ROUND 1
Lion
Fulham (16-0) vs Kenya (7-9)
Last match-up: Week 16 - Fulham win 89-34
Fulham cruised through the season on their way to an undefeated season. Rarely did they face a tough match-up with most games being won by large amounts. Kenya did the unthinkable in making the playoffs this season after a 2-6 start. They had one of the worst rushing attacks of any team in the league and they were not afraid to admit it themselves. What they do bring to the table is one of the conference's most dynamic passing games this season and they will lean on that hard to try to upset Fulham. I expect to see Kenya throw the ball at least 40-50 times if not more as they pull it all out. In the end it won't be enough to beat Fulham though. Fulham will take advantage of a suspect defense and focus on stopping Kenya in the air knowing they won't have to worry about the running game.
Massawa (13-3) vs San Francisco (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 2 - Massawa win 39-37
The Redhorns opened up the season 8-0 but never looked as domineering as Fulham. They lost 3 in the second half by large margins and had doubt cast on them about how well they could perform when the playoffs got here. The Demons on the other hand went 5-3 through the first half. It wasn't until they beat CWE in week 10 that I started to see them as a true playoff threat. While they've taken advantage of an easier second half schedule to go 7-1 they still took a beating at the hands of Franchise. I still see this team as being a strong contender in the first round at least though and believe they will pull out the upset.
Franchise (14-2) vs Wallachia (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 15 - Franchise win 80-19
Franchise has more than lived up to that name this season. Early on they may have felt slighted with all the attention on Fulham but in my opinion this team has outplayed Fulham in the second half of the season. Wallachia is a team I have had numerous question marks on all season long. They've beaten one playoff team all season, Kenya. Now they have to face what is in my mind the strongest threat to Fulham in the playoffs. Not a good scenario.
Cagliari (14-2) vs CWE (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 8 - Cagliari win 66-52
Outbreak has one of the best offenses in Lion to date and was rarely challenged this season. Their only losses were to Fulham and Franchise. CWE also has a strong offense as well which brings this game down to who can score the most points the quickest and whose defense will rise to the occasion. An early outburst of scoring helped Cagliari win last time and I think they can do it again here.
Elephant
Nairobi (16-0) vs ABD (8-8)
Last match-up: Week 9 - Nairobi win 87-9
If any teams looks unbeatable this season it's the undefeated Warthogs. Only once did they give up more than 14 points while every win was a double digit affair – and occasionally tripe digit win. ABD is celebrating their entrance to the playoffs. They earned it after a rocky 5-7 start put their fates in their own hands. If they wanted to make the playoffs they HAD to beat Zimbabwe. And that's exactly what they did to secure the 8th seed. Now they get their prize.
WWR (12-4) vs TDP (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 8 - WWR win 34-20
The Rhinos have been playing second fiddle to Nairobi and the Sons and gone overlooked most of the season. Any other season they would be considered a front runner in the playoffs. TDP will need to get their offense moving this time if they want to come away with a win. Last time out they averaged 2.2 ypc and only completed 9 out of 28 passes while throwing 4 INTs. That's almost half as many INTs as completions. If they can get their offense moving the defense will be able to keep them in this game with some key turnovers. Besides that, WWR just can't win a game.
SoA (15-1) vs ICB (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 16 - SoA win 26-23
SoA has been largely seen as the second best team in Elephant this season. With the 63 point loss in week 15 against Nairobi and then the narrow 3 point win over ICB I have to wonder if SoA has just been keeping things simple since they were in no jeopardy of losing the 2 seed. The flipside of that is, if ICB was really playing an SoA team out to win, the Sons have got to be dreading this match-up again. I'm not trying to take anything away from the crew at the Breakers but it's hard for me to believe that SoA took so drastic a fall and ICB such a large step in the right direction. With that said, I still love me some underdogs and if last week was a real indicator than I can see ICB winning here. I'll even go out on a limb and make it my upset pick of the week.
TBH (12-4) vs BSS (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 7 - TBH win 61-12
TBH got off to a rocky start this season with a horrible opening schedule that got them off 0-3. Having played the two top teams, Fulham/Nairobi, would have done that to anyone though. What they did after that is what has defined their season though as they rattled off 4 wins before falling to SoA by 1 point and then resuming to win every single week after that. The last few weeks have been uninspiring but we all know TBH is keeping things close for the playoffs and this has been one of my top teams since the first half of the season. BSS has gone 2-5 against playoff teams this season and had a very rough first half schedule that got them to a 4-4 record before going 6-2 the rest of the way. They've played some tough games and will be tested huge in the first round. Last time around they had 7 turnovers (5 INTs, 2 Fumbles) to TBH's zero. They'll have to kill that this time around if they want to even be in this game. That's a large obstacle to overcome though and even if they hold their turnovers to 0 they would have to play a perfect game on defense to hold TBH's offense in check. Just too much going against them in this one.
