A bye week in the SFL is a fickle beast for power rankings season in and season out. For some teams on the lower end of the spectrum it’s a good palette cleanser for voters to forget their past transgression. For other teams near the top it falls squarely into the “what have you done for me lately” category.  This week we see that happen firsthand and we may just see it come back around the next. I will be interested to see what that means for the big bye of Week 9 that is coming up.

voting breakdown

Florida pulling in the most 1^st place votes and retaining the top spot was expected but I am a little surprised to see an almost clean sweep up top. What I am not surprised to see is Canton beating a winless Chicago team and vaulting over two teams, one of which who has them on H2H, that were on byes. I have seen this scenario play out one too many times and personally wish it weren’t the case but I am just here to aggregate the votes and publish the articles. But to see Canton jump a Baltimore team who beat them earlier in the season and has only lost to Minnesota who was also on bye and leapfrogged just doesn’t sit right with me. Elsewhere, it was good to see Albuquerque get a good bit of love after taking down Fort Worth as they pulled in voting points from everyone except Sam Blotner who still loves DC more than most.

hello there!

#11 Albuquerque Atoms (2-2)
The second expansion team has finally entered the top 16 with Nashville still hanging around at #13. After holding out at #18 for a few weeks they manage to get a signature win on their early season and vault up to #11 and relatively close to a top 10 spot. When these guys are at home it is lights out for their opponents and their offenses but the road trips is where the Atoms are still tending to slip. They have another undefeated team that is also sitting at #2 this week with Arizona and they are on the road so will it be more of the same for the Atoms or can they overcome their struggles and become true giant killers?

#15 Carolina Skyhawks (2-2)
Carolina is back like they never left after their own upset of a top 10 team and this time they have a winless Queen City up next to hopefully solidify their position in these rankings. The offense for Carolina has not always shown up but they seem to have figured something out as the 23 points is a season high and we could potentially see it go higher if Queen City continues to have their roster woes with inactives.

good(?)bye

#14 Louisiana Revolution (2-2)
The seesaw continues for the Revolution as they take down a Legion squad who was without one of their top targets in Wells and jump back into the bottom rung of rankings. This week they are off and it may just lead to a par for their season if results below them are unfavorable to their position. Although looking ahead they would need a few big upsets like DC over Minnesota and Vancouver over Baltimore to start to worry. Atlanta plays a struggling Pittsburgh that could also see their spot get tested but so far they are here for another week and then face off against what will probably still be a #1 Florida team to stay up.

week 6 premier matchup

#8 Charleston Predators(-8.5) @ #12 Houston Headhunters | O/U 38.5 | AUGUST 18th 6:45 PM EST
We are going to keep in the vein of going against the grain of top games here again this week as we pick on the Predators 2^nd test of the season to see how serious they may be. Charleston has done well to blow out most of the teams placed in front of them and do so while also using their full 50 man roster to maximum effect but then they faced off vs Florida and were blanked. Houston has been up and down this season and has had their own offensive woes and has also beaten the teams they should beat outside of the upset against Carolina. Both teams could really use a win to prove to themselves and others around the league that they mean to make some noise later in the season and both could also use the confidence boost again a top team as they are about to face a slew of other top teams in the weeks ahead. This is going to be a grinder of a game and I don’t see wither team scoring over 20. Last possession wins.