Jeff:00:06:00:38
Welcome to a very special edition of the AF1 Season Pass. I am your host, Jeff Levack, joined by Tom Goslowski. We just call him Gos because we're lazy and it works. And of course, it's special because we now know the postseason is set. We know who's playing, we know the road to the championship, but Gos, we can't get there until we tell you how we got there in week 14 of the regular season. And first of all, guys, you look lovely today. I know no one can see you, but your hair is coiffed perfectly. You look like you really put some effort in.

Goz:00:39:00:58

I'm in full playoff mode, Levesque. I got a playoff beard. I'm not touching it. I'm growing it out. My hair, I wish I could say the same. It's slowly, slowly, let me say one more time, slowly growing back. I'm wearing glasses because that's how bright the future is going to be here for the postseason teams. I am locked in for this postseason edition and regular season finale.

Jeff:00:59:01:18

And you do have something at stake here as we talk about it, because as one of the broadcasters who has been on Vice numerous times, who has been on Evergreen now, where we are right now, if the Firebirds win, you could be calling the championship game, the first ever AF1 championship game. You could be the voice of that. That would be wild.

Goz:01:18:01:40

My broadcast partner, Andrew St. Tillow and I, I don't know what it's going to look like. Would I have to do the trophy presentation? You know, that number two mic on the vice TV usually is the person on the field post game. I might have to get my Ernie Johnson Jr. on. Well, that's a long ways away, but who knows? Somebody is going to be lifting the trophy here in the next two weeks. And we know the four teams, they're going to have that possibility to do it now.

Jeff:01:41:02:18

How did we get there? Well, it all started this week in Nashville when the Cats hosted and dominated the Corpus Christi Tritons. 8-18 was the final score of this one, guys. Not a shocker. I mean, Corpus is that team that has probably been through the most in this league this year. There's been an addition of ownership halfway through the season, which was an injection of energy and got them to the finish line, but in the meantime, stars like Darius Prince, Dwayne Hollis, and others left Corpus, they rebuilt, they finished, they were a fighting team, but Nashville just way stronger than them in this game, and I don't really know what more to say about it.

Goz:02:19:03:11

We talked about it on last week's show that there was a possibility that existed, that if Corpus Christi had pulled the upset, Nashville would have been as low as the four seed. That possibility was gone by about the first quarter, that that wasn't going to happen. Nashville completely dominates in this game. You covered a lot of the storylines there of what Corpus Christi looked to be like about two and a half months ago. And what they finished with, unfortunately, if you're a cats fan, some really cool stuff, they prep for their post-season game. They did pretty active on social media this week, leading up to it about arenas and kickoffs. So cats fans had expectations going into the season that they could be the first ever AF one champions. And they're going to have a spot for that. And they're I wouldn't say, oh, you know, I was about to say, they're playing their best football. Felt like Tony Romo right there. I don't know, Levesque, here are the cats playing their best football. They're close. It's a really impressive win. And I feel like the coaching staff's ready to roll for the postseason time.

Jeff:03:11:03:57

Now, of course, if they, if they get that win, which they did get, They could end up as high as the two-seed. We'll go through that as we get to it. But speaking of dominant performances, let's go to the Capital Region. You were on the call for this game. The Albany Firebirds finished the perfect regular season 10-0. Washington, I give Washington all the credit in the world. They were professional. Everyone from the fans to the people who worked at the MVP Arena, made a point to tell me how pleasant and just professional and everybody was on this team, but the Wolfpack ultimately fall to the Firebirds 98 to 12. And I can tell you that the reason that score was what it was, was because Nashville won 80 to 18. And there was still, there's a little, a little gamesmanship I feel like going on between the two teams right now.

Goz:03:57:04:10

Well, now I know you usually set me up the questions. I got to send this back to you. Tell me a little bit more about that. Coach Ware was aware of what was happening. It was a pride thing in that matchup. Is that. I don't know if it's pride as much as coach where is aware of everything.

