Round 1: 4-0
Round 2: 2-0
Round 3: 1-0
Playoffs: 7-0
!!!Athens Gators at South Yorkshire Stars!!!
Well, this is it. The big one. The last game either of these teams will play in WE7 soil. Rivalries with the Trombones, Smugglers, JDD, etc.... will all be put on hold for at least one more season for the Gators.
The SoYo - Bloodsuckers faceoffs will be put on hold indefinitely depending on the bouncebacks of the DMonks, Mafia, Reapers, Knuckleheads, and everyone else in Alpha.
The season has spent 40 days building up to this one. 32 teams. Created the same day. Given the same chances. Level caps to prevent a team of USA Pro's from jumping ship just to pad stats. Here are the fruits of the efforts. The 16-game Gauntlet, followed by one prophetic march to a championship game and one quite unlikely and surprising run to a championship game. Stars. Gators. This is it.
Quarterbacks
SoYo's Donny Sullivan had an excellent game last week against the #1 seed Bloodsuckers. With Jason Coker no longer in the mix, and Sullivan being the generally-accepted #2 QB from the season... it's hard to go elsewhere with this one. But let's take a moment to examine Athens' Draco Lord.
Lord hasn't been putting up quite the stats of Sullivan, but he has engineered quite a cinderella story down in Zeta. He's posting very respectable numbers while proving to be a well-tuned leader for his offense. But nonetheless....
Adcantage: SoYo
Running Backs[
What's that?!?! Deacon peterson finds himself #2 in playoff yardage!!!!! The only problem for Athens? #1 is the other SoYo RB, Brock Lovelace. With nearly 300 yards apiece... it really does an effective job of overshadowing Athens' Rich Head's near-300 yard performance thus far, good enough to land him #3 in the rankings. Great job, no doubt.
Not forgetting about the FB's. But really, it seems both are doing their jobs pretty effectively, or else these HB wouldn't be where they are.
Advantage: SoYo
WR/TE
No receiving player has had anywhere close to as good a run through the playoff's as the Bloodsuckers' Jeremy Johnson. But 3 of the players playing in the Championship game find themselves in the close race for #2: Athens' Devin Davis and SoYo's Power Forward and Luca Brasi. Level-wise, the SoYo squad is lengths ahead. But a WR is only as good as the QB throwing to them. So though the SoYo squad might have more paper capability, it will come down to which qb gets their game rolling the fastest.
Advantage: Push
OL
Once again, the SoYo monsters are a squad I can't willingly put below any team in WE7. The stats/performances speak for themselves. It's no knock to the Gators whatsoever. They have proven themselves, as well. But you know how it is...
Advantage: SoYo
DL
This is perhaps the scariest of the mismatches. there's a 6+ lvl gap between the 2 sides. This is poised for the SoYo OL to provide very very very good protection. And it is also creating quite an opportunity for the aggressive SoYo DL to get some pressure past the lower lvl OL. Not an immediate "give up" factor or anything. But if I am an Athens GM, this is my main worry.
Advantage: SoYo
LBs
Another 6 lvl gap. Can't ignore that. I really can't. And I know it comes across as being incredibly biased, but I assure you it really isn't. Top rushing team in the league going up against lvl 15ish LBs? Then the SoYo LB corps has proven to be super effective against the run all year.
Advantage: SoYo
Secondary
The gap isn't nearly as sever as the previous two. But the gap still exists. No ignoring it or avoiding it. It's there. And the numbers speak for themselves in this one, as well. SoYo secondary just shut down the top passing O in the league. The Athens secondary has brough them this far, though. So they obviously know how to pay it out.
Advantage: SoYo
Kicking/Punting
Here's where it gets interesting a bit. You have the #1 and #2 Kickers in FG made and #1 and #2 Punters in average yards per punt facing off in this game. Field Position battle is unlikely to be decided by these kicking teams, as they are so evenly matched.
Advantage: Push
-------------------------------------------------------
So overall, I scored this 6 - 0 in favor of SoYo. And please don't take that as a personal bias since I am on the SoYo team. It's not that at all. I think most anyone would agree with what i have said here. And these things aren't to say Athens is incapable of winning. I certainly don't mean to imply that. They have proven time and time again they are the real deal. But as far as my predictions go... i have to make the "smart" call and pick SoYo by 17. There is a perfect playoff prediction record at stake here. This is no matter to be taken lightly....
In closing... Good luck Athens. May you lose horribly. But in the kindest, most respectful way possible.
