Christian Ultimate
Disc League

First Impressions

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The first three weeks are always interesting. In some teams, these are the formative weeks. How they play now will impact how they play for the rest of the season. For others, this is a learning curve. Figure things out now; don’t mind results yet; play harder and better as the season progresses. Still others are unpredictable entirely— consider the Disc-iples’ miserable (0-3) start last year. So extrapolating from the available data is rather impossible, it is also very helpful in order to assess how each team can and will improve over the season. 

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CUDL2024 is off to a great start. Honestly, it was everything we wanted it to be: unpredictable, exciting, and lots of fun. 

Let’s dive in.

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So What Happened?

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​1. Eight good teams

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For the first time ever, no CUDL team has started the season (3-0). Wind did it in 2021, The Turtles did it in 2022, and The Tugboats did it in 2023. But after the first three weeks of CUDL, no team has come forward as a dominant force. Every team seems to have the ability and the opportunity to do well this season. Every game I’ve had the pleasure of watching has ultimately come down to which team happened to play better that week. 

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For example, the Landsharks have beaten the second- and third- ranked teams. However, they failed to beat bottom ranked HammerTime. Similarly, the tugboats beat Wind by ten points last week— but ‘Flauge held them to only 8 points total in week two. 

The teams are remarkably equal, which portends good competition, surprise upsets, and close races later in the season.

 

2. Weather complicates my job

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With that said, the first two weeks were anything but ideal weather-wise. Conditions were terribly muddy the first week, and the uncut grass made it difficult for the athletes to run. In the second week, heavy rain and thick mud hindered some teams’ play— enough for the Purple-Red game to switch fields halfway throughthe second half!

This undoubtedly evened the playing field a bit between opposing teams. It’s another reason why these first three weeks can’t be seen as the sole predictor for the rest of the season. It’s difficult to say exactly how the weather may have changed things, though, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see!

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3. Scoring machines

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​Now that we’ve established that we can't trust the statistics, let’s take a look at the statistics.

The Disc-iples appear to be at it again. They won their first two games by huge margins, first beating Green in a 27-12 rout, then defeating Gray 15-5. Their first few wins of the season averaged 21 points scored, while holding their opponents to less than 9. Overall, they have an average of +8 each game, and their opponents average fewer than ten points total per game. Even given all the stipulations and caveats we’ve already covered, this team is looking very, very good. 

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The only other team to boast such statistics is the Tugboats. Despite losing in week one, and only posting 8 points in week two, the Tugboats are still showing themselves to be worthy contenders for the CUDL crown. Blue was a league favorite even before the season started this year, so their week one loss came as a surprise. However, the last two weeks have shown us that the Tugboats are well on their way to another strong showing in CUDL2024. There most recent game handed Wind their second ten-point loss in two weeks and solidified blue as a league leader. 2023 rerun, here we come!

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4. The increased sophistication of CUDL teams

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​It has been really interesting to see the evolution of strategy and teamwork over the last few years. In 2021, Wind was the first team to implement a ‘strategy.’ They learned and integrated a vertical stack offensive scheme that was poorly executed 75% of the time. 

In 2022, HammerTime built off the same foundation, using strategy and teamwork to defeat the first-place Turtles and take the championship. 

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2023 saw a larger increase of strategy in CUDL teams. The Tugboats relied on a powerful, effective offense to counteract any shortcomings in their defense. The Disc-iples turned their season around with a dominator offense and cup defense. The Landsharks perfected a junk zone defense that kept their opponents to 10.5 points per game. 

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This year, we’ve already seen much of the same. Disc-iples are playing a cup D again, Landsharks are adding offensive strategy to their junk defense, and the Tugboats have already learned their own cup defense. 

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Interestingly, these teams are also the top three in the standings currently. Coincidence? I think not. I look forward to seeing what other teams will come up with this year.

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Final Whistle

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​After three weeks of CUDL, the outlook has never been better. Every game is exciting. I truly have no idea how this season will turn out for some of these teams. Every team is good, which makes every game challenging and important for every team. 

This is going to be a great season. I can tell.

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​The Call

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​As is my habit, I will give my take on the next week's games at the end of each article. Feel free to disagree with me; this is just my opinion. It's also worth noting that I am often miserably, miserably wrong. Put your own calls in the comments below!

 

Green ​Eggs - ‘Flauge:

‘Flauge, 14-12 

 

​Scoobers - HammerTime:

HammerTime, 16-13

 

​Disc-iples - Tugboats:

Tugboats, 18-14

 

​Landsharks - Wind:

Landsharks, 17-11