Wheels Roll in World Bowl III

Enrique Pacheco, RB, Detroit Wheels

The Detroit Wheels, who had been only a quarterback away for two seasons, finally fulfilled their potential and made coach eyeballll a happy man. The Wheels rolled to a 45-0 win over the New Orleans VooDoo in World Bowl III at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ.

Although the highlights will almost all belong to Detroit, let's take a look at some of them.

• Detroit QB Mario Valencia was intercepted by New Orleans' Rick Edwards to end the Wheels' first drive. Valencia did not have his best day, thr(owing three interceptions, but he also fired four TD passes.
• The Wheels got on the board first when Valencia found Rigoberto Gonzales from 21 yards away for a TD, capping a 76-yard drive.
• The Detroit defense limited the VooDoo to 106 net yards. New Orleans ran 25 pass plays and 25 rushing plays, very few of which were successful (2.48 yards per rush, 1.63 yards per pass).
• Even when things went right for the VooDoo, they went wrong. Harvey Miller of New Orleans intercepted a pass ... then immediately fumbled the ball back to Detroit.
• Rookie RB Enrique Pacheco rushed for 150 yards and a pair of TDs.

This was the third consecutive lopsided score for the World Bowl. Those scores:

• Florida Blazers 42, Chicago Blitz 17
• Oakland Invaders 48, Pittsburgh Maulers 7
• Detroit Wheels 45, New Orleans VooDoo 0

I am just old enough to remember when people complained about the tendency of Super Bowl games to be lopsided. In fact 12 of the first 16 Super Bowls were decided by 10 points or more. Over the course of time, close games became more of the norm.Seven of the last 10 Super Bowls have been decided by fewer than 10 points. I imagine the same thing will happen to our league as we accumulate more seasons.