Division 6/6D Split

You may not believe this but, this article was actually written in the preseason and into week 1. Some of the commentary will have made that apparent. At the time I was waiting on the playoff split graphic to be available to include it. Since then the FPF world has been completely overwhelming.

Still, my parents taught me that late was better than never (hence my total disregard for punctuality). As such, I decided to showcase the decision making behind why it is that we placed certain teams into Division 6 and others in Division 6D.

The reason why this is complicated compared to other split divisions is because we often don’t have the same kind of information and the cap does not apply to these teams the same way it does in higher divisions. There are many players coming in to the league unranked and without historical information it’s hard to know what impact they will have on the league.

Teams in Division 6 and 6D are usually teams that fall into one of four categories:

• The first category is new teams. Teams that are comprised mostly if not entirely of new players are considered to be new teams. These teams are always funnelled into the developmental division as we have no information about how good the team is and how competitive they will be in their first season in FPF.
• Secondly, we have what refer to as community teams. These teams have been in and will continue to be in the Division 6 community as they have not yet improved to move into higher divisions and be truly competitive. Some of these teams will play in Division 6 and some will be placed in Division 6D. This depends largely on recent past performance in the division.
• There are also teams with FPF experience with guys trying out new positions or playing with a new group of players. These teams may be placed in either Division 6 or 6D depending on who they match the criteria detailed below.
• Most recently we’ve also seen teams move up from FPF Jr. into the men’s league. These are young teams with talent, they’ve had coaching and they have played together before. These cases are looked at independently and we use their background in FPF Jr. to place them.

 

Division 6/6D Split

The criteria for a team being placed in Division 6 as opposed to 6D are as follows:

A returning team that won more than 3 games in a previous season, during the last year, in Division 6/6D or E-1 or E-2 or competed in a higher division regardless of success.
A new team composed of three experienced FPF players.
A former FPF Junior team who is judged to have been dominant in FPF Junior.

Let’s take a look at each team in order to best understand why they were placed in Division 6:

 

Tankin’ for Tua: TFT is a team name that seems somewhat insensitive considering the star college QB’s injury. It also may prove to be inaccurate through the lens of revisionist history as the Alabama south paw may be returning for another season after his pending announcement on Monday. Ryan Eichler leads this team at the QB position and they appear to have AJ Rashkovan as a permanent fixture. Last Spring, under the moniker of Summer Birds, the team went 5-5.

Primetime: This team has perhaps the most overused team name in FPF history. The team features Alessio Muro, George Zergiotis and Nick Richard. The trio logged games for last season’s low division powerhouse and resident cowards Bozy Boys. That’s enough justification to place them in this diivison.

Masters of Coin: Benji Zeigler and company made short work of Division 6D in Winter 2018 as Sick_Bick. That alone is setting the expectation for MOC to not only belong in Division 6 but also has them as the expected front runners for the division.

Fridge Raiders: While the team name certainly conjures an image of a dude who first moves out on his own and yet returns to his parent’s place for free groceries. Yes this was me in my youth, don’t judge. The team sees Simon Gauthier, Kory Dugas Beaulieu, Frederic Laporte and Francis Ashfield. While a new team, they do have a wide range of FPF experience.

Stack Your Roster: Adding Mendy Cardichon and Jerson Previllion to a Division 6 team makes this team name completely apt! Despite some rough moments Emile Janda improved a great deal last spring and saw their team improve to 6-4 in their second season (at that time branded as Nemesis).

The Potatoes: After a challenging first season in Division 6, Samuel Lamothe’s group was vastly improved in Division 6D. Let’s hope they aren’t a “tweener” that is difficult place and that the improvement means that they can compete in a slightly more challenging situation. This team even advanced to the Division 6 championship final after promotion last season after a shocking playoff run. Despite coming up short, I expect them to be competitive this time around in this division.

Winnie The Bush: Man commissioner Campana is slipping on allowing inappropriate team names. To think of all the team names he didn’t allow me to use. This is the latest in the 2HD family tree. Dan Lepore, Danny McFee and Joey Taylor have higher division experience and they have a lot of talent for this division. It’s shocking to see that this team even fit in Division 6 as it is.

