their defense is the second stingiest in the league in terms of points allowed, behind only Berlin. They look ahead to returning to their home field to face off against Philadelphia.
2. Chicago: 7.1 (Previously 1 with 9.1 Power Points). While Yellowknife made significant gains to reclaim first in the power ranking standings, Chicago suffered their first loss against the Colorado Yeti in front of their fans at home. The Butchers have now allowed 28 points to their opponents in each of the last two contests, but this time the offense was not quite able to make up the difference and they fall by a score of 28-23. Although the streak has ended, the Butchers still look like a very strong competitor in the NSFC and will hope to bounce back against New Orleans before heading on the road to battle Berlin and San Jose. After the insanity that was Chicago a few seasons ago, it’s almost hard to believe how well they have recovered. The rebuild there has been truly amazing and I really wish the Butchers were in another conference so I could actually cheer for them instead of being glad that they Yeti finally handed them a loss on the season. In the actual standings, the positions of Chicago and Yellowknife are flipped. But who cares about those when you have power rankings!?
3. Sarasota: 1.7 (Previously 3 with 0.3 Power Points). Sarasota hangs on to third and improves their score by piling on the Otters and winning by 14. Following their loss to the league-leaders-at-the-time in Chicago, they got revenge on an ASFC opponent and have nearly climbed back to their highest point total of 2.2 on the season. The sailfish maintain third for the second week in a row after sitting in second for the first three week sin the new sim. Unfortunately for them, regaining that second place slot will be difficult as Chicago and Yellowknife seem poised to run away with the division and duke it out for first. The Sailfish will go on the road to face Berlin before facing off against Baltimore for the first time. Both games should be very winnable for the Sailfish, who will look to distance themselves from the rest of the pack and look to stay clearly in the playoff picture and within striking range of the two teams ahead. The Sailfish are third in both the power rankings and on the actual index. Good for them!
4. Berlin: -1.4 (Previously 5 with -3.2 Power Points). Berlin fans rejoice as their three game losing streak finally comes to an end with a win at home against Philadelphia to open their three game homestand. Next up, though, is a bigger challenge in the Sailfish. The Fire Salamanders have the stingiest defense in the entire league, allowing only 17.2 points per game. Unfortunately, they have one of the worst offenses in the league going along with it, posting only 17.4 points per game. For context, they have scored fewer points than Baltimore. Despite that, they are only one game behind a playoff slot and a win against Sarasota would be a massive step towards that end. They sit at fifth on the index table, sandwiched behind a pair of other 2-3 teams in Colorado and Philadelphia. If a couple things go their way, Berlin could be looking at a strong season but it seems they’ll need a little help on offense first.
5. Colorado: -1.5 (Previously 6 with -3.5). Despite a signature win on the road against the red hot Butchers, the Yeti only climb to fifth. With three home losses and a point differential of 0, the Yeti still have a way to go to finding themselves back in the positives on the season. Their next game against Baltimore could go a long way towards that end, but who knows what will happen against Philadelphia at home. At this point, it seems the Yeti would rather play on the road than in front of the home fans. They are currently 0-3 at home on the season. I will continue echoing my sentiments that even though the Yeti are still developing their QB in Caliban and waiting for a few pieces on defense to mature, I expected the team’s performance to be a little bit stronger than this. That said, should things turn around and a few things go our way down the stretch, we could manage to sneak into third in the playoffs.
6. Philadelphia: -3.9 (Previously 4th with -2.1 Power Points). The Liberty fell on the road to open their tough stretch of road games that sees them up against the likes of Berlin, Yellowknife, Colorado, and New Orleans before they finally get another home game. In the first of those four, they scored only 6 points on the road in Europe. Similar to Colorado, the Liberty are in the midst of a rebuild (or at least a retooling) as the team looks to recover and build something new under the new GM duo. The team is allowing more points than it scores and has already lost a couple tough ones. I don’t expect to see them more than a position or two higher than they currently sit throughout the rest of the season, but I expect that by this time in a couple seasons we’ll be looking at a much improved team. They just have to tough it out this season and look to a brighter future.
7. Baltimore: -15.2 (Previously 7 with -11.8 Power Points). After slowing their descent into the negatives in week four, they return to their nosedive and drop to another new low on the season. The Hawks are an easy punching bag at 0-5 on the season. They are the only winless team in the league and are giving up points hand over fist while the offense struggles to put them up. The bright side is that the Hawks are likely looking at the first overall pick in a class with a lot of well-known recreates that could really stabilize the team and breathe some much needed life into a roster that badly needs it. Week six pits them against the Yeti, a game that I fully expect the Yeti to win (but the sim gods are known to punish teams who test too well, so viewer be warned…). The question I think we all want answered is will the Hawks manage to win a game or two this season, or will we see the incredible 0-16? There’s only one way to find out. I must admit I’m a little morbidly curious about what a team at 0-16 would look like in terms of Power Points.
