The 1986 regular season is in the books and 12 teams are left to fight for the USFL/WFL Championship Trophy. Two time defending Champion Houston Gamblers have to take their show on the road if they want to win a 3rd consecutive title, qualifying as a wildcard. The Memphis Showboats and Washington Federals are the #1 seeds after battling it out for the top spot in the commish rankings all season.
We have 5 teams qualify this year that didn't qualify in 1985: Southern California, Honolulu, Michigan, Florida and New Orleans. Florida hasn't been to the playoffs since our inaugural season when they won World Bowl I and Southern California has never qualified before.
Four other teams also made the playoffs: Arizona, Birmingham, Baltimore and New Jersey. The Arizona Wranglers have qualified in back to back years for the first time in franchise history. Birmingham has now made the playoffs 5 years in a row, Baltimore 3. The New Jersey Generals seem to have a reserved spot every year, this is their 10th playoff season in a row and 11th total appearance in 13 seasons.
On to the Week 16 action.
Sun 6 Express 0
Southern California just needed to win and they would be Pacific Division Champs and make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They did just that with their less than thrilling 6-0 victory over Los Angeles. That's just what the Sun do, win ugly. They have won 6 of their last 7 games, scoring >20 just once. Their only loss in that stretch was to another playoff team, a one point loss vs Baltimore.
The Sun fan base finally gets a home playoff game after 13 seasons of futility.
Wildcard Round vs Honolulu
Hawaiians 17 SaberCats 3
With the Sun victory, Honolulu had no shot of winning their division but a victory of their own would give them the #6 seed. The Hawaiians put up 461 yards of offense, allowing San Jose just 181 and they secure the wildcard berth.
This is the first time Honolulu qualifies as a wildcard, their other 5 playoff trips were as division champs.
Wildcard Round @ Southern California
Gold 19 Generals 13
Denver needed to beat New Jersey and get some help to go back to the playoffs. The Gold held up their end of the bargain but did not get the help they needed and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1980.
New Jersey won their division forever ago but haven't done much right since. The Generals are limping into the playoffs losers of 5 of their last 6 games having only faced 3 playoff teams in that stretch.
Wildcard Round vs New Orleans
Outlaws 44 Blazers 20
Oklahoma needed a win and more help than Denver needed. Just like Denver, they held up their end of the bargain against a division winner but did not get the help they needed. The Outlaws ran the ball 51 times for 298 yards and won the turnover battle 5-1.
Florida will continue their season despite losing 2 of their last 3 games, averaging 32 points allowed on defense in that stretch. As noted above, this is Florida's first playoff appearance since 1974, when Tribewriter took the Blazers to our league's first championship.
Wildcard Round vs Baltimore
Federals 20 VooDoo 15
Both teams already qualified for the playoffs prior to kickoff but the game still had a playoff feel to it. New Orleans did everything right except take care of the football and score more points than Washington. New Orleans won the yardage, time of possession, and the turnover battle 4-3.
Wildcard Round New Orleans @ New Jersey...BYE Washington
Showboats 80 Blitz 0
Having the #1 seed all wrapped up, Memphis started backup QB Jerry Montalvo and boy did he deliver. Montalvo tied the USFL record of 10 TD passes in a game and his 762 yards are second only to the 836 Les Lacy put up in 1980. The Showboats blitzed the Blitz by the most lopsided score we've seen in awhile in this league.
BYE Week for Memphis
In other Week 16 action:
Invaders 21 Bell 13
Storm 12 Wheels 0
Renegades 16 Bulls 13
Gamblers 20 Gunslingers 13
Stallions 22 Bandits 7
Panthers 21 Steamer 18
Stars 31 Hornets 0
Maulers 20 (NY) Stars 6
Thunderbolts 12 Force 10
Wranglers 20 Breakers 12
