Author: Ryan Baker

Photos: SEDIII Productions

The Indianapolis AlleyCats have played the fewest games across the UFA in 2026, but they have finally reached their halfway point this season. Indy is currently third in the Central Division at 2-4, and that record masks how competitive they have been.

The Alleycats came into the season with high expectations. There was so much buzz surrounding all the talent they brought in, and many thought they were going to be a lock for the second seed in the Central. Even though their record shows a rough first half of the season, the reasons for it are more about execution than talent.

To start, they are two points away from being 4-2, losing both games to the Madison Radicals by just a point. They also faced the Minnesota Wind Chill twice, losing 13-21 and 19-23. Their two wins came against the Chicago Union, first by three points and then by five.

“We’ve lost several close games this season,” Captain Seth Gudeman said. “If we want to put together a winning streak, we need to learn how to finish those games. That’s not always something a new team learns overnight, but I have confidence we’ll continue to grow and get there.”

Every game has been a learning point for the team. In their season debut against Madison, they held a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but they were derailed by Minnesota in the second game. The first Chicago win came on the backs of Elliot Hawkins’ 15-assist performance, while the second was never pretty.

“Truthfully, we have yet to put a full game together. There are moments of excellence. Then, there are moments of imperfection. We are consistently hitting our ceiling and hitting our floor in every game. I don't think I'll ever be content until we've put a full game of excellent offense, defense, special teams, and discipline together.” said Head Coach Nathan Bussberg. “I feel like we had opportunities to win those games. Learning how to win is tough. We luckily have the most opportunities in the league to keep learning. We're just halfway in.”

Heading into the season and through the first couple of games, there was a notion that chemistry would be the biggest hurdle to overcome for Bussberg’s revamped team. That notion needs to be deleted. The real issue is situational frisbee and decision-making, which have led to the four losses. The D-line has been committing turnovers during transition offense, and that’s not a recipe to win when those chances to break are getting slimmer and slimmer.

“I don't think the chemistry thing is an issue,” Bussberg stated. “It's a discipline issue. We're not talent-deprived. We simply haven't been disciplined enough in how we use our strengths.”

Another problem Indy has faced this season is their personnel rotation due to injuries or prior commitments. For example, Hawkins missed the first two games because of the college season. Cole Hyzer tore his ACL before the season, and it was a massive hit to their D-line. Keegan North has been dealing with injury and has yet to hit the field this season, but we could see a return hopefully in 2026.

Other key players have missed time, too. Jeremiah Branson has only played four games. William Wettengel missed one game, Xavier Payne has played in only three, and Sofiène Bontemps has played in only two. Handling the absence of personnel, especially guys who can impact games as much as these stars do, makes it difficult to win.

Those absences won’t stop either. They are already slotted to be missing several key players for their first game to open the back half of the season against the Radicals, with more on the horizon. The good news is that their schedule lightens significantly, giving them a chance to show what the team is really like.

“We've definitely hit our stride a little bit,” Jake Felton said. “The record may not show that, but if you watch games, you can see the progression we're making. Offense is turning it over less, and defense is going out there and getting double-digit block games.”

They have two games with Madison on back-to-back weeks, then travel to Chicago for their third matchup of the season, and close out the season with two games against Pittsburgh and one against the Toronto Rush.

“I think playing at your ability, while playing a team that is a tier below your ability, shows more about your team than playing above your ability to try to match a team that's above your ability,” Bussberg said about the supposedly easier schedule ahead of them. "To show how good we can be, we need to win these games playing our game, and executing with excellence." 

Comparing the 2026 team to years past is also a tough endeavor, considering how different this team is. Last year, it was almost a shoo-in for Indy to suffer a loss besides the games against Detroit. The biggest change is that the defense is allowing four fewer goals per game than last year, but their blocks are down by nearly two per game. Granted, the latter stat is influenced by the fact that Indy rarely sustained offensive possessions. Once Indy turned the disc over, opponents often played more freely and took greater risks because they weren't under much pressure to protect their lead.

The other notable team stats, compared to the rest of the league on a per-game basis, are their league-high huck frequency, eighth-fewest breaks per game, and seventh-fewest holds per game. The latter two also relate to the lower-scoring affairs throughout the season.

With the huck rate up in both success and attempts, it shows that Indy is playing an up-tempo offense behind Hawkins and Jake Felton, but that isn’t necessarily the idea behind the offensive game plan.

