Search this site

SCORES DEN 31 OAK 24 Denver scores 21 in 2nd quarter to stun the Invaders. MEM 23 TBY 40 Reaves to Truvillion proves deadly to the scrambling Mauler D. JAX 30 BIR 13 Doug Williams throws 4 TD to power Jacksonville past Stallions. BOS 10 HOU 13 Neither team can find an offensie rhythm in this one. NJ 19 MGN 34 Hebert & Holloway show shaky NJ defense no mercy. PHI 28 PIT 16 Stars move one game closer to clinching Atlantic with win. WSH 16 CHI 28 Kiel wins his 2nd in relief, finding Flowers twice for scores. GAME OF THE WEEK Los Angeles Express 20 Arizona Wranglers 30 We spotlit this game ahead of the week’s action and it did not disappoint. LA could have pulled even with Arizona with a win, but they just could not slow down the Wrangler’s newfound offense or keep pace with it. It was another strong day for MVP candidate Rick Neuheisel, as he threw for 409 yards and 3 scores against an LA defense that lacked any form of pass rush. With only 49 total yards rushing, the Wranglers needed to depend on Neuheisel, and he came through. Steve Young had a good game for LA (250 yards and 3 scores) but it just was not enough to keep pace. Neuheisel connected with 8 different receivers, including 9 to Trumaine Johnson, another 9 to the league’s leading receiving TE, Terry Orr, and 6 to Wamon Buggs. The win solidly places Arizona atop the Pacific Division, 2 games above LA at 8-2. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK We had some good ones this week from the usual suspects: Neuheisel, Hebert, Cribbs, Reaves and Bryant, but we decided that since there are so many contenders, that it was time to celebrate a season of excellence. Derek Holloway, originally considered the WR 2 behind Anthony Carter, has taken on a lead receiver role for the Panthers. He leads the league in yardage with over 1,200 total in only 10 games, and his 14 TD’s (including 2 this week) are also top of the league. Yes, a lot of credit goes to Hebert, but let’s not ignore the amazing run of play from Holloway. He has been a huge reason that Michigan is once again flirting with the best record in the league. NEWS & NOTES Our Standings and Stats page gives us league leaders each week, but what about team performance. Thought we would use a slow news week to provide you with the league leaders (and worst team) in several key team rankings. TOTAL YARDS: 1. TBY 3930 2. ARZ 3862 3. JAX 3804 16. BOS 2695 RUSH YARDS: 1. PHI 1351 2. BIR 1158 3. PIT 1066 16. LA 665 PASS YARDS: 1. ARZ 3165 2. MGN 3028 3. JAX 3024 16. BOS 1796 SCORING: 1. TBY 307 2. ARZ 303 3. MGN 270 16. BOS 176 YARDS ALLOWED: 1. MGN 2622 2. PHI 2830 3. LA 2996 16. MEM 3943 RUSH ALLOWED: 1. PHI 526 2. MGN 677 3. CHI 743 16. JAX 1312 PASS ALLOWED: 1. MGN 1945 2. LA 2139 3. JAX 2205 16. MEM 2922 SCORING ALLOWED: 1. PHI 144 2. MGN 154 3. CHI 179 16. MEM 309 TURNOVER DIFF. 1. ARZ +14 2. PHI +11 3. MEM +8 16. HOU -4 INJURIES Defense is ordinarilly at a disadvantage to offense in the high-flying USFL, but now, with more than 60% of the players listed as Doubtful or Out being defenders, we may see some real offensive shoot outs. Looking down the list of walking wounded, or just plain inactives, reads like the USFL defensive all-star team: John Corker (MGN), Dave Duerson (PIT), Richard Byrd (BOS), Mark Kelso (WSH), Junior Ah You (CHI—dislocated shoulder), Doug Prichett (TBY), Ben Needham (BOS) and Gary Barbaro top a long list. So, if you are a betting man, bet the over this week. PLAYOFF PICTURE I realize it sounds weird to be discussing the playoff picture with 6 more weeks of play to go, but Philadelphia is very likely about to clinch the first spot of the year. They have a 5 game lead over 2nd place Boston, and with only 6 games to go, a win this week would lock them up for the Division Title. They may only be another week away from locking up the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference as well. It is stunning that 11 weeks into the season and Philadelphia is the only team in the conference with a winning record. The real battle will be for the 2 wild cards and the Southern title. After 10 games each, Jacksonville and Tampa are 5-5, but teams like Boston (4-6), Washington (3-7), and Birmingham (3-7) which normally would be written off by now still have a legitimate playoff chance in this year of parity (parody?). LOOKING AHEAD Week 12 will bring us some fascinating inter-division play, headlined by Chicago playing in Tampa. With so many teams clustered at or near 5-5, a lot of these games have playoff implications. Oakland and Boston is an intriguing match up of offense v. defense. Pittsburgh plays at Jacksonville in an important game for both clubs. Houston and Birmingham might be in a virtual elimination game this week. Meanwhile some of the stronger teams are drawn up against much weaker foes: LA at New Jersey, Philadelphia v. Denver, Michigan @ Memphis and Arizona @ Washington.

