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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.

The USFL’s second week saw expansion Jacksonville make a statement, Bobby Hebert once again own a defense, a resurgent LA offense, and a surprisingly stingy Washington defense. Attendance was down nearly 10,000 from week one as poor showings in Boston, Michigan and Oakland offset 51,000 in New Jersey and nearly 47,000 in Birmingham. SCORES WSH 13 BOS 10 Washington’s D holds Boston to only 210 total yards. JAX 27 BIR 17 Doug Williams’s 328 yard, 3 TD day stuns the Stallions. CHI 23 MGN 27 Another big day from Bobby Hebert in divisional win. LA 30 ARZ 19 Tony Boddie busts out for 132 yards in LA romp. DEN 20 OAK 27 Balanced attack leads Oakland to 4th quarter comeback. PIT 16 MEM 30 Four interceptions of Glen Carano provide easy win for Memphis BYES: Houston, Philadelphia GAME OF THE WEEK: Tampa Bay Bandits 30 New Jersey Generals 27 Behind a strong game from RB Hershel Walker, New Jersey fought back from an early 13-0 deficit, taking the lead in the 4th quarter only to watch as John Reaves led a last minute drive that gave Tampa the victory with only seconds to spare. In a game that saw both running backs, Walker and Tampa's Gary Anderson slice up the opposing defenses (134 and 128 yards respectively), it was the QB play of John Reaves that once again made the difference. While Reaves failed to complete 40% of his passes, the vertical game of Tampa was once again too explosive for an opponent to handle. Brian Sipe played well, completing 24 of 38 for 228 and 2 scorses, but it was Reaves, hitting TE Lewis Gilbert and wideout Willie Gillespie on longballs that once again proved to be too much. It seems that having the offseason to decipher the Tampa long ball game has not yet proven to be enough time for USFL defenses, as Reaves and company continue to find openings behind the coverage for their vertical game. NEWS & NOTES Other noteworthy performances this week include Memphis CB Alex Clark (2 Int, including a return for score), Oakland RB Arthur Whittington (162 yards on 21 carries), Jacksonville WR Gary Clark (12 catches for 128 and a score), and Pittsburgh SS Dave Duerson (10 tackles, a forced fumble and recovery). Special kudos to the entire Washington D, which kept Boston QB Johnnie Walton to only 15 of 51 pass attempts (29.4% completion rate) in a game most expected to go for the homestanding Breakers. INJURIES Denver TE Bob Niziolek left the DEN-OAK game with a concussion, but may be able to play next week. Chicago’s Vince Evans was unable to go this week, as Blair Kiel took the helm, but should be back next week. Arizona’s Tim Spencer was also unable to play vs. LA due to his dislocated, and possibly fractured finger. X-rays were inconclusive, and Spencer hopes to return to action in Week 4, after the Wranglers Week 3 bye. LOOKING AHEAD Four teams take their bye in Week 3 (Arizona, Chicago, Memphis and Tampa), so it is a short slate, with 2 Saturday games (WSH @ NJ and OAK @ HOU), and 4 Sunday games. The biggest matchups to watch are Boston, trying to get on track at Philadelphia (they will play back to back games in a weird schedule quirk) and Birmingham seeking to knock off unbeaten Jacksonville.

Week One of the 1984 USFL Season saw big crowds (43,236 average), healthy TV ratings, and some good games. In a week where 2 quarterbacks each threw for 5 scores, and 10 different receivers went for more than 100 yards, it was a good week for offensive football and a good kickoff for year 2 of the USFL SCORES BOS 21 NJ 33 Brian Sipe throws for 319 yards in the win. MEM 16 BIR 30 Joe Cribbs runs wild for 120 yards and 3 scores. WSH 17 TBY 35 John Reaves throws for 5 TD’s, 3 to Eric Truvillion PIT 17 ARZ 35 Greg Landry silences critics with 384 yards and 5 scores. MGN 35 DEN 27 Michigan, with Hebert at the helm, avenges playoff loss at Denver. CHI 21 OAK 6 Chicago D smothers the Invaders. Vince Evans throws for 2 scores. HOU 10 JAX 31 Run & Shoot fizzles against Bulls. WR Gary Clark scores twice for Bulls. GAME OF THE WEEK: LA Express 28 Philadelphia Stars 31 Philly got a tougher than anticipated matchup against a revitalized LA Express. Led by rookie Steve Young, LA went back and forth with the highly-favored Stars, trailing 21-14 at half. Philadelphia scored 10 more in the third to pull out to a 17 point lead, but LA fought back in the 4th, with contributions from all 3 running backs, including a Broddie 4 yard TD run and a Kevin Mack score on a shovel pass from Young. Young finished 17 of 26 for 209 yards and 3 scores. For Philly, Chuck Fusina threw 4 TD passes on a day when the LA defense held Kelvin Bryant to only 31 yards rushing. It was enough, but just enough as Philadelphia held on for a 3 point win in front of 33,500 at Veteran’s Stadium. NEWS & NOTES It was a day for vets in the air, with Sipe, Landry and Reaves leading the way, but on the ground it was the young guns in charge with Joe Cribbs and Mike Rozier the week’s only 100 yard rushers. On defense Boston’s Buster Homer had 2 Ints against Brian Sipe and new Philly DE William Fuller scored his first sack to go with 5 tackles. INJURIES: No major injuries this week, though a dislocated finger might keep ARZ RB Tim Spencer out of next week’s game. Dings to QB’s Vince Evans and Doug Williams lead both to be listed as Questionable for week 2 action. LOOKING AHEAD Week two is highlighted by the Bandits visiting New Jersey, Chicago playing Michigan in divisional action, Pittsburgh facing off against fellow expansion Memphis, and all 4 Pacific teams in divisional matchups, LA @ ARZ and DEN @ OAK. Houston and Philadelphia have the first bye weeks of the 17 week season.

