The USFL reached the midseason point in Week 8 and teams have begun to separate. While those in the Central Division battle for a possible wildcard spot, the Pacific continues to look like .500 is good enough for a division title.
WSH 24 TBY 41—Tampa Bay reestablished themselves as a force to be reckoned with as they demolished the Washington Federals. The game started out quite differently as a Doug Greene interception of John Reeves pushed the Feds up to a 10-0 lead, but with 24 unanswered points from the Bandits, the die was cast. Reaves would finish the day with 308 yards passing and 3 TDs. He was helped by a tandem RB strategy in which Gary Anderson rushed 13 times for 53 yards and Greg Boone added 103 yards on 10 carries, including a 40 yard romp that broke the back of the Washington D on what had been a key 3rd and 1.
PHI 31 BIR 28—Birmingham could not keep pace with the Bandits, as they fell by 3 to the visiting Philadelphia Stars. It was as close a battle as you could have with both teams trading haymakers throughout. Both Bob Lane for B’Ham and Chuck Fusina for Philly had good games, and both passed for 2 scores. Kelvin Bryant was a force, rushing for 171 yards on 21 carries, but the combination of Gant and Quarles was able to keep pace and keep the game close throughout. In the end, it was a final drive, “last team with the ball” scenario which ended with David Trout’s short field goal with only 17 seconds left which gave Philly the win.
NJ 3 MGN 30—Contain Herschel Walker and you contain the entire Generals Team. That was the sentiment of Michigan coach Jim Stanley, and it proved to be correct. Walker was held to only 47 yards on 21 carries and Michigan was able to win comfortably. The Panthers finally found a run game of their own as HB John Williams caught the Generals napping on a 63 yard romp and finished the game with 162 yards in total. Add two TD passes from Hebert and you have a healthy win over a solid team that was just outcoached today.
BOS 2 CHI 15—It is not often you see a game with 2 safeties, much less one where an entire team’s scoring is a safety, but that is what fans in a windy Soldier Field saw today. Boston simply did not have anything in place to move the ball, and Chicago, who has a tendency to settle for field goals, was able to add atTrumaine Johnson TD to take a 15-2 win. The star of the day was the Chicago D, which sacked Johnny Walton 3 times, picked off 2 passes and held RB Richard Crump to only 37 yards. Not a dazzling win, but a much needed slog of a win for the Blitz.
DEN 13 OAK 10—Coach Red Miller and the Denver Gold
again prove that they can slog it out with the best of them, and Oakland again proved that they are not the best of them. In a sloppy game, in which Denver committed 10 penalties for 70 yards and Oakland went 3 for 12 on 3rd down, the Gold had just enough to take the win and hold off the Invaders. The Gold took a 13-3 lead at the half, and neither team did much in the second half until Oakland moved into 2 minute offense at the end of the half. They got a Besana to Banks TD with 6 seconds left, but that was too little too late and the Invaders fell to a miserable 2-6. Denver, with the win is back at .500 at 4-4 and holds a 2 game lead in the division.
LA 31 ARZ 34—Clearly Arizona has LA’s number. The Wranglers, who have not managed to beat anyone in the league this year, won their second of two back-to-back games against LA to move into a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the West at 2-6. For two pretty bad teams, this was a pretty good game. The 4th quarter in particular was quite exciting as the two teams, both fearful of falling to the other, went back and forth and up and down the field. Arizona got a Jackie Flowers TD catch to even the score with LA at 24. That was countered by a LaRue Harrington 1 yard plunge to give LA the 31-24 lead. Steve Howell answered for Arizona with a 2 yard dive of his own to even the score with 2:58 left. The Wranglers got the ball back only 43 seconds later when LA missed on 3 straight pass plays and had to punt. Alan Risher was able to push the ball into LA territory and kicker Jim Asmus hit the winning field goal as time expired to give Arizona its second straight victory over LA. Now all they have to do is figure out how to bean some of the other 10 teams in the league.
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