What a crazy Week 16 we had to conclude another great regular season of USFL/WFL football. Houston took back the #1 seed in the American Conference with some help from Denver. Baltimore defeated Washington in the battle for #1 seed in the National Conference. Georgia held the cards for the #6 seed but their loss to Shreveport opened the door for several teams to claim that spot. Jacksonville beat Florida for the Southeast Division title, which helped Tampa Bay immensely in tiebreakers. Tampa Bay defeated New Orleans in Week 6 34-28 which broke their 8-8 tie, giving the Bandits a playoff berth. It should be noted that loss was before current owner Smirt took over.
Stars 16 Federals 3
The winner of this game would be the #1 seed in the National Conference and defense ruled the day. Baltimore and Washington played 3 scoreless quarters before Washington's John Bazile nailed a 40 yd FG early in the 4th to open the scoring. Baltimore would not be denied however, as Jon Snow found Tommy Harmon for a 64 yd TD.
Later in the 4th, Washington forced a punt that pretty much sealed the game. Charles Lyon forced Jeffrey Danko to fumble, scooped it up and returned it for a back breaking TD.
Baltimore enjoys a BYE
Washington @ Jacksonville
Gold 18 Showboats 16
Denver chose not to rest their starters despite being locked into the #2 seed and sent the Memphis fans home disappointed. The Showboats just had to win to maintain the #1 seed, and they took the lead with 2:37 left. The defense couldn't prevent Denver from driving into FG position. Gold PK Anthony Schaefer's 52 yd FG as the clock hit 0:00 sent Memphis on the road for wildcard weekend rather than resting up on BYE.
Denver enjoys a BYE
Memphis @ Chicago
Gamblers 38 Stallions 13
The Memphis loss was Houston's gain as they rode the Stallions hard. Mark Lambert had 2 TD's today as they crushed Birmingham. The Stallions uninspired effort could be explained by the fact their fate was sealed before kickoff. They were locked into the #2 seed in the National Conference regardless of the outcome.
Houston enjoys a BYE
Birmingham enjoys a BYE
Bulls 26 Blazers 10
Depending on tiebreakers, the winner of this game was going to be Southeast Division champs. Jacksonville made sure there would be no tiebreakers needed in throttling the once blazing hot Florida Blazers. Florida started the season 0-6 before ripping off 6 straight wins to even their record at 6-6. That 12th game started a stretch run of facing playoff teams the final 5 weeks of the season. Florida swept Tampa Bay but got swept by Jacksonville sandwiching a loss to New Jersey. Despite falling short of the playoffs, kudos to Florida for remaining competitive when it would have been easy to give up.
Jacksonville more than doubled Florida's yards, 455-207 and possessed the ball for 39 minutes. The score was 13-7 at halftime and the first possession after was an 8 play 82 yard TD drive, culminating with this 26 yd TD by Dennis Burt.
Jacksonville vs Washington
Steamer 3 Force 0
Coming in 8-7, Georgia only had to beat struggling Shreveport to make the playoffs. In a game it seemed nobody was interested in, both teams combined for 451 yards of offense, or 4 less than Jacksonville had by themselves in their game. This James Hooper 26 yd FG at the 2 minute warning of the first half was the only score of the day.
Georgia's 8-8 record ties them with New Orleans and Tampa Bay but wildcard tiebreakers state we must eliminate all but 1 team per division. That uses the division tiebreakers and the VooDoo had the better division record.
VooDoo 27 (NY) Stars 3
New Orleans won their last 6 games to even their record at 8-8. The (NY) Stars could have finished 8-8 with a win and been involved in the tiebreaking process but 215 yards and 3 turnovers helped them lose.
Ever since taking over for Shavar, Smirt has had the VooDoo rocketing up the commish rankings and racking up wins. Had the switch been made 1 game earlier, New Orleans would be headed to Piscataway, NJ instead of Tampa Bay.
Speaking of Tampa Bay, their Week 6 win over Shavar's VooDoo keeps Smirt's VooDoo out of the playoffs. The rest of the league needs to watch New Orleans as they will be a factor for sure in 1986.
Bandits 17 Bell 6
Tampa Bay came in losers of 6 straight, and a once sure playoff spot slipping from their grasp. The tiebreaker scenarios didn't look good for the Bandits either, as they needed to win this game and have Jacksonville beat Florida and Shreveport beat Georgia.
Tampa Bay didn't play particularly well today, but they got the job done. The Bandits are hoping their season doesn't end where it began, with a loss at New Jersey.
Tampa Bay @ New Jersey
The rest of Week 16:
Breakers 20 Generals 13
Renegades 19 Wranglers 17
Invaders 19 Storm 12
Sun 16 Express 10
Thunderbolts 13 Panthers 9
Wheels 20 Blitz 6
Hawaiians 26 SaberCats 23 (OT)
Gunslingers 14 Outlaws 3
Maulers 23 Hornets 0