The NSFC didn’t see quite as much dramatic movement as the ASFC did. First and second switches laces following Chicago’s first loss of the season. Chicago and Yellowknife are neck and neck and miles better than anyone else in the division. They also possess a comfortable lead over the ASFC leading Outlaws. Sarasota still clings to third while Berlin and Colorado both gai a place, relegating Philadelphia from fourth to sixth. Baltimore, unsurprisingly, remains at the bottom in both the division and league standings. I don’t see them recovering from that and the biggest questions they can answer are: will they lose all 16, and who will be the 1oa pick next draft (or will they trade the pick away)?
Thank you for reading, feedback is always welcome, and I’ll see you next week for more updates! Here are the leaguewide standings:
1.
7.5
2.
7.1
3.
4.9
4.
4.2
5.
1.7
5.
1.7
7.
-0.6
8.
-0.8
9.
-1.4
10.
-1.5
11.
-2.1
12.
-3.1
13.
-3.9
14:
-15.2
With those standings, I like doing a little something interesting once in a while. The average place of NSFC teams in the league as a whole is 7.7 while the average in the ASFC is 7.1. When we add up the Power Points in the NSFC, the total comes out to a depressing -5.7 while the sum in the ASFC is a much improved 4.2. The average power of NSFC teams is -0.8 while the average on the ASFC side of things is 0.6. All these numbers suggest that the ASFC is the stronger division in the league. I never did actually post it in media (shame on me), but the ASFC was the stronger conference overall at the end of the regular season last season and they look to continue that trend this season. Thanks for reading!
1. Arizona: 4.9 (Previously 4th with 0.7 Power Points). Following a big win against the previous division leader, the Outlaws fly up the rankings into first in the conference, up from fourth place after week four. The index also puts the outlaws in first, although there are still four teams with a tie in the win-loss category. The Outlaws have the most points for and the fewest points against, though, and find themselves topping the leaderboard. They’ve certainly earned it by winning three in a row, with all three being by more than two scores. As if beating the hot Hahalua wasn’t enough, Arizona managed to do it on the road, earning them some bonus points for the road win. They face off next on the road against a struggling Orange County team. The Otters are currently 1-1 at home on the season.
2. Honolulu: 4.2 (Previously 1st with 4.1 Power Points). Yes, they lost at home. Yes, their point total went up. But not by enough as the Hahalua drop out of first place, a mark they held after weeks three and four. The streak ended with a home loss against Arizona and droops them unceremoniously into third place in the index, sandwiched between the Sabercats and the Silverbacks, who will make up their next opponent. That game will go a long way in untangling the mess that is the ASFC standings, where four teams sit atop the division at 3-2 and the other three are just behind at 2-3. New York is 2-1 at home so far in the still-young-but-aging-fast season. It will certainly be an interesting test for both teams as the Hahalua look to get back to their winning ways and New York looks to find themselves in the playoffs again after their surprising performance last season saw them atop the division.
3. New Orleans: 1.7 (Previously 5 with -0.1 Power Points). New Orleans saw another big improvement in their score as they vault onto the podium in the power rankings standings, despite being one of the teams sitting at the bottom of the conference with a losing record. Their home losses and road wins now cancel out, thanks to their recent victory on the road in Austin. That leaves their score primarily up to fickle point differentials, which they have managed to keep high by blowing out San Jose on the road and keeping their losses close. They will now face one of their toughest challenges of the season: a road game against the red-hot Butchers. After that, though, things get a little easier with back to back home games. It is hard to pick against the Butchers right now and I do not see New Orleans changing that narrative, but who knows. Anything can happen in the world of sim football. Another road win would go a long way in continuing to power NOLA’s climb up the standings.
4. San Jose: -0.6 (Previously 7th with -4 Power Points). In a week with lots of big movement in the ASFC, San Jose simply continues the trend. Beating New York 19-0 on the road does nothing but good things for their score as it provides a nice jump in the right direction of point differentials and gives them a boost by winning on the road. The win launched San Jose to second on the index standings. The Sabercats have been interesting this year as they have failed to win a single game on their home field, yet are undefeated in road contests. They will be hoping to change that as they head into a stretch of three home games against Austin, Orange County, and Chicago. Failing to flip the script would put San Jose at 3-5 through the first 8, making it nearly impossible to push for the playoffs in the second half of the season. They need to start capitalizing on their home field advantage and soon.
