Tulsa Talons Top 2008 Preseason Poll
Published on March 26, 2008 under arenafootball2 (af2) News Release
CHICAGO - By securing 394 of a possible 448 points, the defending ArenaCup Champion Tulsa Talons have earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason Coaches Poll, the arenafootball2 (af2) league office announced today. Tulsa's total included 18 first-place votes.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Tulsa's opponent in last year's ArenaCup, earned the No. 2 preseason position with 341 points. The defending American Conference Champions' total included six first-place votes. There was a two-team tie for the No. 3 ranking overall between Bossier-Shreveport and Florida. The BattleWings and reigning South Division Champion Firecats each accumulated 290 points. Other teams receiving first place votes included the Spokane Shock (3, No. 5 overall), Green Bay Blizzard (1, No. 7 overall) and Mahoning Valley Thunder (1).
Each week during the season af2 coaches will vote for the Top 16 teams in the league by ranking them one through 16 on a ballot. Teams ranked first receive 16 points with the point value decreasing by one for each place below first, meaning a team ranked 16th would receive one point. Total points will determine the Top 16 list. In the event of a tie in total points, the team with the greater number of first-place votes will be ranked higher. The af2 Coaches Poll will be announced every Wednesday during the regular season. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their own team and the poll results have no bearing on postseason qualification.
The complete Top 16 is listed below. The number in parentheses indicates the number of first place votes the team received.
PRESEASON TOP 16
RANK
TEAM
PTS
1
Tulsa
394 (18)
2
W-B/Scranton
341 (6)
3
Bossier-Shreveport
290
3
Florida
290
5
Spokane
257 (3)
6
Arkansas
244
7
Green Bay
234 (1)
8
Rio Grande Valley
224
9
Central Valley
191
10
South Georgia
183
11
Manchester
173
12
Peoria
165
13
Louisville
145
14
Iowa
127
15
Austin
92
16
Quad City
86
About af2
With its ninth season set to kick off this Friday, March 28 with a 29-team membership, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring Arena Football to small-to-midsize cities and as a developmental league with an unmatched history of sending players, coaches and officials to major professional football leagues each year. af2 operates under the same Mission Statement and Fans' Bill of Rights as the Arena Football League, which is the midst of its 22nd season. Log on to www.af2.com for more information.
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