Zeta Conference Power Rankings - Week 4
1. Melbourne Thorny Devils - Another day, another dollar, another big win for Melbourne. Another contender is up this week in Dunedin.
2. Tonga Thunderbirds - Apparently upset regarding the challenge to their "top rushing roster" crown, Tonga retaliated against Tasmania to the tune of 11 rushing TDs and over 400 yards on the ground.
3. El Fuego - They face the 'Shrooms in the game of the week. They've been discounted a little due to strength of competition, but it would be hard to have won any bigger than they did - and you can only play the teams on your schedule. Time to see if they're for real. That revamped LDE position will help.
4. Bikini Atoll Mushroom Clouds - If they don't like this spot, they can secure the #3 spot with a win over El Fuego this week. Their suspect rushing defense improved a little this week with recruiting or boosts on the DL.
5. Dunedin Wolverines - A quality win versus the Chinese Bandits is enough to claim the #5 spot. However, with Melbourne up, it's going to be hard for them to keep it. Replacing their CPU OT was probably a good idea in the long run, but it's not going to help them this week.
6. North Marinara Island Ramekins - Though we didn't really expect them to beat Melbourne, the margin of defeat was something of a surprise. It's hard to imagine better medicine for the big-blowout-blues than playing FPQA, though.
7. Four Horsemen - They've just started in on a soft spot in their schedule. They'll be favorites the next two weeks as well, though the Uluru Rockies have been overperforming lately.
8. Chinese Bandits - I seriously considered ignoring the score and putting Christchurch above them. However, with Tasmania up this week, they have a great shot at notching their first win. The 0-3 start hurts, especially since each loss was against teams that they might well be fighting with for playoff position come end of season.
9. Christchurch Knightmares - With Tonga coming to visit this week, it's time for Christchurch to prove something. What that something is, I'm not sure yet, but we'll all know soon enough.
10. Coney Island Warriors - Need to get back on track this week in Mauna Kea, especially with El Fuego due up in 3 days.
11. Redscape Diplomats - Redscape just can't catch a break. After a disappointing start, they have to be glad to find Cimmeria on their schedule for week 4. However, Cimmeria went out recruiting this week and improved their roster score by almost 50%. The Diplomats are still solid favorites, but it won't be the cakewalk that it looked like 2 days ago. They seem to be aware of this as they've improved several positions by several levels this week.
12. Uluru Rockies - It's a moment of truth here. A win over the Four Horsemen would go a long way towards lifting them out of the lower portions of these rankings. The Horsemen are a rushing team, and Uluru's defense prefers to stop the run - the big question will be if the Rockies can find a way to put points on the board. The Horsemen appear vulnerable through the air, but Uluru needs to prove they have the personnel to execute on that.
13. Tasmania Sand Gnats - They have to get through these next three games to the soft part of the schedule. Trouble is that if they can't find a way to win one of them, their morale might be too low for them to compete with Uluru, Redscape and Mauna Kea. Their best shot is probably this week against the Chinese Bandits.
14. Mauna Kea Chenabogs - Can the Chenabogs catch the free-falling Coney Island Warriors? Tune in tomorrow to find out. As they're pretty big underdogs for this one, I won't point out the major shift in one of their roster scores this week.
15. Cimmerian Barbarians - Major roster work done this week, lifting their score by almost 50%. Of course, it was pretty terrible to begin with, so they're still #15, but it's #15 by a hair. Enough to take Redscape? Probably not, but maybe enough to keep it interesting.
16. FPQA Ronnie Rockers - Yeah.
. Great game today.
