After the craziest offseason in league history, the season kicked off with perhaps the craziest Week 1 in league history. The Oakland Spiders shocked the New York Empire on Opening Night, and on Saturday the Philadelphia Phoenix stunned the DC Breeze in DC. I feel quite confident in saying that we're headed into the wildest year ever in the UFA, and we aboard the UFO are excited to watch it unfold.
Congratulations to Brian Cleary, winner of our first “Pick 'Em” contest. Brian wins an official UFA frisbee, courtesy of the league. Lots of games on tap for week 2.Just go here to put in your picks before opening pull on Friday night.
This week, we've got Frizputin's picks, “Coaches Corner” with our buddy and former Empire Coach Charlie Hoppes, an interview with Walker Frankenberg of the Oakland Spiders, hot takes from Detroit's Jake Felton, and Shaggy's power rankings. We kick it off with Shaggy's recaps of the Week 1 contests. Enjoy!
The Spiders dispatched the Empire in the first game of the 2025 UFA season. Oakland looked faster, younger, and hungrier than the aging New York squad. Intense pressure from Oakland’s defenders like Robin Vickers Batzdof and Eli Kerns put the Empire defenders in increasingly difficult positions, resulting in 3 turns from Solomon Rueschmeyer-Bailey and a surprising 6 turnovers from Jack Williams, perhaps the worst game of his professional career. The Spider offense proved more capable of pushing through the slog, with a monster game from Walker Frankenberg and an impressive rookie debut from Leo Gordon.
Austin Sol 30 - Houston Havoc 23
An auspicious victory for Austin, who knocked off Houston to continue their undefeated streak against all Texas teams, stretching back to 2021. Notable for the Sol were their contributions from 2024 Dallas Legion players like Myles Armstrong and Nick DiGiorgio. Houston’s only victories last season came against the hapless Dallas squad, so it must feel good for the free agent additions to get their comeuppance. Myles is one of three Armstrongs on the Sol, along with, Oakley and Carson, and while I don’t know anything for sure, I am going to say that they are all brothers.
New York Empire 32 - Las Vegas Bighorns 13
New York got their revenge just one night after their loss to Oakland by defenestrating the fledgling Bighorns. The highlights for the Bighorns included first ever UFA goals from Braden Distel, Brad Ellis, Adrian Cisneros, AJ MacIsaac, Jason Ziedman, Harrison Tucker, and Bighorns owner James Shorey. They also talked a lot of smack to New York, proving you can beat the Bighorns on the field or with your words, but you can’t do both. The Empire beat them on the field.
Boston Glory 26-Montreal Royal 18
Big win for Boston in the Tobe Decraene revenge game, as the reigning rookie of the year lampooned his old squad with 4 assists, 4 goals, and no turnovers. Montreal ended the game strong, but a 5 goal Boston run in the second and a 4 goal run in the third sealed the door on any chance they had for a Canadian victory. 4 different Royal players had 3 turns, not a recipe for winning frisbee.
Philadelphia Phoenix 16 - DC Breeze 15
Speaking of turnovers, Philadelphia beat DC in a windy game with 54 total throwaways between two teams who threw the fifth and fourth fewest turns in 2024 respectively. Philadelphia opened with the first break on the fifth point, when Nate Little floated a big flick to Eric Nardelli, and held the lead for the rest of the game. Down 16-12 with 5 minutes left, the Breeze defense kicked into gear, securing back-to-back breaks and getting a turnover with seconds left down 1. However, a drop by Theo Shapinsky in the endzone prevented another miraculous Breeze comeback against the Phoenix, and Philadelphia beat DC for the first time in eight years.
Colorado Summit 24-Oregon Steel 12
Despite the name change, Oregon’s embattled professional frisbee experience continues as the Summit doubled up the hapless Steel. Despite an impressive 13 blocks from Colorado, including a four block performance from Alex Atkins, Oregon had just as many unforced turnovers, ending the game with 26 total. Antonio Rueda was my favorite player to watch for Oregon, who combined blistering speed with a tendency to throw the disc away, ending up with 4 goals and 5 turnovers.
Atlanta Hustle 23-Salt Lake Shred 21
The UFA Game of the Week delivered in an electric contest between first-time foes Shred and Hustle. Salt Lake exceeded expectations, but ultimately bowed to the indomitable will of the Hustle offense. This was a pristine frisbee game, with both teams converting over 70% of their offensive opportunities. This was also a game for big throws and giant plays, with both teams combining for 17/19 on hucks.
