Firebirds hold steady at No. 1 as early-season tiers begin to form
Two weeks into the AF1 season, the picture at the top is starting to sharpen. Not through chaos, but through consistency.
The AF1 Fan Zone panel — Scott Birk, Howie Hanson, Zach Keilman, Tim Capper, and Joshua Cox — submitted their Week 2 ballots, which are averaged to determine the official rankings.
Teams are ranked by average ballot position, with ties broken by point differential.
And while the top of the board remains unchanged, the middle tier is already beginning to shift.
The top remains unchanged, but separation is coming
The trio of Albany Firebirds, Nashville Kats, and Kentucky Barrels continues to sit at the top of the poll for a thrid straight week.
While the order is unchanged, the averages tell a more important story. This group is separating itself not through dominance over each other, but through consistency over the rest of the league.
The gap from No. 3 to No. 4 is already meaningful.
Biggest mover: Oceanside pushes closer to the top tier
Oceanside is the story of the season so far.
Despite dropping a game in Week 2, they’ve climbed from a preseason 9th all the way to 4th, and the momentum isn’t slowing down. A road game at Beaumont this week will tell us if that Week 1 win over the Renegades was the real deal.
On the slide: Michigan and Oregon Slip a Spot
Michigan and Oregon both slipped one spot this week.
Oregon was on a bye, but they won’t get a breather for long. A matchup with Albany is up next, and that’s a real test.
Michigan’s slide comes with context: they opened the season with back-to-back road games against some of the league’s best. A win over Minnesota this week would go a long way toward making their case for moving back up.
Bottom tier remains unchanged
At the bottom, both Beaumont and Washington remain static, but the situation is a little more nuanced than the numbers suggest.
Washington was on a bye, while Beaumont faced a tough home test against the No. 1 Albany Firebirds. No movement doesn’t necessarily mean no progress, but the gap to the middle tier is already starting to take shape.
Final thought
Two weeks is a small sample, but the early shape of this league is worth paying attention to.
AF1 isn’t chaotic, it’s stratifying. The top is starting to solidify, the middle is unsettled, and the bottom still has some time to find their footing.
Week 3 will tell us if this is a trend or just early noise.
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