Jeff:04:10:04:59

You know what I mean? Like you, you can't spell aware without where he knows what's going on everywhere. And he has a very it's very professional, very actually friendly, but He definitely knows that Arbet, the coach for Nashville, is a Hall of Famer in another league. He knows that he's the guy that everybody goes, he's the legend in all this. He knows all of that. And you're talking about Damon Ware, who I've worked with on many championship teams and many other places. And the man has never received one award for his work. He's never got assistant coach, head coach. He's never gotten any of it. And he's had some of the best offenses in the history of arena and indoor football. So when he sees somebody who's got something he wants, he makes sure they know he's right there. And he's not only on their level, he might be better than you right now.

Goz:05:00:06:47

Just to touch on, I love all of that. That's a storyline to keep in mind for the post season coming up too, about what this competition is friendly and obviously a high level of competition between those two. Remember in this Washington Albany game, it's a 16, 12 game in the second corner. There's a big interception by the Wolfpack. They score there within four points, a few special teams botches by the Wolfpack. decisions to not go forward on fourth down that results in Albany in the football back. And there's also a swing in the fourth quarter that Albany scored 16 points on back-to-back plays with their offense never being on the field. Think about, we'll talk about why AF1 is so exciting. To score 16 points in a football game with their offense never on the field is what happened in that game because of how good Henry Nell was on special teams. I, you mentioned all the things involving Washington as well. Shout out to Miguel and a lot of the owners out there that when a team starts to struggle, you might lose some of the effort. You might lose some of the fans. Those guys had been professional all the way through. And even in blowouts, I know Washington, their last five games, it was like 55, 60 point defeats on average. So many guys would start throwing cheap shots and start playing dirty and not want to be embarrassed. Never happened for Washington. They have a really good base to build on for 2026 when it comes to the leaders in that franchise. As for Albany, an undefeated regular season, interesting how this team might come out. We're going to hear this word a lot, rust. Probably the next, well, here's why I say rust, right? Because most teams who would come off a bye week in the first quarter, you'd hear rust. Then you'd hear it if a team came off a double bye week. which is what Albany did. Then after beating a team by, what, 75? What's the math there?

null:06:47:06:47

83?

Goz:06:49:06:52

I wonder if that's the storyline for Albany.

Jeff:06:52:06:56

86, thank you. If they- You do have glasses on, so I almost- I do, it was fogging up.

Goz:06:56:07:09

Great. Look, a team who's by week, by week, an 86 point win, you wonder what that first quarter or first half might look like for Albany. But that's a little bit of season preview coming up, excuse me, playoff preview coming up later.

Jeff:07:09:08:26

And of course, You know, we've talked about this throughout the week, both on our local radio show on Fox Sports, and the league has been very open about it. The big story that came out of this game, besides the final score and the perfect season for Albany, was that late hit on Manny Higuera, the kicker for Washington. The player who delivered the hit has been suspended for a game. So the Firebirds will be without Harold Love. one of the best defensive linemen in the league for the semi-final game. I believe he's also been fined. I don't know the total of the fine, but it was a hit that the league doesn't like, and they're policing it. It's got to be a clean game. It's got to be a fun game. Everybody loves Manny. Manny took it. And I think, knowing Harold Love, I think he just got carried away. He's not the kind of guy to try to lay a dirty hit. He just He became the poster child of a dirty hit for the last regular season game. But again, he will be suspended for the playoff game and I believe a fine has been assessed. And the Firebirds front office, which also includes myself, we rubber stamped it. You know what I mean? We were like, you know what? We love Harold. We understand he's got to pay a price for this one, but there it is. It is a bad moment, a bad decision, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt.

Goz:08:27:08:57

And just to add to that, Harold Love's a pro, he's a professional in that frustrating game. There was an opportunity in that game for Harold Love to have a single game sack record for the Firebirds. Five and a half, six, like he was that close. I mean, there was about four plays where I believe he got either called for roughing the passer, late hit because he was an inch, a second, an arm away from getting another sack. So definitely a big loss for the Firebirds for that semifinal playoff game. you

Jeff:08:57:09:43

Absolutely. And again, I know Harold and I know that, again, he feels terrible about it. When you can see it, the optics are terrible, but Manny's such a great thing for this league. People are paying attention. You know, we've enjoyed it. He's a constant, just positive story. So just got to put it out there. Got to let people know that it has been dealt with. Moving on to some of the games. This game looked like it could mean everything. The Billings Outlaws are taking on the Oregon Lightning. It was a very dramatic game. Maybe the best, second best game of the weekend. Billings wins 40 to 38, which means if Celina loses on next day, because this happened late on Saturday, if Celina loses on Sunday, they're the four seed, they're in the playoffs.

