Georgia WR Glen Hampton is literally lapping the field in terms of receiving yardage and keeping defensive coordinators up at night trying to figure out how to slow him down. Every week Hampton puts up at least 100 yards and for the 4th time in 7 games he went over 200 yards today, catching 10 passes for 245 yards and 3 TDs. His season totals through 7 games are numbers most WR would be proud of over a full 16 game season: 53 receptions, 1,540 yards and 13 TDs. To put it in further perspective, Hampton's yardage is at least double of every WR in the league except 4. Harvey Williams of Michigan is 5th in receiving yards with 772, barely over half of Hampton's total, and the lead on 2nd place is 434 yards. Albert Olson of New York is the 2nd leading receiver, and the current record holder and his Stars are going down to Georgia to play the Force in Week 8. The defensive backs had better be ready because there will be a lot of passes thrown in that game.
Don Ferguson of New Jersey only threw 3 TD passes today, but his 30 for the season is still ahead of the record pace. Tony Dean is 2nd in TD passes with 19 and has the best QBR in the league at 112.29, less than half a point ahead of Ferguson. Florida's Robert Romero is our leading rusher with 741 yards. That's not a record pace but he is on pace for over 1,600 rushing yards, which has happened just 9 times in league history. Rushing TDs are hard to come by unless you are San Jose. David Hartwig leads the league with 6 TDs and teammate Rodney Richardson is tied for 2nd with 3 scores.
Looking at the standings, the 7-0 teams all have at least a 2 game division lead with San Jose enjoying a 4 game lead. The unbeaten teams remain San Jose, Denver, Houston, and New Jersey, and the 5-2 Chicago Blitz also have a 2 game division lead. Washington has a 1 game lead in the Atlantic while the Southeast and South divisions have 3 way ties at the top. The wildcard races have a little separation as well, with 5-2 being the current threshold to get in. That's great news for the Oklahoma Outlaws, who are riding their defense to a 5-2 record and if they can keep the winning up, they would make their first playoff appearance since 1981. Oklahoma still has to play Houston twice, but none of their other opponents are over .500.
With more than half the season still to go, the 1996 story has a lot that's yet to be written, and our standings could look quite different as we wind down. In the mean time, let's look at Week 7 action.
Gamblers 27 Showboats 24
Memphis really needed to beat Houston to avoid a 4 game division deficit, and the Showboats played with intensity today. Erik McNamee got Memphis out to a 7-0 lead in the 1st with a 41 yard TD pass to Mark Glenn and the Showboats defense held Houston scoreless the first 15 minutes. You can't keep Tony Dean down long and he led the Gamblers to a FG and a TD with a 7 yard pass to Jett Black for a 10-7 lead. An exchange of FGs made the halftime score 13-10 Houston. Memphis got the ball to start the 3rd but Steve Ransome lost a fumble, allowing Houston to tack on a FG, extending the lead to 16-10. Erik McNamee bounced back with a 50 yard TD pass to Thomas Ballard to retake the lead 17-16. Houston fumbled the ball away on their next drive, allowing McNamee to throw his 3rd TD pass, a 6 yard toss to William Fey. As the 3rd quarter wound down, Memphis had a 24-16 lead and had Houston pinned at their own 5 following a punt. Tony Dean then led the champs on an 11 play, 95 yard TD drive, finding Francisco Russell with a 2 yard TD pass. Donald Turner ran in the 2 point conversion, tying the game at 24 early in the 4th. Fast forward to just before the 2 minute warning and Houston had the ball just outside of the red zone. Tony Dean threw an INT, killing the scoring chance. Memphis punted and Houston punted, pinning the Showboats at their own 7 with just over a minute to play. With their season on the line, Memphis opted to try and win now rather than play for OT, and the first pass got them out of the hole. The second pass was intercepted however, and SLB Kevin Bowen gave the Gamblers the ball at the Memphis 34. Three Tony Dean completions later, Earl Castro came on to boot the game winning 37 yard FG to keep Houston undefeated.
SaberCats 20 Gunslingers 3
San Jose didn't play their best offensive game today, but they did just enough to win comfortably as the SaberCats defense was in lockdown mode. Each QB threw an interception on their team's opening drive and each team kicked a 1st quarter FG for an early 3-3 tie. Jake Plummer's 40 yard TD pass to Mark Hsu gave San Jose the lead for good early in the 2nd quarter. The defense forced San Antonio to punt on all but 2 drives following their FG, one was the end of the first half, the other a turnover on downs. Midway through the 3rd, San Jose went up 2 scores with a FG, then put the game away for good on a Rodney Richardson TD with under 5 minutes to play. It's a good thing for San Jose their defense was so stout as the offense converted just 1/14 3rd downs.
Gold 31 Panthers 12
Denver's RBBC was without Eric Younker again, but the others stepped up, rushing for 173 yards on 47 carries. Brian Turner ran for 93 yards while Ray Anderson and Peter White had first half TD runs as the Gold built a 14-3 lead. Michigan had scored first with a FG before those rushing TDs and they had another FG to close out the first half scoring to trail 14-6 at the break. We had a scoreless 3rd quarter before Robert Deacon's 45 yard FG extended the lead to 17-6. Michigan came right back as Will Allison found Harvey Williams for a 75 yard TD. The 2 point try failed and the Panthers were now down just 5 at 17-12. Denver QB Andrew Brewer's stats are way down as Denver has switched to a more run-centric offense, but Brewer can still sling the ball when he needs to. Brewer completed 14/20 for 213 yards and 2 TD passes in the 4th quarter as the Gold pulled away to win by 19. Steven Riley did not catch any TD passes but he accounted for most of Brewer's yards, catching 7 for 164 yards.
