Week 6 Power Rankings 1-14

The second part of our schedule sees some teams moving up and a tie!? Yes that’s right...a tie!

1. Hertfordshire Hurricanes (5-0)
With another 50+ win the Canes continue to lead our power rankings for the sixth straight week. A 51-0 victory over the previously unbeaten Essex Blades moves Herts to 5-0 at the Christmas break. With only one team left with a winning record left on their schedule, Hertfordshire look set on sealing the number one seed for the southern half of the league.

2. Birmingham Lions (4-0)
No game for the number 2 team in our rankings this week. With Derby and Loughborough on the schedule once the season resumes in the New Year, Birmingham will have to keep up the good form to return to the championship playoffs.

3T. Portsmouth Destroyers (4-0)
Despite not playing this week, the ‘U’ remains in our top 3 even though they are now tied with Loughborough for the third spot. Looking at their remaining fixtures Portsmouth should remain unbeaten all the way until their final game of the season against the Stags. If they go 8-0 once again, the Destroyers will no doubt be one of the top picks to make it to the semi finals once again.

3T. Loughborough Aces (5-0)
Apologies to the Aces defence. Clearly ranking them as the number one D in the country totally jinxed them into conceding 14 points to Derby. Despite giving up two TD’s, Loughborough still managed to win by 21 (the score could’ve been higher if J. Varney wasn’t stopped at the 1 after his interception). The matchup against Birmingham on February 19th will decide the MAC outcome.

Also top marks to whoever runs the Aces Facebook page...to quote “Fun Fact - Derby has never beaten the Aces. Ever”.

5. Hallam Warriors (4-0)
No game this week for the team who would be number one if we only used stats, unfortunately we don’t rely just on stats! Before everyone spits their dummies out we believe Hallam are good, very good in fact, but we don’t believe they are better than the four teams above them at the moment. If Hallam goes on to win the championship, I will gladly write a formal apology to the team on our site. I wonder if anyone on their team will write a comment saying that we were correct though?

6. Southampton Stags (5-0)
So...a solid 1-0 win for Southampton this week. As many know by now, the Stags game against Anglia Ruskin was called off due to the Phantoms not having enough players. A win in their first game back in February should lock up a playoff place once again for the Stags.

7. UWE Bullets (4-0)
Bullets were another team to fall victim to the weather as their matchup against Swansea was postponed this week (re-scheduled to take place in 2012). No matchup means the current leaders of the SWAC remain at the number 7 for another week. With four tough matchups after the long break it will be interesting to see if UWE can keep up their good form so far.

8. Newcastle Raiders (4-0)
Another team in our top 10 who’ve completed all of their fixtures for the 1st half of the season. With Glasgow as the only team who could pose a threat to the Raiders left on the schedule, Newcastle should be the favourites to win the Borders conference this year.

9. Kent Falcons (4-0)
Kent received a major boost this weekend when Hertfordshire knocked off the previously unbeaten Essex Blades. With their first four fixtures done and dusted, the Falcons can now focus their attention to the second half of the season and the possibility of knocking the Canes from the top spot of our rankings.

10. Sheffield Sabres (4-0)
Sheffield kept their unbeaten season on course by hammering Northern Conference whipping boys Lancaster 52-12. With plenty of time for their players to rest up the Sabres coaches can start planning on how they can stop their powerhouse rivals in the Steel City derby on February 5th. So far so good for Sheffield.

11. Cardiff Cobras (3-0)
Despite being down 13-0 at one stage against Bath, the Cobras managed to compose themselves and eventually earned a well fought win in what can only be described as miserable conditions (at least they managed to play!) No doubt Cardiff would be higher if they had played more fixtures so far, but at least they have five games after Christmas to move up the rankings.

12. UH Sharks (4-1)
From what I’ve heard, it was down to poor weather conditions which made it hard for the Sharks to run their offence and only win 6-0 against Huddersfield. If Hull want to return to the playoffs this
year, they may need to win their three remaining games to advance from the most competitive conference in the league this year.

13. OBU Panthers (3-1)
 No game this week for the Panthers and the Derby loss means OBU move up to number 13 for the end of year rankings. Despite losing to Portsmouth earlier in the year, OBU still find themselves with a very good chance of advancing to the playoffs with a relatively easy schedule. A good season so far for the first year OBU head coach.

14. Imperial Immortals (3-1)
Imperial continue their march towards the top of the rankings Imperial keep marching up our power rankings! This week they didn’t even need to play a game to rise in the rankings as teams above them lost (Ed: Perhaps due to a disturbing lack of faith?). If the Immortals want to make the playoffs this year they’ll need to beat OBU or the Stags and win the rest of their remaining fixtures to advance from the TVC.

That’s the last of our rankings for 2011, thanks for taking the time to read the site and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Keep an eye out for the Powerless rankings of the 10 worst teams in the BUAFL coming up next week!