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The deuce scoop

June 10, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


HIGH TIDE: After a tough start the Riptide are now climbing back into the playoff race. San Diego began the season 1-5 but did play their opponents close in this stretch. Aside from an 18-point loss to a high-powered Blizzard team, the Riptide had losses of 10, 3, 1, and 3 points in this stretch. Three weeks later, the Riptide are now 4-5 and in the playoff picture. One reason for the change in tide: turnovers. In San Diego's first six games they forced twelve turnovers, in their last three games, all victories, thirteen turnovers. The Riptide have a bye this week, but return to action June 19 in Hawaii.

QUIET BLITZ: Real quick, make a list in your head of ArenaCup favorites. Now, did you include Bakersfield on the list? Don't worry, it's not surprising if you didn't, not many other people are noticing them either. They are currently rated 11th on the af2 Coaches' Poll, last out of all eight teams with three losses. No Bakersfield player has won a league weekly award this season, despite Chad Elliot throwing for 46 touchdowns on the season, sixth best in the af2, and even after he threw for 399 yards and eight touchdowns last week against Hawaii. Despite the lack of recognition the Blitz are on pace to earn a home playoff game.

PLAYOFFS FOR THE DOGS? Don't look now, but if the season were to end today the Columbus Wardogs would be in the playoffs. On a three game winning streak, the longest in franchise history, the Wardogs would beat out Memphis and Manchester for the playoffs in the tiebreakers. A playoff birth would be their first in team history. One reason for the turn-around has been the improved play of quarterback Kyle Rowley. He threw eight interceptions in the Wardogs' first six games, but in the last three games, all wins, he has thrown none. His play combined with af2's leading receiver Adrian Cockfield has Columbus thinking playoffs.

HARRIS TO THE NFL: The af2 continues to be a league of opportunity. This week Birmingham OS Detronn Harris signed with the NFL Carolina Panthers. He will join the team immediately and will be invited to training camp. With the Steeldogs this season Harris caught 47 passes for 766 yards and 14 touchdowns in nine games.

KING(S) OF THE ROAD: It is said good teams win on the road and right now only two teams have above .500 records on the road this season. Not surprising, these are the two of the best teams in the af2, the Florida Firecats and Louisville Fire. Florida stands at 4-2 on the road this season while Louisville is 3-1. The Firecats' two road losses have come at Birmingham and Memphis. Louisville's lone road loss was at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. This is uncharted water for the Fire, coming into the season they were 4-20 away from home for their entire franchise history. Florida on the other hand has a history of winning on the road, they brought in a 14-10 (including 3-2 in the playoffs) road record into this season.

IT'S NO RUSH: The Rio Grande Valley Dorados are still on track to obliterate the record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a season. Currently they are giving up 4.1 rushing yards per game, through eight games. At this average they will allow only 65.6 rushing yards for the entire season. The current record is held by the 2000 Quad City Steamwheelers who allowed 133 rushing yards on the season. To be fair, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers are also on track to break Quad City's record. The Pioneers are giving up an average of 8.3 rushing yards per game through nine games. At this pace they will give up 131.2 rushing yards on the season, just beating the Steamwheelers. Although unlike the Dorados who have allowed a league best six rushing touchdowns, the Pioneers have given up 17 rushing touchdowns this season.

THE CURSE OF NO. 1: Conventional wisdom suggests you should always strive to be number one, but based on results of teams in the Top 12 this season, you may want to re-think that logic. With Birmingham's loss at Columbus, the af2 Coaches' Poll curse continutes. For a seventh straight week a different team is number one on the af2 Coaches Poll. So far this season, teams ranked No. 1 in the af2 Coaches' Poll are off to a 3-6 record in the games they enter ranked No. 1. Below is a look at how ranked teams have performed this season:

WHEN RANKED W-L .PCT
No. 1 3-6 .333
No. 2 8-2 .800
No. 3 4-4 .500
No. 4 8-1 .888
No. 5 7-3 .700

HOME SWEET HOME: In Week 10 home teams were just above .500 going 7-5 for the weekend. For the season home teams have gone 72-40 for a .643 win percentage. Last season home teams went 130-85-1 for a .604 win percentage. Overall in the history of af2 home teams have gone 501-330-1 for a .603 win percentage during the regular season. Below is a season-by-season chart:

SEASON HOME W-L-T HOME WIN %
2000 77-43-0 .642
2001 136-88-0 .607
2002 158-114-0 .581
2003 130-85-1 .604
2004 72-40-0 .643

SCORING LEADERS: With Green Bay's Randall Lane and Tulsa's Mitch Allner out last week due to injuries they fell to four and five in scoring respectively. Matt Burstein's four touchdowns against Albany last week moved him into first place in scoring. Below is a look at the Top 5 scorers in af2 through Week 10

PLAYER TEAM GP POINTS
Matt Burstein CPF 8 156
Tony Locke ALB 9 150
Bo Smith BOS 10 144
Randall Lane GBB 8 144
Mitch Allner TUL 8 138

IF THE SEASON ENDED TODAY: In 2004 a total of 12 teams will qualify for the af2 postseason which begins the weekend following the last week of regular season play. As was the case in 2003, six teams from each the American and National Conference qualify for the playoffs. The six qualifying teams in each conference consist of the three division champions and three Wild Cards, which are determined by best overall record. In the First Round (August 6-7-8), the two division winners with the best overall records will have a bye. The division winner who did not earn a bye will host the lowest seeded Wild Card team. The top-seeded Wild Card team will host the remaining Wild Card team. Wild Card seeding is determined by overall record. In the Second Round (August 13-14-15), the division winners who had byes in the First Round will host the winners from the First Round. The top seeded division winner will play the lowest seeded team advancing from the First Round, while the second-seeded division winner will play the other winner from the First Round. The winners of the Second Round will meet for the Conference Championships on the weekend of August 20-21-22. The team with the better overall record hosts the Conference Championship game. The winners of the Conference Championships will face off in the 2004 ArenaCup on August 27, 28 or 29. The team with the better overall record will host.

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