So, while I am aware the teams are mostly using meme quality strats, I am going to rank the teams based on their preseason performances.
I Will put the full power ranking out first, then I will go into my reasoning after.
I realize the season has already started and we have two full weeks done, I started this after the last preseason game and just didn't get it done as soon as I wanted, but since I already put the work into it, I am going to finish it and post it!
Based solely on Pre Season records :
1.) Austin Copperheads - 4-0
2.) Colorado Yetis - 3-1
3.) Chicago Butchers - 3-1
4.)Yellowknife Wraiths - 2-2
5.) Arizona Outlaws - 2-2
6.) New York Silverbakcs - 2-2
7.) New Orleans Second Line - 2-2
8.) Sarasota Sailfish - 2-2
9.) Honolulu Hahalua - 2-2
10.) Philadelphia Liberty - 2-2
11.) San Jose Sabercats - 2-2
12.) Orange County Otters - 1-3
13.) Berlin Fire Salamanders - 1-3
14.) Baltimore Hawks - 0-4
Well, with only one team going undefeated in the pre season, the Austin Copperheads sit alone atop the list. With two teams managing to finish with three and one records, I placed them based off who their one loss was to, and I figure the Yetis on loss was to Austin and by three points, they get the edge for second. For spots four through eleven, I had to kind of look at which teams lost to which team and who beat who. And in the end, it was somewhat picked off of how I feel about it. I have the wraiths at four because they beat the butchers and I am a homer, plus they are the defending champions. After that, you could argue anyone of the teams in any of those spots. In twelfth, we have the first of two one and three teams, the Orange County Otters, they seem to do well in season every year, but maybe the new sim is not as kind to them(maybe the deal they made with the devil only applied to the old sim....) and followed by the Berlin Fire Salamanders. And bringing up the rear is the Baltimore Hawks, unwinners of the pre season. Not sure what is happening in Baltimore, but they might need some help if the season continues along this path.
Number One Team :
Austin Copperheads - 4-0
Hard to argue with their ranking as they are the only team to go un defeated in the pre season. Now, this doesn't mean anything for the season. Most teams don't set any real strats for this and the sim likes to sim. Looking at their team, on offense, they have three good wide receivers and a solid running back one. They also have a full back with lower TPE, but for that position I am not sure it matters as much. Their two biggest issues on offense are their lower TPE quarter back and their two low TPE offensive linemen(I know they are still better than bots, but they are super new). They have a decent TPE tight end, who is a position swap from wide receiver(ex-Luchadore). On defense, they have a solid defensive line with a super high tier defensive end and tackle shoring it up with a couple of lower TPE guys filling in the holes. Their secondary as a whole is solid(I am including the linebackers), they have lots of talent back there, many guys with 800 plus TPE and a few lower TPE on the rise guys. I don't normally comment on special teams, but their kicker (low TPE) was pretty solid, he went four for four in the first game and hit a fifty + yarder in game 3, and had quite a few punts that pinned opposing teams inside the twenty yard line.
Number Two Team :
Colorado Yeti - 3-1
One of two teams to finish the pre season with three wins and only one loss. On top of that, their one loss was to the un defeated copperheads, and on top of that it was only by two points. So the position of the top two teams could easily have been reversed. On offense, this team has two really good wide receivers, a baller running back(swanky ftw), and a really good up and coming quarterback. They have two good offensive linemen and a third with lower TPE, but definitely on the rise, but their biggest weakness on offense is their low level tight end and their third wide receiver is a bit low on TPE(solid earner and getting better). On defense, they are led by a defensive end and linebacker(both ballers), followed by another solid linebacker and their secondary, a good group overall, most are still on the young side, with one older, in regression corner. Their special teams, Silver Banana, had a couple of games with superb punting! In one game he had six punts and all six put the other team inside the twenty yard line! Not sure it is good how many punts he had to make though, and his field goal kicking was lack luster in attempts.
Number Three Team :
Chicago Butchers - 3-1
Our second of the two three and one teams, their one loss coming at the hands of Yellowknife Wraiths. It seems as has been the case the last few seasons, their are multiple high ranked teams in the NSFC, with three of the top four coming from that conference. On offense, they are led by one of the highest TPE quarter backs in the league and he is a gun slinger. Helping out on offense they have high TPE offensive lineman, tight end and a running back, followed up with two wide receivers (both solid, one regressing though) and five human offensive linemen total(holy crap that is a lot, even if a few are low TPE, doesn't matter). On defense they have three amazing corner backs, all over 1000 TPE and none started regression yet. They have a solid defensive line and a good rest of the defense honestly, this team doesn't really have any major holes. Their special teams is pretty solid. Their kicker had some good punts in pre season and at least one fifty plus yard field goal. Overall this team could be scary, depending on how the new sim feels about them, but they appear to built to try and win now.
