June 13, 2023
By Evan Lepler
The regular season is primarily about one thing: Making the playoffs. As long as you’re in the dance, you’ve got a chance.
Sure, you would like to be developing efficient systems, honing lineups, and discovering your peak performance at the right time, not to mention home-field advantage is nice and all, but really it’s as simple as finishing top three in your division. From there, a single-elimination 12-team bracket takes us to the title.
(And one note about home-field: after going 5-8 in Week 7, home teams are just 38-37 so far this season.)
Here’s where each division stands after seven weeks, approximately midway through the 2023 journey.
EAST
The Favorite
New York Empire 7-0
Despite a couple close calls in overtime, the Empire are still undefeated and rolling toward another East Division final, at the absolute minimum. The biggest question may be whether they can challenge Toronto’s AUDL record 30-game winning streak and potentially be the first team in history with back-to-back perfect seasons.
The Contender
DC Breeze 3-2
It’s been an acceptable but uneven campaign so far for the Breeze. Logic suggests their best ultimate remains ahead of them, and we know their highest level can threaten the Empire’s reign.
In the Hunt
Boston Glory 4-2
Philadelphia Phoenix 3-4
Toronto Rush 2-4
One of these three will find their way into the playoffs. The Phoenix are heating up and would be the clear leader of this group if they had not blown a seven-goal lead at Boston on May 13.
On to 2024
Montreal Royal 0-5
The Royal still have a great crowd and loyal fans, but going winless through their first four home games feels impossible to overcome.
CENTRAL
The Favorite
Minnesota Wind Chill 5-1
With their lone loss coming shorthanded at Chicago on the second day of a back-to-back, the Wind Chill have shown impressive resilience, battling through injuries and absences by mixing and matching lineups to win some close games. Their +23 goal-differential for the season is 15 better than anyone else in the division.
The Contenders
Indianapolis AlleyCats 4-2
Chicago Union 2-3
Without a doubt, Indy feels they are the favorite, and they would clearly have that status if they had not coughed up a four-goal lead at home against Minnesota on May 6. The Cats only get one more crack at the Wind Chill during the regular season, in St. Paul on July 9. Meanwhile, full-strength Chicago, on paper, has the pieces to prevail in this division, yet the Union are undeniably scuffling through inconsistent lineups and execution.
In the Hunt
Madison Radicals 1-4
Pittsburgh Thunderbirds 3-3
The Radicals have been competitive, exciting, and snakebit, their four losses coming by a total of five goals. The Thunderbirds handed Madison an opening weekend heartbreaker, but only have beaten Detroit since.
On to 2024
Detroit Mechanix 0-4
Four losses by 40 goals, stretching the six-year losing streak to 66 straight. Only 10 of those 66 contests—none this year—have been decided by three or less. Brutal.
SOUTH
The Favorites
Atlanta Hustle 5-2
Carolina Flyers 6-3
The Carolina Flyers are nipping at their heels after a great road win at Austin, but the Hustle still sit atop the pack in the South. If both the Flyers and Hustle take care of business against Dallas and Houston the rest of the way, Atlanta can win the regular season title in the South by splitting the last two matchups against Carolina, while the Flyers would need to win them both to take the top seed. After seven weeks, my gut says that Carolina has the higher ceiling, however Atlanta’s also shown too much promise to overlook and earned the top spot as a very slight favorite.
In the Hunt
Austin Sol 5-3
It felt inappropriate to label Austin a “contender,” but there’s no doubt the Sol will be in the playoffs, and on any given day, Austin certainly has the firepower to prevail against Atlanta or Carolina. If the Sol can finish 9-3 by defeating Houston and Dallas two more times each, Austin will begin the playoffs at home, giving them a clear path to a one-game season with Championship Weekend at stake.
On to 2024
Houston Havoc 2-5
Dallas Legion 0-5
Two improving teams that have played their best ultimate lately, but still several notches below the top three in the division in terms of consistency and ceiling.
