Hello and welcome aboard the UFO, a newsletter piloted by two crazed UFA fans and former members of the Philadelphia Phoenix front office, Shaggy Shragis and Johnny Goodtimes; and former NY Empire coach Charlie Hoppes. If you enjoy this newsletter, please share it! If you're arriving here w/o having signed up, just click here to sign up. We are totally independent of the league and these views are our own.
Well this is it. After a whole season of Charlie, Shaggy and I rambling on about the UFA, the time for talk is done and the time for ACTION is here. Action for the players means taking the field at Breese Stevens in Madison. Action for me means cracking open an ice cold beer and watching on UFATV. And I'm not gonna lie; I can't wait. This has been a wild season, but in the end, we got four teams who are absolutely deserving of taking home a title. And there are so many questions to be answered and stories to be written. We're gonna tackle 11 of the biggest questions and best storylines below. Enjoy!
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1) What's your favorite narrative heading into Championship Weekend?
CHARLIE: Oh this is an easy one for me. Even with three teams without a title at the final weekend, and two of those teams at Championship Weekend for the first time, I am so fascinated by the Minnesota Wind Chill repeat hunt. They are a talented but imperfect team that now has three giant upsets under their belts in their last four playoffs games between this year and last. Last year they were far from the best team in the league, but incredibly worthy champions. What a story it would be to run it all back. Play the hits!
SHAGGY: These are three of the best offenses in the league and the second best defense we've ever seen. It is shaping up to be a repeat of last season, albeit with an entirely new cast of offensive characters, where the high powered offenses of the entire league take on the down-to-earth defense of Minnesota. I have the Wind Chill fourth in my rankings of who I think will win the title, but I had them fourth last year as well and they proved me wrong.
JGT: I am excited by the new blood this year. Carolina and New York are great franchises, but I'm really excited that we get to see Boston and Atlanta for the first time ever on the big stage, with electric players like Tobe Decraene Alec Wilson-Holliday playing under the bright lights.
2) If Minnesota wins their 2nd straight title, that means they'll have gone 56-16 since 2021, with two World Titles. Where would they rank at that point amongst the great dynasties in UFA history?
CHARLIE: Honestly, they would stand alone in my mind. They would go down as the most clutch team in league history, without a close contender. The only other teams with multiple titles are the 2014 and 2015 Oakland Spiders, and the 2019, 2022 and 2023 New York Empire. I think those two already stand apart in their own ways, as the Oakland years showed just how elite pro teams could be, both set up by Toronto's example in 2013 and setting the stage for the Dallas Roughnecks, and considering that the Empire run included three of the five perfect seasons in UFA history. On the field who is best of those three? Not the Wind Chill. But they would be every bit as legendary, and maybe even more so.
SHAGGY: It is difficult to rank dynasties based on how short so many of them have been. I would have them firmly behind New York and Oakland, ahead of Carolina, and probably in the mix with Madison, Dallas, and Toronto. One thing that holds them back for me personally is the lack of a clear MVP candidate on the roster. Beau and the cast of MVPs from New York are a big part of why those teams hold such a lofty spot in UFA lore.
JGT: The Empire 2019-2023 stretch stands alone as the greatest dynasty in league history, but I disagree with Shaggy on San Jose/Oakland. That was a great team over a two year stretch, but that was it…they fell off a cliff after that, and in fact never again won another playoff game until they beat Colorado a few weeks ago. Minnesota has been building to this since 2021, and if they made it 2 in a row, I think they move into the #2 spot behind New York.
3) Who is one player on each team we should keep our eyes on this weekend?
CHARLIE: For Atlanta, it'll be interesting to see how Lukas McClamrock performs after what seemed to be a rough injury in the South Division final for a defense that is the key to their title hopes. Ben Sadok has long been the face of the franchise in Boston, and I can't wait to see how he handles some extremely direct game-planning. Will perennial superstar Jordan Kerr have a few legendary moments on the way to a Championship Weekend MVP? And if the Chill pull off an upset or two, it'll be in the margins, like at the end of quarters. Let's see if James Pollard can't steal a few points in a close Minnesota win.
SHAGGY:
Boston: Tannor Johnson-Go. Boston is the only team at CW that is looking to win games in the teens, and a big part of that is slowing down the opposing offenses and scoring from limited opportunities. With TJG absent from the roster, they were unable to do that, and lost to DC and New York. With him there, they blew those teams out.
Atlanta: Sean Connole. Minnesota beat Atlanta largely because they were able to hone in on Austin Taylor as the major distributing threat and constantly shift additional pressure his way. Connole changes the gravity of the Hustle offense, and should provide a more dynamic threat. Atlanta is undefeated in games Connole finishes.
Minnesota: Will Brandt. It may sound silly to doubt the former Championship Weekend MVP, but Brandt will lead the most suspect unit at championship weekend: the Wind Chill offense. There is no doubt that the Minnesota defense will pressure opposing offenses, the question is whether they will have enough opportunities to do it. Against Chicago, Minnesota's offense was bad, but it wasn't atrocious, and that gave their defense enough room to win the game. They'll need to be at least that bad in order to make it back to the mountaintop.