Number Four Team :
Yellowknife Wraiths - 2-2
The first of many teams with a two and two record, also the defending Ultimus champions, who also returned almost all of their championship team for another go at it. So, while you might argue some other two and two team is better, I am going with the fact that this team already proved they can win with this roster, and also I am a wraith so suck it. On offense, they have a top tier quarter back running the show, with great options at wide receiver, running back and tight end. Their wide receiver two is up an coming, with a solid running back two and good wide receiver three. On offensive line they have one super great one, and two lower TPE, one is heavily in regression. On defense, they are led by one of the top line backers in the game, with top tier defensive tackle, safety, and a defensive end. They have a decent number of young talent in the secondary with two young high earning corners and a couple even younger guys, defensive end and linebacker, forming a solid long term secondary. Overall, another solid team with some young guys on the rise to hopefully become the nucleus of a long term contender.
Number Five Team :
Arizona Outlaws - 2-2
The next team in the almost endless teams of two and two. Again, it is hard to separate these teams much based on record, so some of it is who they beat and who they lost to. Some of it was picking the bottom few teams first to see who was left for these spots. But based on the team, they should have a good season, I do recall them having some bad luck the last season or two in close games. Who knows what will be with the new sim. On offense they have a season twenty four quarter back with 800+ TPE, a super high TPE speed back and two really good wide outs, as well as decently high TPE second running back. They only have two human offensive linemen, (oops forgot about Jay Cue swapping, so they actually have three). On defense they have a super high TPE defensive tackle right in the middle, with a really good secondary behind him, a couple of corners, safeties and linebackers all with over 800 TPE. Special teams, they have a kicker punter who appears to barely be earning, if it at all. But as we know in this sim, appears kickers are barely people.
Number Six Team :
New York Silverbacks - 2-2
Oh, wow another team sitting at five hundred after playing four meaningless preseason games. This is one of the teams I expect to make strides going forwards this season. But, new sim and all that. This list is not the order I think the teams will end the season in, but instead, how they look taking those four games into account. On offense they have a solid young quarter back approaching his prime, with one awesome receiver, and a second one who is decent, followed with a young back field, a season twenty four and five back. Offensive line they have two humans trying to block for them. On defense they are led by a defensive tackle, corner back and one of their line backers, with a good number of younger guys filling out the rest of the roster. They unlike most teams have a kicker who knows how to earn, should be able to last quite a while the kicker position. Overall, it is a good team with potential, especially considering this is a new expansion team.
Number Seven Team :
New Orleans Second Line - 2-2
Yep, you guessed it another of the two and two teams. This is another team I have as a sneaky good team potentially. Again, par for the course at this time, who knows how well everything will transition to the new sim. I like the leadership and feel like they have some strong pieces going forwards. On Offense they have one of the top quarter backs in the league with over 1200 TPE, led by a tiny bit of TPE, their top wide receiver, they have a top tier tight end(even if he is in regression), two lower but still fairly young wide outs, with their two main running backs being super young and their third and final running back is the corpse of tom hanks. On defense they are led by their 1224 nose tackle, behind him they have two corners and a safety with great TPE. They have a lot of youth on their team coming up, could be a season or two away from being very competitive. Another team with a poop level kicker, but again doesn't seem to matter.
Number Eight Team :
Sarasota Sailfish - 2-2
Yea, one of the nine thousand two and two teams out there. Another team that could end doing quite well this season, but it is hard to say this early where they will end up. One of the teams with a newer quarter back in the league. He is a season 24 draftee, 800 plus TPE, so not bad. On offense they have one of the highest two punch combos of wide receiver and running back totaling 2677 TPE between the two of them. Right behind them is a 1100 TPE tight end, the rest of the offense is pretty low overall in the TPE. On defense they are led by two safeties, two defensive linemen and two linebackers all over 1k TPE each. Behind that they do have a high TPE kicker, one of the few who actually lift weights in addition to kicking.
