What up APL! I'm back for another season of ticking people off. Hope you've all gotten your teams in order through the offseason in preparation for another shot at APL Gold. I'm looking around and seeing a TON of new faces in both conferences. Unfortunately, a lot of the new faces look like they could have used a little more time before moving up. Thems the breaks though and let's be honest, this is Canton's season to lose. With that, let's get this show started. Since there are so many new teams I'm just putting all the fresh blood at the end and the APL vets higher up. So if you want to move up, don't whine about your ranking, just beat the teams above you. 
Got to say that Lion got the easy side of the new age structure too while Elephant is largely the same as last season with some former WL additions and a handful of new blood.
WEEK 1 RANKINGS
LION
1 Canton - Canton made it all the way to the CC game last season and looked to be the front runner most of the season to represent Lion in the LC game. After falling to D9, expect to see an even more motivated and determined team tear through the ranks of APL.
2 CWE - There appears to be a huge drop off in talent throughout the league this season but we know from the last few seasons that CWE will still rank as one of the top teams in the conference. I expect this team to contend for a home playoff spot.
3 Philly Franklins - Tough call for me when it came to 3 and 4. Both teams should improve from last season if for no other reason than the lack of top teams. Both teams were very impressive last season and both could be fighting for home playoff spots easily. We'll have to wait until week 14 to see these teams face off unfortunately.
4 Lincoln - See above.
5 Somalia Pirates - After 2 seasons of fighting through the struggles of early promotion this is the season I see Somalia taking off.
6 Zambezi Silverbacks - After some top teams moved up or folded the Silverbacks will look to fill those holes and improve on last season.
7 Uganda Silverbacks - Uganda is looking to improve on last season's 9-7 season that saw them finish just on the edge of a playoff spot.
8 Oklahoma Outlaws - I'm not saying this is a playoff team but out of the remaining Lion teams from last season they have a solid shot at securing a low seed. The roster is there but is the game planning sufficient?
9 Komodo Dragon - Made it to their LC game last season so there's some definite promise here.
10 Hall of Heroes - Fairly successful in their last league but will that translate up here?
11 San Diego - They've got a roster to compete and the age experience to beat lesser teams but they'll have to prove themselves still.
12 Guyana Punch - A ton of youth on this team will hurt them but they did make it to their LC game last season.
13 Texas Longhorns - Will this farm team have any success this season in APL?
14 Transylvania - Oh Bort, why do you hurt these young teams so. These guys won their LC game last season against Nile River... unfortunately it was an A League. Quite a bump to move to APL so now they'll have a ton of growing pains.
15 Nile River Assassins - Another young team and there team note says it all. "If you can't beat us you may want to retire". Keep that in mind APL vets.
16 Port Arthur - This CPU rostered team should not even be ranked.
Elephant
1 Nairobi - Will this be a rehash of their undefeated S17 regular season?
2 BSSI - The name may change but the talent stays the same.
3 Sons - Note to the newer teams, it should tell you something about this team when I think they had a little dropoff last season because they finished 14-2. Be very afraid.
4 TAP - TAP had a great season 19 and anything less than making it to the LC game will be disappointing. Some big challenges ahead though.
5 Guyana - I don't know what happened to Guyana last season but I expect them to find ways to come out on the right side of those close games this season.
6 ICB - Always a top team and making runs at the playoffs. The big question for me is whether or not some of the other teams have surpassed ICB this season. That will be the big difference between a home playoff spot or not.
7 ABD - Just missed out on the playoffs last season and will look to make a run at a low seed again. They've got some great GMs though
8 Warriors - On the cusp of doing some great things if they can pull it together this season.
9 RMT - The Thunder had enough to separate them from the bottom of the barrel last season. I think they take a nice step up this season.
10 A7 - I keep saying that each season will see A7 move up and they have...slowly. Can they take a bigger leap in the right direction this season?
11 ECS - They can only go up right?
Next 4 teams are all new and look pretty evenly matched up. They can sort it out when the games get under way.
