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AC Boise fan here. I want to say I give an A+ grade to HoP team and fans. You played two amazing games against us. You played clean. The fans I ran into in Boise were wonderful. Definitely a great and dedicated fan base. Wishing you all the best in your final matches this season and a successful season next year (WIN IT ALL!)!

PS love your city and region. My college roommate was from North Yarmouth and I enjoyed my visit out there ages ago. Will definitely need to come back. Again, thanks for being a class act team and fans and for pushing AC Boise to fight for the entire match.

According to my math, Corpus Christi’s loss to Chattanooga AC Boise is in the playoffs. Also, who wants to go in on a gift basket for Richmond and their W over One Knox?

We have pretty much kept this thread to just AC Boise but this is a quick post ahead of the upcoming election that is purely information that you can choose to do with however you like.

Ada County Commissioner Ryan Davidson was the only Commissioner to vote against the AC Boise lease and stadium project. Do what you will with that info.

Please consult my other post about the standings and how we want the week to unfold for us. Since that post was getting a little long and because I was reviewing the table and schedule, I decided to share how the end of the season looks for AC Boise (and other teams in the league).

Before we get into the matchups and how the table could play out, I want to note the following which is important to having a full grasp of the playoff picture. Omaha has played the most matches at 29, leaving them with a maximum of 9 points they could aquire to their already impressive 61. Teams with 28 played: Charlotte, Madison, Knox, Boise, Alta, Westchester, and Portland. Teams with 27 played: Chattanooga, Fort Wayne, Corpus, Sarasota, Naples, New York, Greenville, and Richmond. And then there is Spokane. They have only played 25. This means they have a possible 21 points they could accumulate, however that also means that they are playing 7 games over 25 days.

Before I get into the playoff picture, one thing that stood out to me as I was reviewing the schedule and the results, Alta has had 2 seasons within this season. Their first 14 matches had them as playoff contenders going 6-2-6. Then the calendar flipped to July and the wheels fell off the wagon. I didn't dive into injuries or transactions, but in the last 14 they have gone 2-10-2 including 6 straight.

Ok onto the playoffs.