Salt Lake: Nathan Huff. Salt Lake's offense is electric, but their defense has had its ups and downs during the season, and they will need a big defensive performance to contend with the elite offenses at championship weekend. The Shred D might not get many opportunities to score, but when they do they'll need to take full advantage, and that starts with the quarterback of their defense, Nathan Huff.
4) What team are you rooting for and why?
CHARLIE: I've told anyone who will listen that post-pandemic my co-favorite non-Empire teams have been the Salt Lake Shred and the Atlanta Hustle. Talented, well-coached, versatile teams that can be precise or explosive at any moment. Great ultimate with highlights every game. What's not to love? I have been rooting for the Hustle all season, and they were my pre-season title choice. I want them to win so I am right about ONE THING this whole wild UFA season, and also because they richly deserve it.
SHAGGY: I am rooting for Atlanta. I have been rooting for Atlanta to win a title since they were arguably the best regular season team in 2021, 2023 and 2024, and yet never made it to championship weekend. I am double rooting for them now that they've finally broken through. They are a super fun team who completely changed their identity under Tuba, yet lost none of the fire or talent.
JGT: Ugh, I want Atlanta to win but I hate agreeing with these guys. So let me just say that I also kind of want Minnesota to win, because then our above convo about dynasty gets real.
5) Boston and Salt Lake have NEVER faced each other. Atlanta and Minnesota squared off earlier this season. How much easier is it to game plan when you've seen the opposing team before?
CHARLIE: The best thing for a coach in the UFA compared to most other coaching opportunities is the amount of information you have on your opponents. Every game is filmed, every play is chronicled in statistics that go much deeper than the surface-level ones we talk about the most. And nearly all of it is available in real time. One of the things that sets good teams apart from great ones in the league are the coaching staffs that make the most of all the data available, both in preparation and even in-game. So it's easier to game plan in the UFA than most anywhere else. Even so, it's always easier to prepare your players more directly when they've seen a team before. The thing is, that same benefit happens for your opponents too. In a young league like this with top talent across the rosters this weekend, a lot of the difference will come from which team is better prepared for both the moment, and their opponent specifically.
SHAGGY: Much easier to game plan for a team you've faced before, if for no other reason than you already know if your game plan worked. I think Boston is particularly difficult to play against because they employ a style that is very different from the league meta, which makes familiarity vital. On the flip side, no one in the East has the speed Salt Lake does on offense, and consequently Boston has never seen anything like that on the East Coast. It should be a fun set of games.
6) Atlanta looked shaky against San Diego, but still pulled off the win. Now that they've finally broken through and made it CW, do you think their attitude will be “Just happy to be here” or “Now that we're here, we're taking it all the way?”
CHARLIE: I think it can be both. They celebrated breaking through wildly a few weeks ago, took a few days to bask in it, and they absolutely should have. They then had a week and a half to lock in and focus on the big goal: winning a championship. Once in Madison, it's back to business for the Hustle.
SHAGGY: Nothing about Tuba indicates to me that they are happy to be there. I think this team will be extremely disappointed if they don't walk away with the trophy.
JGT: They no longer have to answer any questions about never making it to Championship Weekend. The relief has to be palpable. You could see the pressure wearing on them at times during the San Diego game, when they had a chance to put the game away and would turf one or make a braindead throw into traffic. Now that that's behind them, I think they can breathe and play their game. And when they play their game instead of warding off ghosts they're damn near unstoppable.
7) Jeff Babbitt has won three titles, but they all came on insanely stacked New York teams. Do you think it cements his legacy as one of the league's all-time GOATs if he wins his 4th titles with a different team?
CHARLIE: I would say a two-time MVP, three-time champion, who is 3rd all-time in blocks, 4th all-time in goals and 5th all-time in plus/minus has his legacy pretty well cemented, wouldn't you? Considering the gigantic value of blocks relative to other stats basic counting stats, and considering he's the only one in the top 20 for plus/minus or top 47 in goals to have played more D points than O points, and considering you have to run all the way down to 180th in career plus/minus to find someone on that list with a higher completion percentage...well considering all of that, it feels reasonable to say he's not just already one of the league's all-time GOATs, but that he's already the greatest player in league history.
Did you know at 2023 Championship Weekend, Jeff played only 17 points? 14 of them were D points, during which the Empire broke 13 times. There was a point where he came on the field for D during a timeout, during which the Empire got the disc back and scored. There were two O points, one hold and one victory possession as time ran out on the title game. So in 17 points, Jeff's line scored 15 times, including 3 breaks, and was only scored on once. Jeff personally scored 10 of those goals.
I'm quite sure Jeff Babbitt wants a title this weekend, but it's done and dusted. He's the GOAT because of the stats, he's the GOAT because of the stories and legends. Case closed.
