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NFL Conference Championship Predictions

A decent week with 3/4 of the wins, but it's a shame the Broncos failed so miserably on their final stand or my unbeaten post-season run would have continued.

As it stands we don't have the Conference show-downs many people expected, but that's all part of the beauty of the post-season! Let's hope both this weekend's games are as hard fought as most of the Divisional round's were.

Divisional Round = 3-1

Post-Season = 7-1

Regular Season = 166-91 (65%)

BUCS Predictions

Could these be the most pointless predictions we've ever done? With snow covering much of the country and more to come on Friday, it seems likely that most of this weekend's four games will fall by the wayside, adding to the already mangled fixture list.

No matter - we have made a promise to our readers, and we shall deliver. Here our our writers' picks and predictions for this weekend's games, starting North of the Wall...

Big North Western Conference

Staffordshire Stallions (1-2) v #8 Sheffield Sabres (4-0)

Sunday marks the first game back since the Christmas break in the Big North Western, as the undefeated Sheffield Sabres travel south to play their re-arranged match against the Staffordshire Stallions at the Stables.

The Stallions are yet to win at home this season and entered the festive period with a 1-2 record, losing to the Manchester Tyrants and conference leaders, the Derby Braves. Their sole victory came on the road after recording a 28-13 win over the Liverpool Fury.

Historically, the Stallions have the edge in this fixture winning the previous four meetings; however the only previous encounters came back in the 04/05 and 05/06 seasons, with Staffordshire claiming victory on all four occasions.

The Sabres have had little to complain about in terms of getting the results in the first half of the season, but with the league rescheduling this game during their exam period, followed by two games against local rivals and division leaders Derby in quick succession, they will have a lot on their plate in the coming weeks.

The Sabres could hand a start to quarterback David Saul in this fixture, after undergoing a shoulder reconstruction on his throwing arm in December. According to reports he was back throwing at training last week, but Head Coach Tim Mullinar says it will be a game day decision whether he plays;    

“He's recovering well and it will likely be a game day decision. I would be very surprised if he didn't kit up. Even if he is out, I have a lot of faith in Jacob Hardy at QB and we have a lot of physical players and athletes on the offense to complement either of them.”

Historically, the Stallions have always dominated this fixture, but the Sabres are now a very different prospect compared with that 05/06 team and even without the services of David Saul under centre should be too much for their opponents.

Sabres by three scores  

MAC

Nottingham Trent University Renegades vs Wolverhampton Wildcats

Is this prediction even worth writing? With two games forfeited (including one this weekend just passed) and five still to play, the story of the Wildcats in 2012/13 is reminiscent of Britball in the 1980s, when teams would spring up, enter leagues, run out of players and fold - all within a matter of months.

If Wolverhampton can muster the league minimum players, they can expect a heavy defeat as NTU look to cement their position as the MAC's third best team ahead of their Varsity game in early February.

The weather may well come the the Wildcats' rescue, potentially prolonging the drawn-out saga.

NTU by 40

SWAC

Gloucestershire Gladiators vs Worcester Royals

The game that used to be a local wooden spoon bowl has turned into quite a different monster this year, with Gloucestershire exceeding all expectations whilst Worcester carry on much as they have done previously.

Worcester and Cheltenham (yes, they don’t play in Gloucester) are only separated by 25 miles of the M5, but the gulf between these two teams is much wider than that.

Worcester will up their game for Varsity, but I still see Gloucestershire coming away with a handsome victory.

Gloucestershire by 25.

Tarannau Aberystwyth vs Bristol Barracuda

A battle of 2-1 teams sees Cuda make the long trip across the Valleys to meet Tarannau.

Aberystwyth went into Christmas riding high on the crest of the Welsh Bowl wave, with a thrilling exhibition of passing football leading to a 2-0 victory over their bitter rivals. Bristol looked less than impressive in their last game before Christmas, getting eviscerated 52-15 by a resurgent Plymouth Blitz side.

Expect Aber to ride their momentum into this matchup, but I still see the big fish coming back across the Severn with a narrow victory under their belts.