12 Norfolk
13 Ghana
14 49ers
15 London
16 Boston - 4 wins last season, a thin roster and an owner that appears to hate the Jets. Last place it is.
Predictions to come shortly.
Got to say that Lion got the easy side of the new age structure too while Elephant is largely the same as last season with some former WL additions and a handful of new blood.
WEEK 1 RANKINGS
LION
1 Canton - Canton made it all the way to the CC game last season and looked to be the front runner most of the season to represent Lion in the LC game. After falling to D9, expect to see an even more motivated and determined team tear through the ranks of APL.
2 CWE - There appears to be a huge drop off in talent throughout the league this season but we know from the last few seasons that CWE will still rank as one of the top teams in the conference. I expect this team to contend for a home playoff spot.
3 Philly Franklins - Tough call for me when it came to 3 and 4. Both teams should improve from last season if for no other reason than the lack of top teams. Both teams were very impressive last season and both could be fighting for home playoff spots easily. We'll have to wait until week 14 to see these teams face off unfortunately.
4 Lincoln - See above.
5 Somalia Pirates - After 2 seasons of fighting through the struggles of early promotion this is the season I see Somalia taking off.
6 Zambezi Silverbacks - After some top teams moved up or folded the Silverbacks will look to fill those holes and improve on last season.
7 Uganda Silverbacks - Uganda is looking to improve on last season's 9-7 season that saw them finish just on the edge of a playoff spot.
8 Oklahoma Outlaws - I'm not saying this is a playoff team but out of the remaining Lion teams from last season they have a solid shot at securing a low seed. The roster is there but is the game planning sufficient?
9 Komodo Dragon - Made it to their LC game last season so there's some definite promise here.
10 Hall of Heroes - Fairly successful in their last league but will that translate up here?
11 San Diego - They've got a roster to compete and the age experience to beat lesser teams but they'll have to prove themselves still.
12 Guyana Punch - A ton of youth on this team will hurt them but they did make it to their LC game last season.
13 Texas Longhorns - Will this farm team have any success this season in APL?
14 Transylvania - Oh Bort, why do you hurt these young teams so. These guys won their LC game last season against Nile River... unfortunately it was an A League. Quite a bump to move to APL so now they'll have a ton of growing pains.
15 Nile River Assassins - Another young team and there team note says it all. "If you can't beat us you may want to retire". Keep that in mind APL vets.
16 Port Arthur - This CPU rostered team should not even be ranked.
Elephant
1 Nairobi - Will this be a rehash of their undefeated S17 regular season?
2 BSSI - The name may change but the talent stays the same.
3 Sons - Note to the newer teams, it should tell you something about this team when I think they had a little dropoff last season because they finished 14-2. Be very afraid.
4 TAP - TAP had a great season 19 and anything less than making it to the LC game will be disappointing. Some big challenges ahead though.
5 Guyana - I don't know what happened to Guyana last season but I expect them to find ways to come out on the right side of those close games this season.
6 ICB - Always a top team and making runs at the playoffs. The big question for me is whether or not some of the other teams have surpassed ICB this season. That will be the big difference between a home playoff spot or not.
7 ABD - Just missed out on the playoffs last season and will look to make a run at a low seed again. They've got some great GMs though
8 Warriors - On the cusp of doing some great things if they can pull it together this season.
9 RMT - The Thunder had enough to separate them from the bottom of the barrel last season. I think they take a nice step up this season.
10 A7 - I keep saying that each season will see A7 move up and they have...slowly. Can they take a bigger leap in the right direction this season?
11 ECS - They can only go up right?
Next 4 teams are all new and look pretty evenly matched up. They can sort it out when the games get under way.
12 Norfolk
13 Ghana
14 49ers
15 London
16 Boston - 4 wins last season, a thin roster and an owner that appears to hate the Jets. Last place it is.
Predictions to come shortly.
Edited by ecrana on Jan 19, 2011 10:51:20
