Christian Ultimate
Disc League

CUDL 2024 Power Rankings - Week 10 Edition

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The regular season of CUDL2024 is over. Despite a crushing loss in week 8, the Landsharks still hold the top spot, which they’ve held since week three. On the other side of the standings, chronic underdog HammerTime has relinquished the bottom spot— relegating the unenviable position to Le ‘Flauge. 

The middle of the standings is an all-out brawl. Seeds 2 and 3 are separated by quite literally the smallest of margins: one point. Seeds 4, 5, and 6 are all within one game and a few points of each other.

 

With the CUDL2024 playoffs now upon us, here are my rankings of the eight CUDL teams.

 

8. ‘Flauge

Flauge started the season off relatively strong. They went 2-1 through their first four games, beating HammerTime and the Scoobers. Their losses were close, and they held the Tugboats to eight points - still the fewest points they’ve scored all season. However, they have not won a game since week three. In week nine, they were up five points in the first quarter… only to eventually lose by two. ‘Flauge has potential, but they’re making too many mistakes. They face the Landsharks this week. They’ll have to come up with major changes if they want to avoid elimination.

 

7. The Wind

Despite being ranked fifth in the standings, Wind has only earned seventh place in my rankings. They’re certainly a good team, and I initially had them ranked higher, but three consecutive losses to end the season just doesn’t sit right with me— especially their week eight loss to the Scoobers, a team they should have won against. They face Green in week ten, which promises to be a close game. Green beat gray earlier in the season, but only by one point. Gray has a serious chance to redeem themselves in week ten.

 

6. Golden Scoobers

The scoobers are ranked sixth in the standings currently. Their three wins come against Gray, Red, and Green. Gray beat them in the first week of the season, but the Scoobers have become a different team in the second half of this season. In their week 8 rematch with Wind, the Scoobers bested Gray 17-15. The Scoobers have played astonishingly well against some of the top teams, losing to the Tugboats and the Disc-iples by only two points. In both contests, Yellow even had the upper hand for portions of the game. 

 

Yellow faces Blue this week, a team they’ve already lost to twice. However, I think that given Yellow’s track record of success against difficult teams, this matchup will definitely be one worth watching in week ten.

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5. Green Eggs and Hammers

The Eggs are rightfully seeded fourth, in my opinion. They’ve lost to the top three teams, including the Landsharks twice, but have been consistently playing better and better against lower-ranked teams. Their defense, in particular, has been on point— they registered 12 blocks against Purple in week nine. The Eggs are a great team, facing a favorable matchup in week ten. They’ll have to stay on top of their game to win— but if the past couple of weeks are any indicator, they’ll do just fine. 

 

4. HammerTime

HammerTime is ranked seventh overall. They’ve lost to every team except Purple, and their only two wins come in the last two weeks. Frankly, they’ve been terrible all season. But they’ve also been chronically understaffed. They didn’t play with their full team a single time in the regular season. When they finally had a meaningful roster, they beat first-place Landsharks in a spectacular 24-8 rout. It was the fewest points the landsharks scored all season and by far Red’s best showing. In week nine, Red overcame a five-point deficit to win by two and take the seventh spot from Camo. HammerTime is ranked fourth here because I think they have a very real opportunity to beat any team in the league currently. If they play like they have the last two weeks, we could be looking at another underdog HammerTime champion. If they play like they did in the first couple of weeks, however, they’ll be eliminated in the first week of playoffs. 

 

HammerTime plays Orange this week. Both teams will be missing key players. In my opinion, this game could be the single biggest determiner of the CUDL2024 outcome. All eyes better be on this game. 

 

3. Landsharks

The Landsharks are currently seeded first in the standings, their sole loss coming at the hands of HammerTime in week eight. But over the last few weeks, the Landsharks have shown a surprising pattern of less-than-potential playing. Despite beating the Scoobers by 14, ‘Flauge by 6, and the Hammers by 3, Purple was clearly not playing to their full potential. Unforced errors and mistakes, combined with an uncertain defense, have made this number-one seed team look a little less confident. They also don’t have the privilege of playing Orange or Blue twice, and the last time they faced each other was early in the season. This leaves me wondering if Purple is mentally prepared to face equally-ranked opponents. 

 

Nevertheless, Purple remains a strong championship contender. They face Camo in week ten, a game they are highly favored to win. A good showing in that game would be a strong indicator of their performance later in the season.

 

2. Mighty Mighty Tugboats

The Tugboats have enjoyed a largely successful season, tainted only by losses to Disc-iples and Landsharks. However, these losses don’t seem to define the Tugboats’ team too much— the loss to the Landsharks came in week one, and they’re tied with the Disc-iples on the season. This is a powerful team that relies more on a strong offense than an organized defense, but it seems effective. The Tugboats are a clear championship contender, especially if Red beats Orange this week. 

 

Blue has a favorable matchup this week against Yellow, a team they’ve already beaten twice.

 

1. Disc-iples

At the number one spot in this week’s power rankings and seed two overall is Orange. Orange has shown itself to be a solid team throughout the season, winning games by large margins and stomping out opposition at every turn. They haven’t lost since week three when they fell by one point to the Landsharks. The Disc-iples definitely have the hardest playoff path, but they are more than capable of achieving the wins they need. Their biggest setback is going to come in week ten, where they’ll be missing several key players against HammerTime. 

 

The Call

 

Here are my predictions for week ten. This is merely my opinion, and I am often woefully mistaken. Comment your own predictions below!

 

Purple - Camo:

Purple, 18-14

 

Orange - Red:

Orange, 20-19

 

Blue - Yellow:

Blue, 19-12

 

Green - Gray:

Green, 18-15