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The deuce scoop

July 7, 2004 - arenafootball2 (af2) News Release


PLAYOFFS ANYONE? With four weeks to go in the 2004 regular season, not one single team has clinched a playoff berth, and 22 teams are still mathematically alive for a postseason spot. This is the latest a season has ever gone in af2 without a team at least clinching a playoff berth. As we enter Week 15, only three teams could potentially clinch playoff berths with wins. Those teams: Cape Fear, Birmingham and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton each needs to win and have Columbus lose in order to lock up a spot. If Columbus beats Louisville on Saturday night, we will be waiting until Week 16 for the first teams to clinch playoff spots.

WILD CARD RACES: Considering none of the six division races is even close to being decided, many things can happen between now and the end of Week 18. But below is a look at the current Wild Card race in each conference. The left side is the American Conference and the right side is the National Conference. The top three teams in each list are the current Wild Card teams:

TEAM RECORD GMS BACK TEAM RECORD GMS BACK
W-B/Scranton 9-3 - Oklahoma City 9-4 -
Florida 7-5 - Louisville* 7-5 -
Memphis 7-6 - Wichita* 7-5 -
Columbus 6-6 0.5 Hawaii* 7-5 -
Manchester 5-7 1.5 Peoria 6-6 1
Albany 5-7 1.5 San Diego 5-7 2
Bossier-Shr. 5-8 2 Green Bay 4-8 3
Macon 3-9 3.5 Rio Grande Valley 4-8 3
*LOU and WIC top HAW in three-team tiebreaker

THIS IS WHY EVERY POINT COUNTS: With a 46-35 win over Memphis last Saturday, the Cape Fear Wildcats have used a six-game win streak to take control of first place in the Northeast Division. At 9-3, the Wildcats share the same record as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers but the Wildcats currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. You see, the Wildcats and Pioneers have played two times this season and split those games. In their first meeting, the Pioneers beat the Wildcats 48-41. On June 26 Cape Fear returned the favor, beating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 57-49. According to the af2 tiebreak rules, if two teams split their head-to-head meeting, the next tiebreaker is the point differential in those two games. So by a one-point margin (98-97), the Wildcats hold the tiebreaker over the Pioneers.

WHEN GLUSKI STARTS, CAPE FEAR WINS: Mike Gluski must love the blue and white jerseys of the Cape Fear Wildcats. In 2002 Gluski started eleven games for the Cape Fear Wildcats. As a starter he was 10-1 with his only loss being by one point, 36-35, to Richmond in a game where he was injured on the final drive of the game as he was moving the Wildcats down the field for a winning score. This injury ended Gluski's season. After starting this season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Gluski was traded back to Cape Fear in Week 9. Since then Gluski has been the starter for the Wildcats and has guided Cape Fear to six consecutive victories. This brings Gluski's record to 16-1 as a starting quarterback for the Caper Fear Wildcats.

A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME: Behind a defense allowing only 37.2 points per game (No. 1 in af2) the Peoria Pirates are back in the playoff chase winning four of their last five games and holding a 6-6 record. With the Pirates top defense in mind, look below to see how the team with the best scoring defense finished in the four previous af2 seasons. In case you're wondering, the 2002 ArenaCup Champion Pirates allowed 37.3 points per game during the 2002 regular season.

YEAR TEAM AVG. PTS RECORD PLAYOFFS
2000 Quad City 29.6 16-0 3-0 Won ArenaCup
2001 Quad City 28.3 15-1 3-0 Won ArenaCup
2002 Cape Fear 29.8 10-6 2-1; Lost Conference Championship
2003 Mohegan 38.7 10-6 1-1; Lost in Semifinals

IN A RUSH: Florida Firecats FB/LB Steve Gorrie rushed nine times for 32 yards and one touchdown two weeks ago against Macon. He now has 384 yards rushing this season and is closing in on 400. Only three other players in af2 history have rushed for 400 or more yards: Quentin Cradle rushed for 402 yards for Memphis in 2001, Sherard Poteete ran for 405 yards for Bossier-Shreveport in 2002 and Darnell Arceneaux holds the af2 record with 439 yards for Hawaii in 2002. Already good for the fifth best single season total in af2 history, Gorrie is looking to continue his climb up the record chart as he has four games left to play. Averaging 32.2 yards per game, Gorrie is on pace to rack up 500 yards before the season ends. If he does hit the magic 500 mark, he'd be the first 500-yard rusher in league history. Below is Gorrie's progress to date:

