AFL Power Rankings: 2006 End of Season
John Hoh
Friday May 19, 2006
Columbus came close to a playoff berth, which is an accomplishment considering where they finished a year ago. Keep an eye on this team next year.
The Playoffs
American Conference
Week 1:
Utah plays at Arizona
Chicago plays at Nashville
Week 2:
Arizona, Nashville, or Chicago at San Jose
Utah, Nashville, or Chicago at Colorado
National Conference
Week 1:
Georgia plays at New York
Philadelphia plays at Austin
Week 2:
New York, Philadelphia, or Austin at Orlando
Georgia, Philadelphia, or Austin at Dallas
Herein are the final 2006 regular season Power Rankings. And remember, these are only my opinions and are not scientific. Any attempt to use this information for betting purposes is solely at the gambler’s discretion.
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous Rank | Next Up | |||
| Desperados finish the season strong with a statement that there’s a new king in the Eastern Division. Dallas gets a bye this first week. | |||||||
| 2 | Colorado Crush (COL) | 11-5 | 2 | BYE | |||
| Crush makes sure home field stays in Denver. Crush get a bye in week one. | |||||||
| 3 | Orlando Predators (ORL) | 10-6 | 3 | BYE | |||
| Loss to Austin affected little in the Predator’s plans. Orlando gets a bye week to work new acquisition Cory Fleming into the system—which he should remember from last year. | |||||||
| 4 | San Jose SaberCats (SJ) | 10-6 | 5 | BYE | |||
| SaberCats do their part to secure home field advantage. Too bad Arizona couldn’t help. The S’Cats get a week to rest. | |||||||
| 5 | New York Dragons (NY) | 10-6 | 4 | GA | |||
| I dropped the Dragons because, well, I decided to give the top four positions to bye teams. Also, they didn’t look all that impressive against Dallas. Host the defending conference champs in week one. | |||||||
| 6 | Austin Wranglers (AUS) | 10-6 | 6 | PHI | |||
| Wranglers make statement in the Jungle. Have they gotten their moxie back? Host the inconsistent Soul in the heart of the Lone Star State. | |||||||
| 7 | Philadelphia Soul (PHI) | 9-7 | 10 | @AUS | |||
| Soul edges Force for the fifth seed in the conference. Not that playing at Austin is a real treat, but statistically Austin has lost more at home than on the road. | |||||||
| 8 | Georgia Force (GA) | 8-8 | 7 | @NY | |||
| Georgia makes the playoffs and now travels to slay the Dragons. The earlier meeting between these two teams was key to the seeding. | |||||||
| 9 | Arizona Rattlers (AZ) | 8-8 | 8 | UT | |||
| Rattlers get to host a first round playoff game against the Blaze. The season series is split, but Utah has a hot hand going into the playoffs. | |||||||
| 10 | Nashville Kats (NAS) | 8-8 | 11 | CHI | |||
| The Kats knock the Storm out of the playoffs and now host the Rush. Can Nashville regain that early season magic? | |||||||
| 11 | Chicago Rush (CHI) | 7-9 | 13 | @NAS | |||
| Rush will be rushing to Nashville in their first round playoff game. Can they declaw the Kats? | |||||||
| 12 | Utah Blaze (UT) | 7-9 | 14 | @AZ | |||
| Utah goes into the Arizona desert on a hot streak. Could this be the upset of the week? | |||||||
| Wait Till Next Year (WTNY) crowd | |||||||
| 13 | Columbus Destroyers (CLB) | 8-8 | 9 | WTNY | |||
| The Destroyers were destroyed in their bid for a playoff berth. Look for this hungry team to be in the thick of things next year. | |||||||
| 14 | Tampa Bay Storm (TB) | 7-9 | 12 | WTNY | |||
| For the first time in Arena Football League history the franchise known as the Pittsburgh Gladiators/Tampa Bay Storm will not be in the playoffs. 19 years in a row—it just misses the professional sports mark set by the St. Louis Blues (another streak that also ended this year). Marcum will reload and tweak in the off-season. | |||||||
| 15 | Las Vegas Gladiators (LV) | 5-11 | 15 | WTNY | |||
| Again, the Gladiators will host the ArenaBowl—but they won’t be playing in it. The Glads may need to rebuild—if they don’t relocate. | |||||||
| 16 | Grand Rapids Rampage (GR) | 5-11 | 16 | WTNY | |||
| The Rampage improved over last year, if only by one game in the win column. The Rampage played close games but need to learn the poise and confidence to win those games. | |||||||
| 18 | Los Angeles Avengers (LA) | 5-11 | 17 | WTNY | |||
| Surprising fall from grace for a team that won the division last year. I suspect major activity will happen in LA over the off-season. | |||||||
| 17 | Kansas City Brigade (KC) | 3-13 | 18 | WTNY | |||
| This hastily assembled expansion team did manage three wins. With some time in the off-season the Brigade should improve next year. Kansas City proved to be a viable market as the Brigade finished third in attendance. | |||||||
| NA | New Orleans VooDoo | WTNY? | |||||
| We missed this colorful team this year. Mr. Benson, will the VooDoo be back next year? | |||||||
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.