“I wouldn't say we're necessarily trying to play fast,” Bussberg said. “We're playing young, and right now, that's biting us. Our playmakers are going to make plays and show up on the stat sheet. The only stat they should worry about is a '0' in the turnover column.”

“I don’t think it’s necessarily our deep shots but decisions on them,” Hawkins said. “I sometimes like to throw hard ones that sometimes work and sometimes don’t, which are hurting us right now. When we decided to use our legs, we were very good.”

It falls right in line with one of the youngest teams in the league, so Bussberg is trying to find a happy medium in how he uses his players.

“We are trying to build a complement of more touches for high completion percentage players, and fewer touches for potentially less completion players,” Bussberg said. 

Individually, there have been a lot of ups and downs across the roster. Hawkins leads the team in assists with 28 through his four games and already leads in total yards by a significant margin. Felton and Wettengel have also been major bright spots. Felton has 20 assists and 14 goals with a down tick in his turnover frequency, and Wettengel has 11 assists, 12 goals, and 8 blocks in his five games.

“I wouldn't say it's my best yet,” Felton said. “Always something to work on with my game, but I'm starting to be more consistent with my role. I feel like they put me in the position for me to play my best, just need to do it now.”

But then other guys like Nate Little and James Pollard are having down seasons compared to their prior years. The defensive duo has combined for just 6 goals, 3 assists, and 10 blocks, and both are below an 85 percent completion rate.

Two of the most consistent players on the team this year who have not been named are veterans Cameron Brock and Jonathan Mast. Brock has 6 assists, 12 goals, and 3 blocks with just four total turnovers, and Mast has been their backfield workhorse alongside Carter Hawkins, making for a very consistent handler duo.

“The biggest takeaway is that we have the talent and ability,” Brock said. “Those are things you can’t fix in the middle of a season. Decision-making, game planning, etc., those are things you can fix and adjust. We know that every team in our division was starting much closer to their ceiling than we were. That only matters if we can close the gap.”

Two more surprising young additions have been rookie Kai Creed and second-year player Bontemps. Creed has been the most consistent player on Indy’s D-line with 11 assists, 2 goals, and 7 blocks, while consistently applying pressure to whoever he is guarding. Bontemps's small sample size has shown how impactful he can be, with 6 goals and 3 blocks in just two games.

One of the biggest storylines, personnel-wise, is the switch of Gudeman to the O-line. He has provided the offense with a consistent security blanket and has put up 15 goals in the four games since the change.

“His initial role when I moved him over there was between stalls four and seven, that's where I want him to own the cutting space,” Bussberg said.

“I’ve been fortunate to play well over the last few games, but a lot of that comes from our O-Line starting to find its rhythm,” Gudeman said. “I trust Coach Bussberg to put our players—including myself—in the best position to help the team succeed. Whether that’s on the O-Line, D-Line, or the sideline, I’m willing to do whatever helps move the Cats forward”

Now, it’s about execution on both sides of the disc and learning from game to game. The main takeaway is that Indy needs to get better with their special teams in terms of pulling, coming out of timeouts, and at the end of quarters. They also need to focus on decision-making, which many players emphasize, rather than trying to change the game with a single play.

“Offense just needs to work on controllables,” Felton stated. “Hit the open hands is a phrase that's gone around a lot. We take the hard throws and look off the things that should be second nature to throw, so it's just going to be instilling those good habits into games.”

On the defensive side, there have been improvements. In their most recent game against Chicago, they showed their best pre-midfield pressure of the season. Consistently ramping that up through the course of the last six games will be crucial to them holding on to a playoff spot.

“I want to see a steady increase in the number of turnovers we force,” Bussberg said when asked about one of the team's biggest areas for improvement. “I don't necessarily care if they're blocks or other forced mistakes, but that number has been trending in the right direction. We created pressure against Madison but didn't generate many turnovers. Since then, we've gradually forced more turnovers and earned more blocks each game. That's the goal. If we can consistently force more turnovers, it gives us the freedom to be more aggressive in other areas. Until then, unnecessary aggression with the disc usually hurts us more than it helps.”

At the end of the day, getting a spot in the playoffs is all that matters. As soon as you are in, the regular season is irrelevant, and that’s where the AlleyCats stand right now. If they can follow up and pull through on the direction they want to head in, they are going to be an incredibly dangerous opponent come July. If North can return soon and build on the talent they already have, Indy would not be at the top of the list of desirable opponents in the playoffs.

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