Well, as we know, the pre season is not exactly the best judge of how a team will perform. But it is fun to look at and see if you can make any real correlation between season long performance and pre season performance. Plus we always seem to have the outlier teams, the ones who perform above or below their expectations. Last season, the Arizona Outlaws lost four games by one less than one possession. They had the leagues best scoring by over ten points, and second place was the wraiths who were forty points above third place. So the Outlaws scored points like crazy, but somehow kept getting edged out in some of those close games. Meanwhile on the other side you had the Wraiths who(not having the most TPE total by any means) had the second highest scoring while limiting opposing teams to score the least against them by a wide margin. Based on that, it is no surprise that they went on to win the Ultimus. But, with a new sim, it is even harder to say how teams will do. Every one is having to adjust strats and see how different arch types fit into their overall strategies. So the question comes down to, does the pre season matter at all? Can it be used to predict Fantasy Football stats? Can is be used to guess what strats teams will lean towards? Is there any real significance to the pre season other than practice?
Since this is being posted pre week three games, I will post the current records so we can look at the two.
ASFC
New York Silverbacks 2-0
San Jose Sabercats 2-0
Orange County Otters 1-1
Honolulu Hahalua 1-1
Austin Copperheads 1-1
Arizona Outlaws 0-2
New Orleans Secondline 0-2
NSFC
Chicago Butchers 2-0
Sarasota Sailfish 1-1
Colorado Yeti 1-1
Yellowknife Wraiths 1-1
Berlin Fire Salamanders 1-1
Philadelphia Liberty 1-1
Baltimore Hawks 0-2
So after two games of season twenty seven, we have three un defeated teams, eight one and one teams and three non winners. There is a lot of parity between the four pre season and the two season games. Three teams at the top(one 4-0, two 3-1) eight two and two teams, and three at the bottom.
In all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if after four games the overall records look the same. Now the teams won't be in the same place of course. The Butchers are on pace to at least match their pre season record, the Silverbacks are on their way to over achieving a bit, and the Sabercats as well. As for the one and one teams, most of them are where they were in pre season, with the two un defeated teams listed above being outside, and with two of un wins falling out of the middle, arizona and new orleans.
I will revisit this after week four is finished up and see how closely the over all records match up. And of course which teams are exactly what they showed in the pre season and which teams are completely different from what they showed. As of right now, the Chicago Butchers appear to be every bit as scary as some people thought they would be and the Baltimore Hawks are exactly as bad as some people assumed they are.
I Will put the full power ranking out first, then I will go into my reasoning after.
I realize the season has already started and we have two full weeks done, I started this after the last preseason game and just didn't get it done as soon as I wanted, but since I already put the work into it, I am going to finish it and post it!
Based solely on Pre Season records :
1.) Austin Copperheads - 4-0
2.) Colorado Yetis - 3-1
3.) Chicago Butchers - 3-1
4.)Yellowknife Wraiths - 2-2
5.) Arizona Outlaws - 2-2
6.) New York Silverbakcs - 2-2
7.) New Orleans Second Line - 2-2
8.) Sarasota Sailfish - 2-2
9.) Honolulu Hahalua - 2-2
10.) Philadelphia Liberty - 2-2
11.) San Jose Sabercats - 2-2
12.) Orange County Otters - 1-3
13.) Berlin Fire Salamanders - 1-3
14.) Baltimore Hawks - 0-4
Well, with only one team going undefeated in the pre season, the Austin Copperheads sit alone atop the list. With two teams managing to finish with three and one records, I placed them based off who their one loss was to, and I figure the Yetis on loss was to Austin and by three points, they get the edge for second. For spots four through eleven, I had to kind of look at which teams lost to which team and who beat who. And in the end, it was somewhat picked off of how I feel about it. I have the wraiths at four because they beat the butchers and I am a homer, plus they are the defending champions. After that, you could argue anyone of the teams in any of those spots. In twelfth, we have the first of two one and three teams, the Orange County Otters, they seem to do well in season every year, but maybe the new sim is not as kind to them(maybe the deal they made with the devil only applied to the old sim....) and followed by the Berlin Fire Salamanders. And bringing up the rear is the Baltimore Hawks, unwinners of the pre season. Not sure what is happening in Baltimore, but they might need some help if the season continues along this path.