The Oakland Spiders shocked the New York Empire on Opening Night of the UFA season, in no small part due to the spectacular play of Walker Frankenberg. The third year player out of Middleburry College in Vermont had 6 assists and 3 goals in the Spiders 22-17 victory. We talked to Walker about his big game and what the Spiders would have to do to make it to Championship Weekend.
1. Facing the three time champs to start the season, a daunting proposition…what made y'all confident you could beat New York?
Preparation. With the talent we have on the team, we know we have the ability to beat any team in the league. Once you have that, it all comes down to putting each player in the necessary positions to succeed and executing. Facing an interdivisional opponent who we're not as familiar with without any real film could be a tough proposition, but we have enough experience with their key contributors to be able to do so.
2. At what point in the game did you feel like you really had them on the ropes?
It felt like we had the momentum after the opening point of the second half when our defense was able to generate four consecutive stops and keep their O-line on the field for 4 minutes. UFA games are a war of attrition, and if your defense can't help you out and slow down the opposing offense to give you a break after playing a marathon point like that, it makes it hard to get back on track, and I don't think they were able to the rest of the game.
3. You’re now 10-3 at home since the start of the 2023. What gives you guys such a home field advantage in Oakland?
The unique wind conditions that are present in our stadium, our home crowd, and the innate advantage of home games with regards to not having to travel.
4. You take on Seattle in Week 2. How do you feel like you guys matchup against the defending division champs?
I'm very excited to see Seattle and Portland this upcoming weekend. Our offense is completely re-tooled from last year such that we are both a lot more dynamic and less reliant on the deep ball. We won't see any 7 individual defenders who are able to keep pace with our offense. On the defensive side, we know both of these teams pretty well and know what they want to do. They both have some quality players, but I like our odds.
5. What’s it going on take from the Spiders to make it to Championship Weekend?
Consistency and execution. While this probably sounds similar to my first answer, our team knows we have the ability to beat any team in the league, so it's all about putting the parts together.
6. Any bold predictions from you regarding the rest of the UFA season?
Nope. At this point, I'm not really paying attention (beyond the surface level) to any other teams except the ones on our schedule. Just enjoying some of the early season chaos.
Frizputin the Flatball Feigner is a legendary man of mystery, whose ability to forecast the future is non-pareil. Last week, he proved his all-seeing powers, picking the Sol to win by 9 (they won by 7), New York to beat Vegas by 16 (they won by 19), Boston to win by 7 (they won by 8), and the Hustle to win by 1 (they won by 2). He didn't give the Summit enough credit, picking them to win by 6 (they won by 12). There were two misses, the week's two huge upsets. He thought New York would beat Oakland, and though he picked Philly to put up a fight and play like cougars, but he didn't pick them to win. Still, a 5-2 record is pretty snazzy. Here are his 100% accurate picks for Week 2.
Madison Radicals at Houston Havoc. In the time since the Great Frizputin started writing this sentence, Houston's D has given up 164 yards and 3 scores.
MADISON 28-HOUSTON 19.
Toronto Rush at DC Breeze. After a tough loss last week, the Breeze will be looking for someone to take that anger out on. As I learned from Prince Felix Yusupov, anger can lead to violence.
DC 22-TORONTO 16.
Oakland Spiders at Seattle Cascades. Whoa boy, this week's BIG MONEY BATTLE. The Mighty Frizputin has to use all of his otherworld powers to predict this matchup between two Championship Weekend hopefuls out of the West. Oakland wins a thriller on a last second buzzer beater. TAKE IT TO THE BANK!
OAKLAND 21-SEATTLE 20.
Carolina Flyers at Atlanta Hustle. Yet again, I have to dig deep within my psyche to achieve a transcendental state to predict a game between two mighty frisbee super-powers. They don't pay me enough for this shit.
ATLANTA 20-CAROLINA 18
Madison Radicals at Austin Sol. In his younger years, the Mighty Frizputin was known as a "radical", simply because he slept with the Tsarina, refused to shower, had magical healing powers, and could predict the future with 100% accuracy. So my heart makes me a Radicals fan. But my brain tells me this is a Sol win.