After Week 10 and the last of the byeweeks, we find ourselves 9 games in with 7 to play, just over halfway through the USFL’s third season and while there are some predictable situations, such as Michigan and Philadelphia’s success, the story of the year has been the rapid decline of both Tampa Bay and Birmingham and the equivalent rise of Chicago, Arizona and Los Angeles. The entire Eastern Conference has only 1 team with a winning record (Philadelphia), while the Western Conference has been seeing a lot of quality play. As we look ahead at the second half of the season, let’s explore what has surprised in this third season. PHILADELPHIA (8-1) The Stars have always been the class of the Atlantic Division, but this year they are looking like they have a legitimate chance at a top seed and perhaps a championship. We are 9 weeks in and they already have a 4 game lead over the closest division rival. SURPRISE: Kelvin Bryant. The UNC project has always been a steady contributor, but this year he has been dominating the league. Perhaps it is due to some shifts on the O-line, or perhaps he is just maturing into the roll, but he is on pace for 1,900 yards and a possible MVP trophy. OUTLOOK: While a 2nd half as strong as the first seems unlikely, we expect the Stars to easily win the division and be able to rest some starters ahead of the playoffs. Somewhere in the range of 12-13 wins seems very likely, and with no Southern Division Team above .500, the Stars should have home field until the Championship game in New Jersey (almost a home game as well.) BOSTON (4-5) The Breakers started the season 3-0 before reality set in and they lost 5 of 6 to reach their current status. The first full season with Tony Eason as starter at QB has not produced much offense. The Breakers are relying on a combination of defense and luck to win games, and that is not a long term solution. They are likely to switch to Matt Robinson at QB after their bye week, just to see if they can spark some offensive production. SURPRISE: The production in the passing game. We expected Eason to have some bumps in the road, but this is a team with two very good wideouts (Franz and Lockett) and perhaps the league’s best receiving TE (former Bengal Dan Ross), so we expected far more than their 177 yards a game passing. OUTLOOK: Unless the Robinson experiment proves more successful than anticipated, we see Boston fading down the stretch. They could still back into a playoff spot in the very odd Eastern Conference, but that is as far as we see the Breakers getting. This offseason may require a further investment in the pricey QB market. WASHINGTON (3-6) A lot of pundits thought this was the year that the Federals would challenge in the Atlantic, but an 0-4 start quickly wiped away the optimism in the nation’s capital. The Feds have won 3 of 5 since then, so there is a chance that the Feds will leapfrog Boston and may capture a Wild Card slot. They will need to be more consistent on offense, and find a more dependable pass defense to do so. SURPRISE: Pass Defense. The Federals have talent in the secondary, but with the pass rush underperforming, they have simply not been able to contain the opposition passing game. Washington ranks 14th against the pass, averaging 277 allowed per game. In a passing league, that is a tough hurdle to clear. OUTLOOK: We still like the combination of offensive talent and defensive grit on this squad, but coach Corso is going to need to find some answers in both areas if the Federals are going to get the 5 wins out of 7 which may be needed to snag a playoff berth. NEW JERSEY (2-7) The Generals are a team, and a franchise, in turmoil. They rank dead last in offense despite having All-USFL HB Herschel Walker and the dynamic rookie QB Doug Flutie. Flutie has been more flustered than fabulous so far this year, but we have seen flashes, including a stunning performance vs. Memphis. With an interim coach, no GM and rumors of players being shopped, this is a rough time to be a NJ General. SURPRISE: Other than the house cleaning recently announced, the biggest surprise is just how bad New Jersey has been against the run. The Generals allow 124 yards a game, while only rushing for 80 yards a game. That formula won’t win you many games. OUTLOOK: This is going to be a long season, with an interim coach, and with potential player trades as the Generals are clearly in a rebuilding frame of mind. Pride and professionalism will be needed from the players, because they will have little to play for beyond those values. TAMPA BAY (4-5) Yes, the Bandits are again in 1st place in the division, but 4-5 is not the record this franchise is used to. The Bandits still have a high octane offense (2nd in the league), and their defense is in the Top 10 in several categories, so what has the problem been? If you have a clear answer to that, I think Steve Spurrier would like to hear it, because he seems as perplexed as we do. SURPRISE: The relative disappearance of Gary Anderson. Last season Anderson put together a string of games which had him in the MVP conversation, but this year his contribution seems to have been forgotten. Tampa will need to feed Anderson the ball more than they have so far if they hope to crawl above .500 and into possible division leadership. OUTLOOK: Of all the teams below .500 at this point, we have the greatest faith in Steve Spurrier and the Bandits. This roster is too talented for them to languish around 8-8 at season’s end. We would not be surprised to see them rattle off a significant win streak, one highlighted by their win this week against the formerly undefeated Panthers, which can lead them back to the division title. JACKSONVILLE (4-5) While the Bulls appear to be in the mix in the Southern Division, their 4 wins have all come against teams with a losing record (2-7 NJ and Memphis, 3-6 Houston, and 4-5 Tampa, their best win of the year.) They will need to keep beating the weaker teams in the league as they hope to end the season above .500 and in the playoff mix. SURPRISE: Rookie George Allen has been all the Bulls could have hoped for this year. His 617 yards after 9 games is well ahead of the pace their RB-by-committee managed last year. That balance takes some of the pressure off of Doug Williams and Gary Clark to chuck the ball on every play. OUTLOOK: Offense will have to be the key to any late season run for the Bulls. Their defense is worst in the league against the run (132 yards a game) and is mediocre in other categories. As much as Doug Williams would love to share the burden, a lot will still come down to his ability to move the ball and score more than their opponents. But, with 8-8 being a reasonable playoff record this year, going 4-3 down the stretch is certainly within their range. BIRMINGHAM (3-6) What is happening at Legion Field this year? This is a Stallions team that looks very much like the squad that advanced all the way to the USFL Championship last year, and yet they are finding ways to lose game after game. Just recently they tried jumpstarting the offense by replacing the largely ineffective Cliff Stoudt with former starter Bob Lane, only to see Lane hurt and Stoudt right back at the helm. This is a perfect metaphor for the year, one in which the pieces simply are not fitting in place for Birmingham. SURPRISE: Cliff Stoudt’s inability to protect the ball. Stoudt, who is known as a “play it safe” game manager has 9 interceptions on the year, which, along with some very poor 3rd down decisions, have simply made it tougher for