1) The Ultimus game between the Arizona Outlaws and Yellowknife Wraiths was something of an enigma, mostly due to the wildly different paths the two teams took to arrive in the championship game.
In the ASFC, you have Arizona taking the more traditional path of an Ultimus contender. The Outlaws dominated the regular season, recording only three losses en route to finishing as the top seed in their conference and regular season champions. The title is even more impressive given the relative strength of the ASFC last season. Arizona had to fend off a strong Orange County Otters roster, the defending champion Austin Copperheads, the surprising upstart San Jose Sabercats, and the solid (albeit underperforming) New York Silverbacks. Still, you can't say the outcome was unexpected. The Outlaws did boast the highest average TPE per player in the league. Not many other teams can boast about fielding first team All Pros at quarterback and wide receiver despite operating out of the second lowest volume passing offense in the league. Their defense stepped up too, finishing as the #2 defense in the league in terms of points allowed. The domination carried on through the playoffs as Arizona trounced the Copperheads 38-17 in the ASFC championship game to earn their Ultimus berth.
On the other side, you have the surprising Cinderella story of the Wraiths. Yellowknife was just coming off a last place finish in S45, so expectations were low. I can say this with certainty as the Yellowknife GM that just making the playoffs would have been considered a successful season for us, which was a reasonable ceiling given that the Wraiths had the 4th lowest average TPE per player in the league. However, expectations quickly shifted as Yellowknife won its first three games straight, including blowout victories over the Colorado Yeti and Sarasota Sailfish. The winning ways continued as the Wraiths entered week 8 with a shocking record of 5-2. Lurking under the stellar record, though, there were obvious signs of weakness. Despite being ranked as a top 5 team in both points for and against at the time, the Wraiths were bottom 3 in both yards for and allowed. Essentially, timely turnovers and effective special teams plays negated long drives for opponents and gave Yellowknife short fields. This luck evened out in the back half of the season as the Wraiths limped into week 16 at 8-7.
This is where the miracles started occurring. Despite holding onto the second seed in the NSFC at the time, Yellowknife's playoff chances looked dire. They were underdog visitors at Sarasota, and if they lost then they needed the home favorite Cape Town Crash to lose to the visiting Baltimore Hawks who had nothing to play for. The Wraiths lost to Sarasota as expected, but Baltimore miraculously pulled off the win over Cape Town, allowing Yellowknife to sneak into the playoffs as the three seed. Unfortunately, this meant a direct rematch of the week 16 game they had just lost at Sarasota. The game was back and forth until early in the 4th quarter when it looked like the Sailfish were starting to pull away. Then came what has been dubbed "the worst coaching decision of all time." Despite appearing to be on cruise control for a victory, the Sailfish starting going for it on 4th down instead of taking easy field goals, and failing each time. They spiked the ball while having a timeout left. As the mistakes piled up, their lead shrank until Zenzeroni Xystarch II drilled the game tying field goal late in the 4th to send the game to overtime. Then, on the very first play of overtime, star running back Ace Anderson coughed up the ball at Sarasota's own 13. Xystarch drilled the game winning field goal, sending the Wraiths onto the conference championship. The miracles wouldn't stop there, though. As much as the Wraiths were underdogs to the Sailfish, they were even bigger underdogs to the Hawks who had just thoroughly dominated the NSFC. Surprisingly the game was a back and forth affair, encapsulated by a wild final two minutes of regulation that featured three punts and two interceptions to send the tied game to overtime. Baltimore would never touch the ball. Yellowknife inexorably marched downfield, converting three 3rd downs and chewing up over nine minutes of clock en route to a one yard dagger of a touchdown pass to end the game.
Which brings us to the title game. The juggernaut Outlaws hosting the Cinderella Wraiths. The game started slow with Yellowknife surprisingly looking like the better team out of the gate. The Wraiths opened scoring with a pair of field goals in between stopping Arizona drives quickly, even picking off Donovan Winters III. The tone shifted right before halftime, though, when Arizona's Bertie Mannering-Phipps took a broken play 69 yards for a touchdown. Yellowknife came out flat in the second half, so when Arizona scored another touchdown at the beginning of the 4th quarter and the Wraiths failed to respond at all it looked like that would be the game. However, as the Outlaws tried to whittle away the time after the two minute warning, Arizona running back Danny Nedelko fumbled into the waiting arms of Yellowknife's Mo Gago. The Wraiths moved quickly, crossing midfield with a 29 yard strike to put them near the Outlaws' 40. For a brief, shining moment, it looked like Yellowknife would have a chance to play in their third overtime game of the playoffs and complete their Cinderella story. However, Arizona's defense clamped down, forcing a failed 4th down conversion just two plays later to effectively end the game and win Arizona the Ultimus trophy.
