World Bowl II
World Bowl II was decided early, as the Oakland Invaders took a 24-7 halftime lead and went on to rout the Pittsburgh Maulers, 48-7, and win the big trophy on Thanksgiving Day.
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| Les Lacy, QB, Oakland |
One stat that stands out is Pittsburgh, the team with two All-Pro running backs, only attempted to run the ball eight times all game for a net 31 yards. Oakland, conversely, ran the ball 48 times, with RB Jason Brooks and Christopher Curtis accumulating 123 and 93 yards respectively.
The Invaders held a 657-233 advantage in total yardage.
Oakland was 14-2 during the regular season and defeated Portland (36-13) and Detroit (9-6) to reach the World Bowl. Pittsburgh was 13-3 during the regular season, then followed up with postseason victories over New Jersey (29-3) and Georgia (13-8).
The teams had met during the regular season in Week 3, Oakland prevailing, 31-13. In that game, the Maulers were limited to 59 yards rushing, Jason Brooks of the Invaders ran for 162 yards and Lacy fired three TD passes.
Parting Thoughts
Here is some miscellaneous information I caught while going through the final numbers from the 1975 season. |
| Tony Smith, QB, Gunslingers |
- Through two seasons, 18 of the league's 32 franchises have taken part in at least one playoff game.
- Of the 32 original owners, 22 still remain. The Los Angeles Express and Florida Blazers have both had four owners; no other team has had more than two.
- The South Division was 15-1 in its games against the Pacific Division this season. The only South team to taste defeat was the New Orleans VooDoo, which lost to LAX.
- San Antonio is 11-1 against its Southwest Division foes during the first two years, the only setback for the Gunslingers coming during this season's Battle for the I-10 Construction Zone Trophy against the Houston Gamblers.
- Charlotte Hornets coach UKRAIN made significant headway during his second season, cutting the team's total season scoring margin by almost 100 points (minus-481 to minus-384) from 1974.
- Speaking of UKRAIN, he told me he became interested in American football by watching replays of the German professional league on Russian television. I did not know there was such a thing as pro football in Germany, but it is definitely a thing. Here is the link to the league's website: http://www.gfl.info. You may want to just go to Google Translate and plug the link into the box at the top of the page.
- In the interest of competitive balance, The Commish will once again abandon a perfectly good team (Georgia Force) to take on a fixer-upper (New York Stars). The Stars have horrible players, a horrible coaching staff and a horrible salary cap situation. I think I will be there a while.
Coming Up
If you haven't re-signed your free agents yet, do so immediately or risk losing them to another owner with cash to spare. The season flips Friday, early free agency begins Saturday, and the 1976 draft begins Wednesday.Coach's Profile
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| Loftusranger, Shreveport |
Team : Shreveport Steamer
Playing MFN Since : March 2017
Hometown : Watford nr London UK
Current Residenc : Cheddington nr London UK
Day Job : Accountant
Favorite Teams : Arizona Cardinals NFL
Real-Life Sports Experience : Competent weekend soccer and cricket (may need to look that sport up?) player. Only American football experience of note was throwing a touchdown pass the length of the playground in a 5 or 6 a side game at our equivalent of high school (a while ago). Spent my formative years trying to listen to the NFL using U.S. Armed Forces long wave radio frequencies, which, looking back on it, was a bit of a mission before it became a bit more popular in the UK with TV highlight coverage. Loved the World League (then NFL Europe) and watched the London Monarchs regularly at Wembley. Recent years I have seen at least one NFL game in London, this year attended the Jags vs. Ravens and Cardinals (cough) vs. Rams.
Fantasy Sports Experience : Plenty of different games over the years across a range of sports. Always loved the strategy based games rather than the Madden-style action games.
Coach’s Corner : Try to be competitive by minimizing your weak links. Look at your key backup players and try to ensure they are decent, as they will get game time. Play to the squad’s strengths (both play-calling and formations) rather than the playing the type of game you want to play.