Goz:09:44:10:35

What a thrilling matchup. This one was back and forth, back and forth. Who's going to be the team. Who's going to come out on top, a late score by Billings puts themselves in position. This is what you want. This one went deep in the night, a little AF one after dark for the East coast watchers as well. Billions knew what this team could have. They had it at the end, adding those players during the season. Gosh, if you're an Outlaw fan, I know it looked a lot towards 2026 for some teams, but what a fun way to close out that season. You thought there was some excitement on social media, there was a lot of good push, but if Outlaw fans walked out and felt like that's what it feels like, that's a great way for the fan base to walk away from the final game of the season. Dot, dot, dot.

Jeff:10:35:11:51

As you allude to it, let's get to it, because three games on Saturday, which, you know, we knew Nashville was no worse than the three seed with their win. We knew Albany, Albany already had the one seed locked up, and now we know that they were able to achieve the perfect season. Now we know that if the Billings Outlaws, they won, so they have a chance at that four seed. However, I'm not going to say it didn't mean anything because it was a great game and it was great for the league. But when the AF1 was sitting there doing the schedule in the beginning of the year, I don't know anybody was smart enough to realize that everything was going to come down to the final regular season matchup. Salina Liberty versus Southwest Kansas Storm. This game was phenomenal back and forth. I have text chain between myself and Mike Korda, one of the owners of the Albany Firebirds saying, all right, get ready for Billings. Nope. Get ready for Celina. Check that it's Billings. No, it's Celina. That's how good this game was. But guys, Celina two straight weeks, not, not time expiring, but just about expiring the Celina Liberty are able to beat the Southwest Kansas storm. They get this one 53 52 with a field goal with just a second left. which means Celina Liberty lock up that fourth seed. They punch their ticket to go to Albany and face the Firebirds in the first round of the first year of the AF1 playoffs.

Goz:11:52:13:37

credit to the Salina Liberty again, because speaking of text change, you and I were texting during the game too. And I told you the game was over in the second quarter. I told you Southwest Kansas is rolling. This is going to be Billings for Albany. Billings has got it. And last week on this show, I told you that that first match between Southwest Kansas and Salina was the game of the year in AF1. Salina versus Albany is in contention, but that last week was a game of the year. The best rivalry in a F1 when it's all said and done at the end of the season turned into Southwest Kansas versus Salina because as great as last week was this week was better. That's the game of the year. So it's not a game winning field goal sort of by Salina, because as you alluded to there, it's not a walk-off win because there's one second left. and you kick it off to Southwest Kansas and Southwest Kansas on the ensuing kickoff, takes it to midfield. And there's one tackle away to almost running back a game. It's the Cape. That's like, what an incredible, almost down nearly 20 points. Salida roars back, comes back, goes to the post season. the Liberty and storm. That's the best rivalry in this league. They proved it again with an amazing matchup. And now Celina draws Albany, the confidence that's way of play. The team is playing. I said this about Nashville just a few minutes ago. They're playing the best football this season. Albany just had almost a hundred point game. All of these teams, including Celina, you can make the case. They're playing their best football this season. If you're Southwest Kansas, You're two plays away from being 2-0 against the lineup, two kicks away from being 2-0 against them, but the Liberty are playing great. What an amazing way to close out the regular season with that game.

