Michigan remains undefeated, Jacksonville's 2-0 start seems a lifetime ago, Tampa and Birmingham continue to battle over the Southern Division, while Memphis, Houston, Denver and LA prove that there is greater parity this season in the USFL. SCORES: WSH 21 BIR 31 Joe Cribbs’ 160 yards overwhelms the Federals. PHI 17 MEM 27 Memphis D sacks Fusina 6 times on route to victory. NJ 3 TBY 23 Gary Anderson outduels Walker for a 20 point Tampa win. MGN 34 PIT 24 Hebert goes down, but INT-TD sparks victory for Michigan. ARZ 15 DEN 27 Denver wins 2nd in a row behind Gagliano’s best day. CHI 14 LA 24 LA over .500 for first time in team history. HOU 31 OAK 17 Run & Shoot starting to heat up for Kelly & Co. BYES: None GAME OF THE WEEK: Boston Breakers 25 Jacksonville Bulls 24 In a game both teams desperately needed, Boston had just enough to edge the Bulls, sending Jacksonville to its 5th straight defeat. Both teams came out angry, but the Bulls led most of the game. After 3 they had built up a 24-15 lead thanks to a pick-six and solid play from Doug Williams (23 of 33 for 191, 1 TD). But, Boston fought back on a day when both Richard Crump (31 yards) and Buford Jordan (42 yards) came back from injury. Johnnie Walton still had issues with interceptions, throwing 2 on the day, but with 9:44 left on the clock he hit TE Dan Ross for a 37 yard score on a seam route, and Boston’s D, which stymied Jacksonville for most of the second half, held on for the final minutes of the game, giving Boston a much needed win. Despite the interceptions, a solid day from Walton may have helped coach Coury keep heralded rookie Tony Eason on the bench, at least for another week. For Jacksonville, a lack of 3rd down efficiency (3 for 12) and the inability to move the ball in the second half were the main causes for their fifth straight defeat. NEWS & NOTES: After 7 weeks we are beginning to see the newcomers getting a shot at QB. Kelly has been a starter from day 1 in Houston, but with injury to Greg Landry, Rick Neuheisel is now playing. And following yet another defeat, Pittsburgh has announced that former Penn Stater Todd Blackledge will get the start over Glen Carano in the Mauler’s next game. Tony Eason is waiting patiently on the Boston bench as Johnnie Walton has up and down weeks, but if Walton remains near the bottom statistically of USFL QB’s it may just be a matter of time. Finally, Blair Kiel, who was not targeted as a starter for 1984, has been thrust into the role by the season-ending injury to Vince Evans in Chicago. And yet, despite all the rookie QB’s in the league, experience is winning out as Michigan (6-0), Birmingham (5-1) and Tampa (5-1) are relying on veteran savvy from Hebert, Stoudt, and Reaves to build a cumulative 16-2 record. INJURIES: Minor dings to Bobby Hebert and Rick Neuheisel may cost them 1 game (which puts Arizona down to their 3rd string QB), while both Johnnie Hector and Sidney Thornton continue to deal with foot injuries which may sideline them again. LA linebacker Danny Rich was the only major injury of the week, suffering a bulging disk in his back which will likely keep him out 4-6 weeks. LOOKING AHEAD: Another full week of games with no bye teams. Philadelphia heads to DC to take on a scrappy Federals squad. Tampa travels to Boston and Birmingham to New Jersey in two key matchups. Houston will try to overwhelm Chicago at the Astrodome, while Michigan hopes to stay unbeaten against a beleaguered Oakland Invader squad. The game of the week may be two surprise 4-win teams facing off as the defensive-minded Memphis Showboats head out to Angel Stadium to take on the much-improved LA Express.

