Gridiron Gazette: Goal Line Stand (Week 5)

Mexico is 1-2 since QB Donovan McNabb went down with a knee injury, most recently a 63-point shelling at the hands of Athol A&M. Will the return of McNabb lift the Wildcats' offense to former glory, or should they start thinking about 2010?





Goal Line Stand (Week 5)
Cam Pannalist, Gridiron Gazette



Four weeks into the season and things are still undetermined in the standings. Weymouth is 0-4 but their offense is thriving. Mexico is 2-2 with the least amount of points scored in the conference. And Athol A&M is off to a 4-0 start, similar to their 2007 campaign in which they started 6-0 en route to a 3rd place finish.

This early in the season, with the standings being such a mess, only arrogance and pride would allow someone to decide can still be a contender for a championship or is simply pretending to be.

Luckily, I have both of those things.


CONTENDERS

#9 Twin City - The top offense over the past 2 seasons has failed to score over 60 in each of the past two weeks, and now find themselves 1-3. Where has the once dominant offense gone, you ask? Nowhere. The Red Raiders still has 3 top-10 receivers in Johnson, Moss, and White; A dominant running back in Gore (when healthy); And a proven quarterback in Brady (who's been getting better each week). This team has plenty of time to make up ground, and make defenses cry.

#7 Dublin - Week 4 was the first week DUBA did not get 10 points out of at least one of their running backs, and they still managed to put up 62 points against Bud Heavy. The Oktoberfests probably won't reach the 11-2 mark I said they would in my preseason rankings, but they won't need to. This team will go as far as their backfield takes them, and it looks like that'll be just far enough to get into the postseason.

#5 Busch - Welcome back, passing game. Two quarterbacks in the top 6 sounds like a problem to most, but in Busch they're considering it a blessing. The WRs DeSean Jackson and Brandon Marshall are finally living up to their hype, while Braylon Edwards is in position to put up the numbers he did 2 seasons ago. Oh yeah, and they have that Peterson guy in the backfield. The Latte's will be just fine, and will still challenge for the regular season title.


PRETENDERS

#8 Mexico - Some may say, "Well of course they have no shot, they have the lowest point total in the conference." But if you look at their previous 3 weeks (74, 72.5, 71), they're the same Wildcats they've always been. Consistency has been the way Mexico wins games, but if their opponents keep putting up big numbers on them (Athol scored 91 on them last week) they'll have no shot at the postseason.

#6 Gillespie State - In last week's column I ripped Gillespie State QB David Garrard, and of course he made me look stupid by putting up 24 points on Weymouth. He and RB Maurice Jones-Drew are the only ones putting up numbers in this offense, so how long can they ride on their shoulders? Week 7 will be their real test, when both of them have Byes, but don't expect much from the rest of the Black Diamonds.

#4 Bud Heavy - The King completely revamped their offense this week, grabbing 5 replacement players off waivers to fill out their roster. If your team can make that many changes in a single week, they'd better have some top talent surrounding them. Even with the ageless wonder Kurt Warner leading them, Bud Heavy's chances to stay atop the standings don't look so good.

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Week 5 Matchups
(8) Mexico over (9) Twin City Tech
(6) Gillespie State over (1) Athol A&M
(11) Rakeville over (12) Weymouth
(10) Stardust over (4) Bud Heavy
(7) Dublin over (5) Busch
(2) Golden over (3) Arizona-Kickery

Last Week: 4-2
Season: 13-11

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Week 5 Power Rankings
1. Athol A&M ( - )
2. Golden ( - )
3. Arizona-Kickery (+3)
4. Busch (-1)
5. Dublin (-1)
6. Gillespie State (+3)
7. Bud Heavy (+1)
8. Weymouth (+2)
9. Twin City Tech (-2)
10. Mexico (-5)
11. Rakeville (+1)
12. Stardust (-1)

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League Notes
- The City of Weymouth was a finalist in last week's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, the only celebrity they could send to the IOC Session was Slappy the Human Paddle.

- WR Michael Crabtree finally agreed to a contract with Rakeville. Although he won't be playing until October 25th, fellow Grays players want to make sure he still feels like part of the team. His first job will be to carry Nick Folk's jock strap.

- Mexico scored just 28 points last weekend, which is actually more than the number of fans that managed to get over the parking lot fence to see the game.