• Omaha: 1st place with a 4 point lead over Charlotte and 10 point lead over Madison. If Omaha lost their first two of the remaining three games and then beat or drew with Madison, they would be guaranteed no lower than the #2 seed. Their remaining games are home against playoff hopeful Fort Wayne, and then two road games against Westchester, who is still technically in the hunt, and Madison who could still mathematically take 1st if they won out and Omaha lost out.
• Charlotte: 2nd place, 4 points behind first, 6 points ahead of 3rd. With 4 matches left, they have a bit of an easier go facing playoff hopeful Sarasota on the road and then they head home to play New York before ending the season with two road matches at Greenville and Portland. If Omaha wins out, Charlotte can do no better than 2nd. If Omaha gets a loss or a draw in one of their 3 remaining, Charlotte could secure #1 if they win out. To stay ahead of Madison they need to put 7 points on the board in their final 4 matches (aka 2 wins and a draw). This gives them the most flexibility for errors and still securing a good playoff spot.
• Madison: 3rd place, 6 points behind Charlotte, 3 points ahead of Knox. Madison, like Charlotte and Omaha, clinched their spot in the post-season already. However, where is still up in the air. A playoff road dog is not out of the realm of possibility because they only have a 5 point advantage over the #5 spot. Their final four matches take them on the road against playoff hopeful Fort Wayne, and Westchester (who still has a chance at the playoffs, just a really slim one). Then they play two home matches against Portland and Omaha. The season finale against Omaha will be interesting. How the prior schedule shakes out will impact what Omaha does. If they have locked up #1 do they let some of their starters get a bit of a break in order to be fresh for the post-season, or do they go to the final whistle. The number three spot would in essence require them to win 3 of their last 4. So even if they were mathematically even with Knox, they would hold the tie breaker for #3.
• One Knox: 4th pace, 3 points behind Madison, 2 points ahead of Boise. They are sitting on the cusp of the final playoff host teams. Their final schedule is mixed and has enough challenge to push them up or down. They play against last place Richmond on the road before home games against potential playoff teams in Chattanooga and Spokane. Then they finish the season on the road at New York. New York has been a spoiler at times. Their most likely final tally is somewhere between 54-58 with a possibility of 60 if they win out. Also, their shade of orange is dumb.
• Boise: 5th place, 2 points behind Knox, 3 points ahead of Chattanooga/Spokane. Having a good inauguaral season, this is also going to be a season where there are probably four games that are going to be painful to look back at (road draw at Richmond {2 points left on the table}, home loss to Knoxville {6 point swing in the standings, we would be sitting in 4 with 49 and Knox would be 5 with 45}, road loss to Gville {3 on the table}, both Corpus matches {5 points on the table}). In addition to a friendly this week, the remaining matches for Boise could really help them move up the table and into hosting position. This week has Gville at home on Saturday before they travel to Portland. Then they return home for a game against Alta (hopefully they are continuing their downward slide), and end the regular season at Fort Wayne who could be playing for their playoff life. It is likely that Knoxville, barring an epic collapse, will finish with between 54-58 points. If Boise wins out, the could pretty much lock up the #4 spot and possibly #3. With Bodily injured and weirdness happening all around, we just don't know. However, One Knox and Boise are both one win from locking up a playoff spot. Apart from having to make up the 2 point difference with Knox, Boise's other challenge is Chattanooga and Spokane nipping at their heels.
• Chattanooga: 6th place, 3 points behind Boise, tied with Spokane, 5 points ahead of Fort Wayne for the final spot. I do not envy their final schedule. They have one additional game to make up the 3 point difference with Boise, however, they play at home against Spokane and CC before they end the season on a three match trip against Knox, Spokane, and New York. 5 games with 4 against teams fighting for playoff position. Chattanooga has the best chance to help Boise and also the best chance to screw Boise. Will be interesting.
• Spokane: 7th place, 3 points behind Boise, tied with Chattanooga, 5 poinst ahead of Fort Wayne for the final playoff spot. Not sure what Spokane did to the schedule gods, but they will playing a lot of games in a little time. They have the potential to earn 21 points, and theoretically move into any spot above them depending on the scores of other teams. They play two matches a week for the rest of the season with 5 of them on the road. They will face Chattanooga on the road this week. Technically speaking they have 3 matches next week with a Sunday bout with Knox, Wednesday with Greenville (both games are road games), before they welcome Chattanooga for a home match on Saturday of next week. Then they close out the season with road matches at New York and Naples. Like Chattanooga, they could do a lot to help us and a lot to hurt us.
• Fort Wayne: 8th place, 5 points behind Chattanooga/Spokane and 2 points ahead of CC. They also have Sarasota only 5 points behind. They will be fighing hard to hold that final playoff spot. And it won't be easy. They face Madison at home, back to back matches against CC and Omaha, before returning home for back to back matches with Sarasota and Boise. Every team they play is jockeying for a spot. They could play upset or they could end up fizzling and missing the playoffs. Strangely they were a team that got better once they loaned out their best player.
• Outside looking in: Corpus Christi and Sarasota are the two teams with the most likelihood of making the playoffs that are not currently inthe Top 8. CC faces Chattanooga (road), Fort Waye (H), Naples (H), Richmond (R), Alta (R). They have a decent chance of sneaking into the #8 spot when comparing the schedule with FW. Frankly, I never want to see that field again and they have kind of been a thorn so I would be fine with them losing. Sarasota gets to finish the season with 4 home matches out of 5 played. They will face Charlotte and Richmond, before heading to Fort Wayne, and then finish against Naples and Westchester. Dont be surprised if the home schedule allows them to sneak into the #8 spot. Since losing back-to-back matches against Knox and Charlotte in mid-August, they have not lost and have beaten Chattanooga, New York, Greenville, Portland, and have pulled draws against Omaha, Spokane, and Madison. So don't sleep on them.

Who knows how this will all play out, but I think this season is going way better than the USL could have imagined for playoff push. Plus, I think the playoff teams will set a PPM record for the league.

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have, the facts of life. Tough road loss in Texas on the single worst looking field I have seen to date. This match does help illustrate the importance of our captain. The team is really good, but Blake just brings them to the next level. I'm hoping he will be healthy for the playoffs and that we can run out a great offensive rotation. Despite the loss, lots of other things went our way (which does kind of make the loss sting a little more) with the outcomes of matches of teams around us.

