After a lot of ups and a really big down mid-season, the Vukovi Belgrade appear back on track with three wins during the fall season. Three wins that includes the 36-0 conference clinching win over their closest rival, the Dukes. All this would indicate that the Vukovi are a favorite like last year to make it to the final.

Some start it was for the 2007 champs — after winning the championship with a stunning turnaround last year, the team kept rolling despite having a much different look coming into the season. On one hand, they were winning by 74, 53, 32, 42 etc. and on the other the team was gradually left without a core group of players that defined the Vukovi offense since their beginnings.

Offensive Player of the Year for 2006, Andrej Tasić — gone. His brother and CEFL Bowl MVP in 2007, Pavle Tasić — gone. The team’s best offensive lineman Petar Vitorović — gone. In all, at the end of the 2008 season, the Vukovi have eight different starters on offense than at the end of last year. Though they shined early on, it was as if everything turned over night. First they lost to the Dukes in the regular season, and then they failed to defend their Serbian crown from last year, when they lost the final game in mid-July.

“We had some injuries late, for the Serbian playoff, but it was also in part our good start. When you start well it’s hard to maintain that level of play”, says the Vukovi’s receiver and quarterback Jordan Green, who helped make the transition more easier, as a player and as a coach.

Green was their best offensive player this year, when he played. Both he and William Blocker could’ve played more, but a lot of times those new guys played to get experience. They had the luxury, since their defense scored almost as many points as the offense. Still, Green has been their most consistent player, though he says he’s more satisfied with how the rest of the group progressed.

“It definitely has to be coaching, because maybe from the outside looking in it’s an easy job to take a championship team, but we currently have eight new starters on offense and, for example, guys in general probably had in senior level of competition three games played.”

The opponent though, had a similar approach to the season — they too have a much different team, due to players leaving, playing less or just injuries — but with different outcome.

“Every team has been kind of inconsistent. Based off of that, I don’t know what team’s going to show up for us, and what team’s going to show up for them Saturday. And their 5-5 record is misleading; our game was a lot closer than the final score that was 42-17, a few plays could’ve changed the game then.”

Even when they were winning big, it was apparent they had a few holes on the team. Simply said, they had too few receivers on the team. The summer additions, Igor Vukoje and Bratislav Bošnjak have played well. They haven’t been as dominant as they are on their Serbian teams, but that could be understandable, and their offense has been a bit better at passing the ball.

“Our team is sort of transformed a little, as far as style of play. Offensively we’ve added new weapons, altered a little bit, more dangerous, but at the same time what’s good – early on we had a strong running game and now we’ve developed a passing game.”

The memory of the final game last year probably still lingers with a lot of members of both teams, but Saturday from 4PM, it will be a whole new ball game.