With a cold front moving through Tampa, Florida USF enters their last week of regular season play with teams looking forward to playoffs. Perennial title contenders like Lake Mag and State Champs are going to have a tougher time in the playoffs because they weren’t able to get into an A league this season and have not yet faced some of the tougher teams that will challenge them come playoffs. Also since they did not get into A league time slot their strength of schedule has been weakened which has caused them to have a lower seed going into playoffs, forcing them to face harder teams earlier in the bracket. Subsequently, with those two powerhouses not securing one of the higher seeds it has left the door open for newcomers to have a chance at the number one seed. Seizing this opportunity, SET IT OFF, formerly known as the No Namez, are acting like the TCU of intramurals. They have some how locked up a number one seed and possibly the overall number one seed in the tournament. Stellar play by Michael Schmid, known better to his peers as Hakeem “the dream” Nicks, has enabled SET IT OFF to sneak up on the competition, mercying four of the five opponents they faced in regular season. Are they a real contender? Only time will tell…
One huge change that USF intramurals are facing this season is that fraternity and independent teams will no longer be facing through out the playoffs. Instead the champion of each bracket with face-off for the overall Flag Football Champion. The fraternities finally got their wish after years of complaining that they never had the ability to get to a final in most major sports. A recent poll taken of some of the independent teams by Desmond Andre allowed us to come to the general conclusion that the real championship game will still determined by the independent teams. To continue with that thought a lot of the independent teams feel that whoever wins the independent championship game might mercy rule the fraternity champion. Will the fraternity champion have something to say about this? Or will the general independent teams prediction come true? Only time will tell…
Now on to the co-rec side of things. The favored to win it all will have to be Shake ‘n’ Bake, however, do not fall asleep on Show Tyme, who had a strong showing last season and is currently No. 2 in the projected playoff rankings with one game still left to play. They will need a fantastic showing by all parties including your very own Kaitlin “throw me the ball” Howell. This team is lead by the one and only “Team AJ Linden.” Who has the uncanny ability to not only keep his team in the game but the other team as well but only for a short time before he decides enough is enough and it’s time to finish the game. Also not being afraid to use all his weapons, including Christine “the Amish girl” Weaver and Ryan “my neighbor” Hansbrough. Hansbrough has more than proven himself to the team by having not one, not two, but three pick sixes in one game! However, with all this being said Shake ‘n’ Bake lead by Kenny “the Jet” Barbosa seems like they aren’t too worried about Show Tyme, or any competition for that matter as long as they play their own game, especially since just one year ago they were able to put up 100 points on a team in a single game. That’s right you read correctly, 100 points!!! Will the defending champions TREAL have anything to say about these standings, even though they have not had a great showing so far this season? Will WAKE USF stop the internal bickering long enough to put down a solid game? Or will they be their own worst enemy? Will USF Collabo, who has a lot of the women’s independent championship girls on their roster, come from no where and make a run for the title? Only time will tell…
