WEEK 1 SCORES

USFL Scores and summaries for Week One- Sept. 14, 1986

EARLY GAMES

Baltimore @ New Jersey - Generals 49-Stars 17

The first game of the 1986 USFL season kicked off at 1:00 p.m. in front of 45,000 fans at Giants Stadium- a crowd that roared time and time again as the home team demolished the defending champions. Led by Herschel Walker's 182 yards and five touchdowns, the Generals never gave the Stars any chance to climb back into things. QB Doug Flutie connected on fourteen of seventeen for 211 yards including a TD to Clarence Collins, he also scored from a yard out on a QB sneak. Baltimore hurt themselves with seven penalties,four turnovers, and four sacks allowed.

San Antonio @ Houston - Gamblers 27-Gunslingers 3

Another blowout, with the visiting team's only score a Nick Mike-Mayer field goalfrom forty-nine yards out. Highlights from this one included Jim Kelly-to-Rickey Sanders for a fifteen yard TD, and a Gary Plummer INT TD return to put the icing on the cake.

Orlando @ Tampa Bay - Bandits 38-Renegades 14

The Bandits made it three blowouts in the first three games by beating up on Orlando.Three John Reaves TD passes and two TD runs for rookie Tyrone Groshek led the way.

Birmingham @ Jacksonville - Stallions 21-Bulls 19

This one went down to the wire as the Bulls kicked a field goal with 3:22 remaining but failed to recover the onside kick attempt. The higlight of the game was a seventy-four yard punt return TD by Stallions rookie RB/WR Neal Chipman with 1:19 left in the first half. Joe Cribbs was held to sixty yards but scored once while Mike Rozier rang up 161 yards but was kept out of the end zone.

LATE GAMES

Boston @ Oakland - Invaders 24-Breakers 17

Back to Boston are the Breakers this season and they began 1986 with a tough loss. Albert Bentley's 2-yard run for Oakland with 5:24 to go broke a 17-17 tie. Then, with a minute to go, Matt Robinson took a sack on 4th-and-14 at the Oakland twenty-five, ending his team's shotat retying the game. Wasted in the loss were WR Frank Lockett's nine catches for 116 yards including the TD that set up the tie midway through the third quarter.

Memphis @ San Francisco - Showboats 27-Prospectors 21

With a starting backfield of Tony Dorsett and Maurice Carthon, the expansion Prospectors gave the Memphis defense fits all day long. Dorsett scored twice and Carthon set up his team's first score of its history with a twenty-seven yard gain on a screen with 3:12 left in the first half. Three Mike Kelley TD passes and two Alan Duncan field goals accounted for the Showboat's points.

LA @ Denver - Gold 41-Express 10
Never close at Mile High as the Express managed just one field goal on offense, getting its lone TD on a William Fuller INT that resulted from a deflection right into his hands at the Denver twenty. Even after the Gold had pulled their starters things were still fun for Denver fans, with the second unit scoring ten points against the Express' woeful defense.

Dallas @ Arizona - Wranglers 21-Texans 17

Where the Prospectors have the lowest payroll in the league, their fellow expansion team the Texans have spared little money in building a team designed to compete from day one. With names like Marcus Allen, Danny White and Todd Christensen on offense and Randy White and Howie Long on defense, the Texans looked like a veteran team...for the first two quarters. Jumping out to a 17-0 halftime lead built on two Allen touchdowns and a Chris Bahr field goal, they then came out and surrendered twenty-one unanswered points in the second half. The passing game was their undoing as Doug Williams torched them for 414 yards and two TDs on just twenty-six completions.

Injury Report - Friday. Sept.12,1986

Boston- starting ILB Adam Shupp is out for 2-4 weeks.
Oakland- starting OLB Randy McClanahan is out and#3 TE Brian Williams is questionable.
San Francisco- starting TE Corey Moore is questionable.
New Jersey- WR Willie Broughton is questionable.
Memphis- #3 RB Harvey Caskey is out.
Los Angeles- S Dave Duerson is out.
Houston- #2 WR Dave Cochrane is out.
Arizona- #2 TE Donald Shacker is questionable.
San Antonio -#5 WR Oliver Williams is out.
Tampa Bay- Starting CB Warren Hanna is out.

All other teams have reported all players as being dressed for this week.

Take 2!

Well....looks like I goofed and somehow lost the first version of this blog. Anyhow...

This is The Virtual USFL- a look at how the United States Football League might have evolved had it not gone defunct after the 1985 season. Let's see where 1986 takes things...