Lion
Fulham (16-0) vs Kenya (7-9)
Last match-up: Week 16 - Fulham win 89-34
Fulham cruised through the season on their way to an undefeated season. Rarely did they face a tough match-up with most games being won by large amounts. Kenya did the unthinkable in making the playoffs this season after a 2-6 start. They had one of the worst rushing attacks of any team in the league and they were not afraid to admit it themselves. What they do bring to the table is one of the conference's most dynamic passing games this season and they will lean on that hard to try to upset Fulham. I expect to see Kenya throw the ball at least 40-50 times if not more as they pull it all out. In the end it won't be enough to beat Fulham though. Fulham will take advantage of a suspect defense and focus on stopping Kenya in the air knowing they won't have to worry about the running game.
Massawa (13-3) vs San Francisco (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 2 - Massawa win 39-37
The Redhorns opened up the season 8-0 but never looked as domineering as Fulham. They lost 3 in the second half by large margins and had doubt cast on them about how well they could perform when the playoffs got here. The Demons on the other hand went 5-3 through the first half. It wasn't until they beat CWE in week 10 that I started to see them as a true playoff threat. While they've taken advantage of an easier second half schedule to go 7-1 they still took a beating at the hands of Franchise. I still see this team as being a strong contender in the first round at least though and believe they will pull out the upset.
Franchise (14-2) vs Wallachia (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 15 - Franchise win 80-19
Franchise has more than lived up to that name this season. Early on they may have felt slighted with all the attention on Fulham but in my opinion this team has outplayed Fulham in the second half of the season. Wallachia is a team I have had numerous question marks on all season long. They've beaten one playoff team all season, Kenya. Now they have to face what is in my mind the strongest threat to Fulham in the playoffs. Not a good scenario.
Cagliari (14-2) vs CWE (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 8 - Cagliari win 66-52
Outbreak has one of the best offenses in Lion to date and was rarely challenged this season. Their only losses were to Fulham and Franchise. CWE also has a strong offense as well which brings this game down to who can score the most points the quickest and whose defense will rise to the occasion. An early outburst of scoring helped Cagliari win last time and I think they can do it again here.
Elephant
Nairobi (16-0) vs ABD (8-8)
Last match-up: Week 9 - Nairobi win 87-9
If any teams looks unbeatable this season it's the undefeated Warthogs. Only once did they give up more than 14 points while every win was a double digit affair – and occasionally tripe digit win. ABD is celebrating their entrance to the playoffs. They earned it after a rocky 5-7 start put their fates in their own hands. If they wanted to make the playoffs they HAD to beat Zimbabwe. And that's exactly what they did to secure the 8th seed. Now they get their prize.
WWR (12-4) vs TDP (12-4)
Last match-up: Week 8 - WWR win 34-20
The Rhinos have been playing second fiddle to Nairobi and the Sons and gone overlooked most of the season. Any other season they would be considered a front runner in the playoffs. TDP will need to get their offense moving this time if they want to come away with a win. Last time out they averaged 2.2 ypc and only completed 9 out of 28 passes while throwing 4 INTs. That's almost half as many INTs as completions. If they can get their offense moving the defense will be able to keep them in this game with some key turnovers. Besides that, WWR just can't win a game.
SoA (15-1) vs ICB (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 16 - SoA win 26-23
SoA has been largely seen as the second best team in Elephant this season. With the 63 point loss in week 15 against Nairobi and then the narrow 3 point win over ICB I have to wonder if SoA has just been keeping things simple since they were in no jeopardy of losing the 2 seed. The flipside of that is, if ICB was really playing an SoA team out to win, the Sons have got to be dreading this match-up again. I'm not trying to take anything away from the crew at the Breakers but it's hard for me to believe that SoA took so drastic a fall and ICB such a large step in the right direction. With that said, I still love me some underdogs and if last week was a real indicator than I can see ICB winning here. I'll even go out on a limb and make it my upset pick of the week.
TBH (12-4) vs BSS (10-6)
Last match-up: Week 7 - TBH win 61-12
TBH got off to a rocky start this season with a horrible opening schedule that got them off 0-3. Having played the two top teams, Fulham/Nairobi, would have done that to anyone though. What they did after that is what has defined their season though as they rattled off 4 wins before falling to SoA by 1 point and then resuming to win every single week after that. The last few weeks have been uninspiring but we all know TBH is keeping things close for the playoffs and this has been one of my top teams since the first half of the season. BSS has gone 2-5 against playoff teams this season and had a very rough first half schedule that got them to a 4-4 record before going 6-2 the rest of the way. They've played some tough games and will be tested huge in the first round. Last time around they had 7 turnovers (5 INTs, 2 Fumbles) to TBH's zero. They'll have to kill that this time around if they want to even be in this game. That's a large obstacle to overcome though and even if they hold their turnovers to 0 they would have to play a perfect game on defense to hold TBH's offense in check. Just too much going against them in this one.
