Week 11 plays out tomorrow, with a few interesting matchups and plenty of teams that still have a shot at making the playoffs. I have decided that I will no longer be predicting scores for the upcoming games. I never did them on the team forum, and only started here because that is what others have done before me. I enjoy analyzing the matchups and trying to predict the winners, but the scores are so ridiculous in some of these games that it really isn't much fun to guess. I just think up some crazy sounding high score for most of them. I'm not a gambler, so I'm just not very good at point spreads and things like that.
Without further ado, here are the games for Alpha Conference:
Portland vs St. Peterburg: The Piranhas desperately need a win to get back into the race, but this game will not be it. The Niners are in the middle of a three way tie for first, and will not drop an easy game like this one. Expect Portland to run up the score as much as possible in an attempt to take back the first seed from the GoW. Something still doesn't make sense with the seedings, by the way. Portland beat the GoW in week 5, so how can Warsaw be ranked above them? The Niners only loss is to an out-of-conference team, the Bratislava Butchers. Hmmm.
Stalingrad vs Skopje: The Ironmen face an easy opponent in the Kardinals. The third seed just doesn't feel right to these guys, who will also be looking to take over second in the coming weeks when they face Portland, although apparently a head to head win might not make any difference at all in the standings.
Vilnius vs Saratov: The Velociraptors are a powerful team whose only weakness is chemistry. As the season has progressed, that has proven to be less of a factor, particularly against good but not great teams like the Blaze. Expect Vilnius to pick up the win in anticipation of next week's game against the Niners.
Vorkuta vs Yugoslavian: The eliminated Roid Pushers have nothing to play for anymore but pride. The Yellowhammers are in good position to stay in the middle of the postseason pack, and will not allow Yugoslavian to push them around, so to speak. This one's a no-brainer for the Yellowhammers.
Pecs vs Bayside: Someone give the Tigers a ball of yarn to play with, they aren't doing so well with a football. Even Kryptonite won't stop the Pecs of Steel from running all over Bayside.
P-Burg vs Black Sea: The Players will have an opportunity to solidify their position with an easy win against the Rebels. A Saratov loss to Vilnius should give them a little breathing room in holding on to eighth seed.
Warsaw Stampede vs Sioux City: Really, Warsaw, you guys need a kicker and a punter. Everything else about your team looks good on paper, and you have strong advantages offensively, but no one can beat better teams with 30 yard kickoffs and 10 yard punts. Luckily, the Bandits are not a better team.
Alpha Game of the Week - Warsaw GoW vs Tallinn: The Nightmare look to get themselves back into position for home field advantage if they can upset the Gods of War. The Seneca boys will make it very difficult for them, but Tallinn can win this if they can keep them from running up the score early. Both teams have excellent depth at the key positions, and have beaten quality teams. The schedule may prove to be the deciding factor, as Tallinn has had a run of easy games that may have allowed them to save tokens for this game, while Warsaw has faced three of the conference's top teams in the past four weeks. If the Nightmare win this game, they will be feeling pretty good about facing the Niners in the final week of the season. I predict the Nightmare to surprise Warsaw, and squeak out of this one with an overtime win.
Zeta Conference Week 11 games:
Bratislava vs Berlin: I'm sure a lot of teams would love to see the Crusaders take this game. Everyone always hates the team that's on top, and this season that team is the Butchers. Bratislava has soundly defeated better teams than Berlin, and the Crusaders have been beaten by teams the Butchers bested. In short, Berlin ain't no Secretville, so the Butchers aren't worried.
Secretville vs Sicilia: I don't think there is much to say about this game. You will find the bodies of the fallen Warriors buried beneath the Palace of Palermo.
South City vs Chernobyl: The Chiefs win streak runs through Chernobyl. At 3-7, the Mariners don't have much of a chance at making the playoffs, and South City won't be the team that gives them that chance.
Italy vs Dayton: The Guardians will bounce back from their heartbreaking loss to the Chiefs by beating the crap out of the Outlaws. This game will put Dayton firmly into the mathematically eliminated category.
Sooner vs Gothenburg: Already out of playoff contention, the Flames would love to play spoiler for someone, but it will not be the Syndicate. Sooner will hang tight at eighth seed with this win.
Edinburgh vs Gateshead: Will someone finally knock the CPU War-pipers out of the hunt? The Gargoyles shouldn't have too many problems against Edinburgh, so long as Tony Bag a Doughnuts can protect the football. Gateshead is the better team and will pick up this win to get closer to .500.
Nizhny vs Southeast: The computer plays itself in this bottom of the conference snoozefest. I don't think anyone even cares how this plays out. Southeast wins to pick up their second of the season.
Zeta Game of the Week - Dresden vs Warsaw: Two 7-3 teams, fighting for the fourth seed with Italy watching closely. Neither team has faced the Guardians yet, but the winner of this game will feel much better about their chances. The Wolfpack has picked up tremendous talent this season, but it has cost them big in chemistry. Dresden's power running game hasn't been enough to beat the better teams in the conference so far, and Warsaw hasn't been able to put many points on the board in their losses to some of those same teams. The Wolfpack's recruiting will save the day for them despite their chemistry, when they prove that they deserve to be counted among the top teams in the league with a win over the Doomsday.
That's it for week 11, we'll see tomorrow how it all ends up.
Without further ado, here are the games for Alpha Conference:
Portland vs St. Peterburg: The Piranhas desperately need a win to get back into the race, but this game will not be it. The Niners are in the middle of a three way tie for first, and will not drop an easy game like this one. Expect Portland to run up the score as much as possible in an attempt to take back the first seed from the GoW. Something still doesn't make sense with the seedings, by the way. Portland beat the GoW in week 5, so how can Warsaw be ranked above them? The Niners only loss is to an out-of-conference team, the Bratislava Butchers. Hmmm.
Stalingrad vs Skopje: The Ironmen face an easy opponent in the Kardinals. The third seed just doesn't feel right to these guys, who will also be looking to take over second in the coming weeks when they face Portland, although apparently a head to head win might not make any difference at all in the standings.
Vilnius vs Saratov: The Velociraptors are a powerful team whose only weakness is chemistry. As the season has progressed, that has proven to be less of a factor, particularly against good but not great teams like the Blaze. Expect Vilnius to pick up the win in anticipation of next week's game against the Niners.
Vorkuta vs Yugoslavian: The eliminated Roid Pushers have nothing to play for anymore but pride. The Yellowhammers are in good position to stay in the middle of the postseason pack, and will not allow Yugoslavian to push them around, so to speak. This one's a no-brainer for the Yellowhammers.
Pecs vs Bayside: Someone give the Tigers a ball of yarn to play with, they aren't doing so well with a football. Even Kryptonite won't stop the Pecs of Steel from running all over Bayside.
P-Burg vs Black Sea: The Players will have an opportunity to solidify their position with an easy win against the Rebels. A Saratov loss to Vilnius should give them a little breathing room in holding on to eighth seed.
Warsaw Stampede vs Sioux City: Really, Warsaw, you guys need a kicker and a punter. Everything else about your team looks good on paper, and you have strong advantages offensively, but no one can beat better teams with 30 yard kickoffs and 10 yard punts. Luckily, the Bandits are not a better team.
Alpha Game of the Week - Warsaw GoW vs Tallinn: The Nightmare look to get themselves back into position for home field advantage if they can upset the Gods of War. The Seneca boys will make it very difficult for them, but Tallinn can win this if they can keep them from running up the score early. Both teams have excellent depth at the key positions, and have beaten quality teams. The schedule may prove to be the deciding factor, as Tallinn has had a run of easy games that may have allowed them to save tokens for this game, while Warsaw has faced three of the conference's top teams in the past four weeks. If the Nightmare win this game, they will be feeling pretty good about facing the Niners in the final week of the season. I predict the Nightmare to surprise Warsaw, and squeak out of this one with an overtime win.
Zeta Conference Week 11 games:
Bratislava vs Berlin: I'm sure a lot of teams would love to see the Crusaders take this game. Everyone always hates the team that's on top, and this season that team is the Butchers. Bratislava has soundly defeated better teams than Berlin, and the Crusaders have been beaten by teams the Butchers bested. In short, Berlin ain't no Secretville, so the Butchers aren't worried.
Secretville vs Sicilia: I don't think there is much to say about this game. You will find the bodies of the fallen Warriors buried beneath the Palace of Palermo.
South City vs Chernobyl: The Chiefs win streak runs through Chernobyl. At 3-7, the Mariners don't have much of a chance at making the playoffs, and South City won't be the team that gives them that chance.
Italy vs Dayton: The Guardians will bounce back from their heartbreaking loss to the Chiefs by beating the crap out of the Outlaws. This game will put Dayton firmly into the mathematically eliminated category.
Sooner vs Gothenburg: Already out of playoff contention, the Flames would love to play spoiler for someone, but it will not be the Syndicate. Sooner will hang tight at eighth seed with this win.
Edinburgh vs Gateshead: Will someone finally knock the CPU War-pipers out of the hunt? The Gargoyles shouldn't have too many problems against Edinburgh, so long as Tony Bag a Doughnuts can protect the football. Gateshead is the better team and will pick up this win to get closer to .500.
Nizhny vs Southeast: The computer plays itself in this bottom of the conference snoozefest. I don't think anyone even cares how this plays out. Southeast wins to pick up their second of the season.
Zeta Game of the Week - Dresden vs Warsaw: Two 7-3 teams, fighting for the fourth seed with Italy watching closely. Neither team has faced the Guardians yet, but the winner of this game will feel much better about their chances. The Wolfpack has picked up tremendous talent this season, but it has cost them big in chemistry. Dresden's power running game hasn't been enough to beat the better teams in the conference so far, and Warsaw hasn't been able to put many points on the board in their losses to some of those same teams. The Wolfpack's recruiting will save the day for them despite their chemistry, when they prove that they deserve to be counted among the top teams in the league with a win over the Doomsday.
That's it for week 11, we'll see tomorrow how it all ends up.
Last edited Jan 21, 2009 12:03:55