Bristol by 7

TVC

Portsmouth Destroyers Vs Brunel Burners

This is a rearranged game that was cancelled at the end of last year due to a flooded pitch. If we had had predicted this game back then, we’d have given less kudos to Portsmouth and more to Brunel, however the tables are turned slightly.

Portsmouth have had time to adjust to being without Head Coach Russ Hewitt, and also scraped a one point win over OBU. Brunel however, have struggled after their first game.

Portsmouth by a score.

SEC

SEC Canterbury Chargers vs Imperial Immortals

One of the unknown factors post-Christmas is whether teams have lost or gained any key players, thus making the first week after Christmas hard to predict accurately.

Imperial have a chance of making the plate playoffs this season, their first in the SEC, but they have to play well down the stretch and win out. Canterbury might have buried any chance they had of improving on last year’s performance by not being able to win the close games.

Imperial by 3 scores.

SEC Kent Falcons vs KCL Regents

Kings are another team that haven’t been able to pull it out of the bag in close games, and they will undoubtedly struggle against Kent who have been scoring points for fun prior to Christmas. I think this game will be closer than expected but Kent will still prove to be the better side.

Kent by 2 scores.

FBU Statement

Top European athletes were invited to attend the U.S. Army All-American Bowl events in San Antonio,
Texas this past January. The Bowl features the top 90 high school football players in the United States.
For 12 years, the Bowl has been the biggest showcase of U18 football talent in the world. The game is
televised nationally and in 80 countries and is attended by more than 40,000 fans. More than 1,500 top
athletes attend this annual showcase from various age groups. Alumni of the Bowl include Mark Sanchez
(Jets), Adrian Peterson (Vikings) Tim Tebow (Jets), Andrew Luck (Colts), Reggie Bush (Dolphins),
Ndamukong Suh (Lions) and Demarco Murray (Cowboys).

For the last two years, we have invited some of the best athletes from the world including Canadian
athletes and top European athletes to play and compete in related all-star games or compete in our
combine events for underclassmen. These athletes compete before hundreds of scouts. Several
international athletes have received scholarships or scholarship interest from major universities.
This year, we added an entire European team to participate in international competition in Texas. These
athletes were hand-selected through our FBU international division, which features former NFL coaches
who traveled to Europe to provide clinics and train young football athletes in Germany, Austria,
Netherlands, England, Scotland and Belgium.

Several of the governing bodies that currently belong to IFAF were initially supportive of our overall
efforts. Several requested to work with us as a “development partner” to help train their football coaches
and train their top players for international competition.

Until this year, there has never been any objection by the International Federation of American Football
(IFAF) in any form. In fact, we have never received any communication of any kind from IFAF directed
at myself, our staff, or our company. In fact, we invited several representatives from governing
provinces/governing bodies to attend our U.S. Army Bowl last year in San Antonio. Many attended and
many expressed interest in supporting our efforts to grow the Bowl internationally.

To say the least, we were surprised and disappointed to hear that IFAF threatened its athletes with
sanctions if their athletes played in our events in San Antonio this year. Unfortunately, our company
never received anything official or unofficial from IFAF or any of the affected governing bodies.
When we contacted an IFAF official about the sanctions, he responded that IFAF passed the policy in the
summer at an executive meeting. He suggested that it was designed to keep lesser reputable companies
from entering the market and not intended to affect high quality events like ours.

There is no doubt that the IFAF is familiar with our Bowl, as USA Football participated in our Bowl a
few years ago. Over the past 12 years, the NFL and the NFL Players Association have also sent
representatives to participate in our Bowl and speak with our athletes. Despite the comment from the
IFAF executive, IFAF denied sanctioning the Bowl but invited us to apply for sanctioning in January after
our Bowl.

Upon request, we were sent the IFAF policy by IFAF and shared such policy with the invited athletes to
explain the option to participate or not to participate. Very few were aware of the policy and several
athletes were unaware of the existence of their governing body.

All athletes and parents were sent a waiver so they could fully understand the consequences of
participation in our Bowl events and all were invited to contact their governing body to discuss the matter.
Almost all the athletes expressed a strong interest in participating and signed the waiver. A few chose not
to participate.

