Associated Fantasy

"Its fine to have ability, but the ability to find ability in others is the true test" -Lou Holtz

Super 16 

2017 Pennsylvania Classic

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SUPER 16 – In state rivals meet this week in the Super 16’s Week 11 Game of the Week for a divisional match-up that will have huge implications for the East Division title race, when Bob’s Eagle has landed (5-5-0) takes on Steel Curtain (4-6-0) in the first round of the 2017 Pennsylvania Classic.  With 3 games left in the regular season, the East Division is still wide open and both of these teams have a clear route to win it.  Eagle has landed is just one game back from the defending league champion Northern Fins (6-4-0) and tied with Geno’s Jaw Breakers (5-5-0), and the Jaw Breakers, Eagle, and Steel Curtain all currently have a total points lead on the Fins if it comes down to tiebreakers.  The Philly franchise is also riding the momentum of a 4 game win streak, including last week’s monster 227-112 win over Houston that eliminated the Texans from playoff contention, and a win this week would more or less do the same to their in state rivals as well.

Steel Curtain has the toughest road to capture the division, their backs to the wall, but if they can win out, and get a little help with some losses from the teams above them, they can still win the title, but they’ll have to beat their Keystone rivals twice, this week, and then again in the Week 13 season finale.   Just in their second season in the Super 16, Steel Curtain has only faced the Eagle once before, in Week 3 of last year, and were tar and feathered, 200-114 by the boys from Philly.  This season, though, the Pittsburgh franchise matches up very evenly with the Eagle, with the two of them averaging 175.80 and 176.00 points per game, and the oddsmakers have this one listed closer than any other Game of the Week has been all season, with Steel Curtain just a 1.5 point underdog going into Thursday night’s early week start for this one.  Eagle and Curtain fans will also be keeping an eye this weekend on the Jaw Breakers facing a dangerous AF#11 SF BowMen team in a double-bye week match-up and the Fins taking on The Indy-structibles and their two game win streak, hoping for losses from each of their rivals.

That Jaw Breaker-BowMen game is one of the more important match-ups this week as well.  Besides the implications a win would have for the Jaw Breakers, giving them the division lead, SF’s BowMen (6-4-0) are ranked third in the league, but also third in the West Division, 2 games back from Arizona and sharing a matching record with AF#18 1 Eye Til I Die (6-4-0).  The Raider franchise plays a BIGDOGINTEX team that just lost their top 3 ranked running back to suspension and neither Western rival can afford to lose pace with each other by taking a loss.  The AF#7 Arizona Firebirds play their old rivals Houston this week in an unpredictable SimulPlay game, and can clinch the division title with a win and losses by the Raider and 49er franchises.  Should 1 Eye and BowMen not be able to catch Arizona, the two of them are the current front runners in the Wild Card race, which a loss this week would also jeopardize.

Birds of Prey (8-2-0) also have a chance to win their division this week, and they can do it themselves with just a win over Dem Bucking Broncos (3-7-0).  If they win, it would be the 4th time in 5 seasons the Birds were named South Division Champions.  Divison rival Who Dat Saints (5-5-0), the only other team to ever win the South, are still barely alive in the division race.  They need to win out, watch BoP lose out, and overtake them ion total points.  The Saints must get past the North Division leading Dawg Pound (6-4-0), not just for the division, but also to stay viable in the Wild Card race.  The Dawgs, meanwhile, who have a one game lead over Motor City (5-5-0), cannot win the division this week even with a win and a Motor City loss because the teams’ season points totals are so close.  After destroying the Dawgs last week, the MC Kitties will look to continue their roll, picking on the last in league BEARMINATORS to keep pace with their Cleveland rivals and in the Wild Card race.

With all 8 Week 11 games having some bearing on the playoff race, it’s the first of the must-wins this week in the Super 16.  It should be an exciting weekend.