Round 2: 2-0
Round 3: 1-0
Playoffs: 7-0
!!!Athens Gators at South Yorkshire Stars!!!
Well, this is it. The big one. The last game either of these teams will play in WE7 soil. Rivalries with the Trombones, Smugglers, JDD, etc.... will all be put on hold for at least one more season for the Gators.
The SoYo - Bloodsuckers faceoffs will be put on hold indefinitely depending on the bouncebacks of the DMonks, Mafia, Reapers, Knuckleheads, and everyone else in Alpha.
The season has spent 40 days building up to this one. 32 teams. Created the same day. Given the same chances. Level caps to prevent a team of USA Pro's from jumping ship just to pad stats. Here are the fruits of the efforts. The 16-game Gauntlet, followed by one prophetic march to a championship game and one quite unlikely and surprising run to a championship game. Stars. Gators. This is it.
Quarterbacks
SoYo's Donny Sullivan had an excellent game last week against the #1 seed Bloodsuckers. With Jason Coker no longer in the mix, and Sullivan being the generally-accepted #2 QB from the season... it's hard to go elsewhere with this one. But let's take a moment to examine Athens' Draco Lord.
Lord hasn't been putting up quite the stats of Sullivan, but he has engineered quite a cinderella story down in Zeta. He's posting very respectable numbers while proving to be a well-tuned leader for his offense. But nonetheless....
Adcantage: SoYo
Running Backs[
What's that?!?! Deacon peterson finds himself #2 in playoff yardage!!!!! The only problem for Athens? #1 is the other SoYo RB, Brock Lovelace. With nearly 300 yards apiece... it really does an effective job of overshadowing Athens' Rich Head's near-300 yard performance thus far, good enough to land him #3 in the rankings. Great job, no doubt.
Not forgetting about the FB's. But really, it seems both are doing their jobs pretty effectively, or else these HB wouldn't be where they are.
Advantage: SoYo
WR/TE
No receiving player has had anywhere close to as good a run through the playoff's as the Bloodsuckers' Jeremy Johnson. But 3 of the players playing in the Championship game find themselves in the close race for #2: Athens' Devin Davis and SoYo's Power Forward and Luca Brasi. Level-wise, the SoYo squad is lengths ahead. But a WR is only as good as the QB throwing to them. So though the SoYo squad might have more paper capability, it will come down to which qb gets their game rolling the fastest.
Advantage: Push
OL
Once again, the SoYo monsters are a squad I can't willingly put below any team in WE7. The stats/performances speak for themselves. It's no knock to the Gators whatsoever. They have proven themselves, as well. But you know how it is...
Advantage: SoYo
DL
This is perhaps the scariest of the mismatches. there's a 6+ lvl gap between the 2 sides. This is poised for the SoYo OL to provide very very very good protection. And it is also creating quite an opportunity for the aggressive SoYo DL to get some pressure past the lower lvl OL. Not an immediate "give up" factor or anything. But if I am an Athens GM, this is my main worry.
Advantage: SoYo
LBs
Another 6 lvl gap. Can't ignore that. I really can't. And I know it comes across as being incredibly biased, but I assure you it really isn't. Top rushing team in the league going up against lvl 15ish LBs? Then the SoYo LB corps has proven to be super effective against the run all year.
Advantage: SoYo
Secondary
The gap isn't nearly as sever as the previous two. But the gap still exists. No ignoring it or avoiding it. It's there. And the numbers speak for themselves in this one, as well. SoYo secondary just shut down the top passing O in the league. The Athens secondary has brough them this far, though. So they obviously know how to pay it out.
Advantage: SoYo
Kicking/Punting
Here's where it gets interesting a bit. You have the #1 and #2 Kickers in FG made and #1 and #2 Punters in average yards per punt facing off in this game. Field Position battle is unlikely to be decided by these kicking teams, as they are so evenly matched.
Advantage: Push
-------------------------------------------------------
So overall, I scored this 6 - 0 in favor of SoYo. And please don't take that as a personal bias since I am on the SoYo team. It's not that at all. I think most anyone would agree with what i have said here. And these things aren't to say Athens is incapable of winning. I certainly don't mean to imply that. They have proven time and time again they are the real deal. But as far as my predictions go... i have to make the "smart" call and pick SoYo by 17. There is a perfect playoff prediction record at stake here. This is no matter to be taken lightly....
In closing... Good luck Athens. May you lose horribly. But in the kindest, most respectful way possible.