WEST
The Favorite
Salt Lake Shred 7-0
This solo distinction won’t last long if the Shred can’t beat Colorado for the second time in a week this Friday night, but there’s no question Salt Lake has significantly upped its game from a year ago. The strides of been noticeable everywhere: athletically, tactically, and cohesively, this is a super fun and scary team. How awesome would it be to see the 11-0 Shred and the 10-0 Empire colliding in Salt Lake on July 15?
The Contender
Colorado Summit 5-1
I’m not pouring dirt on the Summit’s division title hopes by any means, but Colorado has not had quite the same feel in year two. With a very tough road trip at Salt Lake and Oakland on tap in Week 8, the Summit must coalesce quickly or they’ll definitely be back on the road for the West playoffs.
In the Hunt
Oakland Spiders 4-3
LA Aviators 4-3
San Diego Growlers 2-4
The final playoff spot in the West will likely be decided by a pair of Spiders-Aviators contests in the last two weeks of the regular season, however the Growlers are far from out of it thanks to an advantageous schedule. While LA will host Salt Lake and Oakland on Fridays, San Diego gets the Shred and the Spiders on Saturdays, the second day of their respective road trips, where they’ll presumably be a bit fatigued. Furthermore, since San Diego went to Texas and split a couple interdivisional games in May, there’s no road trip to Colorado and Salt Lake looming for the Growlers. But with all due respect to the still-dangerous SoCal duo, the Oakland Spiders have consistently been the best of these three through seven weeks. Of course, that does not mean they will remain the best as we cruise into July.
On to 2024
Seattle Cascades 1-6
Portland Nitro 0-6
They’re a combined 0-11 against the five teams above them in the standings, and despite some exciting moments, fun highlights, and talented players, these teams have ultimately been mighty disappointing, playing well below their potential.
The Full Field Layout
The Salt Lake Shred and New York Empire were the top stories of Week 7, as each improved to 7-0 with a mighty impressive showing against a marquee opponent.
On Friday, the Shred scored four straight in the second quarter to build an 8-4 edge and stun the Summit’s hometown crowd, but Colorado stabilized and used their own 4-0 spurt to seize a 15-14 advantage heading to the fourth.
Watching from afar, though, I could not shake the feeling that Salt Lake had been the better team on this particular night, a premonition that rung true during the final 12 minutes, which began with an exhilarating 5-1 rally from the Shred to reclaim control.
Down 19-16 with two minutes left, the Summit used a too-little, too-late break to inch within one, but the Shred tossed six completions to make the final 22 seconds disappear, earning arguably their biggest win in franchise history, 19-18.
“It’s nothing too complicated,” said Colorado Co-Coach Tim Kefalas. “They outplayed us. Both sides of the ball. That’s really it. Great game plan. Great execution. Kept us out of rhythm. Limited their own mistakes. Did all the pieces you do to consistently win games.”
The most important aspect of Salt Lake’s performance was undoubtedly the Shred D-line going 9-for-9 on break chances. No team in AUDL history (since at least 2014) had ever previously enjoyed as successful and efficient of a game in terms of D-line conversions.
“Last year, they got so many blocks but gave it back so quickly that it often didn’t matter,” said Kefalas, referencing the fact that Salt Lake went 10-for-23 on break chances in two regular season matchups against Colorado in 2022. “This year, they’ve got great discipline and chemistry with their D-lines as well as some of that same quick-strike mentality [...] Stylistically, they’re playing a lot more like a team that I think can compete with anyone vs. last year they just played a lot looser on both sides of the ball, and that didn’t translate as well to a more controlled, dialed-in game.”
Colorado actually had more break opportunities on the night, but finished just 6-for-13, and the Shred also went 13-for-13 in the red-zone, cashing in every time they got close to the goal line.
“[Our D-line’s] patience and decision-making has won us multiple games this year already, and they’re only getting better,” said Salt Lake’s Jordan Kerr.
The contest included plenty of heroic highlights and thrilling momentum swings, but the signature sequence involved Kerr and Colorado’s Cody Spicer, as the two All-AUDL standouts traded hand-blocks against one another in the span of about 10 seconds. First, Kerr got a piece of Spicer’s forehand. Moments later, Spicer anticipated Kerr’s inside backhand, earning possession back for Colorado immediately.
