The Fantasy Bowl trophy is going to have a new name on it: Orange County. In what coach Dan Callahan described as a “nailbiter,” the Dudes won their first-ever league championship game 74-72.5 over Dallas. The Dudes also denied the Armadillos on their quest to become the first-ever team to “three-peat” in the Fantasy Bowl.

The 2023 Beach Dudes might be one of the best comeback stories in league history; it’s truly a worst-to-first scenario. In 2022, Orange County had the lowest points of any team.

Third place goes to the Chicago Mud, who defeated top-seeded Miami 63.5-46. The Muffdivers end their playoff run losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. In the other consolation game, the Froglickers capture fifth place with a 71.5-62.5 win over the Blowfish.

With one week remaining in the overall points race, the Mud (1346) are 61.5 points ahead of Miami (1284.5), 66 points ahead of Dallas (1280), and 86.5 points ahead of Frelinghuysen (1259.5). With only 25 points separating teams #2 thru #4, it seems like the remaining drama here is who will win the 2nd-place points prize money.

Week 17 Final Scores

Fantasy Bowl XXXII

Orange County (11-5) 74, Dallas (9-7) 72.5

Third Place: Chicago (10-5) 63.5, Miami (11-4) 46
Fifth Place: Frelinghuysen (9-6) 71.5, Boxboro (7-7-1) 62.5

Other Scores

Mercer 94
Connecticut 88.5
Oregon 85
New Chester 83
Keystone 50.5
Philadelphia 47.5
Happy Valley 36.5

Game Summaries

by CBS Fantasy Football AI

Coach David Zilberfarb outsmarted the experts to give their team the win over Boxboro Blowfish. That and more in this week’s Around the League report.

You Again?

James Conner and Orange Co. Beach Dudes beat Dallas Armadillos to win Fantasy Bowl XXXII

Losing a close game is tough. Losing a close championship game is brutal. Dallas Armadillos suffered a 74 to 72.5 loss to Orange Co. Beach Dudes. Dallas Armadillos beat Orange Co. Beach Dudes back in week six, so the turnabout this week was fair play.

The win captures the Beach Dude’s first Fantasy Bowl title, and prevents Dallas from a three-peat in the title game.

Dallas Armadillos will finish their season at 9-7. The win makes it five in a row for Orange Co. Beach Dudes, and gives them a record of 11-a5.

James Conner was the key contributor for Orange Co. Beach Dudes, scoring 23.5 points. That’s the most points that he’s scored this year. Conner made some wide receivers jealous with this amazing one-handed touchdown grab.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of chefs cooking up this week’s loss for Dallas Armadillos. Tee Higgins was the worst of a five man group of underperformers, tallying only 0.5 points. That was quite a falloff from last week, when he scored 19.5 points.

I Got This

Justin Fields calls his own number to earn a win

Miami Muffdivers had the best record in the league coming into this game, but unfortunately for Coach Pat landy, the past was not prelude. Miami Muffdivers could not make it much of a game, losing to Chicago Mud 63.5 to 46.

With the loss, Miami Muffdivers will close the season at 11-4. The win brings Chicago Mud to 10-5.

They were led by the trio of Justin Fields, Jonathan Taylor, and David Montgomery, who combined for 69% of their team’s points.

Meanwhile, Miami Muffdivers were having trouble reaching paydirt, getting into the end zone only one time. No other team scored fewer TDs this week.

A perfect lineup would have given Coach Landy a win in this one. He left Geno Smith and Tyler Boyd on the bench in favor of Jared Goff and Odell Beckham Jr., who were both expected to score less.

These decisions cost Miami Muffdivers a total of 3.5 points. If Coach Landy had left Goff and OBJ on the bench and also started Juwan Johnson, Miami Muffdivers would have won the game.

Brainiac at Work

Great coaching decisions and Lamar Jackson’s performance pay off for Frelinghuysen Froglickers

Coach David Zilberfarb felt that they knew their team better than the projection experts, and they were right. They started Dallas Goedert instead of Cole Kmet, despite the experts’ prediction that Kmet should have played.

This great decision gave Frelinghuysen Froglickers a nice 9.5 point bonus and was the difference in the game, as they wound up with a solid victory against Boxboro Blowfish (7-7-1), winning 71.5 to 62.5.

Frelinghuysen Froglickers relied heavily on Lamar Jackson, who racked up 29 points. No other quarterback scored more points than that this week. He all but sealed up the MVP with a dominant five-touchdown performance to beat the Dolphins.

Boxboro Blowfish had never won when Chuba Hubbard failed to hit his expected points, and that held true again this week. Hubbard was one of three big underperformers, combining with Lucas Havrisik and Saquon Barkley to record 8.5 points. That makes it four straight games where Hubbard has underperformed the league average running back.