Jeff:13:37:15:21

That was expensive two losses when you really think about it. The top seed hosts the four seed, the two seed hosts the three seed. Southwest Kansas came into this game as the two seed, which means no travel, sleep in your own beds, collect the ticket revenue from the game, all this stuff, and then because of this loss, now Nashville gets to sleep in their own bed, pack their gym, and make all the money on the ticket revenue for the first round of the playoffs. Listen, I give all the credit in the world to Southwest Kansas for being as good as they are, but Celina Liberty, I said when this season started, watch Nashville. The Cats are the team that will improve each and every week, and by the end, they will have a lot of people with their jaws on the floor wondering just how good they really are. And I was right. However, I can say the exact same thing about the Celina Liberty, because they are that dang good. And remember, when you look at that perfect 10-0 season so far for the Albany Firebirds, Only one team took them to overtime and really, really, really put some fear into them, and that was Celina. The Liberty were better on special teams than the Firebirds, and they were equal to the task, and they punched Albany in the mouth. Albany, if there was a blemish on this record, it would have been that game. and we get it in the semi-final round. I have spoken to the guys from Salina and they said, you know, they're saying all the right things. You know, like, man, not sure we wanted you guys in the first round, but we're happy to be there. No, you wanted a home game, obviously, get that, but you just wanted to be there and you will be there. And I'll tell you right now, the Albany Firebirds are not stupid. They are not taking the Salina Liberty lightly. There it is, the regular season is wrapped up. Nice bow as we prepare for the postseason.

Goz:15:27:15:40

I don't mean to interrupt here. I know you usually set us up for the interviews here on season pass, but I'm taking over a little bit. Here's this conversation and you can hop in. If you want, we had with the head coach of the Aldi Firebirds coach Damon, where I had a chance to speak to him earlier in the week.

Jeff:15:41:15:58

Here's that conversation with coach where Damon where guys, you wish you want me to get out of the way so you can do. Yeah. Oh, he's getting applause all the time. They even, but they didn't pull the, they were like clapping for guys a little bit earlier. They're kind of, they're being nice today. I might even get a little cheer today.

Goz:15:59:16:19

I'm not going to count my, my chickens before they hatch my friend coach, a fantastic victory to close out the season against the Washington Wolfpack. A lot of great things. When a team puts up 98 points, you guys almost hit the a hundred again. What do you think back to that victory? What were you the most proud of, of your team after that huge win to close out the regular season?

Coach Ware:16:20:17:36

I don't know. You know, I think some of it comes back to that Corpus Christi game, you know, when people tried to make it like that wasn't a professional game. And, you know, we put up all those points against replacement player and they made it sound like it was a, a team full of you know misfits and bandits and this was the bad news bears and we beat a team and we put up that many points there's other games we could have did that i mean so at the end of the day i don't know there was some things kind of rubbed me the wrong way and and also coming off a two-week buy we really need to go over a lot of things. We needed to execute some good football and fix a couple things and get a couple things on film that we really needed to see that we could do going into the playoffs. So it was just one of those things that we just weren't going to let our foot off the gas and then You know, you put up 98 points and then so what do you have to say about the Corpus game now? Okay. Well, this wasn't replacement players and we did it again. It had nothing to do with that. It was we're executing some really good football and we're ready for the playoffs. And so that's what it was really all about. It was just getting ourselves prepared for the playoffs and I'm super excited to unleash this team again this weekend.

Goz:17:37:18:09

I know the season didn't go the way of Washington had hoped, but your guy to your left there. And I wanted to give credit to Washington because we've all been on different sides of this, right? Like we've been in on blowout winning teams, whatever it might be. And then we've also been the other side of it where frustration can get involved or you just want to have something happen. They never played dirty, at least from my perspective. I think Washington deserves a ton of credit for not letting that game get out of hand and still handle it with class all the way through the fourth quarter. Did you get that same type of vibe from those type of players all the way through that game, even though the score started getting out of hand?