the Stallions to win. Birmingham built a reputation as a blue collar, solid play, no mistakes kind of team. Not the flashy Bandit Ball or Panther offense, but a tortoise to their hares, slow and steady, and a big piece of that was Stoudt’s conservative approach. He needs to rediscover that side of his game. OUTLOOK: There is still a lot of talent on this team, but unless they can stop shooting themselves in the foot, a return to 8-8 seems very unlikely. We expect them to get more wins this year, perhaps 3-4, but that won’t be enough to salvage a very disappointing season. MEMPHIS 2-7 The Showboats have moments, sometimes entire games, where they look like worldbeaters, but these are almost always surrounded by less-inspired games. A lot of this seems to relate to Walter Lewis, who can dazzle with his arm or his legs, but who simply turns the ball over too much. Add a weaker than expected season from the defense, and real issues with run blocking, and you have a team spinning its steamwheels. SURPRISE: The weak output of Marcus DuPree. DuPree was a monster in his one year at Oklahoma, but maybe that is because OU had a solid offensive line, and the Showboats do not. DuPree has fewer than 500 yards and likely will not crack 1,000 this year. We don’t entirely blame him, as the line is simply not opening up holes inside, but the young HB needs to find ways to get past the initial hit and find room at the second level. OUTLOOK: Memphis will likely sneak up on some folks and get a couple of wins under their belts, but this certainly looks like another losing season in the Mid-South. MICHIGAN (8-1) Until the sudden uprising of the Bandits this week, Michigan was making yet another strong case for an undefeated season. They have a defense that allows only 15 points per game, while they average 11 more than that with their vertical game and solid running game. Hebert remains the key to their success, but they have won, and can continue to win with defense when needed. SURPRISE: The injury to John Corker. This is big. The defense has always flowed through the All-USFL MLB, but with him being out for the rest of the year, they will have to find a way to regroup. A big part of their loss to Tampa was a failing of the defense to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage, something Corker excelled at, so this could be a very big loss indeed. OUTLOOK: We still see Michigan wrapping up the #1 seed out West, but they do have to worry that Arizona’s run is legit. They will be a championship contender, even if their defense struggles down the stretch. CHICAGO (7-2) We will be the first to say that we did not see this coming. The Blitz have a top 3 defense—not new this year—but they also boast a solid and balanced offense, something which has eluded them in past years. The Blitz, not the Panthers or Bandits, are actually 1st in the league in total offense, averaging 385 yards a game. If that persists and the defense retains its usual strength, Michigan may have their first real challenge for the division in the league’s 3 years. SURPRISE: Vince Evans. We only got a peak of what the former NFL QB could do last year before a season-ending injury forced Chicago to use untested rookie Blair Kiel for most of the season. Back and apparently better than ever, Evans has been a revelation. He is already over 2,100 passing yards and has built a real rapport with wideout Jackie Flowers. He was forced to miss the Week 10 matchup with Memphis, but the Blitz still found a way to win, which is a good sign for the rest of the year. OUTLOOK: Chicago is mounting a serious challenge to the Michigan Panthers, all the while wondering who will own the team next year. The good news is that winning has made the Blitz a hotter ticket in the Windy City, though now that baseball is in season it may be harder to hold that audience. If attendance drops off it won’t likely be because the team is failing on the field, and that is a good position for a team that has not been worthy of a big fan base in its first 2 seasons. PITTSBURGH (4-5) How much do the Maulers wish they played in the Southern Division? 4-5 is hardly the record of world beaters, but the Maulers have had some impressive outings, most notably a 41-37 shootout with Tampa Bay and a 15-10 slugfest with Boston. But they have also had some real stinkers, including the last 2 weeks against 3-6 Houston and 3-6 Birmingham. If they want to edge into a playoff spot, they need to catch up to some pretty heavy hitters (Michigan, Chicago, Arizona and LA are all ahead of them by multiple games.) SURPRISE: John Jefferson has been the shot in the arm that Pittsburgh, and QB Todd Blackledge, needed. His 649 yards leads the team, and his leadership has made the rest of the receiving corps better. This is still a run-first team behind Mike Rozier, but with more balance, more wins can come the Maulers’ way. OUTLOOK: Looking ahead at the Maulers schedule, they have a tough road ahead. They not only face both Chicago and Michigan again, but must also line up against 8-1 Philadelphia (Week 11) and solid teams in Jacksonville and Oakland. We like the Maulers, but this team is most likely out of playoff contention with a lineup like that ahead of them. HOUSTON (3-6) We are just not sold on the Run & Shoot, and we are beginning to think Jim Kelly agrees with us. Kelly’s play this year has been spotty, largely due to a lack of protection. The LB of a QB is not exactly fleet of foot, but the lack of protection has him running for his life. This has lead to a 9-8 TD to INT ratio, 15 sacks and frequent replacements by Fred Besana due to low-grade injuries. Without a solid line, the Run & Shoot seems to become the Run & Run Away. SURPRISE: Scoring. This is an offense designed to ovewhelm pass defenses, but the Gamblers are only averaging 24.2 points per game, hardly earth-shattering scoring. With little emphasis on the run game, the offense depends on an aerial assault, but the only one being assaulted seems to be the Houston QB. OUTLOOK: This is not going to end well. It is nearly impossible to upgrade an offensive line mid season, and without that upgrade, this team cannot be what the coaches propose. The Gamblers have some winable games ahead, but not enough to climb back into this season. ARIZONA (7-2) After starting the season 1-2, the Wranglers have been hotter than the cattle brand in their logo. They blew past Tampa Bay 42-27, and have been the only team to defeat the Stars (24-17). What is even more impressive is that they have won games with 3 different QB’s at the helm. The star is still Rick Neuheisel, but this is a team with far more talent than we saw in the preseason, and they can win in a lot of ways, which is a great sign come playoff time. SURPRISE: Offensive output. The Wranglers are first in the league in scoring (30.3 yards per game), and with a solid defense (23.1 points per game) they are winning most games comfortably. They will need to keep that up as they still have 2 big games left against LA, and a matchup at Michigan in Week 13. OUTLOOK: Arizona is a dangerous team, one which could find itself in the Western Conference Finals. A lot will depend on their home and away series with LA as the Wrangler would certainly prefer to win the division and get at least 1 home playoff game. LOS ANGELES (6-3) The Express were predicted to take a step this year, and they have. They need to improve their run game (last in the league) but they have the talent to do it with Mack and Boddie. Steve Young also needs to try to make