AUSTIN 24-MADISON 21
Vegas Bighorns at Salt Lake Shred. I was there when the Russian Revolution began in 1905. Murder, strikes, revolt, mayhem. Railroads destroyed. Entire cities in flames…This will be worse than that.
SALT LAKE 31-VEGAS 10
Los Angeles Aviators at San Diego Growlers AND San Diego Growlers at Los Angeles Aviators. What's with this back-to-back nonsense? Are the powers-that-be trying to confuse the wise and all-knowing Frizputin? Well it won't work, I'm killing these two Siberian grouses with one stone.
GAME 1 SAN DIEGO 23-LA 18
GAME 2 SAN DIEGO 20-LA 16
Toronto Rush at Philadelphia Phoenix. Much like the Mighty Frisputin, Philly has been stabbed in the gut repeatedly and left for dead. But like myself, they rise from the ashes. In my case, after rising, I was zipped up in a duffel bag and thrown into the frozen Neva River. In their case, they'll beat the Canadians.
PHILLY 19-TORONTO 17
Oakland Spiders at Oregon Steel. Spiders spin sticky web snarling Steel, satisfying insatiable supporters.
OAKLAND 23-OREGON 15
So the Great Frizputin predicts it, SO IT SHALL BE!!!
In March, we made a bold announcement…any player having a 40/40 season, meaning 40 goals and 40 assists in the regular season, would be receiving the prestigious UFO green jacket. Only two players have had a 40/40 season in the last four seasons: Max Sheppard (then in Pitt, now on NY) and Leandro Marx (played on Portland in 2022). To incentivize players to go for it this year, we offered up the prestigious green jacket, which we will give to any members of the 40/40 club in 2025 (unless these idiotic tariffs raise the price on ugly green jackets too much). Here are a few players who we think have a shot, and how they did in Week 1.
Walker Frankenberg, Oakland. As mentioned above, Frankenberg had a monster first game against the New York Empire. 6 assists and 3 goals. Frankenberg had 42 goals in 2023, so the uptick in assists in week 1 has us thinking a 40/40 season is certainly possible.
Tobe Decraene, Boston. Playing his first game for the Glory, Tobe Decraene showed why he's my dark horse for league MVP. He put up 4 goals and 4 assists against his former mates from Montreal. While the assists weren't a surprise (he had 52 last season), the 4 goals have us hopeful that he's got a real shot of 40/40.
Kyle Henke, Austin. Henke was absolutely unstoppable on Saturday night against Houston, racking up over 400 yards throwing and 400 yards receivng. He also added 3 assists and 4 goals. He is clearly the centerpiece of the Austin offense, which has us excited about a possible run for the green jacket. He had 38 assists in 2022, and 42 goals in 2018, so the potential is there.
Sean Mott, Philly. Mott had back to back 40/40 seasons in 2017 and 2018, and with the Hotbirds losing a lot of firepower this offseason, we predicted that he could challenge for the green jacket this year. He's off to a good start. Despite brutally windy conditions in DC, Mott looked sharp, throwing for 4 assists and scoring 2 goals. Expect the offense to run through the Bucks County Bomber this year, and expect him to post the kind of numbers he used to in his salad days.
Jordan Kerr, Salt Lake. Kerr came damn close to a 40/40 season in 2023, with 45 assists and 36 goals, and after a bumpy 2024, we were expecting a big bounceback in 2025. He didn't go off the way he did in 2023, but he still had a solid 3 assist, 2 goal game.
Noah Coolman, Colorado. Coolman had 28 assists and 25 goals in 10 games in 2024, so we were confident that, if he hit a hot streak, he could contend for 40/40. A solid if not spectacular Week 1 saw him put up 3 goals, 3 assists, and utilized in both the passing game (205 yards) and receiving game (167 yards). We expect the high-octane Summit offense to be scoring in the 20s all season, and we expect Coolman to be a big part of that.