SHAGGY: It's hard to say that this Boston team is any less stacked against the field. Several league commentators have described it as "the most talented team on paper", whatever that means. I think Babbitt is already clearly on the list of all-time GOATs, regardless of whether or not Boston wins, but it will be hard to put a case for him over Beau, who won 5 titles with four different teams and was clearly the best player on every single one until his final win with New York. On the flip side, Babbitt still has a number of years left at the top of his game.
JGT: Babbitt is clearly already in the GOAT discussion, but so is Ben Jagt, and Babbitt's never won a title without him. That's not saying that Babbitt was Robin to Jagt's Batman. He wasn't. Jeff is truly an all-time great. But I think winning a title when he's not playing alongside established greats like Jagt, Williams, Brownlee, etc. really takes him to another level on his climb to potentially be the greatest of all time.
8) Does being the only team really within driving distance of Madison give Minnesota a home field advantage?
CHARLIE: That's hard to say. Madison locals really pack the stands, and considering the Wind Chill's status as division rivals, I'm not sure if Radicals fans are going to embrace the representative out of the Central or pro-actively root against them.
SHAGGY: Not at all. If anything I think it gives them a disadvantage because being in the home of their rival and in spitting distance of their rivals fans means a pretty angry crowd overall. If I am a Radicals fan, I think I'd be buying a ticket just to boo Minnesota and retain their tie in Central Division teams to win a title.
JGT: Minnesota has been smashing their franchise attendance records all year. Their last home game had over 1600 fans. They've clearly started to tap into another level of fans beyond the friends, family, and frisbee freaks. Yeah, they'll go to Sea Foam Stadium, but will these new fans travel to watch them play? I'm curious to find out.
9) Is there any advantage to playing the early game or the late game on semifinal night?
CHARLIE: I've been lucky to coach two early games and one late game. The early game is nice because you can dig in early and channel the energy into the game sooner, and the late game is nice because the temperature is lower and the crowds are bigger. I personally prefer playing at night on Friday, but I don't think the winners of a specific time-slot have an advantage over the other timeslot. I wonder what the historical numbers are for that...
SHAGGY: There might be jet lag considerations I don't know of, and I'm not sure when the teams plan on arriving, but I would much rather play the night game. It is more difficult to plan for a single game in the afternoon than it is to plan for a single game at night, both in preparation and in warming up for the moment. I also think its way cooler to play under the lights, and I think that resonates with several of the players.
JGT: Yeah, Friday Night Lights are special. I don't know if there's an advantage, but there's a cool factor. And I just think the intensity level goes to another level under the lights.
10) How would you rank your MVP candidates heading into this weekend, and how much would winning a title impact your vote?
CHARLIE: To me, Austin Taylor wins the award if the Hustle can make the finals. He may win it anyway. He's the strongest candidate who qualified for Championship Weekend, and I think he's far enough in front of Jeff Babbitt and Tobe Decreane to have it locked up between the three of them. If all three struggle, the door is certainly still open for Walker Frankenberg to be the MVP. What a season he had! In short, Taylor wins with any Hustle win, Walker wins if the remaining candidates fail to impress, and a legendary weekend and a Glory title would shoot Babbitt or Decreane back towards the top.
SHAGGY: It's always rankled me that the UFA awards the MVP with playoff performance in mind, but I would still have Daan De Maree as number one, followed by Frankenberg, Randolph, Decraene, and then Laviolette. I don't see anyone from Minnesota, Atlanta, or Salt Lake jumping up into my rankings, but I could see Decraene sneaking ahead if he has a monster showing at Championship weekend. Its still difficult for me to put him over Maree, but it would get him a lot closer.
JGT: Yeah, Draco has quietly had an incredible season, and if Atlanta wins it all I think he takes it. If Boston wins it all AND Tobe goes absolutely nuts over the weekend, I think he takes the crown. If neithe rof thoser things happen, I think it goes to Frankenberg. TBH, I think Laviolette was the best player in the league this year, but I simply don't think you can give it to a guy whose team doesn't make the playoffs.
11) Alright, alright, enough chit-chat: what's going to happen this weekend?
CHARLIE: I’ve got Salt Lake’s speed blowing past Boston’s patience in the first game, and the Hustle pushing the clock to midnight on the Wind Chill’s second Cinderella run. And if the Atlanta defense can force a few more turns out of Salt Lake than they have been getting across the season, I think Tuba Benson-Jaja gets the Gatorade shower.
SHAGGY: I’ll take Boston dragging Salt Lake down into the muck and Minnesota's defense once again conquering Atlanta before losing the finals to Boston 16-14 in a game that wasn’t actually close.
JGT: You're both wrong. It's an all-revenge weekend. Salt Lake will win a thriller over Boston at the buzzer, then Atlanta gets their revenge against Minnesota. In a Wild West shootout, the Shred avenges their Week 1 defeat, knocking off Atlanta 23-22 to take the title to the Great Salt Lake.
Cheers-The UFO
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