ABC Sports, March 2, 1984 The USFL kicks off this weekend with 8 games over 3 days, starting with tonight's matchup of Michigan and Denver, a rematch from the playoffs last year, but this time with Bobby Hebert healthy and ready to lead the Panthers. With 4 expansion teams added to the 12 founding franchises the league has added a lot of new talent, and some big names, to their rosters. As we look at the matchups for this week, let's focus on the potential stars for each team. Michigan @ Denver-- Friday, 8pm ABC Bobby Hebert returns for the Panthers and Denver lines up with a new QB in former Chiefs draft pick Bob Gagliano replaces Ken Johnson, who was signed by the NFL's Colts. Vegas places Michigan as a 7 point favorite in this playoff rematch. LA @ Philadelphia-- Saturday, 2pm ABC Steve Young, the athletic dual threat from BYU begins the year as the LA quarterback, hoping to add energy to the Express attack, while the Stars return the core of their '83 division winner. Rookie DE William Fuller has looked unstoppable in Stars camp and hopes to chase down Young in this one. Philadelphia is favored by 5 points. Pittsburgh @ Arizona-- Saturday, 7pm ESPN The expansion Maulers, led by former Cowboy Glen Carano and 1983 Heisman Winner Mike Rozier head out to the desert to face the "New" Wranglers, who look a lot like the old Chicago Blitz. Veteran Greg Landry will start for the Wranglers, and look for him to try to connect with wideouts Trumaine Johnson and rookie Louis Lipps. Vegas gives Arizona the home field edge, a 2 point favorite. Boston @ New Jersey-- Sunday, 2pm ABC Regional Johnnie Walton leads the Breakers into New Jersey to take on Hershel Walker and the Generals. New Jersey added NFL vets in QB Brian Sipe, S Gary Barbaro and Head Coach Walt Michaels to add leadership to an underperforming squad. Boston's top rookie, QB Tony Eason is not expected to play, but promising rookie RB Buford Jordan will share carries with Richard Crump for the Breakers. New Jersey is a 3 point favorite at home. Washington @ Tampa Bay-- Sunday, 2pm ABC Regional The defending champs host the team with the worst record in the league last year. The Federals have a new QB in former Stallion Reggie Collier, but the key will be their RB tandem of Craig and Bledsoe. For Tampa, the champs look much the same as we saw last year, with a few new pieces on defense, like FSU DT Alphonso Carreker. Tampa is a heavy 13 point favorite to start the season with a win. Houston @ Jacksonville-- Sunday, 5pm ABC Regional Two expansion teams clash in this late afternoon game. Houston has highly tauted Miami QB Jim Kelly and a trio of speedy wideouts, while Jacksonville will depend on the savvy of former Buccaneers QB Doug Williams. The game is a toss-up in Vegas. Chicago @ Oakland-- Sunday, 5pm ABC Regional Two underachievers from last season meet with an eye on redefining themselves. Fred Besana leads a largely unchanged Oakland offense, while former Bear Vince Evans gets the start at QB for Chicago. Oakland is a 4 point favorite at home. Memphis @ Birmingham-- Sunday, 9pm ESPN The expansion Showboats come into Birmingham with what looks like a solid defense, led by rookie DE Reggie White, and a new signing, having inked 1-year wonder from Oklahoma, RB Marcus Dupree. Dupree will not be eligible to play for 2 more weeks, so Memphis will depend on QB Walter Lewis against the Stalliions, who now boast former NFL vets Cliff Stoudt and Joe Cribbs to power their offense. Birmingham is an 8 point favorite. So, are you ready for football? Spring football and the USFL are back, bigger, better, and ready to battle. Let's get to the games!