Sporting News, April 12, 1984 Today marks the last day of the 3-day midseason USFL Owner’s Meeting, held in Los Angeles. Representatives of each ownership group spent the past 3 days discussing the league’s calendar, financing, sponsorships, television contracts, and the near future of the league. There were some contentious conversations, particularly around the concept of a potential move to a fall schedule, but in the end, some important decisions were made. Here is a rundown of the major topics of discussion. League Expansion: While this year’s expansion by 4 franchises has been tauted as a qualified success, owners expressed concern about additional expansion putting a strain on the league as it seeks to develop a solid financial base and a level of equity among the member franchises. It was decided by a 13-3 vote to set 1987 as the earliest date for future expansion. This will certainly come as sad news to the ownership groups which lost out on 1984 expansion and were hoping for another chance in 1985. League Equity: Citing concerns over the imbalance between higher revenue (higher attendance) franchises and those which are struggling to attract fans, there was broad discussion of strategies which the league may implement to provide shared revenue without offering a free ride to underperforming franchises. A hot topic in this discussion was that of the salary cap and the concerns that some teams were dramatically underspending in comparison to others, creating a competitive imbalance as well as a financial one. A subcommittee of 5 owners have been tasked with revising and proposing the salary cap and revenue sharing model. Ownership Transfer: The league approved by 11-5 a policy which would provide the league with a strong voice in the event of potential franchise transfer of ownership. It is widely known that the Chicago-Arizona franchise swap, as well as the sale of the New Jersey Generals during the 1983 offseason was largely viewed as too chaotic and too random for the benefit of the league. The decision to increase centralized league power was criticized by all 3 groups cited (Trump in NJ, Josephs and Dietrich in Chicago and Arizona), but was approved and now will allow the league the right of first refusal to take over any franchise and lead the ownership search. There are rumors that Chicago’s Jim Joseph may already be looking to back out of the league, and the league cannot afford to lose a major market like Chicago. Scheduling: It is no surprise that several owners complained about the imbalance and inequity in the 1984 schedule, one which sees several teams go on extended road trips, play divisional games early in the season, or combine long cross-country flights. Others have complained that the format in which teams from one conference play only a small number of games against the other conference diminishes the national reach of the league. It was decided that the USFL would reach out to both MLB and the NBA to seek advice and potential partnership on the issue of schedule development in hopes of creating a more balanced and less taxing schedule in 1985. It is likely that the 1985 schedule will see a reduction in the number of weeks impacted by byes as well as greater interconference play. Television & Sponsorship: Reports from key committees reported ongoing discussion with ABC/ESPN for a new multi-year television contract, as well as new sponsorship partnerships with Anheiser-Busch, Ford Motor Company, and United Airlines. The league is also looking to modify its contracts with both Champion sports and Logo 7 for official league apparel and merchandise. Rules: The league approved the formation of a 6 person Rules Committee, to include 1 owner, 2 head coaches, 2 members of USFL Officiating and 1 general manager would be formed as a permanent committee to assess potential changes to league rules for game play. It is expected that the topic of instant replay will be revisited, as well as potential alterations to the kicking game and to pass interference penalties, all controversial topics within the league and among fans. Season Calendar: The most heated debates of the week took place around the topic of potential exploration of moving from Spring to a Fall schedule. Donald Trump, the new owner of the Generals pushed for the move and was countered by Tampa Bay Bandits owner John Bassett. Both parties cited economic factors for the different calendar models, but it was clear that there was little data behind their arguments. The league meeting ended with an agreement that an exploratory committee led by Michigan owner Alfred Taubman, would report at the July league meeting regarding the economic impact of a potential shift to a fall calendar.