better use of secondary receivers, as he seems locked into either Townsell or Ellis on almost every play, but overall this is a dangerous squad. SURPRISE: The LA Defense. This has not been a squad which has had much to crow about in the team’s first 2 seasons, but this year the LA D is 2nd in the league in yards allowed and 4th in scoring allowed. If the defense can keep up those rankings, the LA offense is certainly strong enough to win more than they lose down the stretch. OUTLOOK: As with the Wranglers, LA’s prospects will largely be defined by the home and away games between the two. The Express have a favorable schedule, with games against Houston, Denver, and New Jersey which should be wins. We expect playoffs for certain, but they will want to push to be the #2 seed and not the #4. OAKLAND (4-5) This is a much better team than the one that shambled to a 3-13 record in 1984. They could easily finish at or above 8-8. The arrival of Brian Sipe has shifted the offense, and while the Invaders are still lagging in scoring (12th at 23.1 points per game) they are controlling the ball and outgaining most foes. SURPRISE: HB Albert Bentley has been a revelation. Buried in the depth chart at Michigan, Bentley started the year as a surprise first-teamer, due to lingering issues with Arthur Whittington’s knee. But his play has made it impossible to remove him from the lineup in favor of Whittington. Bently has over 750 yards and is consistently a top 3 RB in the league. OUTLOOK: Do not be shocked if the Invaders go on a run out of the bye. They face a pretty weak lineup out of the bye with Denver (3-6), Boston (4-5) and Pittsburgh (4-5) all possibly falling to the Invaders. Problem is that their final 4 games include matchups against LA, Arizona and Michigan. They will need to surprise one or more of those teams to have a shot at a playoff spot, but just the fact that we view the Invaders as playoff contenders is in itself a small miracle one year out of finishing last in the league. DENVER (3-6) With talent levels rising across the USFL, it was only a matter of time until the grit and work ethic of the Denver Gold would no longer be enough to consistently win games. Denver just seems outmatched in many games. The new owners have said that they expect to spend more than in the past to fill out the Gold roster, and that seems to be a necessity in the growing arms race of the USFL. SURPRISE: The Defense’s collapse. Denver has always been able to slog through games thanks to a ball control offense and a stingy defense, but this season half of that equation has failed them. Denver is last in the league in overall defense (386 yards per game), and is in the bottom half of the league in both pass and rush defense. Without a solid defense the entire strategy of slowing down the game and winning at the end just does not work. OUTLOOK: While we love the pluck of players like Harry Sydney and Bob Gagliano, the Gold are simply going to have to have an influx of higher tier, and more expensive, players. Winning a game 16-13 is just not common enough in the USFL for the Gold to be successful with their current strategy or their current roster. REVISED SEASON PREDICTIONS: USFL Championship: Philadelphia vs. Arizona League MVP: Kelvin Bryant, RB, PHI Rookie of the Year: Brian Noble, LB, ARZ Coach of the Year: Marv Levy, CHI

SCORES WSH 17 PHI 34 The Stars double up on the Federals on Bryant’s 130 yards. PIT 14 BIR 48 Cribbs and a resurgent Cliff Stoudt are too much for the Maulers. CHI 34 MEM 23 Blair Kiel subs for an injured Evans and leads Chicago to the win. HOU 22 JAX 30 George Adams runs wild against a depleted Houston defense. MGN 10 TBY 31 A huge turn of events as Tampa shuts down the mighty Panthers. BYES: ARZ, DEN, LA, OAK GAME OF THE WEEK While the Tampa Bay-Michigan game was a huge shocker, it was not particularly close, so we chose to favor the Breakers’ 7-point win against the Generals. It was a game Boston needed to have, after several tough losses, and a game New Jersey was primed to lose after a week of turmoil. Both teams were coming off their bye weeks, and interim head coach Joe Mazur had his Generals ready to play. New Jersey came out hot, scoring 10 in the first to start the game. Boston would fight back in the 2nd with a 32 yard Mazzetti field goal and a Marcus Marek Int return for TD off of a poor throw by Doug Flutie. The young gunslinger would recover and lead the Generals on a 11 play drive to end the first half with a Ruzek FG and a 13-10 lead. In the second half, the Breakers found their groove as they rattled off 17 unanswered points in the 3rd and 4th quarter. The scoring started when Matt Robinson, in his first USFL start, found TE Dan Ross on a seam pattern for an 11 yard score midway through the 3rd. He would lead them to two more scores in the 4th quarter, one a long, long field goal (58 yards) from Mazzetti, and the other a short drive after a Carthon fumble, that ended with an 8 yard rumbling score from veteran Richard Crump. New Jersey would answer this score with a Flutie to Lam Jones 18 yard strike, but it was too little too late, and Boston closed out the game and a 27-20 win to move them to 4-5. As debut games go, Joe Mazur’s was not the worst. The Generals played hard, but Boston just had more to offer, and they remain in possible playoff contention as New Jersey falls to a dismal 2-7. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK Normally we give the Performance of the Week for a full game’s efforts, but this week we want to celebrate one amazing play turned in by Chicago LB Ben Apuna. Sure, Apuna had a solid day all around, recording 8 tackles and generally reaking havoc with the Memphis line, but on the first offensive play for Memphis in the 3rd quarter, with the Showboats leading 13-10, Ben Apuna’s effort led not only to a lead change, but to a complete momentum shift in the game. Memphis had the ball on their own 18, having received the halftime kickoff. They called a play action bootleg, with the elusive Walter Lewis faking the ball to DuPree and then circling out to his right. The play action did not fool Apuna, who was waiting for Lewis. The elusive QB tried to juke Apuna, but the savvy LB saw it coming and connected with Lewis’s midsection, popping the ball out. He then scrambled after it, picking it up on the 13 and rumbling to the endzone, dragging WR Willie Gault along the way for the final 5 yards. It was a sack, fumble, score that sucked the air out of the Liberty Bowl and led to Chicago pulling away for 17-point 3rd quarter and an easy 34-23 win. NEWS & NOTES Our sources are beginning to hear rumors about the ownership search for both the Chicago and Boston franchises, and the news does not sound good for either city. Despite Chicago’s recent success and improved attendance, the two potential ownership groups out of the Windy City have had a tough time coming together to form one strong proposal. Alone each group is simply undercapitalized to be a serious contender, not when there are potential ownership groups representing other cities which are making strong bids to buy and relocate the Blitz. A similar situation exists for Boston, who still struggle with attendance in part due to their undersized stadium at Harvard. A solid financial group has yet to appear for the Boston market, and it appears that league founder David Dixon has his eyes on the Breakers as a possible avenue towards adding another Southern city to the league. Unless new ownership groups coalesce in the next few weeks, the