Warrior General Games

My thoughts on veteran tier

Diamond: Ground Assault vs Flying Spaghetti Monsters
FSM's run defense has really looked much improved this season after being pretty terribad the previous two seasons. They won the regular season matchup 13-3. Should be another good one! Lots of #1 ladder implications on the line potentially.

Hydrogen: Djibouti Assassins vs Whoville Whos
DA beat Whoville like a drum in the regular season 59-24. I haven't watched that sim, so it's possible that Whoville simply had a bad plan that can be corrected. OSIRIS and Cuivienen could make a massive statement by stealing a win from DA here. FWIW, Whoville's had more trouble with run first teams this season. DA's really the only pass first offense that was able to push them around. They've got some nice wins over other pass first type teams. I think this one will be a good bit closer than how the regular season matchup played out.

Orion: Richmond Raiders vs Wesley Chapel Warriors
Two heavy run offenses with different styles clash in this one. They both want to turn the corner outside, but differ on the preferred ball carrier. Richmond just murdered WCW in the regular season 56-10. Unless the Warriors can find some QB inside runs that work pretty good, they're going to get smashed again. There's some smart folks helping Dee with his squad, so maybe they can figure out something that will work?

Sapphire: Madison Bulldogs vs Milwaukee Beers
Milwaukee was trashed 48-0 by Madison in the regular season. They averaged fewer than 3 YPC against Tdiddy's defense. That won't get it done, and they need a better plan on defense too. This game was a very long time ago and there's much sim data available for the Beers to watch and try to put together a better plan this time around. It'd be a pretty big upset though for sure.

My predictions for Conference Champions:
GA (biased)
Djibouti
Richmond
Madison

Aside from GA being considered a mild upset possibly, I'm just not really feeling like the other 3 have a very good chance of ending in upsets.

Seasoned Tier

Gryphon League

Erkner Razorbacks vs. Blood, Sweat, and Beers

Erkner has the defense to keep this low scoring but I just don't see them scoring enough to overcome Blood. Earlier matchup was 17-3. I will give it 24-10.

Gorgon League

Watchers of the Wall vs. Ann Arbor Wolverines

These guys have played twice this season and it hasn't been close. 45-7 and 48-13. Those scores were quite surprising to me both times we played. I imagine they will come up with something to make this a game but I still got to keep the faith. WoTW 27-17.

Centaur League

Hawaii Bulls vs. No Boost Necessary

Can't see this one being very close. Hawaii has the defense and the offense. 38-6 Hawaii.

Guess I'll go ahead and do Sophomore since I've done the ladder thread for sophomore all season....

San Diego Sperm Whales vs Mannheim Steamroller

San Diego has been top 5 for most of the season and is looking to crack the top 5 again and stay there for the end of the season. A win here would help put them in that position. They get to play the best non-boost team in the tier in Mannheim. Mannheim has done well for themselves all things considering but this is going to be a tough matchup for them here. They lost to SD earlier in the season 31-0 so unless something changed between now and then I see SD taking the Alexander Championship 28-7.

Bloody Slaughterhouse vs ENMU Greyhounds

This will end up being the first sophomore championship played on Tuesday. Bloody is the 2nd highest rated all pass team in the tier and they get to play an ENMU team that they beat fairly handily 45-23 earlier in the season. I would pick this to be a close one but ENMU has struggled towards the end of the season. With a pretty bad loss to Ashland recently it's difficult to think ENMU can hang with a passing offense who is about as good as Ashland. Bloody takes the Hannibal Championship 38-14.

Panty Obliterating Rectal Ninjas vs. New World Order

PORN is coming off what was probably the best matchup of the first round of the playoffs aside from the HAHA vs. Salty game. PORN's offense started out sluggish out the gate vs. Ashland but really picked it up in the 2nd and 3rd quarter and put the game away in the 4th. PORN seemed to cement their status as the best team currently in the tier with that win but they still have 3 more games to go to put it in stone. NWO came off what turned out to be the most fun and crazy first round game of the tier by upsetting EEA 55-52 in OT. They forced 9 fumbles in that game. Yes, you read that correctly, 9 fumbles. Can NWO pull off that same kind of magic against PORN to win the championship? Well, in their only matchup so far this season PORN won 73-14 so unless a miracle happens I think NWO's magic runs out. PORN wins Napoleon Championship 45-7.

