(Note: The Power Rankings crew will be taking our own Bye week next week and come back for Week 10 Power Rankings detailing Week 8 action along with the singular game between #1 Florida & #3 Canton in Week 9. Thank you!)

We are officially halfway through Season 23 while teams are quite settling just yet the same names are staying up with a few cycling down below. Additional vote getters are down to just three and we’re seeing a near sweep of 1^st place votes at the top. The bloodbath of ranked teams duking it out has lead to a lot of movement within the top 16 with a new for this week name joining them. This week sees many of the teams head out on the road vs lesser talent; will they be able to overcome the beast that is home field?

voting breakdown

The later into the season we get the less there seems to be to point out with how the voting body sees the rankings of teams. Most voters are relatively uniform for the top 10 even then they stay within close bounds of one another down to about 13 or 14. What we do start to see down that far are things like JW keeping Houston high despite the loss which I would venture to say is due to their loss of OJ Bruin vs Baltimore and with him back they should start to right the ship again. He also keeps the Atoms five spots higher than the team that just beat them in Indianapolis (a 9-3 barn burner). I do see talk continuing to swirl over who the anonymous voter is and why they hate Arizona so much and the guesses have been interesting as to their identity. Wrong. But interesting. D.C. is the most curious case of a top 10 team as they are back to .500 and are getting the love from most voters but there is still a few stragglers and I don’t blame them. The Dragons came in with championship aspirations and dropped 3 of 4 games vs what look to be contenders for the playoffs and beyond and now they are in the midst of the “easy” run of games to help sneak into the field. Check back in Week 12 and we’ll see how people feel on their chances.

penalty box

#12 Atlanta Swarm (4-3)
Despite the turnover on the roster and just about everyone telling them to mark their days as a franchise the Swarm have got themselves up above .500 after 7 weeks and everything was looking to be on the up and up towards the playoffs. A game at Queen City should have been an easy win and it sure was to them to the tune of 30-13 but a late turnover by the Corsairs and with Siege Falco at 9 carries as a WR things were tense to see if they would hit the new ruling on non-HB runs. And then he was given a 10^th and as the broadcasters were confirming that you could hit the top end but not go over he went over and now Atlanta has it all to do vs Arizona & Carolina with old books and hope for their playoff chances. They need 3 more wins to feel safe and 2 of their remaining 5 are vs the #1 & #2 teams in these rankings. A split during this probation period may be their best but going 0-2 and needing to win out may end up dooming them after a very promising start despite the odds. We can’t count them out this week but it will definitely be a game to watch to see how they fair within the new rule and if they can show enough fight to have a shot vs Carolina afterwards.

#13 Houston Headhunters (3-3)
In the leadup for last week everything looked ready to go for Houston to try and take down Baltimore for the first time in their history and then QB1 OJ Bruin ended up on the inactive list. League backchannels were lit up and the Streets were packed with thoughts on the newly established rules on subs and when to have them in and active to make it to gametime. OJ is back in the saddle now and the Headhunters must move on after continuing the up and down season with another loss to Baltimore added to the tally. If the trend of their season continues though then they should be due for a win this week and with it being a divisional matchup this is the best time to get back to it.

week 8 premier matchup

#10 Fort Worth Toros @ #13 Houston Headhunters(-2.5) | O/U 45.5 | SEPT. 1ST 6:30 PM EST
Four weeks ago Fort Worth was on top of the world and these rankings, hit their bye week and then crashed back down to Earth and then some. Dunhill can’t find the endzone and keeps finding the other team with 10 INTs in their last 3 losses with nothing to show on the scoring end to try and offset that. They’ve been upset by Albuquerque then taken down by divisional rivals Mexico City and just last week they lost a heartbreaker to undefeated Arizona. They cannot end this chunk of games in between their bye weeks with another loss and slip below .500 even with an easy run of games on the horizon as they’ve shown they may not be able to beat the teams they should be beating. Houston, on the other hand, comes in heated after losing to Baltimore again and not having their starting QB but OJ is back and the South is still up for grabs for any of the five teams in it. This should be a close game that will be exciting until the end with both teams coming in with a lot on the line and a lot to lose or gain.