Tuesday, January 04, 2011

DFC Season XI Wrap Up

We wait and we wait and we wait... and finally, the games go out, the kick off is here and another Deuce Football Championships season is underway.  And just like that, *poof*, its over.  Where has the time flown?  We are but a few days away from seeing the Auburn Tigers take on the Oregon Ducks tigre-a-ducko, but we can already say for certain the following words:

Trey Cartledge, DFC Champion 

It was an impressive season by Trey, racking up 58 wins and narrowly missing the divisional title by less than a single point in the TBA.  He stormed through the Wild Card Weekend, made it through the divisional weekend, beat up Dan Sellers by a game, and then edged Yours Truly, also in my first Deuce Bowl, by a game.  So, Trey will return next season with the ring, the hardware and the championship plate, seeking to become something no one has ever done--be a back-to-back champion. 

AWARDS
We obviously etch Trey's name forever upon the Brook DeRamus Championship Plate, to be pictured soon, but we must hand out some other hardware as well.

I struggled with this, only because of my own narcissism, but looking at the numbers they don't lie... 66 wins is the best in the league, with Joey Thornell's 60 wins the 2nd best.  NFL Wins at 27, three games ahead of 2nd place, that being Tom Johnson and Joey in a tie.  Tied with Randy Latta for best college record, that being 39 wins.  Plus, a pair of weekly wins coming back to back this year... that's why I will declare Yours Truly the DFC XI MVP, for the third straight season.  I dare not speak of greatness, because once again, I come up short of the big prize, but there are the numbers right before you.

As far as Rookie of the Year goes, there was also little contest with that.  At 57 victories, a share of the College title and a Central Division crown, Randy Latta outpaced rookies Drew Warren, David Tuck and John Wolf easily.  Last year, Brad Latta took the Rookie trophy home, and this year, his dad keeps it in the Latta familia.

As mentioned a few times, Yours Truly and Randy Latta share the College crown, while Yours Truly gets the NFL title.  Jennifer Ernst will walk with the TieBreak Trophy this year, with her 7.7 being the lowest all season long.

Now, the David Mark Osborne Award... awarded to the best player left in the cold, out of the postseason.  Due to rules, a division title guarantees you a postseason spot, even if someone has a better record than you do... this has been a rule for a while, but it has never come into play until this season.  Tommy McLeod won the Central Division (Beirne Conference) with 54 wins... but that was only the 8th best record in the conference.  Sixth in the conference, and left out of the postseason due to his 2nd place finish in his own division, Matt Halpert, with 55 wins and nowhere to go.  Its also notable that Drew Warren finished in 7th, 3rd in the division, with 55 wins, but Halpert has earned his stripes, Drew's a wet behind the ears rookie.  We graciously give the Osborne Award to Matt Halpert, with our apologies and condolences.

RULES COMMITTEE
I've enacted a "rules committee" for the off season.  I have and will ask 6 current DFC'ers to be on this committee, which will be a rotating group--new people in and new people out periodically--to look at certain rules and to come up with better solutions.  Two come to mind immediately, the first being what Halpert dealt with--should a division title guarantee a spot, or should records overrule any divisional leadership, and secondly, when should the tiebreak game be enacted in the playoffs?  I've already heard from a couple of people and so we'll look at these things, plus more, in the offseason.

THE FINAL STANDINGS

X-Playoff Berth; Y-Division Champion; Z-First Round Bye
W-L, (TBA) (College) (NFL) (Conf Rank)
NORTH DIVISION
XYZ Joey Thornell, 60-36 (14.2) (36-18) (24-18) (1st)
Matt Halpert, 55-41 (8.3) (37-17) (18-24) (7th)
Drew Warren, 55-41 (12.0) (35-19) (20-22) (8th)
Zack Graves, 54-42 (9.9) (32-22) (22-20) (10th)
Rhett Barnett, 51-45 (13.6) (33-21) (18-24) (13th)
DMOsborne, 51-45 (14.4) (30-24) (21-21) (14th)
Matt Latta, 49-47 (10.8) (32-22) (17-25) (17th)

CENTRAL DIVISION
XY Tommy McLeod, 54-42 (10.7) (35-19) (19-23) (6th)
Tebe Shaw, 53-43 (12.0) (35-19) (18-24) (11th)
Brad Latta, 51-45 (10.8) (33-21) (18-24) (12th)
Sarah Hasha, 50-46 (15.9) (35-19) (15-27) (15th)
Jennifer Ernst, 48-48 (7.7) (31-23) (17-25) (18th)
Justin Fisher, 41-55 (16.3) (27-27) (14-28) (19th)

WEST DIVISION
XYZ Dan Sellers, 58-38 (10.5) (38-16) (20-22) (2nd)
X Trey Cartledge, 58-38 (12.1) (37-17) (21-21) (3rd)
X Eddy McBroom, 57-39 (12.1) (36-18) (21-21) (4th)
X Tom Johnson, 56-40 (12.3) (32-22) (24-28) (5th)
Drew Morris, 54-42 (9.4) (35-23) (19-23) (9th)
David Tuck, 50-46 (16.6) (32-22) (18-24) (16th)