Coach Ware:18:10:20:03

Yeah, I respect them a whole lot. Obviously, their head coach is doing a great job and some great conduct and couldn't be more proud to be able to end the game. Obviously, a big thing for us was to get out of the game healthy. So, like I said, they did play the game with class. I shook their head coach's hand and just tell them I appreciated everything that they brought to the table. Yeah, so I was, like I said, that, you know, in those games, it could very easily get chippy. And, you know, like I said, when you can't beat somebody on the scoreboard, you think you want to beat them, you know, in another way. And so I'm just glad that didn't come down to that. It was really a moment for us to stay healthy. And, you know, we're as healthy as we've been since training camp. So it's really we're really in a good place and super excited to, you know, see, literally come back into town and be in the capital region. We need to All hands on deck as far as support we need you know, we need 8,000 people plus cheering our team on I mean, this is a great football team great guys You can come out and get an autograph after the game and actually get to meet him and talk to him and ask him some questions about themselves in their life and You can't get that in most other professional sports tickets. So it's just all hands on deck. This is an expensive sport. Our owners do a great job of putting a really good product together from top to bottom. And you know, we need everybody's support. So if you've, you know. at get all your friends, family, coworkers, whatever. Let's get them out to the MVP arena and let's have a really, really raucous, exciting, energetic crowd come Saturday. It's the time that everybody loves here in the Capital Region. It's Saturday at 7 p.m. There's a block party. Everybody's been waiting for the block party. Finally, the weather's breaking out. This really should be our biggest attendance game, you know, since COVID. So let's get her done.

Goz:20:04:20:29

I know I usually ask coach questions, but Levesque, congratulations. I'm asking you this next question. I mean, maybe, yeah, maybe coach might get credit for this because I want to get a lot of love to Henry Nell for how well his performances have been this regular season in particular, what he did on Saturday, who gets credit for the social media video of his trick kicks that has been shared across Instagram with him kicking behind the boards and everything else and showing off his skills. Levesque, do you get credit for that?

Jeff:20:31:21:05

No, no, sadly. No, it's a, it, it would be Henry. And I think Ben and the, and all our media guys, frosty who does our pictures, they just, Henry, you know, goes, he's, he's extremely personal. He takes time, works with everybody. He talks to everybody. He actually, I think there was a point where he's given a free lesson to our camera guy. I'm taking field goals. I walked in on that. And then like to the, the, the only downside of it is somebody literally came to me like, I don't know, kick kind of kick might want to keep it up. I'm like, I simmer down. He's a camera guy, but no, that's, that's, that's Henry. And that's, that's Ben and his crew coach.

Goz:21:05:21:16

So follow up to that. I feel like it's one of these moments in sports where a coach finds out a player could dunk because they only do it in practice or they find out an outfielder can throw a knuckleball. Did you know Henry was capable of those trick kicks?

Coach Ware:21:17:22:11

He's a phenomenal kicker, so doing tricks is not anything I was concerned with. Seeing the videos, they're pretty fun. Again, it's all about branding yourself and getting yourself out there. I tell all these kids that building a brand is an important part of being a professional athlete. Everything that you do out there in the community can mean something. whether that's later jobs, whether that's opportunities to make more money, those kind of things. So I think Henry does a great job with marketing himself, doing things, training young people to kick. I mean, all those things are phenomenal things. And it just goes along with the kind of team that we have here. It's a bunch of selfless people, a bunch of people that have embraced just my ideals of community involvement. they're just great guys. And so whenever you can have a team full of great athletes that are also great character guys, you got something special.

Goz:22:11:22:52

I got one more for you guys in Levack for the second time. I'm still in, I think your thunder for flock university, because as we know, flock university, it's about teaching people the game. There might be a person who hasn't watched AF football, AF one up until this point, and this might be their first time for the post season. They might be reflecting on last week. They may have seen a play. So this one is for coach. So let's talk about Washington because it's not a punt that they were doing during the game, right? It's a, it's a drop kick attempt. Take us through those. And for the fans that watch those plays that they may have not been used to that as far less likely that's going to happen in the post season for Celina or Southwestern Nashville, those special teams plays that Washington used in that game.