Salty Runback vs Arizona State Sun Devils

Salty is coming off the huge win over HAHA in a near identical game from the regular season and look to try to win the championship in spectacular fashion. They have to be the favorite going into the game vs. ASU seeing as they pretty easily beat ASU in the regular season. I expect Salty's no BS 2 man under defense to give ASU problems and Salty's balanced attack to be enough to win Patton 28-7.

No Name vs Fire Breathing Sharks

This might end up being the most closely contested championship we have this season. No Name won the regular season matchup 45-21 but with an offense like the Sharks I think it might be hard for No Name to contain them that well this time around. On the other hand I don't see the Sharks doing much to stop No Name either so we'll see who comes out on top here. No Name has been more consistent all season long than the Sharks so I think that consistency will see them through and claim the Saladin Championship 35-27.

Great job with the championship write-ups guys

well done covering diff levels there

FWIW DA/Madison is a HUGE ladder game determining final standings

Originally posted by TDiddy8701
well done covering diff levels there

FWIW DA/Madison is a HUGE ladder game determining final standings

GA and Logzilla got matched up too. That's gonna be a tough one for GA to win and stay alive in the hunt for #1.

Yeah, some great ladder matchups this round. Whoville against Winnipeg is another good one. Won't effect the race for #1, but still good.

Originally posted by Galithor
OSIRIS and Cuivienen

fwiw, I don't do shit other than try to sign dots and set the ST depth chart. It's all Osiris.

As much as I am biased toward my own team, I think Salty/ASU game is the most interesting. Salty has run a run D that is easily exploitable (cover 3 buzz). Last time they matched up, ASU's running backs ravaged Salty's D... But EMP's number got called so much, to the tune of under 1 YPC. I am curious to see whether either or both team changes their strategy. I'll pick ASU 21 to 17.

Nice write ups and it looks like Vet got some good Ladder games (unlike last).

Surprised no one has mentioned JMan, where the Bronx Bombers are sitting at 28-0 (29 incl playoff semis) and going for perfection. Nice clash of styles matchup with my Central Falcons in the league title game. We've had a few really competitive games, but the Bombers have mostly had our number. Typically we hold them well below their season averages, but then can't score enough points ourselves to take advantage.

Originally posted by FairForever
As much as I am biased toward my own team, I think Salty/ASU game is the most interesting. Salty has run a run D that is easily exploitable (cover 3 buzz). Last time they matched up, ASU's running backs ravaged Salty's D... But EMP's number got called so much, to the tune of under 1 YPC. I am curious to see whether either or both team changes their strategy. I'll pick ASU 21 to 17.

The Salty guys are solid gameplanners. Never know when they are gonna go out and put together a really solid plan, especially in a championship game.

Originally posted by Spastic_Cowboy
Surprised no one has mentioned JMan, where the Bronx Bombers are sitting at 28-0 (29 incl playoff semis) and going for perfection. Nice clash of styles matchup with my Central Falcons in the league title game. We've had a few really competitive games, but the Bombers have mostly had our number. Typically we hold them well below their season averages, but then can't score enough points ourselves to take advantage.

It is a good game, but the lack of interest doesnt surprise me considering the tier hasnt garnished enough interest for a forums thread or even a single write up all season. Seems to me the over inflated records stem from a lack of competition in that tier.

Originally posted by FairForever
As much as I am biased toward my own team, I think Salty/ASU game is the most interesting. Salty has run a run D that is easily exploitable (cover 3 buzz). Last time they matched up, ASU's running backs ravaged Salty's D... But EMP's number got called so much, to the tune of under 1 YPC. I am curious to see whether either or both team changes their strategy. I'll pick ASU 21 to 17.

I mean...im a Bad OC and Stuff, but Cover 3 buzz isnt a really exploitable play at all