It's like when the 18-0 Pat were playing the Giants in the Super Bowl. Supposedly that was a huge upset. But the teams played each other the last week of the season and the Pats were losing most of that game and had to make a late comeback to win. So why would anyone think the Pats would roll them when they met again? The game ended up just as close as the first one.
We played BHGLM during the season and won by 9. We scrimmed again immediately after and lost by 6. What would lead anyone to think we would win a 3rd game by 3 TDs? In reality we won by 7, which was about how the first two games went.
As for us, we have the same owner, same OC, different DC, but same quality and caliber I believe, same players as we've always had. I believe they got a lot better and I think they have a higher player build value than last season. It just so happens that OPL Zeta was tougher at the top than in the past. More CPU teams but much more solid quality at the top. Having both the WL demotees dropped into Zeta contributed to that greatly, Maori adopted the Rush Hour weird, kind of gimicky all run offense, Gold Coast got better if for no other reason because they ditched their Hometown hero VA
, BHGLM I believe upgraded their roster, and the Razorbacks updated their offense significantly.