league may seriously consider relocating these two founding franchises simply to get solid ownership for each. This would be a shame for the two fanbases, but may be the best path forward for the league. INJURIES A handful of season-ending or impacting injuries this week. John Hull, G for the Gold is done for the year with a hip injury that may be career ending. Boston TE Mariano Alarcon is likely out for at least 2 weeks with an abdominal strain, and Philadlephia will be without RT Raymond Soto who broke his arm against the Federals. The biggest injury, one that certainly impacted their game this week and likely will deeply affect the defense for the rest of the season is the torn quad muscle of All-USFL LB John Corker. Without his skills and leadership the Michigan defense was a shadow of itself this week against Tampa Bay, and could suffer for the rest of the year, as Corker is expected to miss at least 8 weeks. LOOKING AHEAD With Week 11 we return to all teams playing, and we return with 8 teams playing in their divisions, so this should be a huge week as teams try to start the homestretch push for playoff berths. Out west we will see Denver travel to Oakland, but all eyes will be on LA traveling to Arizona with first place on the line. IN the South, Memphis has a tough task against a resurgent Tampa Bay, while Jacksonville tries to keep pace by stealing a win in Birmingham. Meanwhile, the Atlantic teams all travel to take on Central Division foes. Of the bunch, the best game will likely be the Battle for the Keystone State, as Philly heads to the Burgh. Washington has a tough matchup against Chicago, but not as tough as the wobbly Generals having to face the Panthers. Finally, Boston’s anemic offense has to try to keep pace with the Gamblers in Houston.

In third of four weeks of divisional byes, the Atlantic recouped, while the Southern, Central and Western divisions battled. This week we saw Michigan play shutdown defense, we saw the run & shoot actually running and shooting, and we saw upstart Arizona proving they are legit. All this plus a monster day from oft-injured Rick Neuheisel in his return to action. SCORES PIT 20 HOU 41 The Run & Shoot stopped misfiring as backup RB S. Howell scored 3 TD. MGN 17 CHI 3 A surprising defensive struggle. John Williams’s 149 yards was huge. MEM 10 LA 37 Young & Co. continue to roll, starting the game 27-0 in this one. JAX 24 OAK 31 The Invaders outlast Jacksonville in a back and forth shootout. TBY 27 ARZ 42 Reaves passes for 428, but Rick Neuheisel’s 5 TD are too much for Tampa. BYES: BOS, NJ, PHI, WSH GAME OF THE WEEK Birmingham Stallions 23 Denver Gold 20 While not a star-studded game by any stretch of the imagination, the return of Bob Lane under center, while rocky, was enough to help Birmingham win their first game since opening week. The Gold had their focus on Joe Cribbs, and were able to both keep him out of the endzone and contain him to only 58 yards rushing. Bob Lane had a mixed game in his return as the starter in Birmingham, throwing for 317 yards and 2 scores, but also throwing 3 costly picks in the game. It was a well-matched game all the way through, with the two teams trading scores on their way to a 14-10 Birmingham lead. In the third both teams tightened up and 4 of 5 scores in the second half were field goals. With the game tied at 20 with just over 3 minutes to go, Birmingham mounted what would be the game winning drive. With only 2 seconds on the clock Stallions kicker Scott Norwood hit on a 34 yarder to give Birmingham their first win in 8 weeks and sending Denver down to a 3-6 record as they head into their bye week. There are rumblings that the new majority owners of the Gold are none too happy about the work that Craig Morton has done this year, but will they go the route of the Generals and ditch their coach mid-season, or wait until the end of the year to see what Morton can do with 7 more games to play? PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK Some weeks this is a tough call, but this week it is a no-brainer. After spending the past 2 ½ weeks on the bench with a bum wrist, and after watching Greg Landry have a career day last week, it is clear that Rick Neuheisel was itching to get back in the game and show why he was Arizona’s starter. The UCLA product (as pictured to the right) threw for 373 scores on a 21 of 29 day, and hit on 5 scoring throws, including 2 to slot receiver Wamon Buggs. He also found Trumaine Johnson, RB Mike Pruitt and 2nd TE Rosendo Howe for scores. Neuheisel had no trouble finding open receivers, averaging an amazing 12.9 yards per completion. While his two interceptions make his scoreline look less than perfect, it has to be said that one was a late half hail mary and the other a tipped ball that fell into a DB’s arms, so nothing that will keep the coaches up at night. Arizona moves to an impressive 7-2 with the win, and Neuheisel was successful in reminding everyone why the Wranglers drafted him, signed him, and made him their starter. NEWS & NOTES Today’s theme, the shifting sands of fate. For two years the USFL’s Southern Division has been one of its best, placing a team in both USFL Championship games and boasting Tampa Bay as the league’s first champion. Meanwhile the West has been a bit of a laughingstock, with all 4 teams struggling to make it to .500 by season’s end, and having had some of the worst performances in the league for the past 2 years. Well, that was then and this is now. Arizona is one of the top teams in the league at 7-2, and the 6-3 LA Express have also been impressive. Even Oakland and Denver have had their moments this year. And at the same time the Southern Division is looking like a shadow of its former self. Once mighty Tampa leads the division at 3-5, tied with an equally erratic Jacksonville team. Memphis and Birmingham have struggled to 2 wins each, but neither looks like they will make a late run. While the South may still be kings of attendance in the USFL, something has shifted and this year the usually powerful division may be lucky to get more than 1 team in the playoffs. INJURIES Another week, another slew of players with dings, bruises, strains, and a few serious issues. Looking across the league we see some lesser injuries which will keep some big name players out at least a week: Clarence Verdin (concussion), Scott Woerner (wrist), Vince Evans (knee), Reggie Collier (concussion), Chuck Fusina (shoulder). Bob Lane, in his first start this year, dislocated a finger, so we may see Stoudt back in Week10. Arizona’s Stan White is doubtful with a groin pull, while Philadelphia’s William Fuller may miss time with a potential fracture to his collarbone. LOOKING AHEAD Week 10 is the last of the league’s 4 bye weeks, this time with the Pacific Division getting a much-needed rest. In the meantime, the Atlantic returns with two important head-to-head games. Boston will try to stop its losing streak at 5 games as they head to the Meadownlands to take on the 2-6 Generals and their interim head coach. Washington will try to claw back into playoff contention as they play the Stars at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. In other matchups, it’s the Central visiting the Southern Division. Earlier in the year the 4 Central teams swept their Southern opponents. Will they do it again as Pittsburgh faces the Stallions at Legion Field, Chicago rolls downriver to Memphis, Houston plays Jacksonville and the undefeated Michigan Panthers try to keep the 3-5 Tampa Bay Bandits on the wrong end of .500.