5. New York: -0.8 (Previously 2nd with 2.6 Power Points). Up until now, we have seen small changes or big gains. New York shows our first big loss in Power Points. While it is the early season and the scores are more volatile than later in the season, dropping over 3 full points in a single week is not a good sign for a team. New York drops to fifth in the power rankings and fourth in the index, where they sit at the bottom of the tie up of four teams with winning records. Their point differential has dropped into the negatives after getting shut out by San Jose and dropping their second contest in a row. And they must now look ahead to road games against the Hahalua and Wraiths, both of which will surely be tough challenges before they play host to the free-falling Baltimore Hawks. After a strong season last season and some confusion in the standings saw them sneakily take the first seed in the ASFC, New York does not want to be seen as backsliding this season. Winning one of the next two guarantees they come out above .500 going into a very winnable game against Baltimore.
6. Orange County: -2.1 (Previously 6 with -0.7 Power Points). Orange County shows another big drop in points after it looked like they may have started to climb out of the hole they dug themselves into early. After a much needed win against New Orleans, they drop another game to the Sailfish, losing by two scores once again. Their offense is putting up points at the slowest clip in the SAFC and their defense sits near the middle of the table in points allowed, despite being the stingiest in the conference in yards allowed. In fact, they are limiting opponents to only 231 yards through the air per game and less than 75 yards per game on the ground. Yet teams are still finding ways to put up points against the Otters and their early season struggles continue. Yet there is still plenty of hope for the Otters, since through five games they are still only one game out of first place, despite having more losses than wins so far in the season.
7. Austin: -3.1 (Previously 4th with 0.2 Power Points). After climbing out of seventh briefly, Austin drops back down into last in the power ranking standings. The Copperheads have been alternating losing and winning games since the start of the season. Unfortunately, they have lost more than they have managed to win, and they find themselves last both on the index and in the power rankings. While their offense has been competitive, scoring the second most points in the conference, their defense is near the bottom both in the conference and league as a whole. In general, though, it has been an up and down season for the Copperheads. They started sixth, have been as high as fourth, and have now sat at the very bottom in two of five weeks. Their schedule also does not look to be getting much easier in the near future. They will have to drastically improve their performance on defense should they want to make a significant push up the standings.
The ASFC saw significant changes between weeks four and five. Arizona jumped from third to first, unseating Honolulu and becoming the third team to sit in the first slot in the ASFC so far in the young season. Honolulu dropped to second, replacing New York, who fell all the way to fifth. NOLA rose to third while San Jose jumped from last to fourth, climbing over OCO and Austin in the process. The conference as a whole, though, remains very tight with the seven teams combining for records of either 3-2 or 2-3.
The NSFC breakdown begins now.
1. Yellowknife: 7.5 (Previously 2 with 4.1 Power Points). After starting the season in fifth after winning the Ultimus the season before, Yellowknife has reclaimed first place in the power rankings and sit second in the league index. They were helped both by Chicago finally dropping a game and by facing off against the Hawks who haven’t won a game and have allowed over 100 points against more than they have scored. The Wraiths started the season with a tough loss on the road against the Butchers, but have won every game since. The last two wins have come by more than two sores. Their offense sits near the middle of the pack, but their defense is the second stingiest in the league in terms of points allowed, behind only Berlin. They look ahead to returning to their home field to face off against Philadelphia.
2. Chicago: 7.1 (Previously 1 with 9.1 Power Points). While Yellowknife made significant gains to reclaim first in the power ranking standings, Chicago suffered their first loss against the Colorado Yeti in front of their fans at home. The Butchers have now allowed 28 points to their opponents in each of the last two contests, but this time the offense was not quite able to make up the difference and they fall by a score of 28-23. Although the streak has ended, the Butchers still look like a very strong competitor in the NSFC and will hope to bounce back against New Orleans before heading on the road to battle Berlin and San Jose. After the insanity that was Chicago a few seasons ago, it’s almost hard to believe how well they have recovered. The rebuild there has been truly amazing and I really wish the Butchers were in another conference so I could actually cheer for them instead of being glad that they Yeti finally handed them a loss on the season. In the actual standings, the positions of Chicago and Yellowknife are flipped. But who cares about those when you have power rankings!?
3. Sarasota: 1.7 (Previously 3 with 0.3 Power Points). Sarasota hangs on to third and improves their score by piling on the Otters and winning by 14. Following their loss to the league-leaders-at-the-time in Chicago, they got revenge on an ASFC opponent and have nearly climbed back to their highest point total of 2.2 on the season. The sailfish maintain third for the second week in a row after sitting in second for the first three week sin the new sim. Unfortunately for them, regaining that second place slot will be difficult as Chicago and Yellowknife seem poised to run away with the division and duke it out for first. The Sailfish will go on the road to face Berlin before facing off against Baltimore for the first time. Both games should be very winnable for the Sailfish, who will look to distance themselves from the rest of the pack and look to stay clearly in the playoff picture and within striking range of the two teams ahead. The Sailfish are third in both the power rankings and on the actual index. Good for them!
