Warrior General Games

So... teams will doubtless change. If trends hold, we'll lose a team or two entirely, we'll get new blood in, someone will make a few huge off-season moves, other teams will lose a handful of key pieces and have trouble recruiting, and some teams will stand pat and see if they can stay consistent.
So why bother with power rankings now? Because its something to do! But more importantly, hopefully it'll keep people active, discussing, arguing, agreeing, whatever.

So without further ado, here's my personal opinions on where the next season would start if no one did much of anything this off-season. (Yeah, right)

1. New Brunswick Scarlet Knights: 'The Man', per my last power rankings post, is probably a touch less manly now with a post-season spanking that relatively few were expecting. Despite this, no one else has figured them out, and they remain a regular season powerhouse. I'd be more surprised if they did worse than 14-2 next season than if they went 16-0 again. But can they take advantage of a 3rd shot at advancing?

2. Rapid City Rushmores: With no Lemurs in the east, another season for levels to even out with xp, and some great hands at game-planning, I predict the Rushmores to finish next season at or near the top of the western mountain again.

3. DVDTalk Otters: The team has shown it knows how to manage an off-season, how to recruit, and how to improve using the pieces they have. This season's sudden powerhouse will give the Rushmores all they can handle to keep the top spot.

4. Western Conference Bye Week Vikings: Yes, even post-boosting, I'm ranking them below the others. They'll still be the toughest bye week in the league, but I doubt after the warm welcome this season that they'll have 100% retention, and I think the xp gap will close some somewhere along the way next season, making them merely a dominant team, instead of potentially the dominant team.

5. Caprica Bucaneers: This is one of the areas that could see the most change. How much of their team they retain, and how management does at recruiting will tell whether they keep their hold on being one of the top teams on their side of the BBB 15. They have every potential to either contend or to drop out of the playoff picture for a season or two.

6. Miami Makos: Nothing against the East, nor the Makos. They showed what they could do this season, and they weren't very far behind the eventual champion Strikers. Nonetheless, the West has shown greater separation between the top and middle rungs, and a number of teams did, and likely will go on to play the Makos very tough next season. The Makos are going to have a fight on their hands to remain near the top tier instead of falling into the muddled middle of a really tough conference that could go as far as 10 deep with teams who could threaten to go a round or two into the playoffs up to the final day.

7. Chicago Maroons: Maybe I have a Chicago bias - but I didn't bet against the Maroons often this season, and I won't now. Tough team that gives just about anyone a fight, at the least.

8. Vice City Mambas: The 'muddled middle' team that went deepest into the playoffs, and deservedly so. The Mambas have one of the most dominating passing games in the East - even moreso with NY leaving, and proved themselves worthy of the spot with a solid win over high-scoring Akron.

9. Akron Browns: High scoring, and well-deserving of their playoff spot, Akron also has a history of strong starts. Enough so to remain included on the list, just behind the guys who beat them twice when they had to.

10. Gulf State Demons: A strong post-season performance and ability to win when they had to to get into the playoffs earns the Demons a fingernail-grip on the final spot in the power rankings, with an awful lot of teams in the East, plus the Mayhem looking to unseat them at earliest opportunity.

Awesome work, GlennA! A perfect post to kick start the offseason. I can't argue with any of your selections, although it would be nicer if 4 of the top 5 teams weren't from the West. It's hard enough to get momentum for a franchise without facing these monsters every season!

Has the Caprica ownership change been made official yet?

Originally posted by sicarius
Awesome work, GlennA! A perfect post to kick start the offseason. I can't argue with any of your selections, although it would be nicer if 4 of the top 5 teams weren't from the West. It's hard enough to get momentum for a franchise without facing these monsters every season!

Has the Caprica ownership change been made official yet?

I don't know about Caprica. As far as the East/West debate, personally, I think there's more separation of multiple teams at the top of the West, but DVDTalk showed that its not an impossible place to move into.
What the chart above doesn't show is how many East teams could probably have made 8, 9 or 10 - trying to sneak from the bottom into playoff contention there might well be harder than making the bottom rungs of the West.

Originally posted by sicarius
Awesome work, GlennA! A perfect post to kick start the offseason. I can't argue with any of your selections, although it would be nicer if 4 of the top 5 teams weren't from the West. It's hard enough to get momentum for a franchise without facing these monsters every season!

Has the Caprica ownership change been made official yet?

There is no change in Caprica ownership, We will be back, same as the last two seasons. So be prepared.

Well, say bye to NBSK.

Originally posted by mgoblue71
Well, say bye to NBSK.

I certainly list them as the favorite to move up - just like I did this season.

I dont really consider Miami a threat to NBSK, so they're the easy favorite.

Originally posted by mgoblue71
I dont really consider Miami a threat to NBSK, so they're the easy favorite.

They are. After the season, I hadn't really considered NY likely to beat them either, especially by that kind of margin. I'm also starting to wonder if Nike-Joe has some kind of conference game curse on him. Outside of that, though, I expect him to move up this time around.
I tend to agree - I think most of the East is a lot closer to Miami than I think Miami is to NB.

As a member of the Makos I have to agree that the separation between us and NBSK is alot more than the teams that finished below us in the East. I expect a dogfight next season and I don't really know if I see us equally or bettering our record from last season. I doubt it really. That being said I was proud of our performance against NY in the playoff game. We went from losing 45-9 in the regular season to 11-6 in the playoff game shutting them out in the 2nd half except for a safety (by the way congrats to NY for moving on!). Without a doubt though NBSK is the favorite and i'm sure they'll move on this time. That will definitely leave an even bigger battle in the east the following season if they do move on.

Great team write-ups GwennA.

Honestly, call me bold, but I say Atlanta will be the #2 seed in the East.

Originally posted by rogerdyates
Originally posted by sicarius

Awesome work, GlennA! A perfect post to kick start the offseason. I can't argue with any of your selections, although it would be nicer if 4 of the top 5 teams weren't from the West. It's hard enough to get momentum for a franchise without facing these monsters every season!

Has the Caprica ownership change been made official yet?

There is no change in Caprica ownership, We will be back, same as the last two seasons. So be prepared.



Aww c'mon ... maybe just drop half your starters for this season? Seriously though, glad to see the other issue isn't causing the team to fold & go.

mgoblue71, you may be right. We barely beat them in the playoffs 15-10 and that came on 5 FG's if I remember right.

Pay no attention to Salem. nothing to see here move along

Originally posted by jmsne
Pay no attention to Salem. nothing to see here move along

Ahhh, so that's why you dropped your last 3 games instead of clinching a home game... you saw yourself in the power rankings and wanted to go back to being an underdog!