End of the year State of Minor league football in Indiana
6 min read
What is up, it has been a while, yes, I am now in sunny Florida but will still be covering Minor League Football in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and other states including Florida as well.
As always this is my opinion and mine alone so, please don’t take it personal.
We start with the Indiana Teams, which at this point I have lost track of what teams there are, but here goes nothing. The teams will be listed below in no particular rank.
- Indy Bison
- Bison Red
- Tornados
- Southern Indiana Bobcats
- Kentuckiana Calvary
- Indy Assassins
- Bulldogs
- Tri State Bucks
- Anderson Aces
- Evansville Elite
- Midwest Vengeance
- Seymour Spartans
#1 Indy Bison– The Indy Bison were in fact a first-year team, so they had a lot to prove, they in fact did just that backing up the hype rolling through any team that stood in front of them in the MCFL. Playing several nationally ranked teams, this for sure helped the strength of schedule for them in a league that lost a lot of teams early on for one reason or another they still rolled with that and beat all the league teams, only losses coming to the Bird Gang (MCFL Champions) one of which was by one point in the championship game and Racine Raiders (GDFL Champions). The Indy Bison had a solid year in which has earned them a national bowl game in Daytona, Florida versus 82 Chargers (PFA Champs).
As of now the Bison look to be staying with the MCFL, no official word has been announced, but they are already scheduling the pre-season games against top ranked opponents like the Detroit Ravens, Racine Raiders and the West Michigan Patriots, those three games will at least give them some good competition prior to the start of the season, and may be the only challenge they see in the 2024 regular season in the MCFL the current champions Inglewood Bird Gang joined the GDFL, they will still see Grizzlies and depending on where the Bulldogs end up could definitely see them in the regular season, still early as all the teams are looking at the best leagues that fit them.
Indy Bison’s 20204 season should be a interesting one, getting to the league championship should not be a issue for them as they looked to have key returning players to the squad and going into the second year as a team hungrier as ever. The question I have is do they need a bigger challenge in league play to test themselves? Does the MCFL have ranked opponents for them face? If not the MCFL what league is the best fit for them, all that will be answered in the coming months leading up to the season so we will keep a watchful eye on where they end up as I am sure others in Indiana will be as well.
#2 Indiana Tornados-Coming at number 2 on my end of the year list is the Tornados who had another great season getting to another championship but falling short in the end. There have already been some additions to the staff before the end of 2023 and look for them to make more moves going into 2024 leading up to the season, they look to make another push to get to that mountain top once again.
The Nados should have another great season in the BCFL depending on what teams stay or join that league, will 2024 be the Tornado’s year and get them back in the national spotlight?
#3 Indy Bison Red-@ #3 the Indy Bison (red) who was also a first year team as part of the Indy Bison organization, not only had a good season but came out from under Blue’s shadow and held there own getting to the semi finals of the league tournament with wins over the Bobcats, Tornados, exceeding the expectations of a first year team ands are looking to get to Miami with a trip to the Dirty Bowl in Atlanta, winning that game will punch their ticket to the Sunshine Bowl in 2024.
As for leagues, the MCFL is pressing hard for the Red to join and is a high possibility as of now to join, but we are still early on in the process we see teams hang around with leagues with no commitment and then jump to a different league last minute, I am sure that the MCFL as well as the BCFL are top on the list of leagues for the Indy Bison Red.
#4 Southern Indiana Bobcats-If any team is making moves in the off season it is the most definitely been the Bobcats, who are not only signing high caliber players, but most importantly the biggest addition to date has been the offensive master mind of coach “Charles Ellis” making the move to the Bobcats going into 2024, as of now the Bobcats look to be committed to the BCFL I think that could be a good fit for them giving that it is the 2nd year and they learned a lot last year and the confidence is there as it is showing with the moves they are making. I look for them to be top 3 in the BCFL if that is where they stay.
#5 Kentuckiana Calvary-Another team that stays quiet during the offseason is the Calvary. The Calvary won a championship in 2022 and decided to move to the BCFL in 2023. They are looking to get back to that championship form, as of now they are in the BCFL.
#6 Northern Indiana Bulldogs-A new name but not new faces, this team’s coaching staff consist of well known names Minor League football in Indiana has to offer, so the talent pool will be no different, look for this team to have rivals in the Indy area quick and give competitive play to the teams in Indy as well as whomever else they play in 2024, I predict they will be top 3 in the state at the end of 2024.
#7 Indy Assassin’s-One team that is hard to get a read on for 2024 is the Indy Assassin’s looking into 2024, as 2023 was not the greatest to them. The question is what Assassin team will we get? We they be able to compete with so many options in the Indy area for minor league teams can they get the key talent to be able to compete or at least have a .500 season.
#8 Tri State Bucks-Not sure what to think about this team, so far in the games they have played not to much to talk about, and from what I have seen they are considering themselves an Arena Team, they did play an indoor game which to me is not the same as Arena for the Winter and will still be playing 11-man but no clue on where they will end up playing in 2024, they were slated to play in the United 2A league but that is a whole different story so we will see where they end up and if they make an impact in 2024.
I had late information that I was not aware of that produces a few more new teams in Indiana so we will finish with those teams on the ranking and this ranking is only based on that they are brand new teams.
# 9 Anderson Aces– This is a new team coming out of Anderson, Indiana. Not much information has been found about the Aces, however rumor is that a retired coach has come out of retirement to coach them, and they will play in the BCFL.
#10 Evansville Elite-Another team this time all the way in Evansville, last information I had they were going to be playing in the United 2A league but as of now that is up in the air so we will update that information as it comes in.
#11 Midwest Vengeance-The Vengeance is also a brand new team, hailing from the southside of Indianapolis, will the Vengeance be able to compete and get quality players or will they be competing with the other Indy teams as well as the southern are of Indiana being closer to that area as well, not much information has been given so far it is early and still off season, so I am sure they will start talking soon enough.
#12 Seymour Spartans-Another new team in southern part of Indiana, Spartans are also supposed to play in the United 2A league but that is still up in the air as I mentioned above so who knows, I want to say that they also might of changed their names, but not positive on that. We shall see what happens with the Spartans as well.
Again, rankings are based on my knowledge of teams and are my own rankings, and the information on the teams is what is available at the time of this post, If any information is incorrect please let me know I will be glad to update it.
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