1. ESL (5-1)
Man, they smacked Bandar good. They have also notched a win against the Maurauders and may not lose another game the rest of the way. They will be challenged the next two weeks, but the 2nd half of their Schedule should be all W's.
2. Pa Pong Dragons (6-0)
Undefeated with a Convincing win over ESL, where they owned Nizzle...one of the best SEA Pro has to offer. Will they remain at the top of the heap, it's doubtful...one great win doesn't a season make. They only lost to the Buddhist, ESL and Bandar in divisional play in season 9 and have already avenged one of those losses, but it's a long season
ESL has just a tougher schedule to this point, Pa Pong will have to prove themselves against more top teams to get the top spot IMO.
3. Bandar (5-1)
Man, they failed their first test of the year pretty severely in week 6. They were down 21-7 after the first quarter and never recovered. They were shredded in the air and Dot Shrink, although he did cough up a few, was pretty much unstoppable otherwise.
They are the champs and had played great D before that last game. Who knows if one or both or neither temp boosted, so I'm going to give them the Nod over the Marauders at this point.
4. Marauders (5-1)
Marauders beat a decent Garuda squad in week one and played ESL to within a TD in week 2. Their chemistry is just about maxed just in time for a tough 6 game stretch. They have the talent and the gameplanning, they just need to do it. Very dangerous team that I could see winning the title if everything falls into place.
Right now, they just need to get to work and win some games against good opponents.
5. Okinawa - (6-0)
They are undefeated and did beat a good Cambodia squad in week 2 by 24 points, but then just squeaked by the hapless garudas last week. They are getting dinged for strength of schedule here and we'll see how they fair next week against ESL. L James is looking like a monster so far this year and having a great HB goes a long way here. 6-0 gets them here, but I think they will be coming back to earth shortly.
6. Buddhist (4-2)
Buddhist have dropped two games, both to the top ranked teams in their conference (IMO). The Koala game was lost on a last second fumble, they were never in the ESL game. Their chemistry is finally over 90, but no quality wins so far = 6.
Marauders game will be telling, if they can win...they are in the hunt. If they can't score a quality victory...they will stay low in the rankings.
7. Mountain Men (5-1)
Cambodia started off very strong last year, then ran out of temp boosts (?) and tanked the 2nd half. They have had only 1 quality game this year and lost by 3 TD's to Okinawa. They have George Hearst, any team with an RB like that is always a threat. They haven't scored a victory against an elite opponent in almost a full season of games...so they will need to do more then beat up on the also rans to jump up the rankings.
8. Winona (3-3)
I don't know if much separates these guys from Duluth and Vanuatu, but Vanuatu getting hammered by 100 to ESL ttells me that they aren't ready to crack the top 8. Duluth can ball a little, but fell to Vanuatu and barely edged out the Dart frogs. Only logical selection is Winona.
Whichever teams nabs this #8 spot and has to face Naga's best is gonna get waxed in the first round IMO.
Man, they smacked Bandar good. They have also notched a win against the Maurauders and may not lose another game the rest of the way. They will be challenged the next two weeks, but the 2nd half of their Schedule should be all W's.
2. Pa Pong Dragons (6-0)
Undefeated with a Convincing win over ESL, where they owned Nizzle...one of the best SEA Pro has to offer. Will they remain at the top of the heap, it's doubtful...one great win doesn't a season make. They only lost to the Buddhist, ESL and Bandar in divisional play in season 9 and have already avenged one of those losses, but it's a long season
ESL has just a tougher schedule to this point, Pa Pong will have to prove themselves against more top teams to get the top spot IMO.
3. Bandar (5-1)
Man, they failed their first test of the year pretty severely in week 6. They were down 21-7 after the first quarter and never recovered. They were shredded in the air and Dot Shrink, although he did cough up a few, was pretty much unstoppable otherwise.
They are the champs and had played great D before that last game. Who knows if one or both or neither temp boosted, so I'm going to give them the Nod over the Marauders at this point.
4. Marauders (5-1)
Marauders beat a decent Garuda squad in week one and played ESL to within a TD in week 2. Their chemistry is just about maxed just in time for a tough 6 game stretch. They have the talent and the gameplanning, they just need to do it. Very dangerous team that I could see winning the title if everything falls into place.
Right now, they just need to get to work and win some games against good opponents.
5. Okinawa - (6-0)
They are undefeated and did beat a good Cambodia squad in week 2 by 24 points, but then just squeaked by the hapless garudas last week. They are getting dinged for strength of schedule here and we'll see how they fair next week against ESL. L James is looking like a monster so far this year and having a great HB goes a long way here. 6-0 gets them here, but I think they will be coming back to earth shortly.
6. Buddhist (4-2)
Buddhist have dropped two games, both to the top ranked teams in their conference (IMO). The Koala game was lost on a last second fumble, they were never in the ESL game. Their chemistry is finally over 90, but no quality wins so far = 6.
Marauders game will be telling, if they can win...they are in the hunt. If they can't score a quality victory...they will stay low in the rankings.
7. Mountain Men (5-1)
Cambodia started off very strong last year, then ran out of temp boosts (?) and tanked the 2nd half. They have had only 1 quality game this year and lost by 3 TD's to Okinawa. They have George Hearst, any team with an RB like that is always a threat. They haven't scored a victory against an elite opponent in almost a full season of games...so they will need to do more then beat up on the also rans to jump up the rankings.
8. Winona (3-3)
I don't know if much separates these guys from Duluth and Vanuatu, but Vanuatu getting hammered by 100 to ESL ttells me that they aren't ready to crack the top 8. Duluth can ball a little, but fell to Vanuatu and barely edged out the Dart frogs. Only logical selection is Winona.
Whichever teams nabs this #8 spot and has to face Naga's best is gonna get waxed in the first round IMO.
Edited by BP on Jul 1, 2009 13:34:54
Nice write up man.
