August 21, 2025
By Alex Rubin
1. What magic do the reigning champion Wind Chill have left?
For the second straight round, I’m asking the same question. By this point, any lingering doubts about Minnesota’s post-season bona fides should be quashed; the Wind Chill are legit. Their statement win over Chicago proved that their defense can hold up against anybody. The Union were scoring the most goals per game in the league, but couldn’t score more than Minnesota two weekends ago.
If Minnesota is going to win again, they’ll need the defense to remain at its best. Minnesota is giving up the third-fewest scores per game this season (only Boston allowed fewer of teams remaining). The offseason additions of Justin Burnett and James Pollard slotted right in to an already-impressive unit that improved as the season went along. In their May 30 matchup, the Wind Chill held Atlanta to 15 scores while forcing 19 turnovers. MVP candidate Austin Taylor threw two turnovers in that game–the most he’s thrown in any game all season.
More impressively, Minnesota’s O-line held Atlanta to a 33 percent D-line conversion percent in that game, indicating that their O-line defense can hold up just as well as their D-line. With a full team effort, it won’t be magic this time around that wins Minnesota a title–it’ll be blue collar, hard-nosed defense that could get the job done.
2. Can a Championship Weekend debutante actually win the title?
Teams in their first year at Championship Weekend don’t usually win the title. Look at DC last season. Or Chicago in 2021 or Colorado in 2022 or Minnesota in 2023. We have to go back to the 2017 San Francisco Flamethrowers to find a team who pulled off a title in their first Championship Weekend appearance, and the UFA has changed a lot since then.
They’ve been knocking on the door for years, but Atlanta finally made it to Championship Weekend this year. The Hustle are certainly well tested; they played an incredibly competitive schedule this season with games against Minnesota, Chicago, and Salt Lake. Austin Taylor is having the best season of his career, leading the league in throwing yards and completing 78.95 percent of his 30 hucks–most of anybody still playing at Championship Weekend. With big receivers like Brett Hulsmeyer, Alec Wilson Holliday, and Cameron Brock ready to run down whatever is thrown their way, the Hustle are one of the few teams in the league who can put together an offense to really challenge Minnesota’s defense. I have no doubt that Taylor, Adam Miller, and company will be able to deliver, but how they react to the biggest moment of their professional careers will be a mystery until it happens.
If the Hustle can keep their heads on their shoulders and not be spooked by the grandeur of Breese Stevens Field or the pressure of their first Championship Weekend, they’ll have a great shot at advancing to Saturday’s title game and potentially lifting a trophy.
3. So what does Championship Weekend experience actually mean?
On the other hand, Salt Lake has been there and done that before. Of the challengers to Minnesota, the Shred have played the most Championship Weekend games: two (2). It’s not much, but if experience is a factor the Shred have it. Salt Lake last made Championship Weekend the last time it was in a midwestern city, in 2023. You might remember their semifinal against Minnesota as the game in which Joel Clutton did this.
It remains one of the most electric ultimate moments I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing in person. Though Clutton took his talents south to Las Vegas this season, the rest of the Shred surely remember the environment and will take lessons from their title game loss to New York into this season’s final four.
The key players largely remain the same. Jordan Kerr led the team in plus/minus and remains the focal point of the offense. Chad Yorgason, Jace Duennebeil, and Will Selfridge are only better with two additional seasons of experience as they blossom into hard-to-cover hybrids. On the defensive end, this Shred team is filled with newcomers. Sam Pew, Kimball Pew, Nate De Morgan, and Reed Browning were not playing in the UFA the last time Salt Lake made it to this stage, and they will all play key roles trying to slow down Boston’s offense.
How Salt Lake translates their experience from two seasons ago to their newer players will be a big factor in an otherwise fairly even game against Boston. While Tobe Decraene, Tannor Johnson-Go, Ben Sadok, and Orion Cable will be making their Championship Weekend debuts, their opponents largely will have been to these big moments before and may not be as nervy under the bright lights.
4. Are the beasts from the East the most talented team in 2025?
Through the first two-thirds of the regular season, the Boston Glory looked destined for a title. They scored convincing wins over New York and DC while deploying Jeff Babbitt and Tobe Decraene as two-way threats who turned into clear MVP candidates. Though they stumbled a bit down the stretch, the Glory looked like the real deal in their Division Championship win over the DC Breeze.
Let’s get the starpower out of the way. Decraene led the league in receiving yards and probably could have done more had he not been on such a stacked team. Babbitt finished third in the league in blocks with 21 while playing about half as many defensive points as the two players above him.
If those two are emblematic of the whole team, Boston could just go on a tour-de-force and win handily like they did against DC. The Glory have the second highest completion percentage and the second fewest scores against in the league–they can compete on both sides of the disc.
The Glory took four seasons to master the regular season, but have never tasted this level of postseason success until this year. Babbitt and Ethan Fortin have both been through this before with New York (in 2022 and 2023), but for much of the team playing in a full stadium in this kind of showcase environment will be new. Will the regular season success translate into a title like it did for the New York teams earlier this decade, or will Boston struggle under the spotlight (like the Union two weeks ago or Dallas in 2017, 2018, and 2019)?