1. Omaha - 61 (+3) - X
2. Charlotte - 57 (+1) - X
3. Madison - 51 (+0) - X
4. Knoxville - 48 (+1)
5. Boise - 46 (+0)
6. Chattanooga - 43 (+0)
7. Spokane - 43 (+3)
8. Fort Wayne - 38 (+1)
9. Corpus Christi - 36 (+3)

**X = CLINCHED SPOT IN PLAYOFFS**

Charlotte and Fort Wayne played to a draw which was one of the two outcomes we were hoping for in order to keep #2 in our sights, however, with the loss, we can only get #2 if we win out and Charlotte loses out (among other things). Our nemesis did us a favor by beating Madison (this is the one that hurts the most for me because we would have been within 2 points of #3, now we are still 5 away and Spokane is within 3 of us) and Westchester helped us by taking Knox to a draw keeping them only 2 points ahead of us. And to our dear friends in Naples, thank you for keeping Chatanooga from gaining points. Omaha took out Greenville which officially mathematically eliminated us from reaching #1.

Moving the matches this week:

Wednesday Main Event:

• Chattanooga v Spokane (GO DRAW!!!) -or- (GO GIANT HOLE OPENING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD SWALLOWING BOTH TEAMS!!!) Weirdly, a draw is what we want in this match. A win by either time will pull them into a points tie with us heading into the weekend and they both would have 14 league wins which would move the winner to #5 and drop us to #6.
• Boise v Cancun (Friendly Match) - (GO BOISE AND GO NO INJURIES!!!)

Saturday Play Off Push Part 1:

• Boise v Greenville (GO BOISE!!!) They beat us on the road back in July (which was the last loss until CC) so it is time to return the favor and start a new win streak.
• Chattanooga v Corpus Christi (GO CC!!!) -or- (GO DRAW!!!)
• Richmond v One Knox (GO RICHMOND!!!)
• Naples v New York
• Westchester v Alta
• Fort Wayne v Madison (GO FW!!!) -or- (GO DRAW!!!)
• Sarasota v Charlotte (GO SARASOTA!!!) Sarasota is beginning to make it's own playoff push (5 points out of 8th place)
• Spokane v Portland (GO PORTLAND!!!) Put on your LL Bean and stomp the Velocity!!! (seriously Portland, Maine is gorgeous and wonderful and it would just make it even better if they beat Spokane)

This week leaves some pretty clear scenarios for how we want the matches to play out. I will start with the obvious: Boise W at home vs Greenville. The best outcome on Wednesday, for Boise, is that Chattanooga and Spokane draw. This would give them both 1 point but keep one of them from getting the 3 points. If there is a winner they would move, at least temporarily, ahead of us in the standings by virtue of having 14 league wins to our 13, despite the same number of points. However, those two teams play each other twice in the final stretch, so they could theoretically split the series and each get three. Or they could have 2 draws resulting in only 2 points a piece. Richmond needs to get the W against Knox to give us a chance to jump them and it would be an important step in giving the cellar to someone else (perhaps Greenville). Sarasota v Charlotte really could go any way and it would not really have an impact on us other than the W could help them move ahead of CC and potentially keep CC out of the playoffs (I really never want to see them again). Speaking of Corpus, a CC win or draw on Saturday against Chattanooga is a huge help to us in keeping Chattanooga off our back. Fort Wayne could make a big move toward securing a spot if they can take down Madison. If they can't a draw would also be helpful to us leaving #3 still in our sights. And as I said earlier, our dear wonderful friends in Portland could do us a huge solid with a W over Spokane in Spokane. Portland is the gateway to Maine. From there you can enjoy the coastline and fresh lobshtah, catch a ferry to Nova Scotia, head up into the dense Maine forests and enjoy the start of the Appalachian Trail near Mooselookmeguntic Lake. And Portland would look even nicer with a W over Spokane. If things shake out as we hope above the standings will look like this:

1. Omaha - 61 - X
2. Charlotte - 58/57 - X
3. Madison - 52/51 - X
4. Boise - 49
5. Knoxville - 48
6. Chattanooga - 45/44
7. Spokane - 44
8. Fort Wayne - 41/39
9. Corpus Christi - 39/37
10. Sarasota - 36/34

Hopefully the results of other games will go like last weekend but this time we will pull off the W. There will be another post talking about the end of season because this is getting long. GO BOISE!!!

