FRIDAY FIVE: WEEK 2 EDITION

by Chad Roland

SFL Nation! We are in full swing here in Season 25 and I am wanting to bring back the Friday Five article. If you don't know what the Friday Five is, I'll explain. Back in my youth a few buddies of mine would always talk in study hall on Friday talking about the 5 things we were looking forward to during the weekend of sports. We used to love having those convos and then analyzing it on Monday mornings. I thought “Why not turn it into a SFL article?” I let my alter ego Jason Miller write it but with him MIA and never returning again, I am taking it back and wanting to talk about the 5 things I am most looking forward to this upcoming weekend in the SFL in no particular order. Let's get into it

WASHINGTON VS ALBUQUERQUE

After watching this past weekend of games from the convention I think everyone will have their eyes on this one. ABQ comes into this game with a Week 1 victory after turning the Toros into skirt steaks. The combo of Slapp/Williams is real as they combined for 263 yards and 4TDs on the ground. They are going to need that combo again as Washington comes into town after beating Houston at home 26-17. It was a great game to watch but that's not what people are talking about. They are talking about the talk after the game between the teams. Some words were said in the offseason and Washington made sure they were the loudest after that victory. It will be interesting to see if that fuels them into this matchup against ABQ.

PREDICITION

QB Tommy Utah had a good game but did throw 2 picks so he will need to be careful against this ABQ secondary. But Washington is no slouch when it comes to creating turnovers. If they can force ABQ into some situations, I think Washington has a chance here. It's going to be close, but I am giving it to the home team in ABQ. Don't get me wrong, Washington did a great job of holding Tino Sosa and Baloo Scott to just over 100 yards combined, but this is Slapp and Williams. That's a way taller task. If Washington front 7 can get some pressure and make ABQ throw, they have a shot. But I think the combo of Slapp and Williams might be too much for Washington.

ARIZONA VS LEXINGTON

Game 2 is another good one as Arizona has to travel to the state of Kentucky to take on the Miners. Arizona is coming off a big victory against the defending champs. I'm going to be real right now and you all know me, I wont hold back. But Arizona should not have won this game. Their offense looked just meh. Now I will say as I have always said that the key for Arizona to win it all will be their defense. I have also said that they need better QB play. Yea Ashley played ok but Brad Jones was the entire offense. If they get in a spot of Jones not carrying the rock well, I'd be curious if she has what it takes to lead them to victory. Time will tell. But as long as they have that defense there isn't much that could stop Arizona. On the other side Lexington played well against a team that I have real high hopes for in Pittsburgh. Both teams looked good but Lexington with that pick 6 from Travis Arthur made the difference.

PREDICTION

This is an interesting one. Really in my mind there are two things. Lexington played a pretty balanced attack against PITT. But this defense in Arizona is legit. Gabe Manning didn't have a Gabe Manning type game and I wonder if Lexington will try and get that working again. The other thing will be Lexington's defense. They gave up 27 against PITT but they have to make Ashley throw. If they can slow Jones down and get pressure on Ashley I feel like they have a shot. But I'm going with the defense of Arizona to get the job done. Give me Zona.

CHICAGO VS DC

Man, I'll tell you all what.. That game last week for the Warriors might be the best football that has been played in Chicago since Rex Grossman led you know who to a certain game. I know it's week 1. Everyone will say that and I can relate to that as a former coach. But god they looked good. This is the version of Ty Ptak we thought we always get. Did Chicago figure something out in the offseason? And yes, I poked at them for signing D'Brickashaw Mollineaux cause converting him was weird but at least for 1 week he made me eat my words. I don't want to give Chicago all this love just yet. I need to see a few more games before we declare them a dark horse. But it was against Minnesota who usually has good defenses. DC had a hard fought game against my Skyhawks. DC is always that team that you have no idea how they are going to be. Are they good? Are they meh? Who knows. It's a hard team to talk about. But hey they won the game and now host a team that looked damn good in Week 1

PREDICTION

I'm calling it now. Chicago by at least 14. Yes, I said it. On the road going to the nation's capital that is surrounded by dragons, I can see the Warriors coming in and putting belt to cheeks. I can see Ty Ptak going off again and having another great game and then we MIGHT have to put him in WAY TOO EARLY MVP TALKS! That's right, you heard me. MVP Talks. If he does that game again in Week 2 all of us will have no choice.

FLORIDA VS LA

This game is interesting to me. Not because of Florida either. I just don't see them as much of a threat to be a contender let alone make the playoffs, but LA is the interesting team here. Look, I have put LA through the ringer in my media lifetime. I have said a lot of things about them. I know others have as well. But watching that CHS game something looked different. I couldn't put my finger on it. Yes they lost in OT to Charleston. A lot of people have Charleston as a popular pick due to the offseason they had, but I feel like LA looked like the better team in that game. LA always has good defense but their offense actually looked better. Yes they only scored 20 in a game that went to OT, but something about it looked better than the past couple of seasons. Maybe with time, Sully Richardson and the boys will get things figured out.

PREDICITION

Listen, I am not a Florida guy. This isn't an article written by Eddie Gauge. Yes they did beat BCS but I don't know if that is the same BCS team or not. It didn't for sure look like it. I am going to chalk up that win as a Week 1 shenanigan. But looking at this game Florida for them to have a shot, they have to beat that LA defense. Which might require Bullet to go off which he did not do last week as he got 34 yards against BCS. LA is at home and let's see if some home cooking can get the offense going. Give me LA

PITTSBURGH VS DETROIT

Final game of the article is Pitt and Detroit on Monday Night! Love to see Cam and Charles back in the booth. And I feel like they have a good one. Detroit will say they got screwed by some AI logic. I have a message for JW and the rest of the coaches/players “QUIT BLAMING AI” Go back in the lab and just be better. Maybe you shouldn't have been in that position in the first place!... Anyway I feel better. Back to the article. I have high hopes for PITT and they did look good in a loss against Lexington.That offense to me is still legit and scoring 27 on LEX proves that. Detroit in their game against QCC, they had some moments where they looked good as well. Ethan Flowers is starting off his sophomore campaign pretty decently. He did throw 2 picks, but I have a feeling he can clean those up.

PREDICITION

This one is kind of tough. For Detroit they need to get Gipson going. Having him get under 3 yards per carry isn't going to help. I have always said you need at least 4. Yes I know 1 yard isn't much to some people but for coaches and RBs it can make a big difference. If they can get Gipson going they might have a shot. JW and his “angry” coaching needs to step it up if he is going to get through this well built team in PITT. On the other side Pittsburgh needs to be able to force turnovers. They did force a fumble but if you let Flowers and gang get away with no turnovers, you might end up losing this game on Monday Night. But I think PITT comes into Detroit and takes the victory. Give me PITT by 10

So that does it for this week's Friday Five! My goal is to keep this article going so any feedback will be appreciated and as always enjoy the weekend of great SFL action