The #6 seeded Giants have warmed up at the right time and will now try to become the third team in league history to successfully defend their crown against their division mates, the top seeded Nationals this weekend. The two semi-final contests lacked some the drama of the Wild Card games but they were entertaining at times.
The Nats built a big lead on the Legends and their 138 points marked their best total of the season. The Legends took a big chunk out of the cushion on Monday night thanks to Gio Bernard and Deontae Johnson but losing Tyler Boyd early in the game to a concussion sealed their fate.
The Giants overcame the Heroes slim lead with 8 points from rookie RB Edwards-Helaire of the Chiefs in Sunday's late afternoon game and earned their second straight trip to the Hughes Bowl. Helaire was hurt late in the contest. Had he gone down earlier we might be looking at a different HB 40 match-up. In losing the Heroes broke a small two season string of consecutive HB wins by #2 seeds.
The Nationals will try to become the fifth top seed in the MFL era to win the title. The Giants will be hoping to become the first #6 seed to do so, as well as just the third back-to-back champ. Here is a graphic showing the teams that have appeared in consecutive Hughes Bowls. HB wins are printed in red.
Scrolling through the records we come across some interesting stuff...these same two teams met in the 2004 Hughes Bowl which ended in a 79-79 tie! The Nats won the trophy based on their tie-break player (Tony Gonzalez). It was the first Hughes Bowl tie in our history.... that game was also (surprisingly to me, at least) the Nats last HB game... the Nats last appeared in the post-season in 2016 when they were a wildcard...
...The two teams have met a total of four times previously in the playoffs. The Nats have won twice, a Semi match up in '99 and the previously mentioned 2004 championship game...the Giants defeated the Nats in a 2001 Wild Card game and the 2007 Semi Finals...
...neither franchise is a stranger to the playoffs...the Nats are making their 24th post-season appearance and boast a 23-17 record through this past weekend. They are 6-4 in 10 Hughes Bowls and six titles is best in league history...
...the Giants are making their 19th playoff appearance and are now over .500 at 17-15 with this years two wins. They are 3-4 in seven previous Hughes Bowls.
And here's a look at how these two teams got to the Hughes Bowl...
With the #1 seed that scored 138 points this week facing a club coming off five consecutive wins we should expect a great game. Best of luck to both Dan and Rick, two great owners.
League Stuff...
Nothing new on the league changes 'front'. I am continuing to solicit ideas and opinions and I hope to have something put together soon...I sent out invites to the NFL post-season contest. It's an easy set-it-and-forget-it type thing with waiver money again as the top prizes. I tweaked the format to lift the restrictions on how many players you can pick from each NFL club. Not sure if that makes it easier or harder. If you haven't signed up I urge you to do so. The rosters will get filled in the day the NFL playoffs are set.
I'll be giving one more reminder to everyone to get your rosters down to 19 players INCLUDING IR guys. I'm not going to nag folks because that gets tiring. I'm just going to make the cuts myself if I need to. All teams should be down to the limit by next Wednesday. Thanks for taking care of this. I will send out the first draft values spreadsheet right after the first of the year.
And finally....Happy Holidays! Thanks for making this such a great league.
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