The AFL preseason poll has added more interest to Spokane's season opener against San Jose State on Friday.

It'll be No. 1 (Spokane) vs. No. 2 (San Jose). Arizona, another division rival, is No. 6. Complete rankings here.

Spokane, which dropped its regular-season finale to Jacksonville, barely hung on to the top spot in the latest AFL coaches poll. The Shock (13-3), who open the playoffs at home against Arizona at 8 p.m. Friday, received nine first-place votes and 123 points. Jacksonville (12-4) moved up one spot to No. 2. The Sharks had six first-place votes and 121 points.

Arizona (10-6) is No. 7. Friday’s game will be televised live on SWX. 

—The league handed down suspensions to a pair of Orlando players who went into the crowd during a victory over Tampa Bay. More here. The Predators will be heavy underdogs against the top-seeded Sharks on Friday.

Spokane held on to the top spot in yet another curious edition of the weekly coaches poll, but there will not be a 1-vs.-2 showdown against Jacksonville on Friday.

Spokane picked up 11 of 15 first-place votes. Tampa Bay climbed from fifth to second, apparently on the strength of a 53-29 win over Alabama (6-9). Jacksonville crushed Bossier/Shreveport (3-12) 48-20, but dropped from No. 2 to No. 3.

Chicago, which lost 63-49 to Spokane, moved up one spot to No. 5. The Rush (10-6) received one first-place vote.

The always entertaining AFL coaches poll is out for Week 16 and the Spokane Shock climbed back into the top spot. That makes sense, given that the Shock have a 10-game winning streak and the best record in the league by two games. Former No. 1 Tampa Bay dropped to fifth after losing to Jacksonville.

But the poll continues to be a head-scratcher. Spokane received 10 first-place votes and No. 2 Jacksonville three. The other two first-place votes went to No. 5 Tampa Bay and No. 6 Chicago (which lost to one-win Dallas last week).

More below.

After three weeks at No. 2, Spokane has finally moved up to the top spot in the AFL coaches poll released Wednesday.

The Shock, winners of six straight, replaced Jacksonville at No. 1. The Sharks dropped to No.  3. Spokane had 10 first-place votes, No. 2 Arizona four and No. 5 Tampa Bay one. The Shock and Rattlers are 1-2 in the West Division and now in the rankings. Milwaukee, which entertains Spokane on Saturday, dropped from third to sixth.

AFL fans and writers agree with Spokane being No. 1, but there are several differences in top five in their respective polls.

More below.

—UPDATE: Milwaukee appears to be having ownership/financial issues and nobody, including team president and CEO Andrew Vallozzi or AFL commissioner Jerry Kurz seems inclined to talk about it. More here.

—Also, Shock director of communications Kevin Maloney relays that ex-Spokane DB Stanley Franks survived final cuts and made the B.C. Lions roster. A quick scan of CFL rosters shows Aaron Fairooz still with Saskatchewan and Jeremy Unertl with Toronto, but it wasn’t immediately known if they’d made the final rosters. Chris Pino suffered an injury shortly after signing with Montreal. Spokane has the AFL rights to those three players.

I figured Saturday’s showdown between Spokane and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would be a battle of No. 1 and No. 2, but I expected the Pioneers to be No. 1. Turns out Spokane held the top spot in the weekly poll by a comfortable margin, despite losing to Iowa 54-48.

Spokane is 12-1 and still has af2’s best record. The Pioneers are 11-2. More here.

I’ll try to post a feature article on Shock defensive end/linebacker Justin Warren later today.