The movers and shakers continue as we now see two - yes, two - rookie teams enter our top 15 and a new number one!
1. Birmingham Lions (6-0)
And your new number one team in the country is the Birmingham Lions! We’re guessing that everyone involved in britball will say that the Lions deserve to be on the top spot after their eight point victory over the number three team in our rankings. Birmingham will need to remain focused for the task at hand as they head to Warwick next week.
2. Hertfordshire Hurricanes (6-0)
Do Herts deserve to drop down this week? They'll probably feel hard done by, but because the Lions beating the number three team in our rankings and the Canes not having yet played a team of high quality, Hertfordshire drop down because of bad luck from the weather. Not to worry though as Gareth Davies gets extra praise for causing this fantastic moment!
3. Hallam Warriors (5-0)
Hallam sneaks up to the number three spot after another comprehensive victory and the Aces loss. The Warriors showed little signs of rust after the long break as they ranked up their 5th fifty burger of the season! A trip to Carnegie next weekend could end up being the biggest game of the conference.
4. Southampton Stags (7-0)
Win a game that’s called at HT and no one says it’s controversial? That’s what the Stags did as their game against Surrey was called at the half with Southampton winning by 50-0. With the Destroyers losing this weekend, Southampton have all but locked up the TVC division and a win next weekend could end the Portsmouth season – not just their Championship playoff bid, but their season completely!
5. Loughborough Aces (5-1)
Definitely the toughest decision of the week was how far should the Aces fall? After a long discussion we decided that the Aces would drop down below UWE, but then the upsets happened! Despite the loss, Loughborough showed fight throughout the game and were competitive until the final drive, but the bad news is that the Aces could end up missing the Championship playoffs because of the Nemesis causing all sorts of controversy!
6. Newcastle Raiders (7-0)
The Raiders finally got to play their rivalry game against Sunderland and a 38-0 victory saw Newcastle continue their winning ways. Next week, the Raiders can lock up their division and potentially a first round bye in the playoffs with a comprehensive victory of the Glasgow Tigers.
7. Hull Sharks (5-1)
The Sharks seem to be the team in the Northern Conference that nobody is talking about lately, but a 33-6 victory over the MMU Eagles see’s Hull well and truly in the race for a spot in the Championship playoff spot. With two away trips remaining on the schedule, don’t be surprised to see Hull finishing in the number two spot in the Northern Conference in a few weeks’ time.
8. UWE Bullets (6-1)
The Bullets fell victim to DemonMagic as they blew a nine point lead with eleven seconds left. If the Bullets had managed to pull off the victory then they’d have locked up their place in the Championship playoffs, but if they lose next week to Cardiff, they could possible end up taking part in the Plate playoffs.
9. OBU Panthers (4-1)
The Panthers have been benefited from having games called off, big upsets and a 39-0 victory over Gloucester at the weekend. OBU are currently in the driving seat for the number two spot in the TVC and could make the Championship playoffs only two seasons after separating from a multi-institutional team. I wonder what PDMs opinion on his former team is?
10. Bradford Bears (5-1-1)
Bradford seem to have taken the attention away from the Nemesis as they continue rising up our Power Rankings. Their third straight shutout victory moves the Bears into the second spot in the highly competitive Northern Conference. Next week’s game against the Sabres will keep one team in the playoff hunt whilst ending the losing team’s dreams.
11. Cardiff Cobras (4-1)
Big game for Cardiff next weekend, win and they’re on the way to being the SWAC champions, lose and there’s a distinct possibility that the Cobras are back in the Plate playoffs defending their crown from last season. This week though, the Cobras beat the Titans 14-7 in a close fought battle and improved Cardiff’s record to 4-1. There’s also a midweek game against the Gladiators to take care of in the upcoming days!
12. Northampton Nemesis (5-0)
Two rookie team’s in our top 15 PR!? The team currently sitting in the number two spot in the MAC finally showed what they could do against seasoned opponents as Northampton beat the Warwick Wolves 12-6. Next week the Northampton story continues as they head up to Nottingham to face the Outlaws in the game that should decide the MAC Championship playoff seedings!
