Hey everyone!
It looks like I’m going to be contributing here a little bit, so a little bit about myself and where I’m from…
I’m an Albany Firebirds fan who has been a season ticket holder for the past few seasons. I’ve lived in the Albany area for my entire life and a majority of that directly in the City. We’re a city of about 100K and part of the “Tri-City” area of the “Capital Region” area which close to a million call home.
The Albany area has seen 5 championships in a few different arena leagues:
- 1999 as part of the original Arena Football League
- 2019 in AFL 2.0, as the Albany Empire
- 2021 in National Arena League
- 2022 in the NAL
- 2025 in the inaugural season of Arena Football One, having recently rebranded back to the Albany Firebirds
I am also a geek for stats. For a number of years, I have kept my own spreadsheet of college football results which aides me in compiling a weekly Top 25. I have brought that same basic design over to my love for the AF1, with the notable exception being that the AF1 is objective and standings-based instead of subjective and rankings-based.
I will typically provide the standings in text form instead of a screenshot of my spreadsheet because it’s easier to summarize the relevant and necessary details and tiebreakers.
| Place | Team | Winning % | Tiebreaker |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albany Firebirds | 1.000 | H2H: MIN, ORE, WASH |
| 2 | Kentucky Barrels | 0.800 | H2H: MICH, NASH |
| 3 | Nashville Kats | 0.800 | H2H: OCN, ORE |
| 4 | Minnesota Monsters | 0.750 | H2H: MICH |
| 5 | Washington Wolfpack | 0.400 | |
| 6 | Oceanside Bombers | 0.200 | Points For: 223 |
| 7 | Beaumont Renegades | 0.200 | PF: 191 |
| 8 | Oregon Lightning | 0.200 | PF: 133 |
| 9 | Michigan Arsenal | 0.167 |
At least one “season series” has actually been clinched every week since week 1. Some teams only play once while others play 2 or 3 times. (There is actually one match-up where the teams will play 4 times this season!) If teams play an even number of times, the result could be an even split of the games and the points scored in these match-ups serves as the tiebreaker. However, if teams play an odd number of times, there cannot be a tie and the points scored is thus moot.
What to watch for this weekend:
- Washington and Beaumont (Sat., 8:55 PM EST) will conclude their head-to-head series. The scenarios:
- Washington wins: Washington clinches head-to-head
- Beaumont wins by 1: head-to-head is tied and it goes to total points scored as the tiebreaker
- Beaumont wins by 2+: Beaumont clinches head-to-head
- Oregon and Michigan (Sat., 8:55 PM EST) will conclude their head-to-head series. The scenarios:
- Oregon wins by 11+: Beaumont clinches head-to-head
- Oregon wins by 10: head-to-head is tied and it goes to total points scored as the tiebreaker
- Michigan wins or loses by less than 10: Michigan clinches head-to-head
- Kentucky and Oceanside (Sun., 8:55 PM EST) will conclude their head-to-head series. The scenarios:
- Kentucky wins or loses by less than 38: Kentucky clinches head-to-head
- Oceanside wins by 38: head-to-head is tied and it goes to total points scored as the tiebreaker
- Oceanside wins by 39+: Oceanside clinches head-to-head
That’s all for now! I look forward to any feedback on my posts!