BUAFL As it Stands: Challenge Cup

Moving on from yesterdays Championship bracket we bring you the little brother of the main cup competition, the Challenge Cup (which really, is a plate...). Last week saw the Glasgow Tigers, Bradford Bears, Plymouth Blitz and UEA Pirates move on to the next round. Now we take a light hearted look at how we think the games would play out.

NORTH

Glasgow Tigers @ Hull Sharks
Following on from their victory last week against the Lincoln Colonials the Glasgow Tigers hit the road for the 5 hour journey to last years Challenge Cup runners up, the University of Hull Sharks.

The Sharks, coming off their bye week, were slow to start on offence and defence and gave up an early score after a blocked punt was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Glasgow attempted to take advantage of the oppositions lethargy in the next drive as they went for the long bomb on their first play, but FS Alex Di Guiseppe picked the ball just inside the sideline.

The Tigers started to build some pressure pinning Glasgow inside their own red zone and the pressure finally told when a fumble was recovered by Defensive Lineman Aleks Phelps. Going for the touchdown on the very next play paid off for Hull as Sebastian Gogerly passed to Benjamin Walker in the back of the end zone. The half ended with the scores level at 7 apiece.

The Sharks had obviously had an inspiring half time speech as they came out of the blocks quickly to start the second half with hard running from Will Hobbs resulting in a long touchdown run to start the 3rd quarter. Sensing blood in the water, the Sharks starting taking advantage of the poor pass coverage from Glasgow as Gogerly passed for another touchdown to WR Michael Cash.

The 4th Quarter fell foul of a typical Hull downpour and both teams struggled to put together drives due to the poor weather and the game ended with no further scores. Hull go on to the next round with a 27-7 win.

BUAFL Breakdown: The MAC (part 2)

Yesterday we took a look at the top half of the table and today we have the less fortunate teams that have to prop up the rest.

Nottingham Trent Renegades

With one of the best defences in the MAC NTU are considered one of the “BIG 4” in the MAC. NTU traditionally have a rivalry with the Derby Braves due to the short distance between the two cities and there is a ferociousness between the two teams when they meet, usually because they are fighting for a seed in the Challenge cup playoffs.

NTU’s offense is based around a run heavy offense lead by Danny Miller, a Colligate freshman out of Marist College and a high school All-American who has scored all of their points. NTU will hope to compete in the plate but will most likely be replaced by the controversial Northampton Nemesis.

Warwick Wolves

One of the teams that make up the "lower middle" of the MAC, Warwick have the potential to pull of the occasional minor upset, but are still some way off reaching the level where opposition teams start to really fear them. 

An opening day battering by Loughborough was expected, but they fought back well to at least compete with NTU, before a five-touchdown win at a rookie DMU side that still have an awful lot to learn at this level.

Their post-Christmas schedule features some very winnable games against Leicester, Coventry and Staffordshire before they take on the enigma of Northampton and an inevitable thumping at the hands of Birmingham.  

If veteran running back Tino Charamba stays fit then they have the chance of 0.500 record, perhaps more if the wheels fall off at Northampton.