One third of the way through the season and some trends are developing. As with last year we see Tampa, Philadelphia, Birmingham and Michigan as the strongest franchises. We also see a large group of teams who are up and down, including several of the expansion franchises. The one positive trend, from the league standpoint, is that the Pacific division does not appear to be the weak sister of the league anymore, with several Pacific squads earning wins against other divisions in recent weeks. With 8 playoff spots this year, more teams should be in the mix late in the season, which benefits everyone. SCORES BOS 17 BIR 20 Despite holding Cribbs to only 39 yards, Boston could not garner a win. WSH 24 JAX 21 The Bulls lose their 4th straight as James runs for 126. NJ 7 MEM 15 The Memphis D harasses Brian Sipe and limits Walker for a big win. PIT 12 MGN 21 John Williams returns from injury to power the Panthers. CHI 10 ARZ 12 Rick Neuheisel when Landry goes down and scores the W. HOU 40 DEN 27 The Run & Shoot comes alive as Kelly throws for 375 and 3 scores. LA 26 OAK 3 When Young goes down, the LA D and QB Mike Rae take up the torch. BYES: none GAME OF THE WEEK: Philadelphia Stars 17 Tampa Bay Bandits 23 For the second week in a row a marquee matchup ends in overtime. In front of their biggest crowd in 2 seasons (61,508) homestanding Tampa and visiting Philly looked like two heavyweight prize fighters slugging it out with body blow after body blow in this matchup. Fusina found both Fitzkee and Donovan for scores, while Reaves relied on Eric Truvillion for two first half scores. Both defenses found ways to pressure, but not rattle the star QB’s of their opponents. Philly scored 3 sacks while Tampa notched 4 against Fusina. But, while the Stars defense kept the Bandits from connecting on their trademark long ball game for 4 quarters, it only takes 1 missed assignment for Tampa to strike, and that is exactly what they did in overtime. On a 2nd and 7 the Philly DB’s missed an assignment, leaving Tampa slot receiver Danny Buggs alone on an out & up route. The wide open Buggs was an easy target for Reaves, and 57 yards later the game was over on a textbook Bandit Ball strike. It was a heavyweight match that ended with a haymaker. Now we all must hope that there is a rematch of this pairing in the playoffs. NEWS & NOTES: Whether by injury or coaching decision, the USFL may be seeing some of its rookie talent take the field soon. Rick Neuheisel came in when Landry went down for Arizona, and his performance may make for tough decisions for George Allen. Meanwhile, Boston’s Johnnie Walton continues to struggle, which is creating pressure to see what Tony Eason can do. In LA, Kevin Mack shared carries with Tony Boddie, and looked strong, so we can expect to see more of him. While in Pittsburgh, another weak performance by Glen Carano has many calling to see what Todd Blackledge can do. INJURIES: While several players were knocked out of action during this week’s games, few of the injuries seem to be significant. Arizona’s veteran signal caller, Greg Landry, will likely miss 4-6 weeks with broken ribs. Michigan CB Keith Bostic had an ugly fracture to his eye socket, but is expected to only miss a few weeks, as he will be able to play with a protective visor on his helmet. Philly is hoping that Johnnie Hector and Kelvin Bryant are able to return to action in Week 7, as they are down to one RB on their active roster. Steve Young, had a pinched nerve in his throwing arm, his ability to play next week will likely be a game time decision. LOOKING AHEAD: Week 7 again features all 16 teams in action. Arizona-Denver is one of only two divisional games as most of the league is in inter-divisional play. Boston and Jacksonville both desperately need a win in their matchup. Philly will try to bounce back against a tough Memphis defense. Michigan, still unbeaten, heads to Pittsburgh. Chicago visits LA and Houston, hot off their best offensive performance, visits an Oakland squad devastated by two key injuries.

Week Five saw 14 teams in action, some injuries starting to take a toll on team success, and three upsets that confirm that this season is going to remain interesting. It also saw a resurgence of some 1983 stars like Richard Crump, Craig James and Tim Spencer. It was a week that drew several divisions closer together, and proved that attrition is a factor in USFL football. SCORES NJ 29 WSH 30 The Feds get a big day from James to squeak by the Generals at home. MEM 17 BOS 38 Walton finds Franz for 151 yards as Boston tries to get back into form. PHI 21 JAX 17 With Bryant dinged, rookie Johnnie Hector powers the Stars to victory. ARZ 24 MGN 38 Despite Tim Spencer’s 115 yard day, Hebert and Holloway win out. CHI 7 DEN 24 The Denver D comes up big and Gagliano has his best day as a pro. OAK 24 TBY 23 The Invaders shock Tampa, winning on a John Reaves INT returned for 6. BYES: Pittsburgh and Birmingham GAME OF THE WEEK: Los Angeles Express 23 Houston Gamblers 17 The say that football has three phases, and this week proved it. LA’s oft-beleaguered defense held tough against Houston’s Run & Shoot, limiting the Gamblers to 17 points. The Express offense, led by rookie Steve Young and a combo of running from Tony Boddie and LaRue Harrington, while not prolific, was potent enough to keep pace. But the star of the show was the special teams. Both punt and kick returns were strong for the Express, giving them short fields to work with all day. When the game went to overtime, special teams won the day. The Express won the coin toss and chose to receive. Houston’s Tony Fritsch directed his kick to the left corner of the endzone, but LA’s Anthony Allen, who had frustrated the Houston coverage team all day, caught the ball a yard into the endzone, made the gunner miss, and then wove his way past the Houston coverage, juking a flailing Frisch at the 45 and it was clear sailing from there, a 101 yard game winning, walk off, kick return for the Express. NEWS & NOTES: Attendance has fluctuated most of the year, particularly as we see bye weeks impact which teams are playing any given week. Week 5 attendance was up from the season lowpoint in week 4, but again failed to crack a 40,000 target. Jacksonville was once again the league leader, with just over 60,000 in attendance for their game against the Stars. Washington trailed the league, with only 25,788 in attendance to watch the Feds sneak past the Generals. USFL executives continue to push that 25,000 is their true target attendance number for the year, but with most franchises getting regular results in the 30,000-45,000 range, one could hope that an average near 40k could be realized. INJURIES: This season is proving to be a rough one on league rosters, and once again it seems Oakland, despite scoring a shocking win this week at Tampa Bay, is paying the biggest price. A week after losing RB Arthur Whittington for the year, they have lost defensive captain and tackles leader Gary Plummer for at least 10 weeks and possibly the season with a torn hamstring. Chicago too looks like it will have to reconfigure their plans for the year as former NFL QB Vince Evans has ruptured his achilles tendon and will likely miss the rest of the season. Rookie Blair Kiel is the likely candidate to run the Chicago offense for the time being. Other players who may miss some action due to injuries include CHI WR Jackie Flowers, PHI RB Kelvin Bryant, JAX RB Sidney Thornton and PHI DE James Painter. LOOKING AHEAD: As we enter the middle third of the season, week six has all 16 teams in action, mostly in inter-divisional play. Saturday will see New Jersey visit Memphis and Chicago visit Arizona (in a game that features the two franchises who essentially swapped places this offseason. On Sunday, the early games include Boston @ Birmingham, Washington @ Jacksonville and Pittsburgh @ Michigan. The late afternoon tilts are Houston @ Denver and Oakland traveling down the PCH to face LA. The week ends with the most anticipated game of the early season, Philly traveling to Tampa, with both teams at 3-1 and both hoping to prove they are the team to beat this season.

In a week that saw Michigan move to 4-0 and Denver slide to 0-4, the weather took a toll on several teams. Houston and Chicago fought a low scoring battle in the snow, while Tampa played Washington on a slick rainy field. Philadelphia once again ascerted themselves as a team to beat in the Atlantic Division, with a win over Boston, while New Jersey showed no mercy to a floundering Denver Gold squad. The news of the week was the devastating injury to Oakland’s Arthur Whittington, who tor his posterior cruciate ligament and is likely done for the year. ‘ SCORES PHI 31 BOS 20 A Sam Mills INT return for a score highlights Philly’s revenge win. TBY 28 WSH 23 Washington keeps it close thanks to 95 yards from Craig James. HOU 14 CHI 16 The Blitz eke out a win under snowy conditions in Chicago. LA 17 MGN 31 Hebert to Carter twice on a 4 TD day for the Panther QB. PIT 21 OAK 14 The Maulers win their second in a row on a tough day for Oakland. DEN 13 NJ 37 Sipe & Walker run roughshod over the Gold. ARZ 19 BIR 38 Joe Cribbs has a big game against Wrangler D. BYES: None GAME OF THE WEEK: Jacksonville Bulls 31 Memphis Showboats 34 In a see-saw battle between two expansion clubs in the Southern Division, Memphis gets the final word with Efran Herrera’s last minute field goal to live the Showboats to victory. In a game that saw the lead change 6 times, both clubs showed they have some firepower. Bulls QB Doug Williams threw for 360 and 3 scores, but Memphis’s Walter Lewis was up to the task as well, throwing for 3 scores of his own. Memphis wideout and former St. Louis Cardinals star Mel Gray finished strong with 127 yards and 2 scores. On the other side, rookie Gary Clark could not find the endzone for the Bulls, but his 125 yards receiving led the team. This was a classic “last team with the ball wins” matchup, despite the defensive talent on both sides. Reggie White had two sacks of Williams, but despite some solid plays, neither defense could slow down the other side for long. These two clubs will meet again in Week 10, for what we hope will be another barnburner. INJURIES: Several teams got hit with injuries this week, but the biggest blow has to be in Oakland, where the loss of Alfred Whittington for 12-16 weeks all but cancels out his season and puts a lot of pressure on the Invaders to find offense without their star back. Others impacted, and likely to miss at least a game or two, are Chicago wideout Jackie Flowers (concussion), Boston RB Buford Jordan (dislocated finger), Bulls RB Sidney Thornton (turf toe), and Michigan LB Ray Bentley (broken nose) LOOKING AHEAD: Week Five has some intriguing inter-division games as Memphis travels to Boston, Philly heads down to Jacksonville, Chicago faces Denver, and Steve Young and the Express will face off against Jim Kelly and the Houston Gamblers. Only 2 teams will have byes in Week 5: Pittsburgh and Birmingham.