What a difference a week makes! Going into last weekend we were 6th and now we are 4th!

1. Charlotte - 52 (+3) - X
2. Omaha - 52 (+3) - X
3. Madison - 48 (+1)
4. Boise - 44 (+3)
5. Knoxville - 44 (+1)
6. Chattanooga - 39 (+1)
7. Spokane - 39 (DNP)
8. Fort Wayne - 36 (+3)
9. Alta - 32 (+0)

The things that went Boise's way this weekend: their own win, the Spokane draw, the Knoxville draw, and the Madison draw. Chattanooga getting a draw was someone bad for Boise but also somewhat good. It pushes Spokane farther down, but also has one more team nipping at Boise's heels.

Charlotte beat Westchester, Omaha beat Corpus Christi, our new best friends Sarasota took Madison to a draw, Knoxville had a scoreless draw against Naples, Chattanooga had a draw against last place Richmond, and Fort Wayne beat Greenville. Alta continued their losing streak and is letting 8th place slip further out of reach. Boise continued their hot streak (have not lost since July) with a win that was essentially 2-0 though a goal was allowed in garbage time which caused a little bit of drama, thankfully the officials realized there was but seconds left in the game and just wanted to get players back ont he field so no cards were awarded following the shoving match. And as I mentioned above. Sarasota has been a great friend to AC Boise by beating Chattanooga, drawing with Omaha, Spokane, and Madison in their last 5 matches (also beat NY but that does not imact us much).

Wednesday games this week:

• Greenville v Corpus Christi
• Omaha v Spokane (GO OMAHA!) -or- (GO DRAW!)
• Chattanooga v Madison (GO CHATTANOOGA) -or- (GO DRAW!)
• Westchester v Richmond
• Fort Wayne v One Knox (GO FORT WAYNE!)
• Boise v Charlotte (GO BOISE!!!)

Saturday features:

• Richmond v Charlotte (GO RICHMOND!)
• Chattanooga v Portland (GO PORTLAND!)
• Madison v Alta (GO ALTA!)
• New York v Westchester
• Fort Wayne v Naples
• Sarasota v Greenville
• Omaha v One Knox (GO OMAHA!) -or- (GO DRAW!)

And Sunday has:

• Spokane v Boise (GO BOISE!!!)

This week gives some options for how we want the games to shake out. I will start with the obvious: Boise W's v Charlotte and Spokane. Wednesday we would ideally want a draw between Omaha and Spokane because Spokane would only getting one point which keeps them behind us, but also it keeps Omaha within reach. Then we want a Chattanooga win or draw against Madison and we want Fort Wayne over Knoxville. This would move Omaha into first place with 55/53 points depending on which outcome we got, Charlotte in second with 52 points, Madison in third with 49/48 depending on outcome, Boise fourth with 47, Knox fifth with 44, Chattanooga sixth with 42/40, Spokane seventh with 40/39, Fort Wayne 8 with 39.

The weekend slate would want to see Richmond win against Charlotte, Portland over Chattanooga, Alta over Madison, Omaha a win or draw vs Knox, and as mentioned earlier Boise over Spokane. If this shook out as hoped for we would then see Omaha first with 58/56/54 (depending on how everything goes), Charlotte second with 52, Boise third with 50, Madison fourth with 49/48, Knox fifth with 45/44, Chattanooga sixth with 42/40, Spokane seventh/eight with 40/39, and Fort Wayne seventh/eigth with 42/40/39. Exciting stuff! GO BOISE!!!

It is game day! I hope everyone is cheering loud for Boise and Naples tonight!!!

Sorry this is a little late. I was traveling and it is easier to do this on my computer than on my phone.

