LAS VEGAS (AFLWA) – The Philadelphia Soul survived their rough stretch, when it lost three out of four games in the latter part of the season, finishing the regular season No. 1 in the final Schutt Sports Top 12 Poll.

The Soul received 17 out of 18 first-place votes, after defeating New York 59-30 on Sunday, and it will enjoy a bye week and home-field advantage in the National Conference throughout the playoffs. San Jose, which has home field in the American Conference, received the other first-place vote and finished second in the poll.

The other teams that won their respective divisions and have a bye this week are Chicago in the Central and Georgia in the Southern, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The only team in the top five which does not have the week off is Dallas, at No. 3, and it will host New York on Friday at American Airlines Center at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.

Other playoff matchups this week include: No. 12 Utah hosts Colorado on Saturday at 3 p.m. on ESPN; No. 7 Orlando will travel to No. 6 Cleveland at 6 p.m. Monday on ESPN2; and No. 9 Arizona plays host to Grand Rapids at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN2.

Other ranked teams which failed to make the playoffs were No. 10 Tampa Bay and No. 11 New Orleans.

Schutt Sports, the sports gear company with a reputation for innovation, is sponsoring this season's Top 12 Poll. Its website is schuttsports.com.

The AFLWA, founded at the start of the 2004 season, is a national organization made up of media members who cover the Arena Football League. Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is the AFLWA's founder and executive director.