1. This week will see the S28 Ultimus and Ultimini races begin in earnest. How did each team arrive at the playoffs? Were there any dark horse teams that went unexpectedly far, or any presumptive favorites that fell flat? Who do you think will win the final? If you’re writing this after the finals were decided, were you surprised by the outcome?
The ISFL playoff race is one of the best parts of the season. 14 teams, only 6 roses to give out; how will our ISFL team contestants get out of this pickle? This season, we saw some pretty closely contested races in both conferences for much of the season, but this season was pretty unusual in that (if I am remembering correctly) all 6 playoff teams were decided by the end of week 15. Week 16 games had playoff implications in terms of seeding, but it was pretty strange to have all of the teams locked in before the regular season was over.
In the NSFC, we saw the Berlin Fire Salamanders take the first seed, steamrolling much of their competition throughout the season on their way to a 12-4 record, a franchise best for the young amphibians. The Yellowknife Wraiths, the eventual NSFC champions, locked up the conference's second seed with a week 15 win against the Yeti; the wraiths finished the season 11-5, splitting their games against the salamanders 1-1 throughout the season. Our last playoff team in the NSFC were last season's Ultimus champions, the Sarasota Sailfish. Sarasota's defense was INSANE this season. I think they've got some sort of voodoo going on with their linebackers/safeties/corners, because their coverage% in terms of catches allowed/targets is, from what I've seen, easily top in the league. I haven't even gotten to their offense yet, who scored more points per game than any other team. Before week 15, I think they would've been my pick to win the Ultimus again. And yet, bad things happened to this team at the end of the season. More on that in a bit.
Over in the ASFC, we had a bunch of non Otter teams take playoff berths and nobody really cares about those guys but for the sake of the writing prompt I suppose we can talk about them. First up, to the surprise of almost nobody, were the Arizona Outlaws. The Outlaws have made some great acquisitions to their team through free agency and trading, and they're built a powerful unit led by people who are very much familiar with the sim. In the second seed in the ASFC we have the other newest ISFL team, the New York Silverbacks, who finished their season 10-6 despite losing 3 of their last 4 games. They didn't collapse quite as hard as the Sailfish at the end there, but it was painful to watch no less. Except when they lost to the Otters, I liked that and hope it happens more. Last in the playoff seeding were the underdogs, the team not many people expected to see in the playoffs, let alone the Ultimus, the Austin Copperheads. The Copperheads took the third seed in the conference with a 9-7 record while fielding a pretty good offense in terms of points scored, but a pretty not pretty offense in terms of yards gained.
In the first ASFC playoff game, the Copperheads beat the Silverbacks in a tight 21-18 game. New York led Austin 10-7 at halftime, but New York was unable to recover after touchdowns by Videl-San and Zoe Watts put the Copperheads up 21-10. In the NSFC meanwhile, we saw the Sarasota Sailfish travel many thousands of kilometers to Yellowknife, where they continued their unfortunate losing streak, ending their dreams of a repeat Ultimus victory. Sarasota led 14-13 in the fourth quarter until Yellowknife kicker Blago Kokot kicked a league record 64 yard field goal to put the Wraiths ahead, and then later in the fourth, Rando Cardrissian punched it in for the Wraiths with only 2:35 left in the game, to put the Wraiths up 23-14 and give us the game's final score. Shoutout to Douglas Quaid who had 6 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass deflection.
In my eyes, both of the conference championship games were upsets, with the Copperheads beating the Outlaws 16-13 (both teams had great showings by their kickers in this game), and the Yellowknife Wraiths beating the Fire Salamanders 17-13 (Zee Rechs caught two touchdowns!)
In Ultimus XXVIII, held in Milan for those of you who didn't know, the Wraiths took an early 14-0 lead after touchdowns by Acura Skyline, and a touchdown catch by Kai Sakura. After a field goal by Copperhead kicker Bloomfield, Kokot broke his own record by kicking a 65 yard field goal, and Cardrissian ran it in from the 4 yard line to put the game at 24-3. Things looked bleak for the snakes. Austin was only able to kick field goals unfortunately, until the third quarter when Zoe Watts scored from the 1 yard line, but by then they were already down 21 points, so the Watts touchdown put the game's score at 24-10. In the fourth quarter, Austin mounted a near comeback, scoring 9 points and putting the game within reach, but alas their defense were unable to stop the Wraiths' final drive, and the game ended 24-19. While I was definitely surprised by the teams playing in the Ultimus (as evidenced by my 0 TPE playoff predictions), I was not too surprised that Austin was unable to pull off the fairy tale season. They are an excellent team and will likely be back soon, despite Kyle being stinky, but hopefully they wait to come back until after the Otters have won another ultimus or two.