Number One Team :
Austin Copperheads - 4-0
Hard to argue with their ranking as they are the only team to go un defeated in the pre season. Now, this doesn't mean anything for the season. Most teams don't set any real strats for this and the sim likes to sim. Looking at their team, on offense, they have three good wide receivers and a solid running back one. They also have a full back with lower TPE, but for that position I am not sure it matters as much. Their two biggest issues on offense are their lower TPE quarter back and their two low TPE offensive linemen(I know they are still better than bots, but they are super new). They have a decent TPE tight end, who is a position swap from wide receiver(ex-Luchadore). On defense, they have a solid defensive line with a super high tier defensive end and tackle shoring it up with a couple of lower TPE guys filling in the holes. Their secondary as a whole is solid(I am including the linebackers), they have lots of talent back there, many guys with 800 plus TPE and a few lower TPE on the rise guys. I don't normally comment on special teams, but their kicker (low TPE) was pretty solid, he went four for four in the first game and hit a fifty + yarder in game 3, and had quite a few punts that pinned opposing teams inside the twenty yard line.
Number Two Team :
Colorado Yeti - 3-1
One of two teams to finish the pre season with three wins and only one loss. On top of that, their one loss was to the un defeated copperheads, and on top of that it was only by two points. So the position of the top two teams could easily have been reversed. On offense, this team has two really good wide receivers, a baller running back(swanky ftw), and a really good up and coming quarterback. They have two good offensive linemen and a third with lower TPE, but definitely on the rise, but their biggest weakness on offense is their low level tight end and their third wide receiver is a bit low on TPE(solid earner and getting better). On defense, they are led by a defensive end and linebacker(both ballers), followed by another solid linebacker and their secondary, a good group overall, most are still on the young side, with one older, in regression corner. Their special teams, Silver Banana, had a couple of games with superb punting! In one game he had six punts and all six put the other team inside the twenty yard line! Not sure it is good how many punts he had to make though, and his field goal kicking was lack luster in attempts.
Number Three Team :
Chicago Butchers - 3-1
Our second of the two three and one teams, their one loss coming at the hands of Yellowknife Wraiths. It seems as has been the case the last few seasons, their are multiple high ranked teams in the NSFC, with three of the top four coming from that conference. On offense, they are led by one of the highest TPE quarter backs in the league and he is a gun slinger. Helping out on offense they have high TPE offensive lineman, tight end and a running back, followed up with two wide receivers (both solid, one regressing though) and five human offensive linemen total(holy crap that is a lot, even if a few are low TPE, doesn't matter). On defense they have three amazing corner backs, all over 1000 TPE and none started regression yet. They have a solid defensive line and a good rest of the defense honestly, this team doesn't really have any major holes. Their special teams is pretty solid. Their kicker had some good punts in pre season and at least one fifty plus yard field goal. Overall this team could be scary, depending on how the new sim feels about them, but they appear to built to try and win now.
Number Four Team :
Yellowknife Wraiths - 2-2
The first of many teams with a two and two record, also the defending Ultimus champions, who also returned almost all of their championship team for another go at it. So, while you might argue some other two and two team is better, I am going with the fact that this team already proved they can win with this roster, and also I am a wraith so suck it. On offense, they have a top tier quarter back running the show, with great options at wide receiver, running back and tight end. Their wide receiver two is up an coming, with a solid running back two and good wide receiver three. On offensive line they have one super great one, and two lower TPE, one is heavily in regression. On defense, they are led by one of the top line backers in the game, with top tier defensive tackle, safety, and a defensive end. They have a decent number of young talent in the secondary with two young high earning corners and a couple even younger guys, defensive end and linebacker, forming a solid long term secondary. Overall, another solid team with some young guys on the rise to hopefully become the nucleus of a long term contender.
Number Five Team :
Arizona Outlaws - 2-2
The next team in the almost endless teams of two and two. Again, it is hard to separate these teams much based on record, so some of it is who they beat and who they lost to. Some of it was picking the bottom few teams first to see who was left for these spots. But based on the team, they should have a good season, I do recall them having some bad luck the last season or two in close games. Who knows what will be with the new sim. On offense they have a season twenty four quarter back with 800+ TPE, a super high TPE speed back and two really good wide outs, as well as decently high TPE second running back. They only have two human offensive linemen, (oops forgot about Jay Cue swapping, so they actually have three). On defense they have a super high TPE defensive tackle right in the middle, with a really good secondary behind him, a couple of corners, safeties and linebackers all with over 800 TPE. Special teams, they have a kicker punter who appears to barely be earning, if it at all. But as we know in this sim, appears kickers are barely people.