Stop Whining: This ironically named team features several experienced FPF players including Corey Pecker, Jeremy Ronsin, and Benjamin Ohayon. The entire team has FPF experience; while I’m not sure who’s throwing [Editor’s Note: it’s Yossi Cohen], there is no doubt that this experienced team fits easily into Division 6

Trailer Park Boys: Few teams have improved in such a short time as TPB and few quarterbacks have learned as much as Antoine Meunier. His game is far from flawed but I expect a huge jump again this season.

Menace II Sobriety: Finally a tribute to 90’s soul act Boyz II Men! The team features lots of higher division talent such as Bobby “Spaghettis” Sepentgis, Mike Zenobi and a slew of up and coming players. They may be a menace to Division 6 before the season is done.

Suicide Squad: Seeing Alex Noel and Alex Noel on a Division 6 roster alone is enough to attract attention. Moreover, the team has a ton of familiar names. Expect Suicide Squad to look more like the Avengers… Whatever, this is a long article and not all the jokes are winners.

Kings of the North: The GOT themed team is essentially a Clinkers redux without qb Marc-Andre Desaulniers. That said, Sean Thomas Furlong, Dany Ostiguy, Marc-Andre Blais, Phil Aussant is definitely enough to land the team in Division 6.

Chambo: This is a team that I expect and hope to be competitive in Division 6. Arie Bazov, Job Boidman and Jonathan Perez are three very good players and incredibly competitive. While the whole team isn’t totally familiar, their top three are legit studs.

Average Joe’s: It’s not the same team we saw in the past especially since we see Ignacio Valdez Manzenado behind centre. The new arm benefits from having the speedy Steven Besner amongst other reliable receivers.

Trapstars: This one is tricky. Gold Rush was a talented team led by gunslinger Jake Starr. They looked really good in their last effort. Starr isn’t on the roster but Ryan Garber appears and he is more than capable of leading an experienced and talented offense.

Pension Plan: You can’t tell me that there is a logical reason that Vince Pisano can still throw in Division 6. How much is he paying FPF officials!?!?!?! What firmly entrenches this team in this division is that they are perennial Division 6 playoff contenders and return almost their entire roster.

Space Apes: I’m liking the Jagerbomb Jr. I’ve seen JF Daloze throw and while he has a rocket he has a lot to learn when it comes to making progressions, reading defences and play calling. We’ll see if he’s throwing but either way there is a ton of FPF experience on this group.

MACDO: They got promoted to Div 6 last winter. And beat one of the front runners in the playoffs. That is to say they beat my team… jerks!

Llamas Pyjamas: There are only 5 players on the roster [Editor’s Note: 10 now] but, they are all experienced so they’re in Div6.

Wolfpack: Sorry Terry Tam, you’ve lost the right to use your old team name. This is largely the Bruins core and I expect Nelson Pereira to once again return to the pivot. Having played with Game Wiseman for a while, hopefully the play calling and play reading will have improved.

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The criteria for a team being placed in Division 6D is as follows:
A returning team with who won 3 games or less in Division 6, 6D, E-1 or E-2.
A new team composed of less than 3 familiar FPF players.
A former FPF Jr team that is expected to struggle in the Men’s Divisions.

Let’s take a look at each team in order to best understand why they were placed in Division 6D (please note that because we don’t know a ton about all of these teams some of the analysis may be entirely made up):

South Shore Seamen: Last winter SSS won a single game and also scored 18 points during a month of games. FPF can be a tough learning experience here’s hoping season 2 is more fruitful.

Ballin’ 60’s: They’re a team with a single player rated higher than 60 on offence on their roster (Matthew Canuel). The team was formerly known as Bricksquad and their last season was Winter 2016 where they did in fact struggle.

Tropic Thunder: TT and their QB Tyler Grondin has struggled in the past. Here’s hoping that another season in Division 6D sees them turn it around.

BDR: There’s some familiar names on this team. Jordan Farray particularly is a solid low division player. However, this group has yet to see success. This I why we see them return to the “D”.

