IAI College Rankings Week 2

IAI College Top 25 Rankings Week 1

No politics here! Just pure love of football guides our picks. Here are the week 1 rankings. All teams in this initial list are 1-0.

1. Ohio State
2. USC
3. Georgia
4. Missouri
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Florida
8. West Virginia
9. Auburn
10. Kansas
11. Arizona State
12. Texas
13. Wisconsin
14. Alabama
15. UCLA
16. Utah
17. South Carolina
18. Fresno State
19. Penn State
20. Texas Tech
21. Oregon
22. South Florida
23. BYU
24. California
25. Bowling Green

There you go. For the AP Rankings, click HERE.

Great Game!

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Soul --the Jon Bon Jovi owned 2008 Arenabowl 22 (!) Champion. A great, close 59-56 victory over San Jose wrapped up a nice season.

Here are my final 2008 Arenafootball Rankings:

1. Philadelphia Soul. The Champs
2. San Jose Sabercats. Nice comeback.
3. Cleveland Gladiators. Great Playoff Run.
4. Dallas Desperados. Window of opportunity is closing.
5. Chicago Rush. Disappointing fade at end of season.
6. Georgia Force.
7. New York Dragons. Nice 2nd half of season.
8. Grand Rapids Rampage. Moving to Minnesota rumors?
9. Arizona Rattlers. Need to build on this rebuilding year.
10. Orlando Predators. Has Gruden lost his edge?
11. Tampa Bay Storm.
12. New Orleans Voo Doo.
13. Utah Blaze. Why did Danny White quit?
14. Columbus Destroyers. Already signing players for 2009.
15. Los Angeles Avengers
16. Colorado Crush. Time for Elway to clean house.
17. Kansas City Brigade. Need to find a QB solution.

Arena Football Rankings Week 13

The Rattlers are playing well with Jeff Smoker at QB and have improved to 6-6.

Arena Week 11

A tough week in Arenaball. The Rattlers played SJ even for 3 quarters and then laid a big fat egg in the 4th Quarter (though the halftime ceremony to retire Randy Gatewood's jersey was worthwhile). Philly choked against Georgia and gave up 3 unanswered TDs to lose by 1.

For the first time this year, both Utah and KC won on the same week. Suddenly that playoff guarantee by the Rattlers is in some jeopardy. Utah and KC have 2 wins each and AZ has 4 wins. If either Utah or KC passes AZ, then we might get refunds!

Arena Football Rankings Week 10

The Rattlers are a Jeckyl and Hyde team this year. Luckily this week, the good team showed up and put a whoopin' on Georgia. An excellent game all around. The big game, though, was the Monday Night Football game (on ESPN2) between undefeated Dallas and undefeated Philadelphia. In the 21 year history of the league this is the first time two undefeated teams have met this late in the season. But the game itself was a letdown as the Phily Soul crushed Dallas and its gimpy QB, Clint Dolezel. As usual the rankings reflect that all the teams below #5 or #6 are pretty much interchangible.

RANK Last Week Team W/L Comments
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 9-0 Thumped Dallas
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 7-1 Dolezel is not 100%
3. (3) New Orleans Voodoo 7-2 Playoff dark horse
4. (4) Chicago Rush 7-2 QB Michna is playing better
5. (5) Orlando Predators 6-3 Lost to Tampa
6. (7) San Jose Sabercats 5-4 SJ is not going to repeat as champ.
7. (11) New York Dragons 5-3 Garcia is back, so NY is back!
8. (9) Arizona Rattlers 4-4 Campbell was better this week
9. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 4-4 Can’t beat the good teams
10. (8) Georgia Force 3-5 Lost to AZ
11. (10) Colorado Crush 3-5 Sinking Fast
12. (12) Tampa Bay Storm 3-5 Big win against top rival
13. (13) Grand Rapids Rampage 3-5 Blew out KC
14. (14) Columbus Destroyers 2-6 Must start winning
15. (16) Los Angeles Avengers 3-6 Very disappointing Season
16. (15) Kansas City Brigade 1-7 Gave up 83pts to GR
17. (17) Utah Blaze 0-9 Plays KC this week -could win.