Number Six Team :
New York Silverbacks - 2-2
Oh, wow another team sitting at five hundred after playing four meaningless preseason games. This is one of the teams I expect to make strides going forwards this season. But, new sim and all that. This list is not the order I think the teams will end the season in, but instead, how they look taking those four games into account. On offense they have a solid young quarter back approaching his prime, with one awesome receiver, and a second one who is decent, followed with a young back field, a season twenty four and five back. Offensive line they have two humans trying to block for them. On defense they are led by a defensive tackle, corner back and one of their line backers, with a good number of younger guys filling out the rest of the roster. They unlike most teams have a kicker who knows how to earn, should be able to last quite a while the kicker position. Overall, it is a good team with potential, especially considering this is a new expansion team.
Number Seven Team :
New Orleans Second Line - 2-2
Yep, you guessed it another of the two and two teams. This is another team I have as a sneaky good team potentially. Again, par for the course at this time, who knows how well everything will transition to the new sim. I like the leadership and feel like they have some strong pieces going forwards. On Offense they have one of the top quarter backs in the league with over 1200 TPE, led by a tiny bit of TPE, their top wide receiver, they have a top tier tight end(even if he is in regression), two lower but still fairly young wide outs, with their two main running backs being super young and their third and final running back is the corpse of tom hanks. On defense they are led by their 1224 nose tackle, behind him they have two corners and a safety with great TPE. They have a lot of youth on their team coming up, could be a season or two away from being very competitive. Another team with a poop level kicker, but again doesn't seem to matter.
Number Eight Team :
Sarasota Sailfish - 2-2
Yea, one of the nine thousand two and two teams out there. Another team that could end doing quite well this season, but it is hard to say this early where they will end up. One of the teams with a newer quarter back in the league. He is a season 24 draftee, 800 plus TPE, so not bad. On offense they have one of the highest two punch combos of wide receiver and running back totaling 2677 TPE between the two of them. Right behind them is a 1100 TPE tight end, the rest of the offense is pretty low overall in the TPE. On defense they are led by two safeties, two defensive linemen and two linebackers all over 1k TPE each. Behind that they do have a high TPE kicker, one of the few who actually lift weights in addition to kicking.
Well, as we know, the pre season is not exactly the best judge of how a team will perform. But it is fun to look at and see if you can make any real correlation between season long performance and pre season performance. Plus we always seem to have the outlier teams, the ones who perform above or below their expectations. Last season, the Arizona Outlaws lost four games by one less than one possession. They had the leagues best scoring by over ten points, and second place was the wraiths who were forty points above third place. So the Outlaws scored points like crazy, but somehow kept getting edged out in some of those close games. Meanwhile on the other side you had the Wraiths who(not having the most TPE total by any means) had the second highest scoring while limiting opposing teams to score the least against them by a wide margin. Based on that, it is no surprise that they went on to win the Ultimus. But, with a new sim, it is even harder to say how teams will do. Every one is having to adjust strats and see how different arch types fit into their overall strategies. So the question comes down to, does the pre season matter at all? Can it be used to predict Fantasy Football stats? Can is be used to guess what strats teams will lean towards? Is there any real significance to the pre season other than practice?
Since this is being posted pre week three games, I will post the current records so we can look at the two.
ASFC
New York Silverbacks 2-0
San Jose Sabercats 2-0
Orange County Otters 1-1
Honolulu Hahalua 1-1
Austin Copperheads 1-1
Arizona Outlaws 0-2
New Orleans Secondline 0-2
NSFC
Chicago Butchers 2-0
Sarasota Sailfish 1-1
Colorado Yeti 1-1
Yellowknife Wraiths 1-1
Berlin Fire Salamanders 1-1
Philadelphia Liberty 1-1
Baltimore Hawks 0-2
So after two games of season twenty seven, we have three un defeated teams, eight one and one teams and three non winners. There is a lot of parity between the four pre season and the two season games. Three teams at the top(one 4-0, two 3-1) eight two and two teams, and three at the bottom.
In all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if after four games the overall records look the same. Now the teams won't be in the same place of course. The Butchers are on pace to at least match their pre season record, the Silverbacks are on their way to over achieving a bit, and the Sabercats as well. As for the one and one teams, most of them are where they were in pre season, with the two un defeated teams listed above being outside, and with two of un wins falling out of the middle, arizona and new orleans.
I will revisit this after week four is finished up and see how closely the over all records match up. And of course which teams are exactly what they showed in the pre season and which teams are completely different from what they showed. As of right now, the Chicago Butchers appear to be every bit as scary as some people thought they would be and the Baltimore Hawks are exactly as bad as some people assumed they are.