For the third time in four years, the Johns Island Angels have finished with the best record in the AltCAA, meaning the road to the college football title runs through South Carolina. Or, at least it would if all of these games weren't played at neutral sites. Speaking of neutral sites, we're headed about 450 miles inland to the heart of the American South - Nashville, Tennessee - to host the Whiskey Bowl. Our opponent this week might be the #8 seed, but St. Laurent is coming in hot, riding a two-game win streak and coming off a week 11 pasting of the Hershey Wildcats. We'll see if les Patriotes end up wishing they'd saved some of those points for this game. Leading the Angels onto the field this week will be #1 in your program and #1 in your heart, QB Colton Joseph. In his first year under center at JIU, Joseph had a monster year, throwing for 2,231 yards and 19 TDs, while also being one of our biggest threats on the ground, with 623 rushing yards and actually leading the team in rushing TDs with 9. #HadMeAtHalo

Okay, so not that we needed it, but we officially have our "extra" bowl game, the Bayou Bowl played out of New Orleans! The breakdown of the points is below:
1. Bayou Bowl in New Orleans, LA
2. Maple Bowl in Toronto, ON
3. Cascade Bowl in Seattle, WA
4. Stampede Bowl in Calgary, AB
5. Cigar Bowl in Tampa, FL

Now, the NationALT Championship for 2026. For that, we had 4 nominees, and here's the breakdown.
1. Seattle, WA
2. Dallas, TX
3. Toronto, ON
4. San Diego, CA
So we head to the Pacific Northwest for the championship game this year as Microsoft Edge Stadium in Seattle, Washington!

Things got a little spicy towards the end against St. Laurent, but we held them off to advance to the semifinals for the fourth time in as many years. Now, we're shipping up to Boston for the Beacon Bowl, where we'll face our second Canadian team in as many rounds, as the Riel Rebels trounced St. Brendan's in the Heritage Bowl last week. It turns out we were actually the only conference champ to win last week, so we might have a slightly easier path than we expected. On the other hand, given how good Riel looked in Washington, maybe not. This week, we're focusing the spotlight on WR Skyler Bell, who was Colton Joseph's favorite target over the course of the season. While he didn't find the end zone against the Patriotes, he did so 11 times on the year, almost three times as much as anybody else. #HadMeAtHalo

Well, I didn't expect to be in this position this season in the AltCAA.  After being an old man and forgetting about this year's draft, then starting the season out 0-3, if you had told me that the MIU Bucks would not only turn things around and make the playoffs, but somehow get red hot at just the right time and make it to the finals, I'd have assumed that you had made the mistake of listening to one of my trailer park psychics and been told utter gibberish (that or you were crazier than one of my Stickmen personas... that'd be something to fear for sure).

If nothing else, the 2025 MIU Bucks are a lesson in staying active, taking a few minutes here and there to update the roster, getting lucky with some of the walk-ons, and not packing it in and giving up after a rough start.  But yeah, I got pretty fortunate with the signees during the season, a few of whom I'd like to highlight... 

QB Fernando Mendoza: He's been reliable and steady amidst my other QB Arch Manning experiencing some very high highs and very low lows this year.

RB: Caleb Hawkins: Good lord, has this young man lit it up lately!   I think North Texas (wait... this is the AltCAA, what a North Texas?) really found themselves a possible gem prospect there.  #2 ranked RB in the AltCAA (behind only fellow MIU Buck Jeremiyah Love- Love being one of the only MIU Bucks that was on last year's team by the way).  

RB: Evan Dickens: Another fairly new walk-on, Evan's been very impressive during the 3 weeks that he's been on MIU.

WR Wyatt Young: Another one of those guys from fictional North Texas, Wyatt's a fairly recent add on who's been very impressive in the few games he's gotten to play for us so far.

WR Andrew Marsh: Highlighting Mr. Marsh since he might actually be the first Michigan player (my favorite college team) that I can remember signing for MIU (who's M standing for Michigan).  

TE Brody Foley: He's been a little hit or miss lately, but somehow is the #1 ranked TE in AltCAA, so those hits have been nice.

K Chris Freeman: He won't be playing in the Finals (we'll pretend he ate gas station sushi and is now laid out for the game), but he is actually the #1 ranked Kicker in the AltCAA.  Not bad for a guy who Fantrax literally never projects to get points in any of his games.

DEF: Toledo: Holy Toledo (sorry, I had to...), they've been pretty good this year!  That is all.


But yeah, it's been a very fun season and now it's time to focus our attention towards the Johns Island Angels (who are ALSO a green and yellow team... in a league with many of them... thinking whenever we get a chance to refresh out AltCAA teams, I'll volunteer the Bucks for a complete makeover to not have half the teams be green and yellow anymore.  

Despite being involved with several Alt leagues for several years now, this is actually my first ever Finals appearance!   Johns Island will certainly be a difficult foe (though thankfully, their #1 overall ranked WR Skyler Bell- a former MIU Buck himself.... I guess I shouldn't have dropped him last year!.... apparently ate the same gas station sushi as my Kicker did because he ain't playing in this game either).   Since Johns Island is the higher ranked team, I assume they'll once again wear their green jerseys, so we will wear our typical away uniform of yellow helmet, white shirt, and yellow pants (I think that's my standard away look anyway!)

No matter how it turns out, it's been a great year!  Let's have a great Finals!

The Angels took down the Rebels last week to advance to our second NationAlt Championship of the Modern Era. Last time we were here, we took down Hawaii State in Charlotte, but this year, we're headed out to Seattle to face Michigan Institutional. The Bucks have been on fire throughout the first two rounds, but as we know, the final is a different animal, so it could be anyone's game. For the final, we're highlighting RB J'Mari Taylor, who was one of our top rushers this year, with 602 yards and 6 TDs on the ground. #HadMeAtHalo