Sporting News, April 30, 1985 While the USFL might be celebrating its recent NFL lawsuite winfall, not all USFL owners are happy with the state of affairs. Donald Trump, owner of the 2-6 New Jersey Generals, is fuming and his frustration has led to some radical changes and perhaps more to come. Within hours of the Generals’ Week 8 loss to Arizona, Trump announced the firing of his head coach, Walt Michaels. Michaels had been considered to be on the hot seat after the Generals began the season poorly, and now, with the Generals’ bye week scheduled for this week, it will be defensive coordinator Joe Mazur who will take over as interim head coach. Trump also announced the firing of the team’s General Manager and Director of Football Operations, both of whom have been with the team since its inception in 1983. Trump has also apparently reached out to several USFL teams about potential trades for star players such as Herschel Walker, Doug Fluite, Jim LeClair, or the injured Gary Barbaro. The sudden implosion of the New York metro franchise seems to stem from a series of setbacks related to league matters, but now the franchise itself is becoming a concern to league owners. Donald Trump was tabbed by David Dixon and others to head up the New York franchise when the league was first forming back in 1982. He had even placed an initial deposit with the league, but pulled it back when there was a chance that he would be able to purchase the Baltimore Colts of the NFL. When the NFL spurned him, he began negotiations with the Generals’ erstwhile owner J. Walter Duncan to purchase the team after the 1983 season. The deal was settled in August of 1983, and Trump took over the franchise. Within a month of his approval by the council of league owners, Trump let first year head coach Chuck Fairbanks go, and signed former Jets Head Coach Michaels to replace him. He then engaged in the most aggressive NFL player poaching of any USFL franchise, signing Jim LeClair at linebacker, All-Pro safety Gary Barbaro of the Kansas City Chiefs, and former NFL MVP QB Brian Sipe from the Cleveland Browns. Trump’s hope was to add NFL quality talent to a 1983 squad which had only former U. of Georgia Heisman Winner Herschel Walker on its roster as fan-attractive talent. On one level the plan worked, as the Generals were one of the top attendance leaders in 1984, despite having a losing record for most of the year. In the 1984 offseason, Trump began working with several other owners, primarily in non-NFL cities, to sway the ownership council to move the league’s season from spring to fall in hopes of at first competing with, and eventually merger with the NFL. Trump made the case that the league would slowly hemmorage money in the spring and would never be considered a major league by playing in what most considered baseball season. He argued that a relocation to the fall, paired with an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL would lead to the NFL being forced to accept several USFL franchises into the fold, as many as 8 was his contention. Of course, his New Jersey franchise would be a core part of this merger strategy, despite the NFL already having 2 New York franchises already playing in Giants Stadium, where the Generals also play. Trump anticipated being the lead proponent for the Fall and believed he had brought enough owners on board to sway the vote in his favor, but the timing of the league’s regular owner’s meeting ended up causing him to miss the key arguments. Trump was in a different court that day, defending himself against claims of racial bias and descrimination related to several apartment buildings he owns in New York. By the time he was cleared to return to the owner’s meeting the vote was lost and the USFL would remain in spring. Not only that, but he was found responsible for racial discrimination in the NY City court case and suffered a significant financial penalty from that case. The Generals would remain in the Spring along with the rest of the USFL, and Trump would not be able to use the fall strategy to push for NFL ownership for his franchise. In his mind it was a catastrophe, and there was one man to blame, his new Head Coach, whom he had set up as his stand-in during the league owners meetings. Walt Michaels may be a solid football coach, but he was out of his depths in the meeting with league owners, sharing none of Trump’s charisma or persuasive ability, not to mention approaching the matter from a football standpoint instead of as a businessman. Trump, perhaps correctly, viewed the lack of persuasive ability from Michaels as a major factor in several owners shifting their vote towards the position of Tampa Bay owner John Bassett, with the eventual vote being 12-4 for spring. To make matters worse, Michaels was not proving he could handle talent on the team. The Generals, despite the presence of Sipe and others, were mediocre at best. They drew well at the box office, mostly due to the star power of their roster, but they finished third in the Atlantic Division. So, for 1985 Trump blew up the roster again, trading Sipe to the Oakland Invaders in a 3-way deal that would allow the Generals to sign America’s QB, Heisman winner Doug Flutie of Boston College. Flutie did not come cheap, using the potential of an NFL signing to negotiate a lucrative deal with the Generals. But, with Flutie in the fold, once again hopes were high that the Generals would live up to their potential as a flagship for the league. They have not. The Generals are at the midpoint of their season and find themselves with only 2 wins, far behind division-leading Philadelphia, and likely playing out the string for the remainder of 1985. With the firing of Michaels, the team is almost certain to limp through the second half of the season, and with rumors that Trump is now proposing trades for his top stars, the team has moved from underachievers to a full-on train wreck. League owners who were willing to speak off the record for this article have expressed significant concern about the franchise and its owner. The league can hardly afford to have a laughingstock of a team in its largest market, not when both Chicago and Los Angeles have been underachieving financially for the first 2 seasons (despite improvements this year). It also cannot have an owner who sells off his top talent, though I expect there are several teams that would welcome the chance to acquire Herschel Walker. While no one would say so for the record, it appears that there may be a movement afoot to either constrain the options that Mr. Trump would have with the Generals, or to convince him to sell the team. This may be the best option as it is clear that Mr. Trump has no desire to continue to lose money, even minimal amounts of money, on an endeavor which he no longer sees as having a significant upside. He is an investor above all, and without the passion for football that some owners have, or the chance to bring big-time sports to a beloved city or region that lacks it, as others seems to express, the motivation for him to remain with the USFL seems minimal. Will New Jersey find trading partners for some of its top talent? How might that impact the balance of power in the league? What will owners do with a team that seems to be self-destructing? And when that franchise is in the largest media market in the world, how does that impact the league as a whole? It seems that even the potential winfall for the USFL from the recent victory in court against the NFL is not enough to settle the chaos with the New Jersey Generals, and so, the league may need to address a major crisis at a time when they should be in a celebratory mood, not crisis mode.

SCORES BIR 26 MEM 27 Birmingham loses a heartbreaker on last-second Herrera fieldgoal. DEN 20 BOS 14 Boston loses 5th in a row as Eason is pulled for Robinson. ARZ 34 NJ 13 Wranglers corral the Generals as Landry throws for 377 and 3 TD. OAK 16 PHI 24 Philly takes 21-3 lead at half and holds on for 8 point win. LA 16 WSH 19 Resurgent Federals edge LA in overtime for 3rd win in 4 games. BYES: CHI, HOU, MGN, PIT GAME OF THE WEEK Tampa Bay Bandits 24 Jacksonville Bulls 28 In a stunning turn of events. Doug Williams leads the Bulls back from a 24-7 deficit with 3 scores in the 4th quarter to stun the Bandits. For 3 quarters it looked like Tampa would defeat their in-state rival and move a game up in the unusually weak Southern Division, but with their backs to the wall, the Bulls rallied late to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Tampa Bay had built a 17 point lead in 3 quarters, with John Reaves hitting his TE’s for 2 scores and Greg Boone scoring a third. Jacksonville had focused, with some success, on limiting Reaves’s access to his top targets, wideouts Eric Truvillion and Cris Collinsworth as well as HB Gary Anderson, but Tampa Bay was still the better team foremost of the game. That all changed when Bulls CB Terry Kinard jumped in front of a pass intended for Truvillion and set the Bulls up deep in Tampa territory at the end of the 3rd quarter. It would take Jacksonville only 3 plays to score from there, a Thomas Lear TD catch from Williams. Jacksonville would add another on their next drive, a 1 yard George Adams run that capped a 9 play drive. Tampa was feeling the heat, and with their top receivers blanketed by the Bulls defensive scheme, Reaves again forced a ball, this time trying to hit Willie Gillespie. Kevin Harris, the Bulls nickel corner, was right there and took the ball away, giving the Bulls a shot with 3.45 left in the game. Doug Williams led the Bulls down the field, aided by an untimely defensive holding call on 3rd and 4. Killing clock as they marched downfield, the Bulls punched the ball in with only 40 seconds left. Tampa tried, but failed to mount a final drive, needing a TD to win, and the Bulls faithful, all 51,202 in attendance for the rivalry game, went home happy. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK While the Bulls CB’s came up big in our game of the week, we cannot bypass a great performance by the “Old Man Wrangler”, Greg Landry. Landry had gracefully accepted his role as backup to the young gunslinger Rick Neuheisel when the season began, and once again injury hit Neuheisel, putting Landry back behind center. After a couple of lackluster games, one in which Landry too was sidelined by injury, the old man came out guns blazing this week. Landry would rip apart the suspect New Jersey secondary for 377 yards on a 31 for 38 day. His 3 TD passes were more than enough to defeat the spiraling Generals, but what was even more amazing was that in the few times he was pressured by NJ defenders, Landry actually scrambled for good yardage. He ended the game with his highest USFL rushing total ever, 10 carries for 30 yards and 3 first downs. Those are not Joe Cribbs or Herschel Walker numbers, but for the knobby kneed veteran, those were impressive. With Neuheisel possibly making his return to the lineup after a wrist injury next week, this might be Landry’s swansong. If so, it sure was a beaut. NEWS AND NOTES Some big changes announced this week around some of the more desperate teams. As anticipated, Generals owner Donald Trump announced just one day after the team’s latest defeat that Walt Michaels would no longer be coaching the Generals. Trump also announced that the team’s GM and Head of Football Operations would also be let go. Team DC Joe Mazur will lead the team on an interim basis. In Boston, 2nd year QB Tony Eason was pulled from the game with Denver after another rough half of football. After the game coach Dick Coury stated that the Breakers would use the bye week to determine their QB future. While backup Matt Robinson also did not have much success against the Gold, there is a sense that he could be the starter once Boston resumes play in Week 10. And in Birmingham, with the Stallions having collapsed from USFL Championship contender to 1-6 disaster in short order, coach Rollie Dotsch is also making a change. Backup and 1983 starter Bob Lane has split snaps with Cliff Stoudt over the 2 week hiatus of their bye week, and while Stoudt was given the start in Week 8, leading to a 6th loss, we expect to see the cagey Lane under center when the Stallions face off against Denver next week. INJURIES While there were no major losses this week, attrition is certainly hitting some teams harder than others. Looking at the injury report for the week we see that some, like Birmingham (3 listed), Chicago (2 listed) and LA (2 listed) are relatively healthy, while other clubs, like Boston (6 listed), Memphis (7 listed) and New Jersey (9 listed, including “probable” status for both Flutie and Walker) are having to go deep into their bench to suit up 45 each week. Philadelphia, despite their gaudy 7-1 record, must be looking forward to the bye this week as they list 9 players on their injury list, but most in the Doubtful-Questionable-Probable range, meaning that there is a good chance all of these injuries will come off the report by their Week 10 matchup. LOOKING AHEAD As mentioned, Week 9 is the bye week for the four Atlantic Division teams, giving New Jersey and Boston time to reassess and restructure, while Washington and Philly, both red hot, are hoping to maintain momentum over the pause. In Week 9 action, we have the Central playing within their division with an intriguing Pittsburgh-Houston matchup, but an utterly huge game as the 7-0 Panthers travel to the 6-1 Blitz. In other games, Denver will host the flailing Stallions, LA will try to move to 6-3 (their best record ever) as they host the Showboats, Jacksonville will travel to Oakland, and the Tampa Bay Bandits will try to get back to playoff form but have a tough matchup as they travel to Tempe to face the surprisingly 6-2 Wranglers.