GP - GR YARDS LAST WEEK TOTAL YARDS TO 439 TO 500
12 - 4 32 vs. MAC 384 55 116

THE POLL: Last week the No. 1 Birmingham Steeldogs had a bye, so the record of No. 1 teams remains at 4-8 for the season. Below is a look at how ranked teams have performed this season:

WHEN RANKED W-L .PCT
No. 1 4-8 .333
No. 2 9-4 .692
No. 3 7-5 .583
No. 4 9-4 .692
No. 5 7-6 .538

SAUK BIDDING FOR 4,000 PASSING YARDS AND RECORD: In the history of af2, a QB has eclipsed 4,000 passing yards in a single season only eight times. Two of those times were by current Louisville gunslinger Matt Sauk. This season Sauk is on pace to add his name to that list for third time, but this time around it could be at the top of the list. The all-time single season record for passing yards is 4,462 by Ryan Vena with Albany last season. If Sauk maintains his current pace of 279.8 yards per game, he would reach 4,477 by the end of the season. Below is a look at Sauk's current pace compared to Vena's from last season:

PLAYER GM 12 YARDAGE SEASON TOTAL THROUGH GM 10 Next Game
Matt Sauk - LOU (2004) 240 at MAN 3,358 7/10 vs. COL
Ryan Vena - ALB (2003) 300 vs. MHG 3,216 342 yards vs. WBS
*After his 10th game last season, Vena rattled off five straight games of 300 or more passing yards

HOME SWEET HOME: In Week 14 the road teams went 6-1, with Rio Grande Valley supplying the only home team victory. For the season home teams have gone 91-61 for a .599 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 91-61-0 .599

SCORING LEADERS: Cape Fear's Matt Burstein added six points to his league-leading total this past weekend against Memphis. With four games left, Burstein could challenge Shon King's all-time scoring record of 284 points. Currently Burstein is on pace to hit 288. Below is a look at the Top 5 scorers in af2 through Week 14:

PLAYER TEAM GP POINTS
Matt Burstein CPF 12 216
Bo Smith BOS 13 198
Kevin Prentiss MEM 12 198
Tony Locke ALB 12 186
Jeff Hewitt QUA 13 174
Timon Marshall OKC 13 174

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.

AMERICAN CONFERENCE
1. Birmingham (9-3) -Current South Division leader; has better win% over common opponents with CPF
2. Cape Fear (9-3) - Current Northeast Division Leader via HTH advantage over WBS
3. Tennessee Valley (8-4) - Current Mid-South Division Leader
4. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (8-3)
5. Florida (7-5) - Currently holds HTH advantage over Memphis
6. Memphis (7-6)
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7. Columbus (6-6)
8. Manchester (5-7) - Currently holds HTH over ALB
9. Albany (5-7)
10. Bossier-Shreveport (5-8)
11. Macon (3-9)
12. Arkansas (2-10)
First Round games would be: MEM @ TEN; FLO @ WBS; BIR, CPF receive bye

NATIONAL CONFERENCE
1. Tulsa (9-3) - Current Southwest Division leader
2. Bakersfield (8-4) - Current West Division leader
3. Quad City (8-4) - Current Midwest Division leader
4. Oklahoma City (9-4)
5. Louisville (7-5) - Currently holds SOS advantage over WIC and HAW
6. Wichita (7-5) - Currently holds SOS advantage over HAW
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7. Hawaii (7-5)
8. Peoria (6-6)
9. San Diego (5-7)
10. Green Bay (4-8)
11. Rio Grande Valley (4-8)
12. Laredo (2-10)
13. Central Valley (1-11)
First Round games would be: WIC @ QUA; LOU @ OKC; TUL, BAK receive bye

*SOS = Strength of schedule; HTH = Head-to-head



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