The Southeast Division has been a tight, 3 team race most of the season and Orlando currently has a slim lead. The Renegades enter Week 15 with their 3rd owner of the season as The Admiral takes the reigns of Orlando from the league office and are thrown right into the fire against 3rd place Tampa Bay. Orlando's lead over Florida is currently half a game as the tie in Week 11 might actually benefit the Renegades. The Bandits are just a game and a half out of 1st place and they get the second place Florida Blazers in Week 16. If the Bandits can finish 2-0 they will make the playoffs based on sweeping Florida. If the Bandits finish 1-1, it gets dicey for them. Florida plays Charlotte tonight while Orlando plays Cleveland Week 16.
Orlando Renegades (9-4-1) Week 13 had Orlando against a possible playoff foe in New Orleans and the Renegades could only muster 99 total yards. New Orleans got out to a 16-0 2nd qtr lead before Bruno Wilson tossed 4 INTs, setting up Orlando with short fields. The Renegades scored the last 20 points of the game and defeat New Orleans 20-16. Week 14 saw another lackluster offensive performance from Orlando as they only had 206 yards against Baltimore. Prior to the league office taking over, Orlando scored about 25 points a game, and just under 14.5 after. The Admiral's challenge will be to get that offense back on track. Baltimore won the Week 14 game 24-13 by the way.
Florida Blazers (9-5) Florida played Boston Week 13 and the tough Breakers pass defense frustrated Sidney Maggard into a pair of picks. The Blazers did rush for 192 yards but could only score 7 points and the Breakers 6 points in the 4th qtr broke the tie and gave Florida a costly loss. Maggard started poorly against Jacksonville Week 14, tossing a pair of interceptions but the other 5 first half drives ended with points as Florida took a 23-3 lead into halftime. There was very little non punting action in the second half as the Blazers secure the 23-6 victory.
Tampa Bay Bandits (8-6) Tampa Bay held Jacksonville to 215 offensive yards and forced 3 turnovers in a 26-3 win over the Bulls. Melvin Driggers threw for 294 yards and an early TD to give the Bandits a lead they would not relinquish. Week 14, the Bandits traveled to New Jersey for an overtime interception contest with the Generals. Tampa Bay got out to a 23-9 lead after 3 quarters, but New Jersey scored 17 unanswered points to take a 26-23 lead with under 5 minutes to play. One of the General's TD's came on one of 4 Driggers INTs as Barry Larkin returned one 25 yards into the end zone. The Bandits would get a game tying FG at the end of regulation only to allow the Generals to drive for a FG in OT. The game would continue as Tampa Bay had not yet possessed the ball in the extra period and Driggers led a 13 play, 75 yard TD drive to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Jacksonville Bulls (4-10) The Bulls had division games the last 2 weeks which are recapped above. They have lost 3 games in a row and finish the season with home games against New York and Detroit.
