Ladder Time! Nothing too cool this week. The first one's a real downer. Probably can just skip reading now. 
#1 Air Raid vs #2 Minnesota Stunners
- meh. Terrible game that nobody cares about. Probably not worth watching.
#3 The Salty Runback vs #9 Legacy
- Legacy's playing some good bortball this season. Not an ideal roster with some folks having gone legend and a pro, but they've been able to scrap out some tough wins against other good teams, including an upset of Portland very recently. Also made a game of it with Air Raid for awhile. Salty's been one of the elite teams this season, but transitive property results would indicate this is a game they could lose. Emphasis on could though. I expect Salty to win ultimately. I won't be shocked if Legacy surprises them though.
#4 Portland Ronin vs #23 Richmond Redskins
- Portland messes up a pretty cool start to the ladder matchups by dipping down to play Richmond near the bottom of the target list. Richmond's been a mixed bag this season, and has a couple of nice wins, including one over a pretty good Andes team. Portland's probably a bit too much though. I'm going with the Ronin.
#5 Harrisonburg Bulldogs vs #22 Romo's Namechangers
- Bye week for Harry.
#6 New Jersey Generals vs #26 Los Cabos Sharks
- New Jersey dives into the deep end to fish out the Sharks from the bottom of the pool. I've always felt that Los Cabos was a team missing a couple pieces from being a really good squad. They were typically competitive coming up the tiers with the Season 2 teams, but never quite able to break into the top 10 and stay there. New Jersey ought not have any trouble here you'd think, but then Los Cabos just upset Cobra Kai recently. They've got some awful blowout losses to top 5 type teams. Also a couple bad losses to weaker teams. Tough to tell what they'll do against NJ, but I'm going with the Generals and their consistently strong effort.
#7 Louisiana Screaming Pelicans vs #13 Dookie Island
- Corndog's done a masterful job this season and Dookie's putting together it's best effort in recent seasons. They've managed to hang around the top 15, and it appears they're intending to stay there. Louisiana should have an edge here. Of all Dookie's losses, only two were by a sizeable margin. Air Raid and DC, both of which are high powered passing attacks. Kinda like LSP. I'm thinking a result similar to the DC game here with LSP winning.
#8 Stark Dire Wolves vs #27 Rhode Island Falcons
- Sneaky good matchup here. Rhode Island has quietly amassed the second best passing numbers in Veteran behind Air Raid. Stark's been a consistent presence in the top 10. This is a real measuring stick game for Rhode Island, fresh off a big win over D'Haran. Rhode Island's been on a hell of a run, with only two losses by single possessions to D'Haran and Rusty's Ruins. Not many big matchups to go from though other than the 3 games with D'Haran and RR. You could probably argue that the Run GLB win was a good one too, and the wins over Ministry and DC. This one though, this is the biggest game of the season for Rhode Island. Stark's position in the top 10 is at stake with the top 15 loaded now full of teams capable of threatening the 6-10 teams. So yeah, sneaky big game. I'm picking Rhode Island in an upset.
#10 Cobra Kai vs #30 Hillbilly Coondogs
- Cobra gets a virtual bye. Drew the bottom of the target pool against a team that's ranked right around where they should be. Hillbilly is a consistent 25-35 type team. Cobra should win this one simply enough.
Other noteworthy matchups:
MMArmy Can Crushers vs Ellix Burghers
- Is the allure of trying to ruin a perfect season enough to motivate Tdiddy to gameplan for Ellix? Pending the Air Raid vs Minnesota result, Ellix could possibly lay claim to destroying TWO perfect seasons if so.
Rusty's Ruins vs D'Haran Empire
- D'Haran is fresh off a tough loss to Rhode Island. Now they draw Rusty's Ruins.... the only other team that's beaten Rhode Island so far this season. Sneaky good matchup. With Rusty's finally getting chemistry back in good shape and their professionals nearing end build, they're getting closer to being whatever it is they're going to be going forward. D'Haran is going to fold this offseason due to expected attrition, but if they're going to stake a top 15-20 claim before they go out, this is a big game for them.
