The AUDL Power Rankings were quietly released last Friday with no change to the top 6 spots. The rankings are led by #1 Dallas and #2 San Francisco, two spots that have remained the same all season to date. The Toronto Rush remain in the 3rd spot, and in fact there was only one change from an East Division perspective with New York moving up one spot to #8, passing Raleigh. Here are all the East Division teams:
- #3 ( – ) Toronto Rush
- #5 ( – ) DC Breeze
- #8 (+1) New York Empire
- #18 ( – ) Montréal Royal
- #22 ( – ) Ottawa Outlaws
- #25 ( – ) Philadelphia Phoenix
So how do the Divisions match up at this point? The West is clearly on top, enjoying the highest average ranking based on all teams as well as when considering only the top 3 “playoff spot” teams from each division. The East and the South share honors at 2-3, while the Midwest ranks lowest by either measure according to these latest Power Rankings. The division ranks have shifted throughout the first 6 weeks, so it will be interesting to see where they end up in Week 15 as we head into Playoffs and Championship Weekend.
Average rank of the Top 3 teams in each Division:
- West: #2 SF, #6 VAN, #7 SEA = 5.0 avg rank (+0.3 improvement from Week 5)
- East: #3 TOR, #5 DC, #8 NY = 5.3 avg rank (+0.4)
- South: #1 DAL, #9 RAL, #11 ATL = 7.0 avg rank (-0.3)
- Midwest: #4 MAD, #10 PIT, #15 MIN = 9.7 avg rank ( – )
Average rankings across all teams in each division:
- West: 10.8 avg rank (-0.3)
- South: 12.7 avg rank ( – )
- East: 13.5 avg rank (+0.2)
- Midwest: 16.6 avg rank (+0.1)
Here’s what the rankings had to say about DC:
“The Breeze are getting a lot of early-season reps in high pressure situations—it was their second double overtime scenario in as many games at home on Saturday—but much of that is due to their own inability to firmly establish a offensive rhythm and put teams away when they have the momentum. The defense has definitely shown it can rise to the occasion and stall opponents at crucial moments, and the offense finds cohesion when needed as evidenced by the smoothness of their game-winning drive in sudden death. And yet, it feels like this team is nowhere near its potential as a legitimate title contender.”