Arena Football Rankings Week 8

All it takes is LANG --Lang Campbell that is. The Rattlers got back in the win column with a nice 69-68 win over the Tampa Bay Storm behind returning QB Lang Campbell. The rankings (below) show a real divide between the haves and have-nots, as the teams below #5 are pretty interchangable. Well, except for Utah. Utah is awful. Just awful.
RANK Last Week Team W/L Comment
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul 6-0 Seven weeks at #1
2. (2) Dallas Desperados 7-0 Dolezel is back
3. (3) New Orleans Voodoo 5-2 N.O. not yet elite
4. (4) Chicago Rush 5-2 Backup QB did okay
5. (5) Orlando Predators 5-2 Predators are for real
6. (6) Cleveland Gladiators 3-3 Three losses in a row
7. (10) Georgia Force 3-3 Bye Week
8. (8) San Jose Sabercats 3-4 Blew big lead over Philly
9. (12) Arizona Rattlers 3-3 QB Campbell leads to nice win
10. (11) Colorado Crush 3-3 Scratching back into contention
11. (14) New York Dragons 3-3 Garcia is back, so NY is back!
12. (7) Tampa Bay Storm 2-4 Three Losses in a row
13. (9) Grand Rapids Rampage 2-4 What team will show up?
14. (13) Columbus Destroyers 2-5 Not their year
15. (15) Los Angeles Avengers 3-4 QB Cumbie overrated –on bench
16. (17) Kansas City Brigade 0-6 Need a better QB
17. (16) Utah Blaze 0-7 Blaze need to find some Defense.

Arena Football Rankings Week 3

The LA-AZ game was a disappointment to say the least. LA picked on tiny AZ DB Trufant all night. The guy had quickness and great technique, but as Dan put it: "At the end of the day, the guy is too short." The program lists Truffant at 5'8", but I'd guess he's closer to 5'5". Brutal night for a guy who busted his ass. Either the Rattlers need to get someone taller in that spot, or the line needs to improve the pressure on the QB so that Truffant isn't left out to dry.

Worse, starting QB Lang Campbell got injured, and in came backup QB Jeff Smoker of Michigan State (in)fame(ous). Too put it bluntly, Smoker sucked. He held the ball too long and missed too many open receivers. A full week of practice should help, as Smoker has played well in arenaball on occasion, but here's hoping that Campbell (ankle) returns soon.


RANK (Last wk) Team Name W/L
1. (1) Philadelphia Soul (2-0)--Many thought Chicago was top dog. Oops.
2. (3) Dallas Desperados 2-0 --Winning without QB Dolezel.
3. (4) Tampa Bay Storm 2-0 --Storm is for real.
4. (2) Chicago Rush 1-1 --Bonner made too many mistakes.
5. (9) Los Angeles Avengers 2-0 --Nice win over Rattlers on Monday.
6. (10) Cleveland Gladiators 2-0 --Two narrow wins to start in new City.
7. (7) San Jose Sabercats 1-1 --Unimpressive win over Grand Rapids.
8. (9) Colorado Crush 1-0 (bye) --Dallas game next week will show a lot.
9. (5) Georgia Force 0-2 --By far the worst drop off from 2008.
10. (8) Arizona Rattlers 1-1 --Backup QB J. Smoker was horrible against L.A.
11. (15) New Orleans Voodoo 1-1 --Nice win for home opener.
12. (17) New York Dragons 1-1 -- Backup QB Davey playing well.
13. (11) Columbus Destroyers 0-2 -- Tough schedule is no excuse.
14. (13) Utah Blaze 0-2 -- Blaze need to find some Defense.
15. (12) Kansas City Brigade 0-2 --2nd most disappointing team of 2008.
16. (16) Grand Rapids Rampage 0-1 --QB McPherson played well in loss to SJ.
17. (14) Orlando Predators 0-2 --Loss to Voodoo means Predators suck.