Turkey’s Top 8 After Week 1 Action

Welcome to the first 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.

This week, three coaches took part in the voting. According to the votes the Koç Rams are ranked a consensus number one with 8 full points. Sakarya Tatankas are ranked number two with 6.3 points. The Yeditepe Eagles and Bogazici Sultans both have 5.3 points this week. Since Yeditepe has won the game we have ranked Yeditepe at number 3 over Bogazici who got the number 4 spot.

The ITU Hornets are ranked at number 5 with 4.7 points followed by the ODTU Falcons at number 6 with 3 points. Number 7 goes to the Gazi Warrirors with 2.3 points and the Hacettepe Reddeers got 1 point, the lowest possible – another consensus.

#1: The Koç Rams are the defending champions with a well established coaching staff and valuable import players. They also reached the final four stage in last year’s Champions League. They continue playing solid football.

#2: Sakarya Tatankas may have the best offensive and defensive lines. Even at the expense of their injured QBs they managed to shut out Gazi.

#3: Yeditepe has imported veteran skill players. They have played well on both sides of the ball and even on special teams they managed to hold up against Turkish football dynasty Bogazici.

#4: The Sultans are usually slow to start every season. This is not the first time that they have lost a season opener. Still, they have weaknesses at their QB position. Their passing game suffered and the offensive line was weak. They did not record a first down in the first half.

#5: ITU played the season opener with many of their play-makers injured on the sidelines. They may recover going forward late in the season.

#6: ODTU played a weak opponent this week. ODTU does not have import players. Their squad may not be enough to compete against higher ranked teams.

#7: Gazi does not have any import players. They also have weaknesses early in the season.

#8: The Hacettepe Red Deers have advanced to the top division for the first time this year. They have an American coach but still they have weaknesses in their team play which may not be enough to hold up against well established teams.

 

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