1. Charlotte - 49 (+0)
2. Omaha - 49 (+3)
3. Madison - 47 (+3)
4. Knoxville - 43 (+3)
5. Boise - 41 (+3)
6. Spokane - 39 (+1)
7. Chattanooga - 38 (+3)
8. Fort Wayne - 33 (+0)
9. Alta - 32 (+0)

Two things went Boise's way this weekend: their own win and the Spokane Draw. Omaha and Charlotte met up and Omaha walked away with a W moving them into a points tie with Charlotte but still keeping them behind in the standings. Alta Continued its losing streak allowing One Knox to get 3 more points, had it been a draw, Boise would have moved into 4th place by virtue of more league wins. Sarasota gave Boise a hand by taking Spokane to a draw.

No Wednesday games this week.

Friday has:

• One Knox v Naples (GO NAPLES!)
• And our own AC Boise will be welcoming New York.

Saturday features:

• Madison v Sarasota (GO SARASOTA!)
• Richmond v Chattanooga (GO RICHMOND!)
• Charlotte v Westchester (GO WESTCHESTER!)
• Greenville v Fort Wayne
• Corpus Christi v Omaha (GO CC!)

And Sunday has:

• Portland v Alta.

In a perfect world Charlotte, Omaha, Madison, Knoxville, and Chattanooga all lose and Boise wins. This would bump Boise to #4 and move them within 3 of Madison and 5 of Charlotte and Omaha. As always, a W at home is the most important part of the puzzle.

Also, Congrats to Blake and Ricketts for making the Week 27 Team of the Week.

**EDIT: broke out the weekend game schedule

1. Charlotte - 49 (+3)
2. Omaha - 46 (DNP)
3. Madison - 44 (+1)
4. Knoxville - 40 (+1)
5. Spokane - 38 (DNP)
6. Boise - 38 (DNP)
7. Chattanooga - 35 (+3)
8. Fort Wayne - 33 (+3)
9. Alta - 32 (DNP)

No changes in the top 6 other than Charlotte taking sole control of #1 by adding 3 points and Madison and Knoxville adding 1 point to their 3 and 4 spots.

Charlotte defeated Portland last night to put them at 49 points. Madison and Knox played to a draw giving each team 1 point in the standings. Chattanooga got a win which puts them 3 points behind Boise and Spokane. The big movement was Fort Wayne getting a win to leapfrog Alta for the #8 spot and it makes things a lot tougher for Alta who has played 3 more games than Fort Wayne (they have also played the most of anyone in the league, they are down to just a few games left).

Depending on how you look at it, the tie with Madison and Knoxville was the second best result for Boise. A Madison win would have kept Knoxville at 39 which was just 1 point ahead of Boise.

Saturday has Chattanooga v Greenville (Gville can give Chatt an L to keep them away from ACB), Naples v Boise (a W could move Boise ahead of One Knox), Sarasota v Spokane (this is an upset that would be huge for Boise, everyone should be Paradise fans this weekend plus Sarasota is coming off a W and has won 2 of their last three and the third game was a draw). Omaha v Charlotte as the two try to stake claim to 1st. Corpus Christi v Madison if Corpus wants that #8 spot they need the W, which would also help Boise to get closer to the #3 and #4 spots. Finally there is Alta v One Knox. Alta fell to #9 so a win is vital for them, plus an Alta W would open the door for Knoxville to fall below Boise in the standings (especially if Boise can get the W against Naples on the road).

Of note most of the league is sitting at 23 games played. Omaha and Portland are at 24 and Alta is at 25 giving them fewer games to move around the rankings. Spokane is at 21, Chattanooga, Fort Wayne, and Greenville are at 22 (giving Chattanooga one extra game to get closer to Boise).

Can the Rivian navigation be updated to show Lake Ontario not Lake America (and Gulf of Mexico not Gulf of America)?

1. Charlotte - 46 (+3)
2. Omaha - 46 (+0, +1)
3. Madison - 43 (+3)
4. Knoxville - 39 (DNP)
5. Spokane - 38 (+3)
6. Boise - 38 (+3)
7. Chattanooga - 32 (+0)
8. Alta - 32 (+0)
9. Fort Wayne - 30 (+3)

A weeked that brought a little movement at the top and a little at the bottom. Omaha played 2 matches this week but was only able to secure 1 point. They lost to Naples on Wednesday and pulled a draw against upset maker New York on Saturday. Charlotte was able to get the W against Alta who has not lost 4 of their last 5. Madison was able to extend their lead over Knoxville by getting 3 points in a win over Richmond. One Knox was idle this week and is holding on to 4th place by one point after both Spokane and Boise got wins. Spokane beat Westchester and Boise got a big road win against #7 Chattanooga to move their lead from 3 to 6 over Chattanooga and Alta. As mentioned above Alta and Chattanooga both lost and Fort Wayne got the win over Portland to move them ahead of Corpus Christi AND snap their losing streak.