13. Stirling Clansmen (5-1)
The Clansmen have finally reached the top half of our rankings as they improved to 5-1 with a 26-14 victory over Edinburgh. With this latest win, Stirling confirmed they’d be playing playoff football for another season and will be hoping they can beat the Mustangs next Sunday to virtually lock up the number two spot in the Borders Conference.
14. Leeds Carnegie (4-1-1)
We had to think for a while as to whether or not we should put Leeds above the Sabres, but how can you argue that they should be lower than Sheffield after Leeds manhandled them. The Carnegie defence continued to show their dominance as they held the Sabres to the lowest total of the season. A victory over Hallam next Sunday will blow the Northern Conference wide open and throw our PR into chaos once again!
15. Sheffield Sabres (5-1)
Sheffield has the honour of being the only other upset team to remain in the top part of our Power Rankings. There was a lot of talk on the comments section and forums suggesting that the Sabres may be back on top form and could possibly overcome the dominating Warriors, but after a 46-12 drubbing at the hands of the Carnegie, Sheffield are now in a battle to stay in the playoff race!
Tomorrow, due to popular demand we will be releasing our first Powerless bottom 15 rankings featuring the worst teams in BUAFL at the moment! It’s time to be named and shamed folks!
How does Nemesis vs. Outlaws decide playoff seeding? Regardless of the outcome of that game, the last playoff spot will still come down to the Robin Hood Bowl unless NTU beats Lufbra (assuming Renegades to the Aces, even if Outlaws somehow lose to Northampton, a win in the Notts Varsity would give the Outlaws the same record as Trent (5-3) with the head-to-head tiebreaker)
ReplyDeleteAs the playoffs tie breaker are decided by competitive record against other teams the Nemesis - Outlaws game will decide the playoff seeding if the Outlaws win.
DeleteShould the Outlaws win and Renegades lose to Lugbug then even if NTU wins the Varsity game, the Renegades will still make the playoffs if they both finish 5-3. This will be down to the fact that Notts beat Derby and NTU didn't.
The loss for Nemesis would also move the Aces back into the number two spot because Loughborough beat the Outlaws and Northampton wouldn't have.
If the Nemesis win then they're in the driving seat for the #2 spot in the MAC and I believe that even if the Renegades and Outlaws finish on the same record, the Outlaws would still make the playoffs because of the win over Derby. It seems that in BUAFL, competitive record is more important than head-to-head record.
Really? Common opponents take precedence in the order of tiebreakers over head-to-head? Any other league that would be incredibly counter-intuitive.... but with Andy Fuller in charge, I can easily believe it!
DeleteRichard - from the 2011-2012 Competition Rules download on the BUAFL website
DeleteRule 5.9b)
b) In the instance where two or more teams are tied for a place in the Conference the higher ranked team will be decided through the following process:
i. Submission of the League Participation Form
ii, Competitive record for both teams when facing each other during the season – win / loss / tied record
iii. Competitive record for both teams when facing common opponents during the season – win / loss / tied record
Assuming both Notts teams got their league participation form in, looks like the robin hood bowl will be the tiebreaker - even if outlaws lose to northampton and renegades beat lufbra, an outlaws win over trent will give them the tiebreaker (both teams would be 5-3 in that situation, assuming they beat cov & dmu respectively)
Hmm...I read the discussion from coaches around the league wrong and got points ii and iii mixed up. I do apologise for my mistake - it has been a long weekend and not fully with it yet!
DeleteRobin hood bowl = GAME ON.
gonna be an epic game :D seeing as it's on a friday night, you guys gonna cover it like you did lufbra/brum?
DeleteIf Birmingham blew the Aces out I'd accept it, but as it is....No way!
ReplyDeleteHow has there been a draw? We play OT
ReplyDeleteThe game went on for so long that it got too dark to see and had to be called off.
DeleteGuys, you really aren't doing yourselves any favours with two mistakes in the opening paragraph. Almost like reading Fight For The Yard!
ReplyDeleteShould read, "The movers and shakers continue as we now see two - yes, two - rookie teams enter our top 15 and a new number one!"
