Rocky Mountain Football League

The Semi-Finals are here and this week’s games seem to pack a little more punch and parity than last weeks.  I will be honest; I expected a better game from the Generals and the Anarchy to win.  Maybe I am biased of my division, but low and behold it is Montana who holds half of the remaining spots while my division fared as well as the ACC did last year in the post season (a measly 25% win %).  It is what it is though.  As predicted by most, travel took a toll on 3 of the teams last week.

#3 Uintah Basin Oilers @ #2 Bitterroot Blaze: They say defense wins championships.  We all saw what happened in 2000 when the Ravens were able to win the Super Bowl with Dilfer at QB (which we all know it wasn’t him).  This game pits the two top defenses in points allowed against each other with the Blaze at 5.9 and the Oilers at 6.9 points per game.   

The offensive aspect has a definite difference within the game.  The Blaze are sitting on top of the league at 40.1 points/game while also racking up 314 yard/game.  The Blaze offense seems pretty balance on pass v. run as they have had 188 attempts at passing while sitting at 187 attempts on the ground.  Yardage wise, though they seem a little heavier on the pass as they average 183.8 yards while only 130.2 on the ground which is to be expected.  The Oilers, on the other hand are very balanced in both attempts and yardage though are only able to get the ball in the end zone for 24.1 points a game. What does this all mean?  The offenses should struggle through this game, but I don’t see it being as big of a defensive battle as it looks.  The Blaze offense is stiff and when you have Jurasek at the helm, anything can happen.  The Oilers did score a bunch last week, but I feel their offense will struggle this week against a stout Blaze D.

This game will come down to how well the Oilers D do against the Blaze.  It has been said that they should only be missing one player this week so travel should not be the determinant factor in this game.  Can the Oilers stop Jurasek? I think it will be closer than people think but the Blaze come out on top in the end.  Blaze 35 Oilers 33

#5 Missoula Phoenix @ #1 Idaho Matadors: I may have misspoke last week when I stated that the Matadors and Stampede are peaking at the right time.  I still believe the Matadors are peaking and starting to hit stride, but the Phoenix are right there with them.  This game pits the only team to win on the road last week against one that will not travel again this season.  The Phoenix come off of a huge victory, traveling to a physical Arco team and taking the Win.  The challenge this week is turning around after a 5 hour trip and traveling 7-8 hours in just a week. 

The Phoenix are a physical team, they always have been.  This season, they have found an offense that I’m sure most people were probably surprised about.  Riding the arm and legs of Kohlwes, they have the ability to get down the field and get enough points on the board to pull out the W.  The Phoenix are definitely a run happy team, almost doubling run attempts over pass attempts.  This has allowed them to control the clock through most of their games and look for the quick strike through the air.  It will be interesting to see how they match up against a tough Matador defense that taking one game out of their record, have an 8.4 points against average.  The Phoenix are still playing with a chip on their shoulder and looking to bring back a trophy to Missoula and hoping that with a win this week, they only have to travel to Darby next week.

The Matadors are still riding high on their undefeated season.  The Defense is tougher than the numbers show.  They are another run heavy offense with a strong backfield and good receiving score to keep the run game open.   This is the best Matador team I have seen since the year it started as it has some depth for the first time ever.  All in all, they are coming more and more together every week and are better each game as well. 

This game will be a great game and hard fought. It will be interesting to see which team controls the tempo of this game as they both like to run their own game.  I see this game being a great matchup between both teams and I look forward to seeing how it ends.  I will say I truly believe that whoever scores last in the 4^th will be the team going to the ‘ship.