Playoff Prognostications WILD CARD WEEK

[Mike]

Black Hills @ Portland

Black Hills clawed its way through the toughest conference this year to get back into the playoffs. Always a contender, last year's 6-8 team had to get better quick to fight off surprises by Lincoln and Billings. Black Hills has a great 1000-yd HB, and a 100+ rating (15 TD, 3 INT) in Snyder. Imagine stopping players like HB Cates and Rettig...no problem for the Machine's 3rd ranked run D!

Portland's got its work cut out for them. The most powerful team in the league has the second best rushing game, but 16th-ranked passing. Portland will not dominate this game, as it will have to overcome the Machine's stodgy rush D. The question is: can the Prowlers Pass to Win?

Overall, Portland's D is #1...probably because the offence is on the field all the time. Powerful Portland can win this one at home, as long as they don't beat themselves!

Season Matchup: Portland 27-13

Fort Wayne yardstick (did they beat Fort Wayne?) Portland Destroyed Fort Wayne, Machine didn't play FW. No favorite here! Even.

Prediction: Portland by 5.


Austin @ Dayton

Two teams with very similar 'vs. Conference' records. They played the same calibre teams, and came out with similar results. How to tell them apart? Dayton's still relying on HB Dumas, while Austin's HB Petithomme (french for 'little man') was only 15th in yards on the ground. Austin's hotshot QB Garcia has kicked ass this year, but WR1 Hayes is P-1. In contrast, Dayton's WR corps almost had two 1000 yard receivers, who are not injured. Sack leader Dayton's DE Don Johnson has come out from his acting career to kick some Austin Ass. Not to be outdone, no-name Austin Defence was 5th in yards given up.

Hard to tell these teams apart...except for two things. Austin is banged up, and two starters (DE Rowland on the 5th ranked D and G Pruitt) are down. Their backups are questionable. Injury and home field advantage will carry the day here.



Fort Wayne yardstick: Austin lost to Fort Wayne, Dayton beat FW twice by a combined total of only 3 points. Even.

Season Matchup: Austin 24 (home) vs Dayton (16)

Prediction: Dayton by 3

Honolulu @ Wichita

As Kevin previously posted, battle of the QBs. Like Young and Montana. Roe vs. Wade. Kerry vs. Bush. Britney vs. Christina......mmmmm Christina....

But what else is there? There are only 12 points for difference between these two teams. 12 points difference between these two teams for Points against! So, they seem even there...

For Rushing, RB Hall has surprised everyone, and even shut the Commish's (criticisms of Hon's running game) Up! Wichita's HB Barley is weak, but their FB led the league with 714 yards. Honolulu's WR Jones is lookin' for some respect, but his 5th-ranked 1194 yard season is overshadowed by WCH's Volz (4th rank at 1211 yds)

Injuries are biting both teams. WCH's poor running means WR2 Persing got almost 1000 yards...but Persing is out for the season. Similarly Hon's CB Chris "Boy Toy" Barber (who led the team with 89 tackles) is out. Will the #1 pass D of Hon suffer, or will WCH's 4th-ranked passing offence falter?

The bottom line: HON is +2 in turnovers, WCH is -3. If HON gets +2 in turnovers, HON wins. Otherwise, the even balance between these teams means the home team wins!

Season Matchup: WCH won 27-21 at HON.
Fort Wayne yardstick: BOth were lucky they didn't get run over by the FORT WAYNE SAFARI!!!
Prediction: WCH by 6 (Sorry Kev. Get home field advantage next year!)

Louisiana at Mobile

Lou's big shots are paving the way for a surprise comeback. Squeaking by to take on this year's surprise, Mobile. What a team: Johnson, Flowers, Shakes and Vanterpool. Mobile's 4th ranked Pass D will have their hands full.

But Mobile expects to have to deal with the passing attack...because the Seagulls will be flying high above the Beast, dropping little Seagull turds on....oh....whatever. The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, is gonna sing a blue song on the hearts of the no-name Beast D. WR Thomas for Mobile BEAT Shakes in yards this year! If Mobile gets up, they can play prevent, and make the Beast beat them. As Fort Wayne proved over and over and over this year, moving the ball don't mean scoring!

Season matchup: Mobile beat LOU by 10 points in BOTH games.

Fort Wayne Yardstick: Both beat Fort Wayne, but Mobile had bigger margin. Mobile

I'm damn surprised at Dayton and Louisiana. They had so many retirements in backups I thought they didn't have the depth to go the distance. I still don't. Mobile by 7 at home.

[Peoria]

Great playoff preview and predictions! I completely disagree with every single prediction you made (which means you are probably dead-on), but I loved and enjoyed the analysis.

[Green Bay Bombers]

This MAY be the last chance ANY team in this conference has to trip up this now formidable franchise for the forseeable future. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we say it stays close, and Louisiana's experience pulls out a 3 point W.