Warrior General Games

Wow, as usual, the first couple/few weren't that tough, then it got into some hard choices. Scranton showing some signs of struggling, but beating Vice City, who overcame the typically tough Akron team early put the East right where it usually is - in a state onf confusion once you get past the first team on the list or so. I forsee a lot of back and forth in the division, per usual.

As usual, feel free to agree, disagree, argue, tell me I'm crazy for not ranking South Texas #1, whatever. This is here to provoke discussion.

Just as when making predictions, New Hampshire will not be appearing in my rankings. Feel free to place or not place as you will, just so there's no questions.

1. New Brunswick Scarlet Knights
Its the regular season, and that means that the New Brunswick juggernaut is on a roll. I think the typical question applies - can they keep it up when they hit the late playoffs?... as they're one of very, very few 'whens' in the East, not if.

2. Rapid City Rushmores
The Rushmores showed some signs of really struggling in the pre-season, and then had some close calls in the early season. Since then they seem to have gotten things all figured out, and held out where they had to. They have this spot at least until we see some results from Caprica and DVDTalk against them.

3. DVDTalk Otters
Wow, was this a tough call between 3 and 4. Two teams in the East have shown some impressive results, had great seasons last time around, and have had similar schedules so far in terms of challenges. Ultimately, I rate a quality win over Chicago slightly higher than the quality win over Anchorage, and the regular season results from last time speak for themselves.

4. Caprica Bucaneers
the Bucs are off to a great start, and look to just keep it rolling. They put a big time whipping on the Western Conference Wolves, which shows the gap between the top playoff teams and the next tier down in the West may well be as great as ever, and Caprica seems to have secured a place near the top until the Otters and Rushmores prove otherwise.

5. Miami Hammerheads
Miami has made leaps and bounds this season - even if they honestly weren't that far out in terms of anything but final results last season. Undefeated so far, they face a huge challenge just down the road in Gulf State soon that may well speak volumes for one team or the other, and give someone the early edge in the run at home playoff spots.

6. Gulf State Demons
Speaking of the Demons, they have a really interesting stretch run here travelling to New Hampshire, then seeing the Hammerheads. No matter what, this run ought to clear the early picture in the East a little.

7. WCBW Vikings
No way you can exclude the bye week from the rankings entirely. They've definitely got some of the very top players in the league, and can power their way through a lot. As level gaps close a little, though, where will they end up?

8. Chicago Maroons
Chicago brings a tough team to the table week after week. DVDTalk picked up a quality win over them, but outside of the very top tier teams they show up strong against just about anyone.

9. Miami Makos
Their record might not reflect it, but they didn't go 13-3 last time around for nothing, and that was while the Strikers were still around. Their first loss could have just as easily gone the other way. So while they've slipped a good ways I don't think they're out of the rankings yet.

10. Vice City Mambas/Scranton Wilkes-Barre Menzingers
Ok, so blatantly cheating here. Scranton beat Vice City, but Scranton is also strongest on defense against vice City's game. Vice City's record last season, and signs of strength this season with the Akron win keep them in the running here.

Great work as always GwennA . Happy to see the Hammerheads made it in.
Like you said we will see if they deserve it or not. Their schedule is about to get interesting. We still have the Makos(who we have not beat ever )
Also we have the NBSK, they are number1 for a reason, then you guys. Throw the
Demons in the mix we will find if the Hammerheads are for real. (being bias I think they are)

Originally posted by ron2288
Great work as always GwennA . Happy to see the Hammerheads made it in.
Like you said we will see if they deserve it or not. Their schedule is about to get interesting. We still have the Makos(who we have not beat ever )
Also we have the NBSK, they are number1 for a reason, then you guys. Throw the
Demons in the mix we will find if the Hammerheads are for real. (being bias I think they are)

There's a good reason I put the Miami/Miami game in my games of the week thread. I think that's going to be a huge test. Gulf State is going to be a tough one for both the Hustlers and the Hammerheads, no doubt about it.

