New Turkish Top 8 Ranking
Welcome to the second Top 8 ranking from the Turkish American Football League.
A panel of four former Turkish national team coaches with over 85 years of experience between them will vote every week to rank the eight teams which play in the top division.
After week two, having upset the Bogazici Sultans in an over-time game the ITU Hornets climbed up two spots to the number three position. The Koç Rams are still the consensus number one program in the country. We have also seen a change in the bottom. The Hacettepe Reddeers defeated the Gazi Warriors and now they are no longer the consensus weakest team they have also managed to go up one spot with the tie-breaker.
Rationale:
Koç: The Rams are the consensus number one. They are by far the best team in the league. They were undefeated last year and they continue to hold on their consecutive win series. They have quality skill players. The harmony between quarterback, running back and the receivers allowed them to score whenever they needed.
Sakarya: They are one of the consistent teams in the league getting better each year even when they compete against well-established teams. They are also competitive in the university league. Good staff, skillful import players generate positive synergies.
ITU: Their game against Sakarya may decide their final place in the standings. Their talented import players and good play-calling combined with their physical style may keep them high in the rankings. They have an experienced home-grown quarterback with solid credentials. His winning attitude may continue propel the team later in the season.
Yeditepe: They have started the season strong winning against Bogazici. Then they have held up against Sakarya until late in fourth quarter. These are the early signals that they are contenders rather than pretenders.
Bogaici: They are limping now. They will face consensus number one Koc next week. Bogazici may find itself starting the seven-week long season at 0-3. And how they come back afterwards will be their own destiny. Special teams suffer. They have allowed ITU to convert a fourth down with a punt-fake that ended up with their second touchdown on the next play. Late in the fourth quarter the punt return team got 12 men on the field penalty that ended up with a ITU first down. The new import quarterback threw more interceptions than completions, and was sidelined during the overtime. Play calling still a problem and the defense was not that good in reading ITU’s option based running plays.
ODTU: Loss against Koc was not a surprise. ODTU always has a volatile performance graph. They will try to avoid relegation. Depending on individual talent rather than team-play they have showed weaknesses in the secondary that they need to solve immediately or they may have problems against higher ranked teams in the league.
Hacettepe: Their American coach is a big advantage. They are concentrating on developing players with the right fundamentals for the long term. Beating their Ankara rival Gazi Warrirors they are no longer the consensus bottom team.
Gazi: Starting the season 0-2 and having lost against their lower ranked Ankara rivals Gazi finds itself in a challenging situation.