Coach Ware:22:53:24:31

Yeah. Um, you know, it's something unique. Um, you know, I've, I've thought about doing those things and some of the arenas that have the hanging scoreboards and things when you can't make the kick, you know, getting the ball away obviously is an important thing. And so I, I can understand why a coach would want to do that. We've, uh, You know, we've got a tremendous team and if you try to go for it that deep, you know, you're giving us a short field and it's almost guaranteeing us a touchdown. So, using the drop kick is, you know, obviously if you can make those, they're worth more points. Kicking an extra point, drop kick is worth two and kicking a field goal, drop kick is worth four. So, they're valuable as far as being able to put them through the uprights. Using it as a punt, unique, but like I said, I understand making a kick from that far away can be problematic. What you're doing is you're kicking, you know, 50 something yards away into a very small space. And if you miss it, the ball is alive. And so the difference between an extra point and a field goal, extra point, the ball can go off the nets and it's a dead ball. But when it's on a field goal, it's alive. So if you kick the ball and it bounced off the net, now you've got all these big guys that had to block on the field goal, having to run down and chase down a very fast returner for these teams, you know. So Celina's got a great returner. We've got a great returner. So there's all those things. And so they used it in more of a punting fashion, which, you know, again, that's not a bad strategy versus trying to kick a 50-something yard field goal.

Goz:24:32:24:50

Well, back, I've done my yeoman's work here. I've done all my prep for the broadcast on Saturday night. I can see the Florida Ewing coach for what I think is going to be a fantastic flock university. You've had some hot crowds for flock university. The fact that I'm hearing people through Lovac's headphones, I know tonight's show is going to be something awesome.

Jeff:24:51:25:16

It's yeah, it's, it's, it's always good. Um, the fact that the leases have made a Muppet cutout version of me and it brought it with them. Um, I may have to leave. I don't know if I'm flattered or scared. I think I'm living somewhere between as you got this thing, you're going to, you're going to bring it home. Guys.

Goz:25:16:25:25

I got to go. Thank you, coach. Best of luck. All right. All right. I took over the interview a little bit. I'll admit, I'll let you take the reins back over in Levac as we continue to roll on here on AF one season pass.

Jeff:25:30:26:00

Here we go, guys. The, the, everything is painted. The picture is there for you. Saturday, the 21st, 7 PM at the MVP arena on the trans finder field, the Salina Liberty, the number four seed will be in town and the Albany Firebirds will be there to welcome them. You will be on the call for this game. So you will not make an actual prediction also because you're a wimp, but What do you think as you're doing your homework? I know you've already begun prepping for the call in this game. What do you think? What do you expect from this matchup?

Goz:26:01:27:39

I'm so excited from a football fan perspective that this is the matchup that drew as a media member. I was talking about billiards as a Albany Firebird fan that people will be in attendance. They probably would have hoped for Oregon, but for me true, let's watch the best football game on the turf. This is the best one. storylines of this game. I mentioned the word rust earlier in this episode. I know coach wear doesn't want to hear that, but I feel like people are going to question eight back-to-back by weeks and a softer opponent. How quickly with almost nearly a month away, can you tell your team to step up and get ready for a matchup? Like Salina, are they going to be fully capable. Sam Castronova was out in the second half of that game. Is a month almost of a layoff too tough for the Firebirds? That's the question on that end. You flip it over to Celina. If they're a boxer, if they're a horse, you got anything left in the tank You're on the 12th round, you're in the final stretch. You had unbelievable comeback victories, games of the year in back-to-back games. Can you actually find that momentum for the postseason? Can you dig deep into the tank and have something like that for the team? From an X and O perspective, I feel like the sleeper storyline is the rush attack. Remember Solana can move the football a little bit with their quarterback playing eat up that clock It's always been how do you slow down Albany own time of possession? Don't rush your offense and remember it was a big rushing turnover for the Firebirds at the one-yard line that changed that game Turnovers and the rushing attack are the two things that jump out to me, but this should be a fantastic football game on Saturday night