“I was lucky to get a piece of Cody’s flick,” said Kerr, “but then when I went to pick up the disc, he read my inside backhand like a book and just stuffed it. I kinda laughed to myself, realizing Cody wasn’t going to let me get that shot off.”
Perhaps you’d expect some chirping or chatter after this type of back-and-forth, but the two stars let their play do the talking. During postgame interviews, each emphasized his considerable respect for the other.
“The back-to-back hand blocks was a cool thing to be a part of,” said Spicer. “I am rarely hand-blocked, so I was more shocked than anything when it happened initially. Props to Jordan for an excellent mark. The only thing going through my head was, ‘we need to get this back.’ I was just glad I was able to do it rather quickly.”
Both teams had new strategic wrinkles for their undefeated opponent, with the Shred throwing a zone that confused the Summit and Colorado moving Spicer onto the O-line, with Jonathan Nethercutt shifting to D. Suffice to say, Salt Lake won the tactical battle, but Colorado will have a quick chance for revenge as the two West Division powers meet again this Friday night in Utah.
“The Shred’s zone is a look we haven’t really seen before, and it seemed to give us fits,” said Spicer. “There was one point later in the game the took probably two minutes off the clock and ended up with us turning it in the end zone with them taking it back for a break. That point showed their discipline and athleticism as they were able to shut down so much of the field for so long.”
Meanwhile, the Spicer/Nethercutt line swap was abandoned at halftime, as per the pregame plan, according to the coaches.
“They play offense very stylistically differently, and we thought Spicer fit in a bit more with how we wanted to approach this game offensively early in this game,” said Kefalas. “We had planned to swap back at half regardless [to] give our offense a bit of a different threat/feel for the second half [...] Unfortunately, we struggled against Salt Lake’s D-line pressure regardless of whether Spicer or Nutt was in that spot—the first four breaks were O-lines with Spicer; the next five breaks were O-lines with Nutt.”
The Shred cherished the result, but also were eager to put it in perspective, particularly with a rematch looming so soon.
“Loved the guys’ performance from Friday” said Salt Lake Coach Bryce Merrill. “Far from perfect, but it was great to see the things they’ve been working on in practice show up in a game. Patient D-line offense. An adaptable O-line pace that played at the optimal speed based on each Colorado defensive set. Will [Selfridge] and Elijah [Jaime’s] legs in the fourth quarter stopped the bleeding for O-line and kept us in the game [...] A single regular season win doesn’t mean much, but we know we need to replicate elite processes and that reputation is something that has eluded our young team up to this point. So it’s good to get the first; and it only matters if we can find ways to repeat it across the last five games of the season. If that’s something that we have the maturity and discipline to do, then I think we can get where we want to go this season.”
Similarly, the Summit’s first ever home loss could be but a blip on the team’s journey, or a symptom of a more significant issue. This coming weekend will provide critical insight into this dilemma.
“I think the loss, although frustrating, has added some motivation to the team,” said Spicer. “Nothing like being punched to wake you up and get you motivated to fight back. Definitely added some fuel to the fire for the rest of the season.”
*****
While the Shred were enjoying their seventh straight win, the Empire entered their interdivisional Saturday showdown with a winning streak that was three times as long. The Atlanta Hustle felt they had the size, strength, and speed to match up with the reigning champs, and in many ways they did, keeping the game close and competitive throughout the entertaining 48 minutes. But New York also reminded us of their considerable superpowers, scoring with ruthless efficiency on offense and bringing relentless firepower on defense, en route to a 20-17 home win.
It was the Empire’s 22nd straight win overall, and their 25th consecutive home victory.
“Finally we got a nice weather game,” said New York’s Ryan Osgar, who dished a season-high nine assists. “I saw Jeff [Babbitt] and [John] Lithio going deep with some favorable matchups for us, and they weren’t forcing me very flat. I feel like DC does a really good job of making hucks hard. Atlanta, their marks were hard, but they were rotated so it was just giving me free looks. I’ll take it.”