As we head into the final quarter of games, this week will see several games on both Wednesday and Saturday plus a bonus game on Sunday. Wednesday games that matter to ACB: Westchester v Chattanooga (WSC win keeps Chat from gaining ground), Charlotte V Portland (a Portland W does slow the surging Charlotte team), and the big game of Madison v One Knox which could keep #4 within reach for ACB with either a Madison W or a draw.

Saturday will feature Chat v Greenville (another possible L to keep them away from ACB), Naples v Boise (another important road game to try and add points to the table), Sarasota v Spokane (this is an upset that would be huge for Boise, everyone should be Paradise fans this weekend). Omaha v Charlotte in a battle for 1st. Corpus Christi v Madison for Corpus trying to scratch towards that #8 spot which would also allow Boise to get closer to #4 and #3. Finally there is Alta v One Knox. Alta trying to keep that #8 spot plus an Alta W would open the door for Knoxville to fall below Boise in the standings.

As always, the most important thing for Boise to do is get the W no matter how ugly it may be.

This is actually impressively easy to do after the weekend slate.

1. Omaha - 45
2. Charlotte - 43
3. Madison - 40
4. Knoxville - 39
5. Spokane - 35
6. Boise - 35
7. Chattanooga - 32
8. Alta - 32
9. Corpus Christi - 30

It was a weekend where all but two matches ended in a draw. Unfortunately for Boise, Spokane was able to get a W against Greenville which caused the two to flip flop in the standings due to Spokane having the head to head victory (gave them 11 league victories to Boise's 10). Alta was one of the other teams that lost, keeping them at 32 points and CC was able to move within 2 of Alta with their draw.

While a W would be have obviously been best for Boise (would have closed the gap against Knox to 1 point and kept them ahead of Spokane), getting a point was important, especially with all but three teams picking up points this weekend (Alta and Greenville lost, Fort Wayne was idle). Heading into this week Omaha and Naples are the two teams that will have two matches this week. They meet on Wednesday and then they both have games on Saturday. Boise has an important match this weekend in Tennessee, a Boise loss will move Chattanooga into a points tie with Boise, while a Boise win helps push them towards the 50+ points they will likely need to guarantee a playoff spot.

Other Top 9 games include Charlotte v Alta which could be a nail in the coffin of Alta's season if they can't pull it together. Madison is heading to Richmond, Spokane is going to Westchester, and Omaha is hosting New York. Knoxville is off until 9/2.

1-3 are unchanged as Omaha, Charlotte, and Madison all won. #4 Knoxville was able to secure a draw with Greenville, giving them a point but keeping them only 3 ahead of Boise with only 1 fewer matches played. We are still hanging at #5. #6 Spokane and #7 Alta suffered losses to Corpus Christi and New York respectively keeping both of them 2 points behind Boise. Spokane has two fewer matches played than Boise now and Alta has played 2 more than Boise. Alta's performance lately has given Boise a bit of a safety net (1 win, 1 draw, and 3 losses in the last 5 matches). #8 Chattanooga snapped a 2 match losing streak with a win over Fort Wayne (FW apparently decided that even though they were close to the top 8 with about 1/3 of the season to go, they would send their best player out on loan, which may be another gift for Boise). Chat is at 31 points but still has played 3 matches less than Boise.