904 words
The ISFL playoff race is one of the best parts of the season. 14 teams, only 6 roses to give out; how will our ISFL team contestants get out of this pickle? This season, we saw some pretty closely contested races in both conferences for much of the season, but this season was pretty unusual in that (if I am remembering correctly) all 6 playoff teams were decided by the end of week 15. Week 16 games had playoff implications in terms of seeding, but it was pretty strange to have all of the teams locked in before the regular season was over.
In the NSFC, we saw the Berlin Fire Salamanders take the first seed, steamrolling much of their competition throughout the season on their way to a 12-4 record, a franchise best for the young amphibians. The Yellowknife Wraiths, the eventual NSFC champions, locked up the conference's second seed with a week 15 win against the Yeti; the wraiths finished the season 11-5, splitting their games against the salamanders 1-1 throughout the season. Our last playoff team in the NSFC were last season's Ultimus champions, the Sarasota Sailfish. Sarasota's defense was INSANE this season. I think they've got some sort of voodoo going on with their linebackers/safeties/corners, because their coverage% in terms of catches allowed/targets is, from what I've seen, easily top in the league. I haven't even gotten to their offense yet, who scored more points per game than any other team. Before week 15, I think they would've been my pick to win the Ultimus again. And yet, bad things happened to this team at the end of the season. More on that in a bit.
Over in the ASFC, we had a bunch of non Otter teams take playoff berths and nobody really cares about those guys but for the sake of the writing prompt I suppose we can talk about them. First up, to the surprise of almost nobody, were the Arizona Outlaws. The Outlaws have made some great acquisitions to their team through free agency and trading, and they're built a powerful unit led by people who are very much familiar with the sim. In the second seed in the ASFC we have the other newest ISFL team, the New York Silverbacks, who finished their season 10-6 despite losing 3 of their last 4 games. They didn't collapse quite as hard as the Sailfish at the end there, but it was painful to watch no less. Except when they lost to the Otters, I liked that and hope it happens more. Last in the playoff seeding were the underdogs, the team not many people expected to see in the playoffs, let alone the Ultimus, the Austin Copperheads. The Copperheads took the third seed in the conference with a 9-7 record while fielding a pretty good offense in terms of points scored, but a pretty not pretty offense in terms of yards gained.
In the first ASFC playoff game, the Copperheads beat the Silverbacks in a tight 21-18 game. New York led Austin 10-7 at halftime, but New York was unable to recover after touchdowns by Videl-San and Zoe Watts put the Copperheads up 21-10. In the NSFC meanwhile, we saw the Sarasota Sailfish travel many thousands of kilometers to Yellowknife, where they continued their unfortunate losing streak, ending their dreams of a repeat Ultimus victory. Sarasota led 14-13 in the fourth quarter until Yellowknife kicker Blago Kokot kicked a league record 64 yard field goal to put the Wraiths ahead, and then later in the fourth, Rando Cardrissian punched it in for the Wraiths with only 2:35 left in the game, to put the Wraiths up 23-14 and give us the game's final score. Shoutout to Douglas Quaid who had 6 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass deflection.
In my eyes, both of the conference championship games were upsets, with the Copperheads beating the Outlaws 16-13 (both teams had great showings by their kickers in this game), and the Yellowknife Wraiths beating the Fire Salamanders 17-13 (Zee Rechs caught two touchdowns!)
In Ultimus XXVIII, held in Milan for those of you who didn't know, the Wraiths took an early 14-0 lead after touchdowns by Acura Skyline, and a touchdown catch by Kai Sakura. After a field goal by Copperhead kicker Bloomfield, Kokot broke his own record by kicking a 65 yard field goal, and Cardrissian ran it in from the 4 yard line to put the game at 24-3. Things looked bleak for the snakes. Austin was only able to kick field goals unfortunately, until the third quarter when Zoe Watts scored from the 1 yard line, but by then they were already down 21 points, so the Watts touchdown put the game's score at 24-10. In the fourth quarter, Austin mounted a near comeback, scoring 9 points and putting the game within reach, but alas their defense were unable to stop the Wraiths' final drive, and the game ended 24-19. While I was definitely surprised by the teams playing in the Ultimus (as evidenced by my 0 TPE playoff predictions), I was not too surprised that Austin was unable to pull off the fairy tale season. They are an excellent team and will likely be back soon, despite Kyle being stinky, but hopefully they wait to come back until after the Otters have won another ultimus or two.
904 words