We understand that IFAF runs its own international events and has been doing so for several years. Most
of the top athletes in our country who play in our Bowl at the U18 and U15 level typically choose not to
play in their events for variety of reasons. Mainly, it is simply not the biggest platform to showcase their
ability. Although we train close to 9,000 athletes every year including the majority of top U18 and U15
talent, we have never discouraged any athlete from playing in an IFAF event. Those that have participated
in IFAF events have reported positive experiences.

In the spirit of IFAF and most other governing bodies, we believe that international competition is better
for the growth of the athlete and we encourage play in competitive settings, no matter who organizes it,
provided that it is done in a safe, organized and affordable environment.

When FBU started its international play a few years ago, we decided to not charge athletes any
registration fee for participation. We also worked hard to provide free uniforms, helmets, venues and
practice facilities including the Alamodome (an indoor turf facility that seats 60,000 people) for games.
We believe the opportunity to play in San Antonio during Bowl Week allows international athletes the
chance to play against top talent, compete on an exciting stage and experience an incredible week of
football in a very affordable way. All of the international athletes who traveled to San Antonio this
January played in two games, attended seminars by former and current NFL athletes and enjoyed a Bowl
week complete with a private concert with other top athletes.

We were saddened and disappointed to learn about the IFAF policy. We are at a loss as to why IFAF
would prevent its top athletes from competing on the biggest U18 stage in the world, especially when
uniforms, helmets, indoor facilities and lunches are provided to athletes for free and they are not charged
a registration fee for competition.

We take no issue with the IFAF executive who stated that this policy was not intended to stop first class
events like ours but to protect athletes from low quality events. Despite that statement, IFAF still chose to
not sanction this event. Thus, they placed their athletes in a difficult position.
After reading the IFAF web site and mission statement, which promotes high level international
competition, the education of coaches and the development and growth of American football, we believed
we were supporting that very mission and its core values.

Thus, we are at a loss at IFAF’s actions and decision. I do appreciate the governing bodies connected to
IFAF who promised their athletes that they would not impose any sanctions for participation. I also
appreciate IFAF expressly allowing international athletes to compete in our combine activities in San
Antonio. It also appears that USA Football has approached several of the same athletes who participated
in our events in San Antonio to play for Team USA. Given those efforts, I hope that indicates a change of
heart and policy for the rest of the IFAF countries in relation to their players.

Lastly, although we are disappointed with IFAF’s policy, no one within our company is at odds with its
overall mission to grow and promote American football around the world. This statement should not
serve as a general critique of football’s governing bodies around the world. We work with many of them
and have official and unofficial relationships with several. In every country, they are a well needed
organization which promotes football and good standards. They are led by passionate people who love
football just like we do.

Sincerely,
Rich McGuinness
President, All-American Games

North Eastern Mid-Season Review

It’s been an interesting first half of the season in the newly formed North Eastern Conference. Newcastle and Northumbria, who were 8-0 and 6-2 last season respectively, now sit at 1-3 and 2-3. Joined by 4 teams with winning records last season, it’s becoming hard to tell who’ll join the Hull Sharks in the playoffs. Here, we look at some of the results, the table and whether a team can enter the post-season.

Halfway through the season, not many people would bet on the Hull Sharks to end the season without the inaugural North Eastern Conference title. Sitting at 4-0, they have all but guaranteed themselves champions of the new division and another year of post-season football. After already seeing off potential threats Carnegie, Leeds Celtics & Bradford; ther e seems little to stand in their way. Quarterback Seb Gogerly is playing well, and wide receiver Johnny Ley looks to be hitting his stride nicely. The question remains though; once the Sharks reach the playoffs do they have the firepower to overcome the big teams?

Sitting in second place at the moment is the ever unpredictable Leeds Carnegie. With a 3-1 record, their post-season fate lies entirely in their hands. If they win their final four games, they’ll clinch second spot. However, these games include two 3-2 teams in Bradford and Celtics, the latter being played on Superbowl Sunday – perfect for a varsity rivalry.