CUDL2025 season analysis / Week 9 power rankings

 

First Impressions

 

Well, the CUDL2025 regular season is over. Ahead lie the two most stressful and most important weeks of the year: the playoffs. 

In true CUDL form, the final few weeks held tremendous ups and downs, upset victories and crushing defeats. There’s a ton to unpack, so hold on for the ride!

 

What Happened?

 

Seed 8: Green Eggs and Hammers

The Green Eggs looked great in week 8, ending their game 14-11 over the Scoobers. They looked to capitalize on that lead as they finished the last 15 minutes on Friday. Unfortunately, the Hammers reverted back to their regular season form, allowing 8 points while only scoring 3. Their loss to the Landsharks added insult to injury, reducing them to (0-9-0) through the regular season. 

 

Seed 7: Scoobers

The Scoobers created two more stellar performances on Friday, first coming back from a 14-11 deficit to beat green, then maintaining massive offensive momentum to stun Le ‘Flauge 19-17. Their 33 combined points in week 9 was the highest of any team, raising their total to 87 points over the past 5 weeks. They’ve seen quite the turnaround since week 4, where they were averaging fewer than nine points a game. After weeks of close calls, the scoobers finally logged some wins, ending the season on a successful note.

 

Seed 6: Mighty Mighty Tugboats

Do not be deceived; this is not a “Oh how the mighty have fallen” scenario. In a bizarre and amazing series of events, each of the top six teams all have a winning record. Unfortunately for the Tugboats, their four losses came to just the right teams to lose out in the tie breaking scenarios. However, it is perhaps worth noting that despite a red-hot start, the Tugboats have lost their last three games and four of their last five. Their latest two came to HammerTime and Le ‘Flauge. While the Tugboats remain mighty, it is obvious that they are beatable given the right strategy and personnel. 

 

Seed 5: HammerTime

HammerTime has been hovering around the middle of the pack all season, and dug themselves out of a brief stint in sixth place on Friday. Two huge wins put a bold exclamation mark on the end of their regular season and showed the league what they’re capable of. Interestingly, while red’s offense has appeared to be their strength all season long, neither of their two wins in week nine were particularly high-scoring. The 10-8 victory over the Tugboats was their second-lowest points total of the season, and their defense stayed strong as they fought out the rest of their game with the Disc-iples. They ended up winning that one, too, by a margin of 16-12. HammerTime looks to use their newfound defensive prowess to carve another 2022-esque championship run. 

 

Seed 4: Le ‘Flauge

Le ‘Flauge had an interesting week 9. On the one hand, they looked decidedly messy against the Scoobers. Their defense, typically solid, was unable to put up enough of a defense to ward off the seventh seed. Further, the offense-focused team only managed 17 points against the second-weakest defense in the league. However, they at least partially redeemed themselves with an impressive win over the Tugboats. They restarted the game down three points and ended up winning by four, all the while holding blue to only four points in three quarters. Sure, the Tugboats were short-handed due to multiple injuries, but any win over the two-time defending CUDL champion is impressive in my book. The victory also avenged a tight loss from week one and set the tone for the playoffs.

 

Seed 3: Landsharks

With a statement win over the Hammers and a hard-fought tie against The Wind, the Landsharks officially rescued their 2025 season and enter the playoffs in the top half of the order for the third straight year. Despite starting the season (0-3-1), purple won four straight, including important tie-breaking wins against the Tugboats and ‘Flauge. This past Friday, they took Gray to the edge, only to end 16-16 on a buzzer-beater tying score from Gray. Purple has once again formed a league-leading defense into a legitimate championship threat and hopes to finally win it all after two consecutive championship losses.