#1 Air Raid vs #2 Minnesota Stunners
- meh. Terrible game that nobody cares about. Probably not worth watching.
#3 The Salty Runback vs #9 Legacy
- Legacy's playing some good bortball this season. Not an ideal roster with some folks having gone legend and a pro, but they've been able to scrap out some tough wins against other good teams, including an upset of Portland very recently. Also made a game of it with Air Raid for awhile. Salty's been one of the elite teams this season, but transitive property results would indicate this is a game they could lose. Emphasis on could though. I expect Salty to win ultimately. I won't be shocked if Legacy surprises them though.
#4 Portland Ronin vs #23 Richmond Redskins
- Portland messes up a pretty cool start to the ladder matchups by dipping down to play Richmond near the bottom of the target list. Richmond's been a mixed bag this season, and has a couple of nice wins, including one over a pretty good Andes team. Portland's probably a bit too much though. I'm going with the Ronin.
#5 Harrisonburg Bulldogs vs #22 Romo's Namechangers
- Bye week for Harry.
#6 New Jersey Generals vs #26 Los Cabos Sharks
- New Jersey dives into the deep end to fish out the Sharks from the bottom of the pool. I've always felt that Los Cabos was a team missing a couple pieces from being a really good squad. They were typically competitive coming up the tiers with the Season 2 teams, but never quite able to break into the top 10 and stay there. New Jersey ought not have any trouble here you'd think, but then Los Cabos just upset Cobra Kai recently. They've got some awful blowout losses to top 5 type teams. Also a couple bad losses to weaker teams. Tough to tell what they'll do against NJ, but I'm going with the Generals and their consistently strong effort.
#7 Louisiana Screaming Pelicans vs #13 Dookie Island
- Corndog's done a masterful job this season and Dookie's putting together it's best effort in recent seasons. They've managed to hang around the top 15, and it appears they're intending to stay there. Louisiana should have an edge here. Of all Dookie's losses, only two were by a sizeable margin. Air Raid and DC, both of which are high powered passing attacks. Kinda like LSP. I'm thinking a result similar to the DC game here with LSP winning.
#8 Stark Dire Wolves vs #27 Rhode Island Falcons
- Sneaky good matchup here. Rhode Island has quietly amassed the second best passing numbers in Veteran behind Air Raid. Stark's been a consistent presence in the top 10. This is a real measuring stick game for Rhode Island, fresh off a big win over D'Haran. Rhode Island's been on a hell of a run, with only two losses by single possessions to D'Haran and Rusty's Ruins. Not many big matchups to go from though other than the 3 games with D'Haran and RR. You could probably argue that the Run GLB win was a good one too, and the wins over Ministry and DC. This one though, this is the biggest game of the season for Rhode Island. Stark's position in the top 10 is at stake with the top 15 loaded now full of teams capable of threatening the 6-10 teams. So yeah, sneaky big game. I'm picking Rhode Island in an upset.
#10 Cobra Kai vs #30 Hillbilly Coondogs
- Cobra gets a virtual bye. Drew the bottom of the target pool against a team that's ranked right around where they should be. Hillbilly is a consistent 25-35 type team. Cobra should win this one simply enough.
Other noteworthy matchups:
MMArmy Can Crushers vs Ellix Burghers
- Is the allure of trying to ruin a perfect season enough to motivate Tdiddy to gameplan for Ellix? Pending the Air Raid vs Minnesota result, Ellix could possibly lay claim to destroying TWO perfect seasons if so.
Rusty's Ruins vs D'Haran Empire
- D'Haran is fresh off a tough loss to Rhode Island. Now they draw Rusty's Ruins.... the only other team that's beaten Rhode Island so far this season. Sneaky good matchup. With Rusty's finally getting chemistry back in good shape and their professionals nearing end build, they're getting closer to being whatever it is they're going to be going forward. D'Haran is going to fold this offseason due to expected attrition, but if they're going to stake a top 15-20 claim before they go out, this is a big game for them.
Edited by Galithor on Jan 13, 2015 07:40:24