Outside the top 8, #9 Corpus Christi beat Spokane as mentioned above moving them up to 29 points and bumping them above Fort Wayne. #10 Fort Wayne lost as mentioned above and have run their losing streak to 4 matches. #11 Westchester got the W against Naples and moved up to 11 with 22 points. They have been all over the place the last 5 matches with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. #12 Portland came into AC Boise Stadium 5-5-5 riding a 2 win streak. Since that match it has been rough sailing , losing to Boise, Omaha, Corpus Christi, and Madison (this weekend), while securing a draw against Greenville. The loss caused them to flip flop in the standings with Westchester. #13 Naples added another L (4 losses and a draw in the last 5). #14 Greenville continues to be a fighter having pulled 1 win, 1 loss, and 3 draws (including this weekend vs Knox). They sit with 20 points behind Naples who also has 20. #15 Sarasota got their second straight loss and have 2 draw and 3 losses in their last 5 and sit with 18 points. #16 Richmond also has 18 points following another loss this weekend (2 wins and 3 losses in last 5). Finally #17 New York secured the previously mentioned W against Alta, snapping a 3 match losing streak and giving them 1 win, 1 draw, and 3 losses in the last 5.

Nobody has been eliminated yet. If New York won out, they would likely qualify for the playoffs (that would require an amazing 12-0-0) with 54. The one question I have actually involves NY and Spokane. Their match in New York (8/8/26) was postponed due to weather. Looking at the schedule the options would be 8/26/26, 9/23/26, 10/7/26, 10/21/26 (also 9/9/26 would be an option but NY would then play Boise 2 days later at Boise and that may be too close for a match). I'm assuming that it will be played even if NY is eliminated from playoff contention because it could have bearing on whether Spokane plays in the post-season or whether they could even host. If, for some reason, both Spokane and NY were eliminated, I could see the match not being rescheduled. Me personally, I would like to see the match rescheduled to 9/19/26 and then they can come back and play Boise the next day...

Looking at the final schedules, Union Omaha can be a big help to us. They play Charlotte, Madison, Knoxville, and Spokane. If they win all of those, they strengthen their hold on #1 but they also keep the other 3 teams above us from securing points in the standings. Then if Charlotte beats Madison and Madison beats Knoxville that denies both Knoxville and Madison 3 points each or if Madion beats both it gives them 6 points but denies Charlotte 3 more and Knoxville 3, leaving us an opening to possibly move up to 4. We have a schedule that has a few tough games left, but there are some games that can hopefully be manageble for us to pull out the victory if we can just shake of the road mediocrity.

It was nice to watch a game that meant nothing. I love the team and I love watching their games, but now that we are in the home stretch and games matter even more with the thinnest of margins. The games are going to be a lot more nerve-racking. We are 2/3 of the way done and are sitting at #5. We have played more games than everyone but Alta. Meaning, some teams can catch up by virtue of playing games in the coming week (since we are off for another 9 days).

5 of our remaining 11 games are against teams in the Top 8 (playoff qualifying spots). #4 One Knox we let slip away from us last meeting but they are 2-3 in their last 5 so that might help us. We beat #8 Chattanooga early in the season they are 3-2 in their last 5 with the most recent two being losses, they have also played 4 fewer games, so they can make up some ground that we have no control over. We then have a game each against Naples who is just snapped a losing streak and New York who is currently in the midst of a losing streak. Both are in the lower half of the table. We previously beat both these teams. Then #2 Charlotte comes to town having previously beaten us and are currently on a 3 game win streak. Then smack dab in the middle of the remaining games is the game at our archnemesis #6 Spokane. They have played 3 less games than us and sit 2 points behind with three extra games to make up ground, they are riding a three game win streak, but were just eliminated from the Prinx Cup last night.

Then we head to Corpus Christi for a rematch of a draw that should have been a W for AC Boise but we just couldn't finish the set pieces. CC sits at #10 and have only played one fewer games than us. Then we rematch Greenville and Portland which were both good games and could be a bit challenging, especially since Portland has a similar draw at home that we do but they have been a bit shakey lately goin 1-3-1 in the last 5 and Greenville is 1-2-2 in their last 5. Then we move to #7 Alta, the only team with more games played than us and they are playing 2-2-1 the last 5. We close out our schedule against #9 Fort Wayne who handed us our first home loss of the season. Our roster has changed a lot since we originally saw FW and they are 1-4 in their last 5.