Raw Sauce: The team name always vaguely makes me want to vomit. That said, they are a returning group go guys who have improved somewhat but last Spring saw them throw only 8 touchdowns in an entire season. Hopefully another season in Division 6D will help them see marked improvement.

89.9ers: This team sounds like an awful radio station playing hits from a bygone era that were too long an often had entire sections of the song that could easily have been removed. This team is full of new players and we wish them all the best.

Inglorious Basterds: This former FPF Jr. needs to focus on spelling. The misspelling of the word bastards and the related autocorrections will drive the Division 6 columnist to alcoholism.

Stiffy Arm: This team likely could have qualified for Division 6. However, we needed an even number of teams in each division. So, what’s interesting here is that if they don’t dominate they’ll be a disappointment. Sorry everyone for taking you all to see how the sausage is made. If it makes you feel better just imagine a magical sausage machine.

Diablos: The return of Michael “Sun” Deguire sees again a chance at redemption. Some of Diablos best games came when Sun wasn’t present. If he learns to become his own qb and not a clone of Francois Martin he will see improvement in division 6D.

Believe the Hype: These guys are talented. That is certain. However, it’s taken them a moment to get adjusted in FPF. For this reason, they find themselves in Division 6D.

Trojans: I expected Alex Fafard and Co. to have improved more by this point in their FPF careers. Nothing like a season in 6D to help kickstart development. Hey… so is that what 6D means?

Killer Rays: The Rays are a new team and took some week 1 lumps. Chris Genio exemplified this lack of experience by having thrown 4 interceptions in the opener.

What Could Have Beens: The team features FPF JR. star Kaylem Ferdinand. They put up 42 points in the opener so it appears that they do have a lot of natural talent. However, we’ll see how well they do against similarly athletic teams who are also looking to improve.

Lionhearts: They are learning and doing so quickly. We haven’t truly seen them take the next step and haven’t won more than three games in any of their seasons. I imagine Matthew Vertullo will return to the qb position and improve on a solid end to the fall season.

7th Rounders: This isn’t the the same group we’ve seen over the past few seasons with this team name. They are a group of new players. I wonder why this is such a popular name. Are they all an homage to ex New Orleans Saint Marques Colton who was drafted in the 7th round? Probably not!

Mountain Goats: MG went 1-9 last season and failed to score 100 points in a season. Clearly this is the best division for a team of young students of the game.

The Replacements: This team name has gotten to the point where they are almost as infamous as the long running joke: “The Aristocrats”. Frank Teoli-Colatrella has some work to do but this is the perfect division to make incremental improvement.

Zone 6 Ballers: This is a team I always expected to be better. I am a fan of Jeansley Valbonard. He has some work to do as a passer but runs as smoothly as few others in the league. Z6B have moved on from their association with Alessandro Barrazoni. However, there is still a ton of talent and they just may be ready to turn the page.

SAFTB: The team name stands for Surely Acquitted Fiends Taming Beasts. That’s all I got. [Editor’s Note: Saturdays Are For The Boys]

Les Studz: This team features 10 players who all have introductory ratings. Whether or not they are attractive or will be used uniquely for their breeding, that al remains to be seen.

Boucsaneers: This may be a reference I’m too old to understand. On the other hand dudes probably gotta read more. Let’s go with that. Have Audible hook you up for a free book a month!

Green Wave: They’ve lost their first game by twenty points. The only three players who have FPF experience are the only ones to catch balls in this game: Tony Khoury, Jonathan Hared, and “Big Ren” Renaud St-Laurent.

Here for the Beer: Last time around Here for the Beer were cellar dwellers. That said, as long as they’re choking down some post game suds, they do seem to be happy.

Goon Squad: The team is intense. However, that hasn’t translated to wins. If they take a step back and focus on improvement Goon Squad should do well in Division 6D.

 

The Playoffs

Rather than making a decision of where to place teams when we don’t have a ton of information, we are using a reseeding structure that allows for us to reseed teams based on current in-season performance. Here’s what the reseeding will look like:

In conclusion, we don’t pretend to have all of the answers.  This seems to have been our most successful formula.  However, if you have any suggestions please feel free to reach out and your inpt will be heard!