I'm not sure losing to NBSK disqualifies anyone from being for real one way or another though.

Nice rankings Gwenn. I think you hit the nail on the head with this one.

I am interested in where people put NH?

Thanks for all the hard work, and thanks for giving the otters respect.

In the East I'd put you at #2. Don't know how you stack up to the top of the West though. I'm guessing behind the top 3 though. How much have you boosted? That matters too.

Originally posted by lunchbox
Thanks for all the hard work, and thanks for giving the otters respect.

The Otters have earned it.

Originally posted by Nike-Joe
In the East I'd put you at #2. Don't know how you stack up to the top of the West though. I'm guessing behind the top 3 though. How much have you boosted? That matters too.

Some. Maybe All. I'm under orders not to say - but then that's part of the fun of the power rankings. Had to go by what I know based on the data at hand and pre-season scouting.

Did you see what Salem did to Akron last week?

Originally posted by jkdog855
I am interested in where people put NH?

In my opinion, I would put you guys at 5 with Miami in the overall rankings. Both solid teams. Both have improved roster wise. Both have beaten some decent contenders. But still, both have something to prove. I'm not entirely sure how either of you would stack up against the top West contenders. I think only time will tell.

Originally posted by vhstud07
Did you see what Salem did to Akron last week?

I did, and if they keep it up, Salem may well climb up the rankings pretty significantly. There's a good reason I had them on my power rankings list last season.

Honestly, in the East, the distance between the #2 team and the #10 team just isn't that great, which makes power rankings really tricky there.

Big game this week between Rapid City and Caprica, we could have a shake up near the top of GwennA's rankings! Thanks for giving us the nod at #2 despite the shaky preseason (did have 2 tough opponents!). I can see any of those teams you listed 2-4 winning the West.

Originally posted by GwennA
Honestly, in the East, the distance between the #2 team and the #10 team just isn't that great, which makes power rankings really tricky there.

I don't know how accurate that statement really is. Even though theres still a ways to go this season, I'm starting to see some separation here. Next to the seemingly unboosted NBSK, with an average of about 25 you guys have the highest level starting lineup in the East. Probably the most improved roster in the East and or league this season.

You can't fly under the radar for to long. People will start to notice that a big ass airplane just took out their Dish.

Originally posted by Morphius
Originally posted by GwennA

Honestly, in the East, the distance between the #2 team and the #10 team just isn't that great, which makes power rankings really tricky there.

I don't know how accurate that statement really is. Even though theres still a ways to go this season, I'm starting to see some separation here. Next to the seemingly unboosted NBSK, with an average of about 25 you guys have the highest level starting lineup in the East. Probably the most improved roster in the East and or league this season.

You can't fly under the radar for to long. People will start to notice that a big ass airplane just took out their Dish.



Some teams haven't boosted yet either, some have only done so partially. We return most of the lineup we had last season, but some of it looks fairly new because a handful of the additions were made right near the end of last season.
We also waited to boost until playoff time - looking over the league, I thought we could eke out a 9-7 finish and make the playoffs... I was half right.

We barely beat the Makos to start the season, and I expect Gulf State to be a very close game. A couple big plays also were all that separated the game vs. Detroit from being much closer than it was.

We have made some improvements - especially at cornerback, which was a sore spot until right near the very last days of last season, and we had a few of our players ask to bring a couple of their guys in - so we sent some of the owner/GM's players out to make room, but most of the roster should still look pretty familiar.

I'm proud of the team, and not pretending we're just lucky to be here - I've worked my ass off to get the team where its at as both a GM and DC, and a lot of our players have put a lot of time and work in too.

That said, I don't think the Makos have faded that much, the Hammerheads are going to be a huge challenge, Gulf State has really stepped up their game, Salem just destroyed a tough Akron team, Akron has had our number since day 1.... I expect a lot more close games than blowouts. I don't think last season's muddled mess was an accident.