 

Seed 2: Disc-iples

Despite an unfortunate 16-12 loss to HammerTime, the Disc-iples rallied and handed seed one Wind their first and only loss of the regular season. This was just enough to solidify them in the second seed, half a game above seeds 3-6. The Disc-iples have had their ups and downs throughout the regular season, but they performed well when they needed to. In many ways, their game against gray was most telling— they tied in week two, and defeated them in week 9. The Disc-iples have nurtured a tough defense and the second-best offense in the league. They may be beatable (they went 3-3 through the last six weeks), but they’ve certainly done enough to earn their second place ranking. 

 

Seed 1: The Wind

The Wind struggled on Friday, losing first to the Disc-iples in a close matchup decided by a single point, then narrowly avoiding losing to the Landsharks on a last-ditch buzzer-beater score. However, they still maintain their position at the top of the standings, and rightfully so. Gray has excelled all year at taking their opponents right to the wire, only to break them in the final moments. Week nine marked the fifth time this season gray’s game was decided by one point or less, and only once was a game decided by more than three points. Gray’s staunch defense has certainly contributed to their prowess, but their powerful, fast offense is what makes them so deadly. Their handlers fiercely attack the middle space and quickly move the disc upfield, making it difficult for any defense to keep up. This is clearly the best team in the league right now, and any team hoping for the CUDL2025 title will have to go through them. 

 

Halftime

 

Those are the storylines and circumstances affecting each team— but how does that translate into actual performance? Certainly, current standings alone cannot be used to predict future performance; we’ve seen that time and time again. I’ve already written enough, so I’ll keep these rankings brief. 

 

8: Green Eggs and Hammers

Record: (0-9-0)

Latest result: 13-17 vs. Landsharks (L)

Unfortunately, I don’t think the first team to go winless since the 2021 Landsharks is going to start winning now that they face the hardest possible playoff schedule. 

 

7: HammerTime

Record: (5-4-0)

Latest result: 10-8 vs Tugboats (W)

Despite having an elite cutting squad and their excellent performance on Friday, HammerTime has been too unreliable to jump on the bandwagon now.

 

6: Golden Scoobers

Record: (3-5-1)

Latest result: 14-11 vs ‘Flauge (W)

I honestly want to put this team higher, but I just can’t quite bring myself to do it. This is a red-hot team offensively right now, and no one wants to play them. Their only downfall is that they still sport one of the worst defenses in CUDL… by a significant margin. 

 

5: Le ‘Flauge 

Record: (5-4-0)

Latest result: 11-14 vs Scoobers (L)

Despite a below average performance in week nine, ‘Flauge’s average is still incredibly high. This is still a solid team with legitimate Championship aspirations. 

 

4: Mighty Mighty Tugboats

Record: (5-4)

Latest result: 8-10 vs. HammerTime (L)

The Tugboats are mighty, there is no doubt. Going (1-4) in the last five weeks doesn’t look good, though. Hopefully, the two-time championship contenders can find enough gas in the tank to power through a deep championship run. 

 

3: Disc-iples

Record: (5-3-1)

Latest result: 13-12 vs Wind (W)

Despite the impressive win against the previously-undefeated Wind, the Disc-iples can’t escape from their mediocre (3-3) performance over the last six weeks. 

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2: Landsharks

Record: (4-3-2)

Latest result: 17-13 vs Eggs and Hammers (W)

The Landsharks started the season… less than favorably. But something clicked for purple, and their (4-0-1) record over the past five weeks is a complete turnaround. Somehow, the Landsharks are once again a legitimate championship contender. 

 

1: The Wind

Record: (6-1-2)

Latest result: 12-13 vs Disc-iples (L)

The Wind put up their weakest performance of the season in week nine— and it was still strong. This team is the favorite to win the CUDL Championship for good reason. 

 

The Call

 

As is my habit, I make an educated guess as to what the ending scores of next week’s games will be. This is merely my opinion, and I am often woefully mistaken. Comment your own predictions below!

 

GEAH @ GTW: 11-18, GTW

GS @ 12D: 17-18, 12D (OT)

RHT @ PLS: 10-12, PLS

MMT @ LEF: 16-14, MMT