Jeff:27:40:29:36

All right, let's start with what you mentioned first. Why would anybody in Albany be rooting for Billings? Well, it would be like the prodigal son returns kind of situation as Darius Prince who has won championships for Albany and against Albany he would be a part of this thing same with Dwayne Hollis because they're both in Billings but Salinas special, and I like the way they're playing, and I like the way that they've never given up because there was a point in this season where people wrote them off. And now, with Rakeem Cato and Kilgo, they've got a nice little two quarterback situation going on where they can put out who they need to put out. If Cato's not 100%, they'll be fine. This is gonna be a hell of a game. But remember, their special teams were superior to Albany's special teams in the last matchup. Since then, I have watched Albany kind of work on and fix the special teams. But it's not going to be easy. And if I'm Celina, that's where my confidence comes from. I feel like I can get after Albany. As long as Albany's kicker, Henry Nell, is not kicking deuces and I'm actually returning the ball, I feel strong that I can get good field position in this game. It'll be up to Albany to change their mind on that early on. That's Saturday, seven o'clock Eastern time. And then Sunday, five 30 Eastern, man, I, this is a game. I mean, just, just lock everything away, fire up vice TV, because your boys here on AF1 season pass, Levack and Goss are here to tell you that the Southwest Kansas storm expected to host this matchup. Nashville expected to host this matchup. Nashville is being kind of just, I feel like, and guys, you're gonna get a chance to truly comment on this one, because you're not on this call. I feel like most people who know AF1, or at least think they do, think this is Nashville's game to lose. And I feel like Southwest Kansas with Jalen Moore and a quarterback are really, really not thrilled that people think they're gonna lose this game. It is going to be an absolute street fight in Nashville.

Goz:29:37:31:33

If they have a kick go the opposite direction in either week, the Storm are hosting this game, the Storm have significantly more wins than any other team not named Albany, the Storm are potentially even hosting, I know there's a scenario that still could happen, but the Storm are hosting potentially an AF1 championship, all those things seem to be wiped away. because they lose back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Salina. And there's somehow in your perspective, I feel like if we put up to a vote to the league, what come off as an underdog in this game against Nashville and this matchup to me, it's about the second half because Southwest Kansas blows leads in back-to-back games against Salina. We've seen Southwest Kansas earlier in the season have leads on team and not always play their best football in the second half. Same way with Nashville. Nashville's biggest win of the season could have been against Albany. They've got a double digit lead heading towards halftime. They can't even hang on to it till they get to halftime. So what team is more well conditioned, not turning over the football, not making mistakes and blown coverages in the second half? Like we could see, I'm not even kidding when I say this, double digit lead changes. Like this could be a 10 lead changes in the game back and forth because of how close these teams can score and what they do with special teams. This is also going to be a fantastic game. I'm gosh, I want to say I'm leaning towards Southwest Kansas to win. But if you blow back to back games, you're a lot harder to predict. Like this has cross-border comparison. Does this have a little pacer thunder feel to it where it's like the pacers were down bunch. They keep finding ways to come back, but those are the opponents. I'm going to take Nashville. I'm going to take Nashville to win this game. But this is like a, 51, 49, 48, 46 final and Nashville wins on like having the ball for the final four and a half minutes of the game. It feels like something like that.

Jeff:31:33:33:36

I mean, Nashville's defense is special. They, again, they've improved every week. Antoine Grant is now healthy. They've got, they've got a lot of great players. I think if it comes down to a quarterback battle, I take Jalen Morton over Kulkomania just a little bit. But realistically speaking, I think it does feel like Nashville's game to lose. I've had Nashville as one of my top two teams all season long. It would be kind of stupid for me to sit here at this moment after 14 weeks of play and go, you know what? Not that good. They're going to get upset on their own field. It could happen. It wouldn't be a huge upset, but it would be an upset. I'm with you. I have a championship game in Albany between Nashville and Albany, which mean Albany would have to go through Celina and a Hall of Fame head coach to get this done. And I feel like that would be the probably the best thing for the AF1 when you really get down to it. Because this season, as you look into the stands, I know that's been one of the side plots for the year. Like there's not enough people here. There's not enough people there. Albany and Nashville have been the two teams that have had good attendance, sometimes great, all year long. So having those two fan bases be able to host the very first semifinals and then potentially go against each other in the championship game, this could be exactly what the league needs to really kick a little adrenaline into it and get it moving forward. It is the AF1 season pass. The standings are locked at this point for the regular season. I think we gotta do one last quick power rankings just to get it going. And to be honest with you, the only difference between the standings and the power rankings for me are 3 and 4. Because I think we all have Albany at 1. You chime in when you disagree with me, guys. We all have Albany at 1. I think Nashville has proven they are 2. I think Celina's proven they're three. You beat Southwest Kansas twice, and when both of you needed the game, when both of you needed it, you beat them. So that's the only difference I have between the actual standings and my power rankings. I'm putting Celina as the third most powerful team, and Southwest Kansas is the fourth.