Each week we'll be going in-depth on the biggest game on the schedule with our good friend and legendary coach, Charlie Hoppes. Charlie was the co-Coach for the New York Empire, winning two championships with them. Coach will break down both teams, and tell you what to look for in the big game. And one of the big games this weekend is Oakland at Seattle. Charlie breaks it down for us:
The West Division has long had the reputation of being high-flying, huck-happy, crowd-friendly, and turnover-prone. The Shred pushed against that narrative during a run to the 2023 final, but prior to that no team in the West had won a game at Championship Weekend since the now-defunct San Francisco Flamethrowers won the title in 2017. But with impressive wins by Colorado and Oakland this past weekend, a strong showing by a revamped Salt Lake, and reigning division champ Seattle still to play, the West suddenly has a case for being the deepest and best division in the league.
With apologies to the first of four huge clashes between Atlanta and Carolina, the game I'm most excited for this week features two of those squads, with the Spiders traveling up to Seattle to play the Cascades on Saturday afternoon in a rematch from last year’s West Division playoffs.
Oakland Spiders
The Spiders have been a really fun team over the last several seasons, with a talented young roster giving their fans heart attacks with drama-filled finishes week after week. Last year, they finally broke through for their first playoff appearance since 2017, and immediately built on that with an impressive win over the Empire in the season opener.
Against New York, Walter Frankenberg and rookie Leo Gordon lit up the scoreboard and stat sheet. While the Spiders had 20 turnovers in the swirling Oakland wind, their relentless pressure on the Empire resets helped fuel a defense that forced 25 turns from the three-time champs. If Oakland can keep the offense humming and the Cascades backfield under lock, they should come away from this trip with another win to start their season before they head to Oregon on Sunday.
Seattle Cascades
There is no chance the Cascades care that I am picking Oakland in this game. Why should they? Last year no one picked them, and all they did was win as many games as they had in the previous three years combined en route to their first playoff appearance since 2017, where they proceeded to knock off the Spiders and then shock the Shred to advance to Championship Weekend.
The Cascades saw two-way star Khalif El-Salaam depart to San Diego in free agency this off-season, but they still boast two electric contributors on each side of the disc–Garrett Martin and Zeppelin Raunig on their offense, and Mike O’Brien and Lukas Ambrose on D. Ambrose was a rare D-line MVP candidate last season, and there’s no question he still has farther to go to reach his considerable ceiling. If they can keep the disc flowing against the Oakland defense, their D line gives them a chance to remind everyone who won the West a year ago.
Jake Felton led the UFA in assists last season with 66, and helped lead Detroit to its first win since 2017. Here are his hot takes for the 2025 season.
1. Toronto beats New York and the Empire don't make playoffs. After the additions of their international players and the return of Mark Lloyd, Toronto might be an actual team again.
2. If Atlanta doesn't make Championship Weekend, they just need to give up. Honestly though, they have one of the most talented rosters in the league and no real challenges in the division.
3. Pawel Janas will be the least important player on Chicago. Not really a hot take because of how true it is, but I do want to throw it out there*.
4. Mechanix have their first non-losing season in history and turn the whole Central upside-down. Paired with the fact that Indy is going winless and we have 3 games against them, we already have Pitt's number, and who knows who Madison has? And is Chicago really gonna be able to win when they have a bunch of guys who forget how to play Midwest ultimate?
5. By the end of the season, the UFA learns how to spell Joe Cubitt's name right. On top of that, he reestablishes himself as the most talented Central division handler, throwing at least 5 assists per game.
*(I only half-believe this, mostly just want to start a rivalry with the league assist leader so it's more fun when I pass him)
In 2022, I wondered, “How in the hell do the Portland Nitro afford to play their home games in an MLS stadium?” Welp, looks like we got our answer (allegedly). Wow, this is a crazy story.
UFA Commish Tim DeByl took questions over on Reddit. Some great stuff, such as this, where he's talking about UFAtv: “It's not an easy task to stream this many games from unique locations around North America. Obviously we always want to improve. If we had unlimited budgets I have no doubt we could put on NFL like product, but teams on very limited budgets continue to improve each season. Most of these productions are being run by small companies, or by ultimate players who we've trained into the roles. It's an area that is incredibly important to us and one where we will continue to add resources as we grow.”
In a rather amusing twitter exchange after Vegas's 32-13 loss to New York, the Las Vegas Bighorn Fan Club asked what the biggest blowout in league history is. Amateur UFO historian and former Tampa Bay Cannon Sascha Vogel posted a screen grab of the Wind Chill's 45-11 win over Detroit in 2015, then wrote “Y'all are safe…for now.”
If you missed them, here are our previous four editions of the UFO: