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| William Ramsey (8), WR, New Orleans |
Call it mojo or voodoo or whatever, but they seem to have found it again in New Orleans.
QB Ryan Tate threw for 453 yards and five TDs as the New Orleans VooDoo scored 42 points in the first half of its 45-13 season-opening win over the Georgia Force.
Tate found WR William Ramsey behind the Georgia secondary for a 95-yard TD late in the first quarter that made the score 21-0.
New Orleans, if you recall, went to the World Bowl in 1976, then fell to 1-15 last season. That netted the VooDoo the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, which they spent on LDE Miguel Gross. He had 7 tackles, 5 sacks, and 5 hurries in his USFL/WFL debut. Ramsey caught five passes for 269 yards (53.8 per catch) and two TDs.
In other Week 1 games:
- New Philadelphia coach Jaybo911 picked up a victory in his debut, the Bell recovering from a 9-0 deficit to beat the Boston Breakers, 17-9. Philadelphia CB Jason Hubbard recorded 11 tackles and QB Roy Rhyne threw a pair of TD passes.
- The supposedly rebuilding Orlando Renegades stunned Southwest Division favorite Oklahoma, shutting out the Outlaws, 19-0. Orlando intercepted five passes as Outlaws QB Dale Brown suffered perhaps his worst day ever (19.44 QBR). Renegades LDE Chris McDuffie recorded three sacks and intercepted a pass. I was surprised to check and see Oklahoma had been shut out before; in fact, the hihg-powered Outlaws were blanked in back-to-back 1975 games against Arizona and New Jersey.
- The Memphis Showboats and Houston Gamblers find themselves tied for first place in the Southwest. Memphis beat the San Antonio Gunslingers, 35-23, after trailing, 23-20, midway through the third quarter. Gregory Shea (amazingly) did not return a kickoff for a TD in this game, but did run for 124 yards and catch a TD pass. Houston broke open a close game in the second half to beat the Southern California Sun, 45-23. Big plays were key for the Gamblers, who scored TDs from 6, 72, 42, 83, 54, and 6 yards.
- The Honolulu Hawaiians led defending Pacific Division champion Los Angeles, 10-9, with 4 minutes to go, but an interception by CB Stephen Farmer led to the winning TD with 3:12 to play as the Express escaped with a 17-10 victory. Honolulu LDE Keith Smith had 4 sacks, 5 tackles, and 11 hurries.
- The Cleveland Thunderbolts forced five Portland turnovers during a 41-13 win over the Storm. Cleveland LDE Jim Zarate, last season's defensive rookie of the year, had 21 hurries and four sacks.
