Tijuana has had an absolutely dominant season through 10 weeks and all things look like the stage is set for an Ultimini rematch of Portland vs Tijuana from S43. While I am certainly going to jinx this by assuming we will get the rematch, I’m going to focus in my answer to this PT by looking at what Tijuana will need to focus on this season to accomplish what they couldn’t last season. Currently on a six week streak, week 11 will be very telling as they head to Portland for their second matchup of the regular season. Going back their last three matchups, Portland has won all three which is impressive considering Tijuana’s dominance against the rest of the DSFL, with their last non-Portland loss coming against Bondi Beach in week 13 of the previous season. One thing to note however is that this S44 Tijuana team is not at all the same as from a year ago, even if the team a year ago was able to make it to the Ultimini. The Ultimini was a blowout last year, and Tijuana was not as strong of a team - losing six in the regular season. Right now even if Tijuana somehow lost the rest of their games, they’d still end up with a better regular season than last year. Additionally, their point differential is much stronger than Portland’s this year. Portland had a point differential of +157 compared to Tijuana’s +47. Through 10 weeks this season however, Tijuana has a positive point differential of 193 compared to Portland’s 129. Both teams are very impressive this year, with Portland’s defense giving up an average of 13.6 points against per game and Tijuana’s giving up 15.4. To me the clear key to Tijuana having the edge over Portland this year will be their powerful and balanced offense that has managed to score nearly 35 points per game and about 8 more points per game than Portland. As long as that potent offense can keep scoring even against Portland’s league leading defense, Tijuana should be able to enact revenge in an Ultimini rematch this season.
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