Keep in mind I am an OPL homer and have a guard on the Kai. But here is how I see things going down tomorrow.
A quick look back at the World League:
Season 11: The first season of the World League was fantastic, you really had no idea who was going to win and Hali backed up their excellent run of play by bringing home the first and perhaps most coveted trophy.
Season 12: Hali defended their WL title in dramatic fashion winning as a lower seed. The first champions became the first back to back champions.
Season 13-14-15: w_alloy and Valhalla came in as young upstarts. Most people thought they would fall short in that first season as their dots might have been too young. It turns out they were just right. Peaking at the right time, running off three straight championships and winning a few tourney's too while denying PierreThomas time and time again of what he wanted the most, a World League championship.
Season 16: What a season! Let's be honest, with Valhalla bowing out no one was really sure what to expect. The advantages of the season 1 teams were now gone. With decline setting in and everyone on a level playing field it was wide open. Hali looked like they would be back in the playoffs (what else is new?) and maybe they could challenge for the crown. The Blaze were pegged as the favorites before +10g8. USA Pro just might finally get over the hump with seven strong teams in S16. The Leg Sweepers were back but this time they brought the team and coordinators along to back it up. Gunny came along with them from SLAP with a sick defense and secured a #1 playoff seed. And OPLOL had FIVE representatives in the World League with two looking like legit title contenders.
Now there are four teams left, let's take a look at the matchups:
Alpha:
#2 Seed Chocolate Blaze vs. #5 Seed Indianapolis Gurupies
Score of the regular season game: Chocolate Blaze 87 - Indianapolis Gurupies 24
Key stat: 9 sacks by the Blaze of Gurupie QB's
The Blaze have had a near perfect season. They missed out on the #1 seed in alpha thanks to a mini-football giveaway against Gunny Highway's Recon Platoon when the Blaze Quaterbacks mistakenly thought they were supposed to giveaway some passes to Gunny's defense to help out the Boys and Girls Clubs in Cleveland.
Boom Shaka Laka and Teabag McJorts will look to stay away from the interceptions and might wind up handing the ball off all day. In the first meeting with the Gurupies All-Day Adrian Peterson, Bobby Gross and D league Super Bowlin'Back each averaged over 7 yards per carry, yet none of them got double-digit carries.
With all of that Blaze offense the key to the first meeting was the Blaze defense, in particular their pass rush. They brought down Gurupie QB's nine times. Those are drive killers. But these Gurupies are not the same ones that lost badly in the first meeting. Indy's offense has come alive recently. In the game that got them here it was helped greatly by the Gurupie defense getting six picks against SoCal BDC. But the key was the Gurupies being able to run the ball effectively. The ran the ball a whooping 50 times! In the first meeting against the Blaze they ran it only 12 times. Indy got way too pass-happy trying to reproduce their season 15 shootout with CB. This is not season 15, morale spirals are a bitch so you just can't chuck it around the yard. I think Indy has learned their lesson and have something sweet brewing up for the Blaze.
Predicted score: Indianapolis 45 - Chocolate Blaze 42
Zeta:
#1 Seed Cobra Kai vs. #4 Seed Lincoln Navigators
Score of the regular season game: Cobra Kai 87 - Lincoln 13
Key stat: The Kai picking off Martin Barre five times.
Cobra Kai, the Pantomime Villains of GLB came in to season 16 looking to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the game. Always a dominant force on the GLB Forums the Kai finally won their first SLAP gold in season 15. Skanker and ITS put together a fantastic team. Skanker over-seeing the defense and ITS getting that offense to fire on all cylinders. Ubass needs to be given credit also for the fantastic job he did in recruiting, bringing in badass dots from all over GLB. The team looks like it is on its way to winning several tournaments. It is a force and the Kai have a legit shot to bring home the gold in back to back seasons. The only black mark is an 77-3 beat down by the Blaze in a private scrim a few days ago. Not good.
If it wasn't for the Blaze and Valhalla we might be talking about Lincoln as a team with multiple World League titles. It was just bad timing for them to be peaking at a time when two bullies dominated the World League. The Navigators have won six games in a row. The problem is that they are squeaking by instead of thumping people.
The first matchup saw the Kai defense demoralize the Navigators by picking off Martin Barre five times. Then the Kai let loose their stable of running backs with Fred Lane doing his thing catching passes out of the backfield while nginx and Johnny Harlem controlled the clock and ran all over Lincoln.
What can Lincoln do to turn it around and win? Without a team that forces turnovers (Lincoln was 6th from the bottom in picks and 13th from the bottom in forced fumbles) I just don't see them getting the breaks needed to pull off the upset. I think this one is going to be ugly. As the Navs will put in a risky game-plan and get bit in the ass.
Predicted score: Cobra Kai 84 - Lincoln Navigators 17
A quick look back at the World League:
Season 11: The first season of the World League was fantastic, you really had no idea who was going to win and Hali backed up their excellent run of play by bringing home the first and perhaps most coveted trophy.
Season 12: Hali defended their WL title in dramatic fashion winning as a lower seed. The first champions became the first back to back champions.
Season 13-14-15: w_alloy and Valhalla came in as young upstarts. Most people thought they would fall short in that first season as their dots might have been too young. It turns out they were just right. Peaking at the right time, running off three straight championships and winning a few tourney's too while denying PierreThomas time and time again of what he wanted the most, a World League championship.
Season 16: What a season! Let's be honest, with Valhalla bowing out no one was really sure what to expect. The advantages of the season 1 teams were now gone. With decline setting in and everyone on a level playing field it was wide open. Hali looked like they would be back in the playoffs (what else is new?) and maybe they could challenge for the crown. The Blaze were pegged as the favorites before +10g8. USA Pro just might finally get over the hump with seven strong teams in S16. The Leg Sweepers were back but this time they brought the team and coordinators along to back it up. Gunny came along with them from SLAP with a sick defense and secured a #1 playoff seed. And OPLOL had FIVE representatives in the World League with two looking like legit title contenders.
Now there are four teams left, let's take a look at the matchups:
Alpha:
#2 Seed Chocolate Blaze vs. #5 Seed Indianapolis Gurupies
Score of the regular season game: Chocolate Blaze 87 - Indianapolis Gurupies 24
Key stat: 9 sacks by the Blaze of Gurupie QB's
The Blaze have had a near perfect season. They missed out on the #1 seed in alpha thanks to a mini-football giveaway against Gunny Highway's Recon Platoon when the Blaze Quaterbacks mistakenly thought they were supposed to giveaway some passes to Gunny's defense to help out the Boys and Girls Clubs in Cleveland.
Boom Shaka Laka and Teabag McJorts will look to stay away from the interceptions and might wind up handing the ball off all day. In the first meeting with the Gurupies All-Day Adrian Peterson, Bobby Gross and D league Super Bowlin'Back each averaged over 7 yards per carry, yet none of them got double-digit carries.
With all of that Blaze offense the key to the first meeting was the Blaze defense, in particular their pass rush. They brought down Gurupie QB's nine times. Those are drive killers. But these Gurupies are not the same ones that lost badly in the first meeting. Indy's offense has come alive recently. In the game that got them here it was helped greatly by the Gurupie defense getting six picks against SoCal BDC. But the key was the Gurupies being able to run the ball effectively. The ran the ball a whooping 50 times! In the first meeting against the Blaze they ran it only 12 times. Indy got way too pass-happy trying to reproduce their season 15 shootout with CB. This is not season 15, morale spirals are a bitch so you just can't chuck it around the yard. I think Indy has learned their lesson and have something sweet brewing up for the Blaze.
Predicted score: Indianapolis 45 - Chocolate Blaze 42
Zeta:
#1 Seed Cobra Kai vs. #4 Seed Lincoln Navigators
Score of the regular season game: Cobra Kai 87 - Lincoln 13
Key stat: The Kai picking off Martin Barre five times.
Cobra Kai, the Pantomime Villains of GLB came in to season 16 looking to establish themselves as one of the top teams in the game. Always a dominant force on the GLB Forums the Kai finally won their first SLAP gold in season 15. Skanker and ITS put together a fantastic team. Skanker over-seeing the defense and ITS getting that offense to fire on all cylinders. Ubass needs to be given credit also for the fantastic job he did in recruiting, bringing in badass dots from all over GLB. The team looks like it is on its way to winning several tournaments. It is a force and the Kai have a legit shot to bring home the gold in back to back seasons. The only black mark is an 77-3 beat down by the Blaze in a private scrim a few days ago. Not good.
If it wasn't for the Blaze and Valhalla we might be talking about Lincoln as a team with multiple World League titles. It was just bad timing for them to be peaking at a time when two bullies dominated the World League. The Navigators have won six games in a row. The problem is that they are squeaking by instead of thumping people.
The first matchup saw the Kai defense demoralize the Navigators by picking off Martin Barre five times. Then the Kai let loose their stable of running backs with Fred Lane doing his thing catching passes out of the backfield while nginx and Johnny Harlem controlled the clock and ran all over Lincoln.
What can Lincoln do to turn it around and win? Without a team that forces turnovers (Lincoln was 6th from the bottom in picks and 13th from the bottom in forced fumbles) I just don't see them getting the breaks needed to pull off the upset. I think this one is going to be ugly. As the Navs will put in a risky game-plan and get bit in the ass.
Predicted score: Cobra Kai 84 - Lincoln Navigators 17
