By Backseat Coach • Twitter • Facebook
Division 1 – Current Standings
The Los Angeles Warriors will finish the regular season undefeated after claiming a forfeit this week against the Sin City Trojans. They played five games and collected 4 forfeits, and will be the top seed in the Pacific Region with the Portland Fighting Shockwave. While there is still a chance for seeding to change in the Northeast, the game with the highest impact on the playoff picture is in the Midwest Region: Dallas Elite @ Arlington Impact. This is essentially a playoff game; the winner will very likely take the second and final playoff spot in the Midwest Region behind the Kansas City Titans.
Speaking of Kansas City, they look to even the score with the Minnesota Vixen who defeated them in a thriller 33-25 earlier in the season. The game itself has no playoff implications, but it should be a good one.
Division 2 – Current Standings
In the Pacific Region, the San Diego Rebellion must avoid a slip up against the Ventura Wolf Pack to keep their second seeding from falling to the idle Everett Reign. The only other playoff race — in the Northeast between the Detroit Dark Angels and the Columbus Comets — got a lot less interesting when the Flint City Riveters, Columbus’s Week 10 opponent, announced their forfeit. The decision essentially takes opportunity out of the hands of the Comets, who must now sit back and see what happens as the Dark Angels take on Thee Toledo Reign. If nothing else, the Comets could drive up to Frog Town to catch the game in person :\
The hot tickets for D2 are in the Southeast Region, where the Tampa Bay Inferno look to atone for a narrow loss to the D3’s Orlando Anarchy earlier in the season. Meanwhile the Miami Fury and Jacksonville Dixie Blues will slug it out for the right to host a first-round playoff game, when the same two teams will meet again.
Division 3 – Current Standings
The playoff picture is complete in the Southeast Region. Defending Champions, the Arkansas Wildcats are in, along with the Austin Outlaws, Houston Power, and Acadiana Zydeco.
By announcing a forfeit (again) against Los Angeles (again), the strongest team in the Pacific Region, the Sin City Trojans, are now definitely ineligible for the playoffs. As such, the Colorado Freeze are currently top seed in the region, followed by the Utah Blitz, Ventura Wolfpack, and Rocky Mountain Thunderkatz. The Kern County Crusaders are left on the outside looking in, with but a slim chance of reaching the playoffs. But they finish the season with a highly anticipated grudge match against the Inland Empire Ravens. In the first week of the season, the Crusaders defeated the Ravens in 8-on-8 action, but the game was ruled as no contest and wiped from the schedule.
The four playoff slots for the Northeast Regions are tightly controlled by the top four teams there: Orlando Anarchy, Alabama Fire, Mississippi Royalty, and the Derby City Dynamite. Only two other teams still have slim chances for a playoff berth. The Music City Mizfits could swap places with a victory over the Dynamite today, and the South Carolina Smash could shake up the region with a massive underdog win against the Atlanta Phoenix.
Finally, in the Northeast, the Columbus Vanguards will be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff berth when they face the Cincinnati Sizzle, who will be fighting just as hard to hold on to theirs. The Connecticut Hawks, who hold a tentative grip on the fourth and final playoff slot, will be fighting to survive when they face the Richmond Black Widows, the region’s top seed.
Here are my picks for this final week of the regular season:
Philly Phantomz (D2) @ BOSTON RENEGADES (D1)
New York Sharks (D2) @ DC DIVAS (D1)
New England Nightmare (D3) @ MAINE MAYHEM (D3)
Connecticut Hawks (D3) @ RICHMOND BLACK WIDOWS (D3)
Cleveland Fusion (D2) @ PITTSBURGH PASSION (D1)
DETROIT DARK ANGELS (D2) @ Toledo Reign (D3)
South Carolina Smash (D3) @ ATLANTA PHOENIX (D1)
Huntsville Tigers (D3) @ ALABAMA FIRE (D3)
CINCINNATI SIZZLE (D3) @ Columbus Vanguards (D3)
Music City Mizfits (D3) @ DERBY CITY DYNAMITE (D3)
MISSISSIPPI ROYALTY (D3) @ Knoxville Lightning (D3)
TAMPA BAY INFERNO (D2) @ Orlando Anarchy (D3)
Miami Fury (D2) @ JACKSONVILLE DIXIE BLUES (D2)
MINNESOTA VIXEN (D2) @ Kansas City Titans (D1)
Madison Blaze (D3) @ WISCONSIN DRAGONS (D2)
ARKANSAS WILDCATS (D3) @ Acadiana Zydeco (D3)
Houston Power (D3) @ AUSTIN OUTLAWS (D3)
DALLAS ELITE (D1) @ Arlington Impact (D1)
PORTLAND FIGHTING SHOCKWAVE (D1) @ Tacoma Trauma (D2)
Rocky Mountain Thunderkatz (D3) @ UTAH BLITZ (D3)
Colorado Freeze (D3) @ MILE HIGH BLAZE (D2)
LA MUERTE LAS CRUCES (D3) @ Santa Fe Dukes (D3)
SAN DIEGO REBELLION (D2) @ Ventura Wolf-Pack (D3)
Inland Empire Ravens (D3) @ KERN COUNTY CRUSADERS (D3)