Goz:33:37:33:45

It's a really good take, when you beat the man, you gotta be the man, right? Isn't that, wait, did I just bosh my Ric Flair line? To be the man, you gotta beat the man.

Jeff:33:46:33:55

You know why you did that? Because we're sponsored by Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer, and you can't do Ric Flair, whoo, when you're drinking a real American beer, I guess.

Goz:33:56:34:06

And I can't change this quote to fit my narrative. I wanted for my take either. But what is the difference in wins between Southwest Kansas and Salina? Is it two total victories? The win percent is still a little bit high.

Jeff:34:06:34:10

It's one, seven, five, six, five. One less game played by Salina. OK.

Goz:34:11:34:35

That makes my point also not as valid that I was hoping for. I will give Southwest Kansas the benefit there. I would just because season to season, stretch to stretch, they're a kick away. So everything else after that's fine, but it is a lot more difficult. to feel stronger about the take. We can't have him play a third time, please? Like, for a runner's game purposes.

Jeff:34:35:35:59

Well, I mean, honestly, you could. It could happen if the upsets happen, if the three and the fours advance, it would happen. And then five, I've got Billings, six, Oregon. Corpus and Washington are pretty close to me. I actually, I might, I might be willing to put Washington ahead of Corpus at this exact moment in time, but that's, you know, neither here nor there. Those, those guys are out of it, but we're getting ready, man. The final, final, final games. There's three games left in the inaugural season of AF1 football. I can't wait for all of it. Really want to thank all of our great sponsors who have helped us get here. Of course, And one season pass is right here on evergreen. Now vice TV for the game of the week, each week on Sundays, they will be, um, that will be the Southwest case of storm natural cats game this week, by the way. Uh, also of course, real American beer. We just mentioned it. You're mowing the lawn without a real American beer, brother. I don't know what's wrong with you. The train and the beers and the vitamins. Transfinder, the proud sponsor of the official football of the AF1, and of course, Better Edge. Compete with your friends, other people, in wagering on everything in the world of sports, including AF1 football with Better Edge. The regular season's over, guys. The next time we talk, we're going to know who the champion matchup is. I cannot wait for one. I'm thankful that you've joined me on this journey because, well, we just don't talk enough Monday through Friday, you know?

Goz:36:01:36:07

Looking forward to what could be our season finale next week. The season wraps up next week. Could be our final episode for all we know.

Jeff:36:07:36:18

And we will crown. No, we'll be here after the championship. We'll do it after. Come on. Don't get lazy on me now. Oh, you want to go on vacation? That's what it is. Guys wants to go on vacation. Everybody doing this one two weeks from a beach.

Goz:36:18:36:22

That's okay. But I'll still be here. I'll have my setup ready for you.

Jeff:36:22:37:01

I really hope that while we're doing that one, your kids are trying to push you into the water. That would be phenomenal for everyone. Thanks to our amazing producer, Bill Huffman. He cleans it up and makes it sound decent each and every week. Again, thank you to GAZ. Thank you to all our great sponsors. Thank you, you. And hey, if you wanna reach out, if you wanna talk to either one of us, especially if we make a mistake, sometimes I make them on purpose to see if you'll notice, check us out on X, at thejefflevac, T-H-E-J-E-F-F-L-E-V-A-C-K, and at comgaz, not comgaz, Tom Goss, T-O-M-G-O-S-S-E. Guys, have a great one and everybody enjoy semifinal playoff football right here in the AF1 and with the season pass.

Interview:37:04:37:27

Season Pass, the AF1 podcast, is an Evergreen Podcast production. I'm the producer, Bill Huffman, and special thanks to executive producer, Dave Douglas, and our audio engineer, Nate Corson. Find all of our content on evergreenpodcast.com and stream every game of the Arena Football League One season on evergreennow.tv. We appreciate you listening.