The 3-4 Örebro Black Knights head to Stockholm, Sweden Friday night in their last regular season game in to face the 3-3 Stockholm Mean Machines in a crucial game for both teams in the Swedish Superserien.
After suffering their second straight defeat last week, this time at the hands of the Goteborg Marvels, Örebro is in desperate need of a win to secure second going into the playoffs. Stockholm, with a game in hand, needs to beat the Black Knights by four points or more and win their final game next week against Uppsala.
In the first game between these two teams, Örebro overcame a 20-6 halftime deficit, scoring three straight third quarter touchdowns to beat the Mean Machines 29-26.
Orebro’s Eric Murphy scoring PHOTO: JONAS DOMFORS
These are the second and third best offensive teams in Sweden and the third and fourth in terms of defense. Stockholm has scored an average of 31 points a game while allowing 32. The Black Knights have averaged 27.4 points a game in offense but given up 32.6.
Örebro is the top rushing team in the league averaging 182. 4 yards a game while the Mean Machines have the second best defense against the run, so this will be a physical game.
Interestingly, these are the two best ball hawking secondaries as both teams have recorded nine interceptions.
Stockholm RB Emil Knutsson leads league in rushing Photo: SOG DIGITAL DESIGN
Anders Hermodsson of the Mean Machines is 2nd in the league in passing yardage with his 1,201 yards. Örebro quarterback Raleigh Yeldell III holds on to 3rd with 1,116 yards. Stockholm Mean Machines WR Matthew Retzlaff is 2nd overall with 603 yards . Black Knights WR Johannes Lindeus is 4th with 418 yards and teammate Tomas Jacobssen is 5th with 415. Mean Machines RB Emil Knutsson leads all rushers in Sweden with 640 yards. Johnny Grandin of the Black Knights is 2nd with 612 yards.
This will be a game with playoff implications.
Kickoff is 7:00 pm (1p EST) and the game is being broadcast live on CMore in Sweden (PPV) and shown in a tape delay at 10:20 pm on TV4.
Watch the game live (Pay per View) by clicking here. The broadcast is “semi geo-restricted”. A Swedish credit/bank card is necessary. Click on the button that says “Standard Sport”. Then fill in your email address, name and password and click Skapa konto, Open account. Add your credit card number. You can choose two weeks for free “Prova 2 veckor gratis” or you can choose to watch a single game. The game costs 99 Swedish kronor, or about $11 while a subscription is 199 kronor per month.