By Noam Gumerman
WUL Lead Writer
Every team is now at least halfway through their 2025 WUL regular season. The contenders have begun to separate themselves from the rest of the league, but there is still time for teams to go from out of the playoff picture to in, and vice versa. Each team has made its statistical footprint felt as well. Here are some of the biggest storylines of the first half of the season for each team so far to get you set for the sprint to the finish.
Arizona Sidewinders
Record: 0-4
Numbers to know: 8.2% Br%, 36% OLOE
The Arizona Sidewinders were the first team to get to four games played this season, and are still winless through those four. They’ve had a tough schedule, with two games against San Diego, and games against Bay Area and Colorado. In those games, their offense has held up to a respectable degree. Their 36% O-Line Offensive Efficiency (Holds as a percent of O-line Offensive Possessions) is right in the middle of the pack, just about league average. And it’s a number that should only improve if Paige Applegate is available for the remaining Sidewinders games. But the real underlying cause of Arizona’s struggles is on the defensive side, and a complete inability to score breaks. Two weeks ago, Arizona became the fifth team to go an entire WUL game with no breaks. Then they did it again the next week, which partially explains a WUL-worst (across all seasons) 8.2% Break Percentage (percent of D-points that end in breaks).
Bay Area Falcons
Record: 2-1
Numbers to know: 3.4 H%, 61.6 AYG%
After a dominant 2024 regular season, Bay Area is just a step behind the top of the league leaderboard halfway through 2025. They lost a tight game to Seattle earlier in the season, but have taken care of business everywhere else. The big story surrounding the Falcons early in 2025 is the addition of Robyn Fennig. Fennig’s presence in the backfield with Han Chen has taken a lot of the load off of Chen who had a few weeks last year putting up truly otherworldly offensive numbers. But despite the explosive potential from those two, you wouldn’t know it from the style of play of the team as a whole. The Falcons huck just 3.4% of the time when throwing the disc, just 0.2% off of the league low. But despite that, Falcons are also second in the league in Available Yards Gained % (yards gained as percent of yards available) with 61.6 AYG%. That means they rarely look for big plays but are still moving the disc down the field better than just about anyone else. An offense capable and comfortable grinding out long points and scoring however they need is a potent, sustainable strategy for success.
Colorado Alpenglow
Record: 4-0
Numbers to know: 61 Hcom%, 91.2 com%, 44.8 Br%
The title defense of last year’s WUL Championship could not be going better for Colorado Alpenglow. They are 4-0 on the year, look like one of the favorites to repeat as champions, and are flying high into the second half of the year. Once again, it is largely on the back of a dominant offense. Colorado is completing 91.2% of their total passes and a whopping 61% of their hucks, both league-leading numbers. The Alpenglow offense is humming on all cylinders, seemingly impossible to stop when their full array downfield options are present. The big difference between this season and last season so far is their defense, which has been consistently suffocating. They have broken on 44.8% of their defensive-points, good for second highest mark in the league. A balanced Alpenglow team humming on both sides of the disc is going to be incredibly hard to top as the season winds down.
Oregon Soar
Record: 0-3
Numbers to know: 42.4 B%, 48.9 RZOE
Oregon Soar is finding their footing in their first season in the WUL. They had a slow start in game one of their season, but showed flashes of real promise in the next two despite all three of their games so far ending in losses. Of all three winless teams, they’ve shown the biggest flashes against the powerhouses of the league so far. One way they’ve done that is generating blocks. Soar have a 42.4 Block% ([Blocks + Stalls] as a percent of Defensive Possessions), second-most in the league. In other words, they are generating many of the turnovers that teams have against them through their own defensive efforts. However, finishing those possessions they generate has been a huge problem. Their 48.9 RZOE (Red Zone Offensive Possessions Scored as a percent of Red Zone Offensive Possessions) ranks them dead last by over ten points more thant the next lowest team. If Oregon were able to convert opportunities more consistently in any of their first three games, they could be 2-1 or 3-0, but instead they are 0-3. Polishing their red zone offense could be the catalyst they need to push for a Championship Weekend spot.
San Diego Super Bloom
Record: 4-0
Numbers to know: 20.7 Zone% 86.7 OLDE
By every metric it appears that the San Diego ultimate machine of doom is fully operational. Three straight dominant victories and plus one overtime thriller to begin the 2025 season have Super Bloom once again dreaming of a WUL title for the fourth year in a row. They proved ready to challenge the top brass of the league after beating Seattle in Week 6, and it seems possible they can beat any team in the leauge at this rate. This appears to be the most balanced and well-rounded team Super Bloom have ever fielded. And they are winning in an interesting way. They are running zone defense 20.7% of the time, a league high this year, and they have been running it to great effect. Their willingness to build a wall in front of the disc and force teams to play zone offense patiently down the field with a seven-second stall has caused havoc for their opponents. Additionally, on the off chance their offense turn the disc over, they have an incredible league leading 86.7 O-Line Defensive Efficiency (Opponent Turnovers as a percent of O-line Defensive Possessions) meaning that they can get the disc back consistently if they do turn it over. Super Bloom’s biggest tests are ahead of them, but if they can hold these trends steady they’ll head into the post season as favorites.
Seattle Tempest
Record: 3-1
Numbers to know: 75.5 DE 6.1 ComPSP
Seattle Tempest have rebounded nicely from a disappointing 2024 season with a 3-1 start to 2025. And they’ve done it by shifting away from what worked in their 2022 and 2023 Championship winning teams. Those groups were very egalitarian in their playing time, functionally rotating three lines through the game. But this Seattle squad subs much more conventional offensive and defensive lines, and has some stars that carry a big load. Cheryl Hsu and Sadie Jezierski are two that lead Seattle’s offense, but where the Tempest have remained egalitarian is through team-wide defensive excellence. Their 75.5 Defensive Efficiency mark ([Blocks + Stalls + Opponent Errors] as a percent of Defensive Possessions) is a league-high. And on offense they’ve demonstrated a quick-strike but efficient mentality taking just 6.1 throws to score on average per scoring possession, 0.1 off the league minimum demonstrating the poise and killer instinct Tempest embody beautifully.
Utah Wild
Record: 0-4
Numbers to know: 4.6 YPCom 65.7RZOE
Utah Wild have yet to find the stride they hit at the end of 2024 when they made a run all the way to the WUL Championship game. They’ve had a really tough schedule to start the year, but have had a tough time getting going regardless of that unfortunate luck. Offensively they’ve been stagnant, especially with Paige Kercher moving over the D-Line. Nothing illustrates this better than the paltry 4.6 yards per completed pass Wild currently have. They just do not have the same throwing firepower to stretch the field that they had last year right now, Kercher on defense and the departure of Stacy Gaskill this year. Utah has relied on veterans like Kyra Khoroujnikova and Kat Songer to keep the disc moving, and they’re starting to regain offensive composure without Kercher. When they do move the disc to the red zone, their 65.7 RZOE is actually third in the league, meaning they can punch in plenty of opportunities they just have trouble creating them. They’ll need more pieces to step up this year as well if they want to turn their season around and find their stride on offense.