BFFL Season 1

## **The Beginnings**

The BFFL (Backyard Fantasy Football League) was founded on August 5, 2017 when /u/crazyei8hts posted to the Backyard Baseball subreddit asking for participants who would like to participate in fantasy football with a Backyard twist. The fact that rosters in a Backyard Football league stay the same, along with the ease of viewing individual stats on each team, made a fantasy football format work well on Backyard Football 2002. And thus, the BFFL was born. crazyei8hts was established as Commissioner, a title he still holds to this day.

## **Rules and Gameplay**

The game would be very similar to "real" fantasy football: coaches would draft players from a league on Backyard Football and would receive points based on the in-game performance of their players.

The rosters would consist of:

* 1 Quarterback
* 1 Running Back
* 2 Wide Receivers
* 2 FLEX (A flex player could be a quarterback, a running back, or a wide receiver)
* 1 Team Defense
* 1 Kicker (if a player was a kicker and an offensive position player, they count as two separate people)
* 4 Bench Players (which could be any of the above positions)

The scoring system was as follows:

* Passing
	+ 1 point for every 25 yards of passing
	+ 4 points for each passing touchdown
	+ -2 points for each interception thrown
* Rushing/Receiving
	+ 1 point for every 10 yards of rushing and/or receiving
	+ 6 points for a rushing or receiving touchdown
	+ 1 point for every reception
* Defense
	+ 2 points for each sack, fumble recovery, or interception
	+ 4 points for a safety
	+ 6 points for a defensive touchdown
* Kicking
	+ 1 point for every extra point made
	+ 3 points for every field goal made

## **Setting Up the Season**

The eight participants of the inaugural BBL season were:

* crazyei8hts, coach of Brass Knuckles McGhee
* GSchlim, coach of the Labrador Receivers
* areyoutyler, coach of the Raiders
* NateInDisney, coach of the Big Thunder Mountain GOATs
* bigli23, coach of Chuck Downfield
* McM, coach of Dante's Inferno
* YungBeezus, coach of Benny and the Jets
* NickyRoxx56 signed up, but did not show for the draft and was replaced by Yurya, who coached The Fugitives

Each player was to fill out their roster with 12 players, as detailed above. To get an idea of what the rosters would look like and who would be the best players, crazyei8hts played through one season with his user team, the Armadillos. He then compiled the season stats of every player from every team and showed their stats in the draft cheat sheet.

## **The Draft**

The first BBL Draft was held on September 16, 2017 on the BFFL Discord server. The first player selected was QB Ben None, drafted by coach YungBeezus, who then promptly changed his team name to "Benny and the Jets".

## **The Schedule**

The 8 teams were divided into the Backyard Conference (Brass Knuckles McGhee, Big Thunder Mountain GOATs, Benny and the Jets, and Dante's Inferno) and the Frontyard Conference (Labrador Receivers, The Fugitives, Chuck Downfield, and Raiders). The schedule consisted of 10 regular season games, 2 each against in-conference opponents, and 1 each against non-conference opponents. The top two teams in each conference made the playoffs.

## **League Results**

At the end of the regular season, the standings were as follows:

BFFL Season 1 Final Standings
 Big Thunder Mountain GOATs
 Benny and the Jets
 Dante's Inferno

The stats were well-kept throughout the season. Below are the best players from the 12-game regular + postseason, as well as the highest single-game scores.

BFFL Season 1 Top Performers - QB

BFFL Season 1 Top Performers - RB

BFFL Season 1 Top Performers - WR

BFFL Season 1 Top Performers - Defense

## **The Playoffs**

The top 2 teams from each conference made the BFFL Playoffs, which took place during Weeks 11 and 12 of the BFL season. The remaining four teams participated in the loser's bracket, also held during Weeks 11 and 12.

### Winner's Bracket Round 1

* Big Thunder Mountain GOATs defeated Brass Knuckles McGhee, 128-105
* The Fugitives defeated Labrador Receivers, 174-125

### Loser's Bracket Round 1

* Benny and the Jets defeated Dante's Inferno, 153-110
* Chuck Downfield defeated Raiders, 165-107

### Championship Weekend

* Raiders defeated Dante's Inferno in the 7th place game, 119-108.
* Chuck Downfield defeated Benny and the Jets in the 5th place game, 141-92, behind a league record-tying 65 points from Cynthia Miller.
* Labrador Receivers defeated Brass Knuckles McGhee in the 3rd place game, 128-124.
* **Big Thunder Mountain GOATs** defeated The Fugitives in the BFFL Championship, 161-114.

## **Legacy**

The Backyard Fantasy Football League went off without a hitch. There were certainly some things to be done to make the league run a little more smoothly, but the first season was an overall success. Three of the original eight coaches are still around as of BFFL Season 3.5.