In the ASFC, you have Arizona taking the more traditional path of an Ultimus contender. The Outlaws dominated the regular season, recording only three losses en route to finishing as the top seed in their conference and regular season champions. The title is even more impressive given the relative strength of the ASFC last season. Arizona had to fend off a strong Orange County Otters roster, the defending champion Austin Copperheads, the surprising upstart San Jose Sabercats, and the solid (albeit underperforming) New York Silverbacks. Still, you can't say the outcome was unexpected. The Outlaws did boast the highest average TPE per player in the league. Not many other teams can boast about fielding first team All Pros at quarterback and wide receiver despite operating out of the second lowest volume passing offense in the league. Their defense stepped up too, finishing as the #2 defense in the league in terms of points allowed. The domination carried on through the playoffs as Arizona trounced the Copperheads 38-17 in the ASFC championship game to earn their Ultimus berth.
On the other side, you have the surprising Cinderella story of the Wraiths. Yellowknife was just coming off a last place finish in S45, so expectations were low. I can say this with certainty as the Yellowknife GM that just making the playoffs would have been considered a successful season for us, which was a reasonable ceiling given that the Wraiths had the 4th lowest average TPE per player in the league. However, expectations quickly shifted as Yellowknife won its first three games straight, including blowout victories over the Colorado Yeti and Sarasota Sailfish. The winning ways continued as the Wraiths entered week 8 with a shocking record of 5-2. Lurking under the stellar record, though, there were obvious signs of weakness. Despite being ranked as a top 5 team in both points for and against at the time, the Wraiths were bottom 3 in both yards for and allowed. Essentially, timely turnovers and effective special teams plays negated long drives for opponents and gave Yellowknife short fields. This luck evened out in the back half of the season as the Wraiths limped into week 16 at 8-7.
This is where the miracles started occurring. Despite holding onto the second seed in the NSFC at the time, Yellowknife's playoff chances looked dire. They were underdog visitors at Sarasota, and if they lost then they needed the home favorite Cape Town Crash to lose to the visiting Baltimore Hawks who had nothing to play for. The Wraiths lost to Sarasota as expected, but Baltimore miraculously pulled off the win over Cape Town, allowing Yellowknife to sneak into the playoffs as the three seed. Unfortunately, this meant a direct rematch of the week 16 game they had just lost at Sarasota. The game was back and forth until early in the 4th quarter when it looked like the Sailfish were starting to pull away. Then came what has been dubbed "the worst coaching decision of all time." Despite appearing to be on cruise control for a victory, the Sailfish starting going for it on 4th down instead of taking easy field goals, and failing each time. They spiked the ball while having a timeout left. As the mistakes piled up, their lead shrank until Zenzeroni Xystarch II drilled the game tying field goal late in the 4th to send the game to overtime. Then, on the very first play of overtime, star running back Ace Anderson coughed up the ball at Sarasota's own 13. Xystarch drilled the game winning field goal, sending the Wraiths onto the conference championship. The miracles wouldn't stop there, though. As much as the Wraiths were underdogs to the Sailfish, they were even bigger underdogs to the Hawks who had just thoroughly dominated the NSFC. Surprisingly the game was a back and forth affair, encapsulated by a wild final two minutes of regulation that featured three punts and two interceptions to send the tied game to overtime. Baltimore would never touch the ball. Yellowknife inexorably marched downfield, converting three 3rd downs and chewing up over nine minutes of clock en route to a one yard dagger of a touchdown pass to end the game.
Which brings us to the title game. The juggernaut Outlaws hosting the Cinderella Wraiths. The game started slow with Yellowknife surprisingly looking like the better team out of the gate. The Wraiths opened scoring with a pair of field goals in between stopping Arizona drives quickly, even picking off Donovan Winters III. The tone shifted right before halftime, though, when Arizona's Bertie Mannering-Phipps took a broken play 69 yards for a touchdown. Yellowknife came out flat in the second half, so when Arizona scored another touchdown at the beginning of the 4th quarter and the Wraiths failed to respond at all it looked like that would be the game. However, as the Outlaws tried to whittle away the time after the two minute warning, Arizona running back Danny Nedelko fumbled into the waiting arms of Yellowknife's Mo Gago. The Wraiths moved quickly, crossing midfield with a 29 yard strike to put them near the Outlaws' 40. For a brief, shining moment, it looked like Yellowknife would have a chance to play in their third overtime game of the playoffs and complete their Cinderella story. However, Arizona's defense clamped down, forcing a failed 4th down conversion just two plays later to effectively end the game and win Arizona the Ultimus trophy.