By Ryan Altizer -- With the eyes of Arena Football fans across the country trained on this weekend’s long-awaited Dallas-Philly matchup, I am consumed with a much bigger mystery.

 

Is there anyone in the American Conference that can challenge Chicago for a spot in the ArenaBowl?

 

Let’s face it, folks. The first half of the 2008 season has not been a sterling one for the American Conference. That’s right, the conference that has fielded the eventual ArenaBowl champ every year since the league split into the two-conference playoff system has been less than impressive. This week’s Power Poll lists the Rush as the only American Conference team among the top 7 in the league, and they are the only team in the entire conference with a better than .500 record.

 

While the drama in the National Conference has the feel of a last-man standing bloodbath featuring battle-tested teams like Cleveland, Orlando and New Orleans, in addition to obvious favorites Dallas and Philly, everyone seems content to let the Chicago Rush proclaim themselves as one-half of this year’s ArenaBowl matchup.

 

But will it really be that easy? Is the last half of the regular season and the playoffs destined to be a cakewalk for the Rush, just two years removed from their last championship?

 

Or is someone else just waiting to wake up and throw a wrench into the plans for fans from the Windy City?

 

Just ask Dallas, the easy favorite to win the title the last two seasons. Being picked to get to the ArenaBowl is always much easier than actually punching your ticket.

 

So, without further ado, I will attempt to rank the top 3 teams from the American Conference that have the best chance to spoil Chicago’s plans (Editor’s Note: I wanted to pick 5, but let’s not kid ourselves).

 

3. Grand Rapids Rampage (3-5)

All right, I will start with a bit of a surprise here. Some people would scream for the likes of Arizona and Los Angeles, but if this team can start clicking, it has a chance to get in the playoffs and surprise some people once they get there.

 

After putting up a scary number of points early in the season, the offense slowed considerably before last night’s 72-point offensive explosion. Somewhere in there lies the team that can make a post-season run.  The Rampage nearly hung 100 on Kansas City last month, and they put a good scare in Chicago in Week 8. They may be able do so again in the playoffs.  Sweeping the season series from the Brigade last night puts them right back in the in the middle of the pack at 3-5.

 

2. Colorado Crush (3-5)

An ugly loss in Kansas City and a tough one at home to the Rush aside, the Crush are still dangerous. You can credit two-time ArenaBowl-winning coach Mike Dailey for that.  Six teams make it to the playoffs from each conference and the fact that the American Conference’s two bottom teams have a combined 1-16 record almost assures QB John Dutton and company of making it to the postseason, where we all know anything can happen.

 

If the Crush are in a game late, they have two big advantages most teams in this conference don’t have – a coach that is a master at Arena Football strategy and a quarterback that has proven time and gain that he can deliver in the clutch.

 

1. San Jose SaberCats (5-4)

The only real surprise about this pick is that I actually considered not putting the defending champs here. A team with this much talent and this much experience should not be struggling the way they have so far this season.  Granted their losses are to the top teams in the League (Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans and Philadelphia), but the SaberCats have yet to pick up a quality win.

 

Then again, a team with this much talent and this much experience is clearly the biggest threat to Chicago down the stretch run and we all remember how hot the SaberCats got in the second half last season.

 

Ryan Altizer has more than 10 years in sports communications, including six seasons in Arena Football. He spent four years (1998-2001) with the original Nashville Kats organization as Director of Communications, accompanying the team to ArenaBowls XIV and XV. After three years in college athletics, as the Director of External Affairs for the Ohio Valley Conference, he rejoined the new Kats franchise in 2004 and spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as the team's Director of Marketing and Communications.