Article Posted
Friday, Dec. 9, 2016 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern; Updated
Monday, Dec. 12, 2016 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern
Now that the
regular season is over, let's take a closer look at
the teams that will be (and will not be) competing
for the 2016 UFFL championship:
Championship Bracket: Six of the league's
seven Southern Division clubs made the championship
bracket, thanks to strong showings against the Northern
Division throughout the regular season. In fact, the
teams that were tied for last place in the South were
just one game under .500 (6-7-0).
The most impressive regular-season performance, by far,
came from top-seeded Renegade (12-1-0), who set a UFFL
record with regular-season victories in a single
campaign and entered the playoffs with an 11-game
winning streak. In addition, their 2,001.79 fantasy
points shattered the single-season regular-season
record, previously held by the 2010 bbashers. The Catch
(10-3-0), who wound up with the second overall seed,
became the only other club to post double-digit
victories, while the third-seeded Fight'n Nut-Tooths
(9-4-0) were the only Northern Division team other than
The Catch to post a winning regular-season record in
2016.
The bbashers (8-5-0) clinched the fourth overall seed,
even though owner Calvin Brown posted a career high in
regular-season losses since joining the league on a
full-time basis for the 2008 season. However, he still
possesses a career regular-season record of 90-27-0
(.769) through nine UFFL campaigns. Fifth-seeded N2deep
(7-6-0), the sixth-seeded Morristown Maulers (7-6-0) and
the seventh-seeded Shelburn OrangeHats (7-6-0) earned
identical records during the regular season, although
they took different paths to get there; N2deep won six
of their last eight games entering the postseason, while
the Maulers dropped four of their last five and the
OrangeHats lost five of their last seven. Last but not
least, HB2 Defiance (6-7-0) snapped a three-game losing
streak to secure the final berth in the championship
bracket.
Interestingly, all but two of this year's competitors
for the coveted UFFL crown did not join the league until
after the move from Yahoo! Fantasy Sports to Fleaflicker
Fantasy Sports in 2008. Four of the eight have never won
a title, while the others are hoping to win for the
second time in league history. Another statistical
oddity about the championship bracket: although seven of
the eight teams that qualified had winning records, four
of the clubs allowed more fantasy points than they
scored (the bbashers, Morristown Maulers, Shelburn
OrangeHats and HB2 Defiance).
Consolation Bracket:
Of the six franchises that found their way into the
consolation bracket, five are run by people who were
part of the league's original 12-team ownership group
back in 2002 (Jared Byrd, Jim Douglas, Stephanie George,
Craig Hoffman and Mozelle Meyers). Also noteworthy is
the fact that the bottom five clubs were all from the
Northern Division. Ninth-seeded Football Gal (6-7-0) and
10th-seeded Deltaman (5-8-0) both earned first-round
byes and will begin postseason competition next week,
while the 11th through 14th seeds will start play
immediately. As is the case with the championship
bracket, losing clubs in the first-round will be
finished for the remainder of the playoffs.
While Football Gal ended the 2016 regular season with
the same record as HB2 Defiance, the latter team's
better divisional record allowed it to clinch the final
spot in the championship bracket. Similarly, the
Pulverizers (5-8-0) missed out on a first-round
postseason bye despite having an identical
regular-season record to Deltaman due to a poorer
divisional record. CheeseWhiz (4-9-0), the Steph
Infections (3-10-0) and The Steel Curtain (2-11-0) round
out the consolation bracket and they will have the
third, second and first picks overall in the 2017 draft
respectively, barring any offseason trades.
UFFL News Ticker:
The trade deadline came and went without any deals being
finalized, although the Fight'n Nut-Tooths attempted to
complete a last-minute swap with the Pulverizers. The
Nut-Tooths offered New York Jets wide receiver Quincy
Enunwa and a first-round selection in the 2017 draft to
the Pulverizers, in exchange for New York Giants wide
receiver Odell Beckham Jr., but the proposal was turned
down ... Registration for the Ultimate Fantasy Football
League: Postseason Edition contest will get underway
later this month. When the game becomes available,
e-mail notifications will be sent out to last year's
participants and newcomers will be able to take part
through links on the Fleaflicker and Yahoo! Groups
message boards ... Potential question ideas for the 2017
UFFL questionnaire can be sent to commissioner Jared
Byrd at jared259@alumni.upenn.edu. However, the
questionnaire is unlikely to be distributed until next
summer ... Trades will be unable to be made until Feb.
14, 2017, when the Fleaflicker website is activated for
the 2017 season. At that point, the preliminary
regular-season scheduled for next year will also be
unveiled, along with the draft order.
UFFL News and
Notes: November Edition
The first
blockbuster deal of the 2017 season has
been finalized. The defending champion
Morristown Maulers cleared up their
quarterback controversy by trading
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew
Luck and New York Jets running back
Bilal Powell to Joseph Randall's Fight'n
Nut-Tooths Tuesday, July 18, in exchange
for Tennessee Titans running back
DeMarco Murray and a pair of selections
in the upcoming UFFL draft.
With the start of
the Ultimate Fantasy Football League's 16th season less
than two months away, owners were sent copies of the
annual questionnaire Saturday, July 8, in order to make
necessary adjustments for the 2017 campaign. As of this
writing, commissioner Jared Byrd and six of the remaining
13 owners (Craig Hoffman, Dallas Honeycutt, Mozelle
Meyers, George Thomas, Steve Ungrey and Angie Williams)
had officially announced their intention to return - or in
Ungrey's case, the intention to begin competing this year.
The other seven owners had not submitted responses.
Approximately
one month after leading the Southern Division to
victory in the ninth-annual UFFL Pro Bowl,
Renegade owner Tony DelSignore has announced
that he is leaving the Ultimate Fantasy Football
League on amicable terms, citing a desire to
dedicate less time to fantasy sports. He
simultaneously announced that he will not be
participating in the 2017 Fantasy Baseball
Challenge on Fleaflicker.
For
the second time in the last three seasons,
Dallas Honeycutt and the Morristown Maulers have
won the UFFL championship. They defeated HB2
Defiance by the score of 131.90 to 116.83 in
UFFL Bowl XV, thanks to 288 passing yards and
three touchdown passes from Indianapolis Colts
quarterback Andrew Luck (30.72 fantasy points),
as well as 177 receiving yards and a touchdown
from Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin
(28.15 fantasy points).
Two Southern Division rivals will
square off against each other in UFFL Bowl XV, in
a wacky, improbable postseason which has seen an
unusually high number of upsets.
Possible defensive changes in
store: One possible rule change for the
2017 UFFL season could involve individual defensive
players. Currently, they receive 0.5 fantasy points
for every solo tackle they make and no points at all
for assisted tackles, leading to very low point totals
overall. These figures are likely to be bumped up to
one point for each solo tackle and 0.5 points for
every assisted tackle. At this point, it is unknown if
the point totals for other statistical categories will
remain unchanged.
With just
three weeks remaining before the Ultimate Fantasy
Football League playoffs get underway, trade talks
and rumors have been virtually nonexistent. In fact,
this is the first year since 2008 where no in-season
trades were executed during the first half of the
UFFL regular season.
Effective with
Week 2 of the UFFL/NFL regular season, individual
defensive players began earning one fantasy point
for every two solo tackles they recorded. This rule
was already in effect for offensive players such as
quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight
ends and placekickers (but not team defenses) and
was intended to go into effect at the beginning of
this year for IDPs as well, but went unnoticed due
to an oversight. Currently, assisted tackles are not
worth anything for any player regardless of
position, although this could change for the 2017
campaign.