AFL Power Rankings: Week 5
John Hoh
Thursday February 24, 2005
So far only six teams have losing records. Five teams are co-leaders of their division, with two more only one-half game off the pace of their division leaders. And Columbus is showing some new life! Austin at Grand Rapids (73-61) and San Jose at Los Angeles (71-69) are typical high-scoring Arena League games while Georgia at Las Vegas (38-13) show defense can be played in the indoor game.
Herein are the Power Rankings for Week 5.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous Rank | Next Up |
| 1 | New Orleans VooDoo (NO) | 3-1 | 4 | TB |
| What "sophomore jinx?" VooDoo picking up from last year’s division-winning season. | ||||
| 2 | Los Angeles Avengers (LA) | 3-1 | 5 | COL |
| Beat the SaberCats, lead Western Division. Go to Colorado next. | ||||
| 3 | Georgia Force (GA) | 3-1 | 9 | @AUS |
| Victory on road gives Force a forceful 3-1 record and part of three-way tie for Southern Division lead. Victory should come in Austin. | ||||
| 4 | Orlando Predators (ORL) | 3-1 | 1 | @CHI |
| Stumbled against Desperadoes, who seemed to have received a wake-up call against the Destroyers. Predators on the road again at Chicago. | ||||
| 5 | Tampa Bay Storm (TB) | 2-1 | 6 | @NO |
| Lost big in the War on I-4. After a week off will visit the VooDoo in New Orleans in a key Southern Division showdown. | ||||
| 6 | Dallas Desperados (DAL) | 3-1 | 11 | @PHI |
| Resounding victory over the previously top ranked Predators. Did the Destroyers give Dallas a wake-up call? Desperados now leading Eastern Division. | ||||
| 7 | New York Dragons (NY) | 2-1 | 10 | AZ |
| Kats prove to be easy foe. Host hurting Snakes from the desert next. | ||||
| 8 | Philadelphia Soul | 2-2 | 6 | DAL |
| Soul fails test at New Orleans, hosts Dallas at home in a near-must-win for Philly. Soul needs to be more consistent. | ||||
| 9 | Chicago Rush (CHI) | 2-2 | 2 | ORL |
| Columbus trips up Rush, who need to be consistent. A home game might help. | ||||
| 10 | Las Vegas Gladiators | 2-2 | 12 | NAS |
| Lose to surprising Georgia at home. Road trip to Nashville should be a nice Spring break. | ||||
| 11 | Colorado Crush | 2-2 | 11 | LA |
| Win against Rattlers just what the doctor ordered. Now host Western-leading Avengers. | ||||
| 12 | Columbus Destroyers (CLB) | 1-2 | 14 | GR |
| Columbus convincing in win over Rush. Should get the win on the road against the Rampage. | ||||
| 13 | San Jose SaberCats (SJ) | 1-3 | 8 | @ORL (3/6) |
| Suddenly the Bay area felines are sharing the division cellar with their division foes they used to battle with for not only division crowns but ArenaBowls. San Jose gets the week off. | ||||
| 14 | Arizona Rattlers (AZ) | 1-3 | 13 | @NY |
| Tough home loss. Road tip to the Big Apple up next. Hey, they may have a new, committed owner when they come home. | ||||
| 15 | Austin Wranglers (AUS) | 1-3 | 17 | GA |
| Wranglers get win, but must now host the road warriors from Georgia. | ||||
| 16 | Nashville Kats (NAS) | 1-3 | 15 | LV |
| No Soul in Philly, Big Apple will take a bite out of the Kats. | ||||
| 17 | Grand Rapids Rampage (GR) | 0-3 | 16 | CLB |
| Rampage earned this spot with ugly home loss to Austin. |
John L. Hoh, Jr., is a free-lance writer from Milwaukee who grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin, as an avid Dolphins fan. He followed Arena Football since its inception, at one point watching tape-delayed games on low-powered WAV-TV in Waukesha. His happiest day was when Milwaukee was awarded the Mustangs franchise; his saddest when the Mustangs were contracted out of the league. John is married to his wife Maija (13+ years) and has a young son, Matthew. John pines for the return of the Arena Football League to Milwaukee.
