The playoff picture is starting to come into view for Season 23 and history is looking like it is to repeat itself with the top two of Canton & Florida. The swath of contenders below them though will make the quarterfinal round very interesting as to who will step up to the challenge and try to give us some new faces in the final. But don’t overlook the darkhorses that have been working their way up these rankings either.

voting breakdown

Look, I’ll be honest with y’all, I’m running out of ideas for this section. Early season gets some interesting looks into how the voters think but this late there’s not too much to point out besides small discrepancies between voters. Unless you’re name is Sam Blotner then you’ll see voting align pretty well. Mexico City at 9? Atlanta barely in the points? The Atoms below nearly every team they beat? I don’t know what he’s thinking but we love having our oligarch prince.

division champs?

#4 Minnesota Legend (7-2)
The Legend came into this season already being the 3-time reigning champs out in the central so another title seemed inevitable but a new look Tulsa moving over to Lexington with a MVP at WR with Manning looked like they could make a push to usurp them from the throne. Plus the Nemesis, now Chicago Warriors, were here in the Central to make things competitive; or so we thought. Chicago has fallen into a pit a losses, Lexington is still up and down, rivals Indianapolis still can’t quite put it all together and Motor City has a new HC but the record is still the same old Motor City. Minnesota still needs to put it away and this week vs Vancouver can be the final nail to pull away and clinch and in seasons’ past this may have been a tough task but after losing a top wideout the offense has just fallen to the wayside for them.

#5 Arizona Scorpions (7-2)
Arizona could have clinched the West way back in Week 9 against Denver but were upset by their own rivals and now they’ve dropped another game to Florida and so here we are again with one more win away from clinching the first division this season. Los Angeles has been out of the running for a few weeks now and Denver may have the H2H but can’t do much with it this season at 6 losses now. Vancouver has a very outside chance at coming all the way back but needs a good bit of help from Arizona & Albuquerque losing the rest of their games and Vancouver needs to also find ways to win themselves. The Atoms also would need a lot of help with needing Arizona to fully collapse to a 7-5 record to overcome the H2H tiebreaker as well as win out to 8-4 themselves (something I’ve predicted personally).

running out of road

#16 Indianapolis Ramblers (4-5)
Three games left and a close loss to Houston last week puts the Ramblers up against it as they really need to win every game left to feel good about a playoff berth. We’ve seen Indy sneak into the 12^th spot with their SoV but that is a dangerous game to play an that number is set to drop if they beat a 2-7 Chicago team. Then the final two games against Lexington & Carolina will be games where all the teams would be fighting for a place in the dance and it will be a brawl for both as all three have wanted to show what they can do or get another chance to.

#14 Houston Headhunters (4-5)
That OT win over the Ramblers may have saved the Headhunters’ season or just dragged it out another week. The final three weeks are all vs South Division opponents and that’s not what you want to hear as a Houston fan as the South has been known as a bloodbath each season and the first game up against Mexico City is a must win for the added SoV that it can add to hopefully offset drops from Louisiana and/or Bossier City. Although a win out should put them where they want to be we have seen teams not make the cut at 7-5 so no one is truly safe until the clock hits all 0s and the numbers have been crunched. Be on the lookout for the Scenario Show this season as that should tell you a lot about the chances Houston may or may not have.

week 12 premier matchup

#8 Charleston Predators @ #12 Carolina Skyhawks(-2.5) | O/U 41.5 | SEPT. 29th 6:45 PM EST
Ah, the battle for the Carolinas. There has been a total of 16 meetings between these two and the series record sits at 8-8 after Carolina took a 4 game winning streak to cap off the APF Era and now Charleston is sitting on a 3 game win streak in the 4K23 Era. Both sides could use the win with Charleston being able to reach a safe sounding 7^th win and Carolina getting to a sixth with a strong SoV to carry with them to possible usurp Florida with a H2H win in their back pocket. Recent history tells me that the Predators have the upper hand in this meeting once again but really recent history has Carolina as unbeaten at home this season so somebody has to budge and so I’ll take a fun prediction of Matt South game wining TD pass on 4^th and goal to win 21-20.