USAFL Top 20 Poll V: Much Ado About Little

Two massive tournaments took place prior to the 4th of July weekend, featuring six of the top 11 teams in the country, in addition to games scattered across the landscape.

After all of that footy under the intense heat of late June, the net gain was one team moving two rungs up the ladder, with two others sliding up one spot.  The Orange County Bombers, winners of the Western Regionals, remained in the top spot for the fourth poll in a row, taking top votes from seven of the nine panelists.

Also Receiving Votes: Ohio Valley River Rats 5, North Carolina Tigers 5, Portland Steelheads 4, Baton Rouge Tigers 2, Tulsa Buffaloes 1.

The Bombers 3-0 record in Davis, CA, solidified their standing as the best team in the country, as they beat Los Angeles, Golden Gate, and the Hong Kong Dragons with three fantastic performances.  The LA Dragons, who also put up three good games in Davis, inched closer to the 5th ranked Calgary Kangaroos, but could not overtake them.  Golden Gate went 0-2 against the two USAFL squads and dropped two spots to 9th.

In Austin, the hometown Crows turned back the Dallas Magpies and Houston Lonestars to take home the Texas Cup, but couldn’t gain any more ground on the #2 New York Magpies to stay in the three-hole.  Dallas split their two games, defeating Houston.  As a result, the panel elevated them two spots to number 7, pushing Minnesota and Golden Gate down a spot.   Houston, despite coming up just two points short against the hosts, stayed in 11th, but just one point behind Nashville, who remained in 10th despite getting upset on the road to Baton Rouge.

Positions 10-14 stood pat, as following the Kangaroos and Lonestars came Chicago, Columbus, and the WRT Division 2 champions from Sacramento, who easily handled Portland and Seattle/San Diego in their two games at home two weeks ago.

Boston and Philadelphia swapped places after the Demons whipped on the undermanned Hawks in suburban Boston on June 27th.  Most teams that lose by 94 points wouldn’t be so lucky, but the panel seemed to thinks that the Hawks were hard done by the numbers they brought.  Philly and the Dees weren’t the only two Eastern clubs to swap spaces, as the Ft. Lauderdale Fighting Squids went up a spot in the scramble to #18, displacing Baltimore/Washington.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR – Next Poll: July 29th

The biggest event on the calendar heading into Poll #6 is this weekend’s Central Regional Tournament, just on the heels of the Westerns.  Twelve teams representing 13 clubs will take part in two divisions, just like out west.  But the teams that will take to the SCORe Complex in Racine will face pool play and then a playoff.  #2 New York joins the fun, and with Austin, Denver, Minnesota, Houston, and Chicago with them, the Division 1 field features six of the top teams in the country.  #3 Austin and #4 Denver are paired together in Group B, which, on paper, is the biggest match to look out for.

The Divvy 2 field is no slouch, as #7 Dallas, #13 Columbus, and #20 Des Moines look to move up, with Magpies and Jackaroos the favorites to play in the Grand Final on Saturday afternoon.  Joining them in the pool is unranked Ohio Valley, Tulsa, and the combination of Indianapolis/Milwaukee.  The River Rats have put a string of good performances together but have yet the poll.  They hope that changes this week.

Another unranked club looking to move up is North Carolina, as they head up to DC to take on the BWEagles on July 11th.  Two weeks after Racine, New York makes the trip down I-95 to take on the fledgling Philadelphia Hawks.

And that’s it.