Osgar went 6-for-6 on his hucks and 32-for-33 overall, passing for 406 yards. Lithio and Babbitt combined for nine goals, while Ben Jagt chipped in with three blocks. Mike Drost, whose bookends produced the Empire’s first break of the night, added two blocks, bringing his all-time AUDL leading total to 197.
The play of the night was probably another jaw-dropping scoring snag from Babbitt, who elevated for an epic soaring sky on one of Osgar’s deep shots, victimizing his former Empire teammate, Mike Kobyra, in the process.
“I was thinking about how big the poster of Jeff skying me is gonna be,” said Kobyra. “They may have to send it off to a specialty print shop [...] I know what Jeff can do. I’m also not afraid of being in someone else’s highlight reel.”
Playing New York was certainly another educational experience for Atlanta, who envisions getting a rematch with the Empire at Championship Weekend with much more at stake.
“I was telling folks on the travel home that I have played against the Empire’s O-line more than any other players in the country,” said Kobyra. “Playing every Wednesday night for five months will do that to you. So I definitely know what they want, I know the moves, but as a defender, that often gets me to six inches away from the block. Somebody has to ease up, or the throw has to go wide in order to tip the scales. During the game, we were talking about can we play the next point five percent better than the last one? Can we work two percent harder on offense? At the absolute top of the game, when both teams are playing well, that’s the kind of stuff that makes the difference.”
Thanks to their excellent Friday night performance in Boston, the Hustle still headed home after a 1-1 weekend, while the Empire still showed that, despite a couple close calls earlier in the year, they are still very much the class of the league.
“We’re pretty comfortable with where we’re at, and we still got a lot of room to grow,” added Osgar. “And we’re trying to tweak things every week. So really a growth mindset, but we’re staying confident.”
The Empire host Boston this Friday, while the Hustle get Dallas at home on Saturday.
*****
When a team is struggling, a relatively common lever to pull is the intense and unfiltered players-only meeting, where diplomacy is discarded and true emotions flow without regard for feelings.
The Philadelphia Phoenix held one of these following their collapse in Boston back in Week 3. Since then, the Hotbirds are 3-1, with the lone loss coming in overtime against New York. Similarly, the Los Angeles Aviators held their own players-only gathering after their rough road trip through Salt Lake and Colorado, which dropped them to 1-3.
“[Sean] McDougall called me ‘not as good as I thought you were’ and a ‘ball hog,’” recalled LA’s Pawel Janas. “That lit a bonfire under my ass.”
A couple weeks later, the Aviators are flying high, winners of three straight, and the direct, honest conversations were a key factor in the shift.
“Yea, we had a really good meeting after that Colorado game with all of our O players to talk about a few things and let out some of our frustrations, both with ourselves and each other,” said McDougall. “I think as a whole, none of us were pleased with how our first few games went, and we needed to settle down and hash out as a team what we could be doing better.”
After sneaking past San Diego with a one-goal road win in Week 6, the Aviators outscored their two Pacific Northwest foes 16-4 in a pair of dominant first quarters, en route to a 29-11 win over Portland and a 25-23 victory at Seattle.
“One of the things that I was most proud of was the way we started both games,” said LA Coach Jeff Landesman. “This has been an issue the past few years, but this weekend we were up 8-1 and 8-3 after the first quarters.”
Offensively, Janas and McDougall both shined, earning Honor Roll stature for their monster statistical efforts. Janas went 133-for-133 with 14 assists and over 1,000 throwing yards. McDougall erupted for 16 goals, five assists, and two blocks, with no turns.
“Still, we have a long way to go to be a good O-line,” said Janas. “But we are headed in the right direction.”
Furthermore, it appears the spicy confrontation has not hurt but helped the Aviators in their pursuit of a playoff berth.
“As for Pawel and myself,” explained McDougall, “we actually starting having pod workouts together in addition to watching game footage where we would talk about what each of us saw and what we could do better. He is a great student of the game, and while we may have different ideas, we both are more than willing to adapt to help the other be successful.”
The 4-3 Aviators can win their fourth straight by taking care of business at home against Seattle this Sunday.
Coming up later today in “Seven on the Line”, the top two in the Central create some separation, Carolina’s Texas-Two Step, the HotBirds stay sizzling, and much, much more!