SCORES ARZ 31 DEN 13 Landry & Koegel split time as Arizona rolls over punchless Denver. OAK 16 LA 27 Young throws for 2 TD and runs for another in battle of California. NJ 24 CHI 31 Generals are game, but cannot contain dual threat Vince Evans. PHI 23 HOU 10 Besana besieged by Philly D as Bryant again tops 100 yards. WSH 10 MGN 38 Holloway catches 5 for 200 yards and 2 scores in Panther romp. BYES: BIR, JAX, MEM, TBY GAME OF THE WEEK Boston Breakers 10 Pittsburgh Maulers 15 Not the most dynamic game of the week, but a beauty of a defensive battle as both teams play old school field position football in this one. On a blustery day at Three Rivers, neither team could count on their passing game for much. Both QB’s completed below 45% of their passes, and both defenses keyed in on the feature backs, with Boston limiting Rozier and Funderburk to 102 total yards and Pittsburgh holding Crump and Jordan to 103. In a game that was won in the trenches, and on the foot of their kickers, Pittsburgh managed just enough to outduel the Breakers. Boston started the game strong, driving in the 1st quarter for an eventual Crump dive over the pile for a 7-0 lead. Pittsburgh answered in the 2nd quarter with a Rozier TD, and both teams swapped field goals, with each team making use of the right to left wind and kicking long scores when they had the wind to their backs. In the second half it was more war of attrition. Boston was never able to cross the 50, and Pittsburgh was limited to 2 more Vitello field goals. The final score of the day seemed a fitting one, as a longsnap on a Boston punt sailed over the punter’s head and through the endzone for a safety. 15-10 was the final in a game that reminded many of old school 1950’s football. PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK If the Boston-Pittsburgh game was old school football, the New Jersey-Chicago game may have given us a glmpse of the future of football, the mobile quarterback. Following in the footsteps of Walter Lewis’s amazing performance earlier this year, veteran Vince Evans destroyed the Generals in the air and with his feet. In addition to completing 69% of his passes for 265 yards and scoring strike to Jackie Flowers, Evans used effective scrambling and a few well-timed QB draws and bootlegs to run for an additional 97 yards and 2 scores, including a 52 yard scamper that wowed the Soldier Field faithful and gave Chicago its first score of the day. Evans was both efficient in the pocket and dangerous outside of it, giving New Jersey fits all day. While the cagey vet does not have the speed of Lewis, or the dynamism of Flutie, he showed this week that he is plenty spry and plenty dangerous with the ball in his hands. NEWS AND NOTES Less than a week after the stunning $675M verdict out of New York, the USFL is flush with optimism about the future. This even seemed to translate to more enthusiasm in the stands, as the league had its best week of attendance all season, even without the 4 southern teams in the mix. Chicago fans came out in droves to watch the Blitz win their 6th of the year, with over 45,000 in attendance. In Michigan attendance topped 40,000 for only the 2nd time this year despite a lackluster matchup against the Federals. Denver drew 41,000 despite poor play by the Gold this year, and even the LA Express topped 35,000 fo the first time in 2 years. Overall, attendance for the week averaged a very healthy 37,920, well above the 30,000 desired. With the Southern Division (and top attendance teams Memphis and Jacksonville) playing next week, the news could improve again for the league. INJURIES For those teams that have not had their bye yet, the grind of the season is clearly leading to some issues. We saw several quarterbacks just break down this week. Hebert, Fusina, Landry, and even Flutie came out of the game at one point or another, though none seemed to have sustained injuries. We also saw the running backs suffer. Mike Rozier missed part of the game with a hyper-extended knee. Walker came out for a quarter with a stiff neck, and Harry Sydney suffered a deep thigh bruise. There were few significant injuries, most notably a possible season ender for Pittsburgh SS Dave Duerson (Hip), but a lot of dings, cramps, exhaustion and muscle injuries all around the league. It looks like the bye weeks are coming at just the right time for most USFL teams. LOOKING AHEAD The Central Division gets their bye this week, and the Southern Division returns with interdivisional play as Birmingham and Memphis each try to get only their 2nd win of the year while Tampa, amazingly stuck at 3-3, tries to avoid a letdown at Jacksonville. The Pacific also flies east to play the 4 Atlantic teams, with Denver @ Boston, Arizona in New Jersey, Oakland v. Philly, and LA in the nation’s capital to take on the Federals. Best game of the week may be Oakland at the Stars as Brian Sipe has looked sharp and the Oakland defense has been leaps and bounds ahead of the 1984 version.