MCBROOM CONFERENCE
EAST DIVISION
XYZ Yours Truly, 66-30 (12.3) (39-15) (27-15) (1st)
Chris Croyle, 55-41 (14.1) (36-18) (19-23) (7th)
Mark Gainey, 54-42 (10.7) (39-15) (15-27) (8th)
John Wolf, 53-43 (36-18) (17-25) (10th)
Ryan Sherman, 52-44 (10.6) (32-22) (20-22) (11th)
Tyler Campbell, 49-47 (12.0) (29-25) (20-22) (15th)
Garrett Cheney, 48-48 (18.9) (33-21) (15-27) (17th)
CENTRAL DIVISION
XY Randy Latta, 57-39 (10.4) (39-15) (18-24) (3rd)
X Steven Ray, 56-40 (13.1) (36-18) (20-22) (4th)
X Jonathan Osborne, 55-41 (11.1) (34-20) (21-21) (6th)
Scott Latta, 53-43 (9.9) (32-22) (21-21) (preseason #1, end of season #9)
Lori Beirne, 50-46 (11.1) (34-20) (16-26) (14th)

SOUTH DIVISION
XYZ Eddy McBroom Jr 58-38 (12.3) (38-16) (20-22) (2nd)
X Tim Wasyluka, 55-41 (10.5) (34-20) (21-21) (5th)
James Hawbaker, 52-44 (12.0) (34-20) (18-24) (12th)
Mikey Nipp, 52-44 (13.1) (33-21) (19-23) (13th)
Tad Roose, 49-47 (12.0) (31-23) (18-24) (15th)
Daniel Powell, 45-51 (17.7) (28-26) (17-25) (18th)

LIES, DARN LIES & STATISTICS (Playoffs!  Your talking Playoffs?  Edition)
  • Even though he was eliminated mid-way through the postseason, Big Eddy McBroom still had a good run... so good, in fact, that he supplants The Mighty Gainey at the top of All Time Playoff Wins.  Big Eddy now has 95 wins to his name in 7 postseasons, to Gainey's 94 in 8 postseasons. 
  • After Eddy and Gainey, here are your postseason winners... 3rd is Drew Morris with 93, 4th is Yours Truly with 71, 5th is Matt Latta with 58, the new DFC Champion Trey Cartledge has now climbed to 6th all time with 56, DFC Legend Wookiee Fulaytar is 7th with 55, three time DFC Champ Tad Roose is 8th with 54, Jennifer Ernst is 9th with 52 and at number 10, is The Big Tim Wasyluka, with 40 playoff wins. 
  • Mark Gainey still holds the lead with 8 postseason appearances, all in a consecutive streak.  Big Eddy is 2nd on the list with 7 overall, but his are broken up.. he had 4 in a row in DFC II - V, missed VI - VIII and is now on his third playoff appearance in a row.
  • Both Jonathan Osborne and DFC Champion Trey Cartledge share the longest current streak, with four playoffs in a row, while Yours Truly has three.
  • Missing the playoffs for his third consecutive year, this after winning Rookie of the Year in DFC VIII is Matt Halpert, and Justin Fisher, Tebe Shaw, Tad Roose and Daniel Powell have also not seen the postseason since DFC VIII.  David Mark Osborne just finished his fifth season with no playoffs, while Michael Nipp's playoff drought has now hit six seasons.  
  • Then, there is Sarah Hasha, who has just completed her 9th season in the league, and has never made the playoffs.   Tyler Campbell and Garrett Cheney have been in seven seasons each, and sat at home in December. 
  • Speaking of Trey's DeuceBowl XI performance, he did well by DeuceBowl Standards.  In 11 DeuceBowls, only four have had 6 wins or more in a DeuceBowl win--DFC II, when Tad beat Drew 6 games to 4, DFC III where Wookiee Fulaytar's 6 wins beat Drew Morris' 5, DFC IV where Tad Roose had a perfect week with 8 wins to Jennifer Ernst's 6, and now Trey's 6 games over Yours Truly's 5.
  • Its also important to note in that last paragraph the 6 wins that Jennifer Ernst logged in DFC IV's loss to Tad "The Dynasty" Roose.  Its the only time someone won 6 games and lost DeuceBowl.   Its also noteworthy because no one has had a perfect week in any Final Four or DeuceBowl week in DFC's history... except for the 8-0 week that won the DFC IV for Tad "The Dynasty" Roose.
FAREWELL
Well, thats that.  Thank you to everyone for participating, thank you for every week you sent your picks in, and thanks for being enthusiastic about it... I received texts, voicemails and even a sheet of paper at church with picks on them during the season, making sure people didn't miss. 

So for the rookies, I hope it lived up, for the vets, I hope it was just as good, if not better, than DFC I - X... and you will all get an open invite to next season.  Games go out sometime at the end of August.

Onto DFC XII!

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Your DeuceBowl XI Champion

DeuceBowl XI Games
Florida State 26, South Carolina 17
Mississippi State 52, Michigan 14
Texas Christian 21, Wisconsin 19
Stanford vs Virginia Tech
San Diego Chargers 33, Denver Broncos 28
Green Bay Packers 10, Chicago 3
NYGiants 17, Washington Redskins 14
St. Louis Rams at Seattle Seahawks

The DeuceBowl That Was
Well, it was somewhat of a predictable DeuceBowl for the most part, as Yours Truly and Trey Cartledge picked 7 out of 8 games the same.  Many times, we add on a few games to make the picks a little more varied... however, with Florida Fan Yours Truly taking on Alabama Guy Trey Cartledge, it was sheer irony that our one game different was San Diego vs. Denver... more specifically, San Diego vs. Tim Tebow. 

My entire season was on Tim Tebow. 

And though he put up a valiant effort, and the result was better than the SEC Championship game of 2009, Tebow couldn't make it happen on his own.  San Diego's 33-28 win over the Broncos puts Trey over the top in DeuceBowl XI, and regardless of what happens with the Orange Bowl and tonight's Rams/Seahawks games, Trey Cartledge is your new DFC Champion.

More to come!