Sirens Improve to 7-0
Posted: Sat May 30, 2015 11:51 pm
The Sacramento Sirens improved to 7-0 following a 54-7 win over the Nevada Storm at Sacramento City College tonight. Samia J'Beilly went wild, scoring many touchdowns and gaining huge yardage all around the field, even up the gut. The Sirens DID have to survive a rookie mistake by a long-time veteran, who temporarily forgot which team she was on when she tried to down a punt kicked by the Storm during the first quarter. She DID make up for that error later with a key second-half interception.
Speculation is going around that that one touchdown, killing the Sirens' scoreless streak dating back to Week 1 against these same Storm, may have cost the Sirens a home playoff game. The IWFL has a major tiebreaking problem for playoff purposes due to the extreme regional scheduling forced by a lack of finances. Quite often when determining seeding, head-to-head and even record against common opponents isn't possible because of that odd scheduling; a team on the west coast just can't afford a regular season road game against a team in the middle of the country, and vice versa. (Today's WFA Boston Renegades 30-24 OT win at the Chicago Force is an exception to that; incidentally, that was an incredible comeback win for Boston, which tied the score with 18 seconds left in the game and then won it in OT.) The next logical thing would be point differential, but I guess the powers that be seem to think that blowouts would affect that too much, so they opt for the supposedly simpler Points Against: whoever has the fewest points in that column gets the better seed. But even that causes a problem: how does that work if teams play a different number of games, or there are forfeits involved? (You wouldn't believe how common forfeits are, particularly when teams are far away from each other, and players have to fund their own travel.) As it stands, Sacramento is 7-0, with a PA of 13 (and a PD of +338), Houston is 4-0 with a PA of 12/PD +115, and Utah is 3-0 PA 8/PD +201. The other Western Conference division leader is Madison (WI) at 5-1 (just got their first loss today) PA 62/PD +105. Sac has one more game, and the other division leaders have at least two more; the playoffs don't start until 22 JUN.
You guys have any ideas on how to sort this thing out? Clenz might be the best (if he's interested) given his extreme knowledge of the rule books of many sports, but I'd be willing to hear from anyone....
Speculation is going around that that one touchdown, killing the Sirens' scoreless streak dating back to Week 1 against these same Storm, may have cost the Sirens a home playoff game. The IWFL has a major tiebreaking problem for playoff purposes due to the extreme regional scheduling forced by a lack of finances. Quite often when determining seeding, head-to-head and even record against common opponents isn't possible because of that odd scheduling; a team on the west coast just can't afford a regular season road game against a team in the middle of the country, and vice versa. (Today's WFA Boston Renegades 30-24 OT win at the Chicago Force is an exception to that; incidentally, that was an incredible comeback win for Boston, which tied the score with 18 seconds left in the game and then won it in OT.) The next logical thing would be point differential, but I guess the powers that be seem to think that blowouts would affect that too much, so they opt for the supposedly simpler Points Against: whoever has the fewest points in that column gets the better seed. But even that causes a problem: how does that work if teams play a different number of games, or there are forfeits involved? (You wouldn't believe how common forfeits are, particularly when teams are far away from each other, and players have to fund their own travel.) As it stands, Sacramento is 7-0, with a PA of 13 (and a PD of +338), Houston is 4-0 with a PA of 12/PD +115, and Utah is 3-0 PA 8/PD +201. The other Western Conference division leader is Madison (WI) at 5-1 (just got their first loss today) PA 62/PD +105. Sac has one more game, and the other division leaders have at least two more; the playoffs don't start until 22 JUN.
You guys have any ideas on how to sort this thing out? Clenz might be the best (if he's interested) given his extreme knowledge of the rule books of many sports, but I'd be willing to hear from anyone....