There were only 6 games on the schedule this week, but we got some good ones, as 3 of the 6 were one score results decided in the final minutes. We saw Pittsburgh and Boston get their first wins of the year, and Birmingham showed Jackonville that the Southern Division was no pushover. Atendance rebounded to over 46,000 as good weather and an amazing turnout of over 73,000 in Jacksonville boosted the leaguewide average. The TV ratings winner this week was the Boston-Philadelphia game, which won the Saturday night slot for ESPN. SCORES WSH 24 NJ 29 Brian Sipe leads the Generals back from 13 down in the 4th. BOS 38 PHI 24 Marcus Marek INT for TD sparks the Breakers to knock off Philly. BIR 34 JAX 20 Joe Cribbs accounts for 3 scores to lead the Stallions over the Bulls. OAK 17 HOU 30 Despite redzone issues, Kelly leads the Gamblers to a 13 point win. DEN 28 MGN 31 Denver falls again as Hebert leads Michigan to final 10 points and the win. BYES: Arizona, Chicago, Memphis, Tampa GAME OF THE WEEK: Los Angeles Express 31 Pittsburgh Maulers 34 In a game punctuated by a dazzling 18 yard Steve Young TD run, it was Heisman winner Mike Rozier and the Maulers who had the last laugh. Rozier rushed for 177 yards against an LA defense that was stacked to stop him. QB Glen Carano played well completing 23 of 29, but threw 2 interceptions, including a pick 6 which led some in the Pittsburgh crowd to call for WV star Jeff Hostetler to get a shot. In the end it was the ability of Pittsburgh to run the ball, use play action and hold possession (35 minutes to LA’s 25) that proved decisive. The Maulers regularly used Rozier in early downs to avoid long 3rd downs, and in some cases to break off long runs against stacked fronts. It was a style of play familiar to generations of Steeler fans who came out to see the new team in town. The Maulers drew a respectable crowd of 38,753 for a season opener held on a cold 28 degree day, and they got to watch the franchise earn its first win amid snow flurries. NEWS & NOTES Much as we saw last year, Arthur Whittington (21 for 162 yards) continues to play well, but the Invaders continue to lose. Bobby Hebert had his first 3 interception game against Denver, but his 4 TD’s still won the day. Boston LB Markus Marek was a monster, with 12 tackels, a sack, and an INT return for TD. Another LB, LA’s unheralded Timothy Blanchette also had a big game with an unlikely INT return for TD as he caught a ball tipped off the helmet of Pittsburgh wideout Harry Ivey, and trucked over RB Tony Boddie to reach the endzone. INJURIES A few notable injuries, though few long-term concerns, as the early season continues. Houston wideout Gerald McNeil may miss 1-2 weeks with a neck injury, while Michigan’s John Williams is listed as doubtful for next week after spraining his knee. Denver FB Larry Canada could miss multiple weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot. The biggest hit was in Birmingham where last year’s sack leader for the Stallions, Jackie Cline, suffered fractured ribs and is likely to miss several weeks. LOOKING AHEAD Back to a full slate of 8 games in Week 4. The highlights include another Boston-Philadelphia tilt, this time at Harvard Stadium, a battle of expansion clubs as the Bulls travel to Memphis, Houston travels to Chicago in what meteorologists are siting as potential whiteout conditions, and Denver has a tough task, trying to get their first win of the year in the Meadowlands against Hershel Walker and the Generals.