From my view point, all the games are going to be a slog because of the importance. However, here are the ones that will be the toughest:

• One Knox - we do really well at home but not so much on the road. This is a road game against a good opponent.
• Spokane - another road game against a potentially tough opponent. We have tied them at home and lost on the road. This is a game where walking out of enemy territory with a W will be a big boost to the club not just in the table but emotionally too.
• Portland - traveling Boise to Maine and playing a team that draws crowds almost as large as ours will definitely be a pre-playoff test. And then factoring in that you are 3 games from the end of the season and the top 8 advance and top 4 get to host, we will have Portland likely trying to make their own push to make the playoffs and will could be in the hunt for being a playoff host or we could be fighting just to make the playoffs depending on all these outcomes.
• Charlotte - this is a huge game. It is the #2 team coming into our house. A victory here is really a 6 point play, we earn the 3 and a team above us doesn't get 3 points.

A couple other challenges will be that we are on the road going from Knoxville to Chattanooga to Naples for 3 games in a row, fortunately these are spread out over 3 weeks. I wonder if AC Boise will just stay somewhere in Tennessee and practice for a week rather than going to Knoxville, back to Boise, back to Chattanooga. I think the other challenge will be playing New York, Charlotte, and Spokane over the course of 9 days. Compounding that is then traveling to Texas to play Corpus Christi 6 days later. The final obstacle would be that we play 7 of our 11 final matches on the road. As I said before, we play well at home (7-3-2) and not so well on the road (3-4-2), I will be cheering loud for those final 11 games. Here is to hoping we can get into the Top 4 and have at least part of the road to the Championship go through Boise.

**EDIT**

After writing all this and posting it. I went and looked at the teams 1-10 and nobody has a cake walk schedule for sure. The top 10 have multiple matchups against fellow top 10 teams. Per the game guide, the ideal way to ensure we make the playoffs is to win 7 of 11 which would give us 55 points. If we were able to win 7 of 11 and pull a draw or two in there, it would do a lot to ensure playoffs and potentially get us into the top 4.

While this is not Packers specific, it is something that is worth knowing because it is not necessarily common knowledge. I came into this knowledge from handling workers' compensation claims for other professional leagues and got a little training on how the NFL works.

So that last sentence starts the whole process. Believe it or not, all NFL injuries are, in fact, workers' compensation claims. All NFL teams carry workers' compensation policies on their players. If one were to have access, they would see that Jordan Love likely has a few claims (knee, concussion, etc.). Because these teams have their own physicians, it often works a little different that if you or I were to be hurt at work.

Using RJ Maryland and Luke Lachey as examples (since they both were waived/injured) here is how it works in the NFL. The player sustains an injury and the claim is filed. In a simple injury they get their treatment with team physicians and claim is over. Because they were carried on the roster, their salary continued and there was no need for financial compensation to be handled as part of the claim. In a more severe injury (Micah) they will get their claim and treat with team physicians, but then the player or team may request a specific surgeon to do the surgery (sometimes this becomes a dispute point, but that is often with lower tier players, higher tier players they will pay the money for top surgeron to do repair). If the player is still under contract, they would have their salary continue while they recover. If they hit free agency because of an expiring contract, they would receive compensatory payment. Once they are medically stable, the claim would end, unless the injury were severe and potentially career ending -or- it is a lower level player like Maryland/Lachey. In those situations, in order to remove strain from the teams medical facilities (team doctors treating 10 people instead of 12, etc. on top of the folks just getting treatment to stay in shape) the team agrees to an injury settlement with the player. At this point the player would be released from the team and they would get treatment from another physician who is not the team physician which would be paid by the team's workers' comp policy. As part of the settlement, the injured player and their agent/attorney would negotiate with the team about how long their injury would take to recover. Let's say in this case Maryland gets a settlement that says his recovery would be 3 weeks and Lachey gets one that says it will be 9 weeks. They would then receive a lump sum payment of those weeks. The injured player may then sign with another team at any point.

The team that settled is not allowed to sign the team for 3 weeks (previously 6) after the original settlement end date. So the Packers wouldn't be able to sign Maryland for 6 weeks and Lachey for 12 weeks after the settlement. (These are all hypothetical, for ethical reasons, thought I could I am unable to look it up) In this scenario, Maryland could re-sign with the Packers on 9/15 and Lachey on 10/26.

The benefits to these settlements are freeing up medical staff for the team so they are providing treatment to roster bubble players, freeing up roster spots for other guys who may be able to contribute immediately, it allows the team to potentially get a player back (Maryland could be resigned to the roster or PS after week 1).

I hope this helps make things clearer.