Oh and "Wot, no Outlaws in top 25?"
I'm sorry but how can you argue that the Outlaws should be in the top 25? Their 3 wins came against LJM who are winless, against DMU who are a rookie team and have only beaten Worcester! Finally their other win was against Derby and the game was called in the third quarter.
DeleteThey lost 59-8 to Birmingham, NTU only lost 25-6 (I'm guessing you believe you should be ahead of them).
Scumbag poster: Calls out blog for spelling mistakes. Spells "what" wrong.
DeletePretty sure that "no Outlaws in top 25" was sarcastic. Yet more proof there needs to be a sarcasm font.
DeleteTo be fair, you shouldn't have spelled "now" wrong Swampy. Nevertheless, whoever pointed that out should shut up and concentrate on reading the content to understand why Outlaws aren't in the top 25 instead of looking for spelling mistakes. Maybe if you focussed more on your game and less on spelling, then you may actually be a good enough team to be recognised in the top 25.
DeleteSidebar: Quite ironic how you're offended that Outlaws aren't in the top 25, however see the blog as not being credible...why do you care so much if the blog is shit?(It isn't, but I'm proving a point here)
Outlaws players are not permitted to comment on opinions/stories directly related to the BUAFL. Any posts claiming to be by, or about, the Outlaws, are not from within the team.
DeleteEvery team comes out with that line. If it were true then there wouldn't be any discussions on places like this.
DeleteYou know what gets me going? Pee
DeleteThe only reason loughborough came back into it was be because the big man got injured... 21-0 before the injury!
ReplyDeletetbf the Aces were driving on the Lions even when Burrows was in... granted it made it a lot easier when he left the game (no disrespect to the other linemen) but a couple of picks deep in Lions territory meant that the game looked to be heading for a blowout. The main difference came when the backups came in on the offence for the lions, before this happened it looked like the Aces defence didn't have a clue and had no answer to the prolific Birmingham offence.
DeleteSpelling on this entire blog is woeful!
ReplyDeleteFight For The Yard is a far better read.
...you criticize, yet you read the blog so thoroughly that you can pick up on these mistakes. Maybe you enjoy the content even more than your own blog? Maybe you just can't produce good enough content to not trawl through other blogs for ideas?
DeleteP.S. I'm assuming you're involved in Fight For The Yard? The last post stinks of desperation with your petty attempt to gain more interest from your own blog on another blog's site. No one likes a dick - except pussies - so stop being one.
You assume wrong ... I have read bits of this blog and everytime I have, I have found numerous mistake, spelling and grammar..
DeleteYou are obviously part of Dbl Coverage so why go by Anonymous? Trying to make it look like you have a an army of loyal followers?
I may create a blog now just to annoy you and actually spell correctly.
P.S. - Its CRITICISE not criticize, buttmunch!
We don't need to pretend about an army of followers and I doubt it was one of our staffers as they're told not to respond to comments, especially anonymous ones!
DeleteWe appreciate your concern for our grammar and spelling and apologise about something that obviously upsets you so much. We will try harder in the future.
Oh and your opening paragraph should say:
"You assumed wrong ... I have read bits of this blog and everytime I have, I have found numerous spelling mistakes and grammatical errors."
I wonder what PDMs opinion on his former team is?
ReplyDeletePDM - I am very happy for them. A fair portion of the team are now in the their 3rd/4th year of playing, which I believe is a factor behind their success. Add in some very good rookies, a new(ish) offensive playbook and the benefits are obvious. Just a sidenote, I called Nick Wykes (Panthers HC) and offered my congratulations after their victory over BNU.
Phil De Monte
I also believe Coach Wykes is a very capable coach doing an outstanding job in his first year as a Head Coach.. :-)
DeletePhil De Monte
As a team from the the Northern Conference I must say it looks really good for the North to have 5 teams in the top 15.
ReplyDeleteWarriors, Sharks, Bears, Carnegie and Sabres...
I agree the people comment that the northern teams can't play football, but with these win recoreds who can argue.
Delete