4. Berlin: -1.4 (Previously 5 with -3.2 Power Points). Berlin fans rejoice as their three game losing streak finally comes to an end with a win at home against Philadelphia to open their three game homestand. Next up, though, is a bigger challenge in the Sailfish. The Fire Salamanders have the stingiest defense in the entire league, allowing only 17.2 points per game. Unfortunately, they have one of the worst offenses in the league going along with it, posting only 17.4 points per game. For context, they have scored fewer points than Baltimore. Despite that, they are only one game behind a playoff slot and a win against Sarasota would be a massive step towards that end. They sit at fifth on the index table, sandwiched behind a pair of other 2-3 teams in Colorado and Philadelphia. If a couple things go their way, Berlin could be looking at a strong season but it seems they’ll need a little help on offense first.
5. Colorado: -1.5 (Previously 6 with -3.5). Despite a signature win on the road against the red hot Butchers, the Yeti only climb to fifth. With three home losses and a point differential of 0, the Yeti still have a way to go to finding themselves back in the positives on the season. Their next game against Baltimore could go a long way towards that end, but who knows what will happen against Philadelphia at home. At this point, it seems the Yeti would rather play on the road than in front of the home fans. They are currently 0-3 at home on the season. I will continue echoing my sentiments that even though the Yeti are still developing their QB in Caliban and waiting for a few pieces on defense to mature, I expected the team’s performance to be a little bit stronger than this. That said, should things turn around and a few things go our way down the stretch, we could manage to sneak into third in the playoffs.
6. Philadelphia: -3.9 (Previously 4th with -2.1 Power Points). The Liberty fell on the road to open their tough stretch of road games that sees them up against the likes of Berlin, Yellowknife, Colorado, and New Orleans before they finally get another home game. In the first of those four, they scored only 6 points on the road in Europe. Similar to Colorado, the Liberty are in the midst of a rebuild (or at least a retooling) as the team looks to recover and build something new under the new GM duo. The team is allowing more points than it scores and has already lost a couple tough ones. I don’t expect to see them more than a position or two higher than they currently sit throughout the rest of the season, but I expect that by this time in a couple seasons we’ll be looking at a much improved team. They just have to tough it out this season and look to a brighter future.
7. Baltimore: -15.2 (Previously 7 with -11.8 Power Points). After slowing their descent into the negatives in week four, they return to their nosedive and drop to another new low on the season. The Hawks are an easy punching bag at 0-5 on the season. They are the only winless team in the league and are giving up points hand over fist while the offense struggles to put them up. The bright side is that the Hawks are likely looking at the first overall pick in a class with a lot of well-known recreates that could really stabilize the team and breathe some much needed life into a roster that badly needs it. Week six pits them against the Yeti, a game that I fully expect the Yeti to win (but the sim gods are known to punish teams who test too well, so viewer be warned…). The question I think we all want answered is will the Hawks manage to win a game or two this season, or will we see the incredible 0-16? There’s only one way to find out. I must admit I’m a little morbidly curious about what a team at 0-16 would look like in terms of Power Points.
The NSFC didn’t see quite as much dramatic movement as the ASFC did. First and second switches laces following Chicago’s first loss of the season. Chicago and Yellowknife are neck and neck and miles better than anyone else in the division. They also possess a comfortable lead over the ASFC leading Outlaws. Sarasota still clings to third while Berlin and Colorado both gai a place, relegating Philadelphia from fourth to sixth. Baltimore, unsurprisingly, remains at the bottom in both the division and league standings. I don’t see them recovering from that and the biggest questions they can answer are: will they lose all 16, and who will be the 1oa pick next draft (or will they trade the pick away)?
Thank you for reading, feedback is always welcome, and I’ll see you next week for more updates! Here are the leaguewide standings:
1.
7.52.
7.13.
4.94.
4.25.
1.75.
1.77.
-0.68.
-0.89.
-1.410.
-1.511.
-2.112.
-3.113.
-3.914:
-15.2With those standings, I like doing a little something interesting once in a while. The average place of NSFC teams in the league as a whole is 7.7 while the average in the ASFC is 7.1. When we add up the Power Points in the NSFC, the total comes out to a depressing -5.7 while the sum in the ASFC is a much improved 4.2. The average power of NSFC teams is -0.8 while the average on the ASFC side of things is 0.6. All these numbers suggest that the ASFC is the stronger division in the league. I never did actually post it in media (shame on me), but the ASFC was the stronger conference overall at the end of the regular season last season and they look to continue that trend this season. Thanks for reading!
Jurisprudence Jones, OL ![[Image: cYhSwFY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/cYhSwFY.png)
![[Image: OTx90BQ.png]](https://i.imgur.com/OTx90BQ.png)