Generals 27 VooDoo 6
New Orleans is in rebuilding mode and had to go on the road to face the league's most prolific offense in New Jersey. The Generals did what the Generals do, although the 27 points were just the 2nd time they've been held below 37 points this year. Don Ferguson threw 3 TD passes and the offensive star this week was WR Eric Davis. It seems each week the Generals have a different skill player lead the team in yardage, and that makes ownership very happy. Davis caught 4 passes for 144 yards and a TD, fitting as he wears #44 on his uniform. Ferguson finished the game completing 40/57, 458 yards with 3 TD and 1 INT. Two of the scores came in the second half to open up a close game, as the Generals led just 10-0 at the half.
Blitz 23 Thunderbolts 20 (OT)
Chicago and Cleveland needed extra time to decide a winner in a back and forth divisional game. Cleveland got on the board first with a FG, but a lost fumble later in the 1st quarter set up Chicago with a short field inside the red zone. The Blitz had to settle for a game tying FG though, and the 1st qtr ended 3-3. Early in the 2nd, Ronald Brown found Ian Gordon for a 6 yard TD pass for a brief 10-3 lead. Cleveland matched that score with a 38 yard Tony Romo TD pass to Matthew Martin. Chicago would add a FG in the final minute of the first half to take a 13-10 lead into halftime.
The 3rd quarter was scoreless and early in the 4th, Cleveland retook the lead on Tony Romo's 2nd TD pass, a 9 yard toss to Ferdinand Lee. Fast forward to just over 3 minutes to play and the Blitz take over on their own 20 yard line. Ronald Brown capped off the 11 play, 80 yard drive with a 6 yard TD pass to Darren McElyea to give Chicago a 20-17 lead with 0:46 on the clock. Tony Romo then got the Thunderbolts down the field quickly with 2 long pass plays and Carlos Reed sent the game to OT with a 29 yard FG as regulation time expired.
Chicago got the ball first in overtime but was forced to punt. Jose King intercepted Romo on Cleveland's possession, giving the ball back to the Blitz at midfield. A few plays later, Evan Joseph split the uprights on a 47 yard FG to give Chicago the win and sole possession of first in the Midwest.
Renegades 41 Sun 3
It looks like Orlando is over their early season turnover woes as the Renegades win their 5th in a row after an 0-2 start with a lopsided victory over Southern California. Trey Lyons completed 22/29, 311 yards and 4 TDs, 2 to Jesse Carr. In all, Carr caught 6 for 119 yards and RB Anthony Milan ran for 107 to lead the Orlando skill players. The Renegades converted 9/14 3rd downs and scored on all 6 red zone trips (4 TD, 2 FG). Defensively, they intercepted Harold Angulo twice, allowed 3/12 on 3rd down and held the Sun to a FG in their lone red zone trip.
Bulls 27 (NY) Stars 7
New York had another game where they hardly ran, rushing 4 times for 1 yard. Despite the lack of rushing attempts New York fumbled the ball away twice while QB Damien Oleary threw 2 INTs among his 51 pass attempts. Albert Olson still got his of course (5-148) and Oleary finished with 321 yards in the air, but he was also sacked twice. Jacksonville didn't turn the ball over at all and QB Derek Joyce completed 33/45, 244 yards and 3 TDs. Leon Gutierrez caught one of the TDs among his 9 catches for 124 yards while Jason Grande chipped in 95 rushing yards to help lead the Bulls to victory, keeping them in the 3 way tie atop the Southeast.
Blazers 20 Maulers 17
Florida and Pittsburgh played a hard fought back and forth game that almost went to OT. The first half didn't see much scoring as Florida won the kicking contest 2-1 for a 6-3 halftime lead. Paul Marcum and Pittsburgh got the second half off to a fast start with a 75 yard TD pass to Arthur Thompson on the first play to take a 10-6 lead. Florida QB Willie Graham threw just 19 passes all day, but he completed 15, including a pair of TD passes to Douglas Jordan. The first one gave the Blazers a 13-10 lead, the second extended it to 20-10 as the 3rd quarter came to a close. Pittsburgh got within 20-17 on a Chad Magana 9 yard TD run midway through the 4th. As the regulation clock was winding down, Pittsburgh was trying to get within FG range and they got close enough for Brett Bowman to try a 52 yard kick. It sailed wide right and Florida hangs on for the win. Blazers RB Robert Romero led the team with 107 rushing yards and 62 receiving.
Hornets 23 Federals 17
Usually when reporters ask questions about who starts at QB, coaches get cute (see current day Matt Nagy) and say we are looking at all of our options. CrazyRazor took a different approach, announcing that Tristan Arnold will get the start at New Jersey next week after watching Scott Bieber stink up the joint again. Bieber threw 2 INTs and converted just 1/14 3rd downs in a lackluster performance. Charlotte QB Jeremy McDonald got the Hornets the 7-0 lead in the 2nd qtr with a 22 yard TD pass to Edward Meister and a pair of Javier Gill FGs gave them a 13-0 halftime lead. Jayson Shepherd got Washington within 13-7 on a 71 yard TD run but McDonald got those points back at the end of the 3rd with a 5 yard TD pass to Randall Liles. Bieber did lead a late rally, leading the Federals to a FG and a 79 yard TD pass to Matthew Cuevas, but 20-17 would be as close as they would get. It's not all gloom and doom in Washington as despite the loss, they are still in sole possession of first in the Atlantic.
Storm 26 Invaders 22
Portland started out fast, jumping out to a 17-0 1st quarter lead on division rival Oakland. The FG was first, followed by a 6 yard TD run by Jeffrey Frost and a Melvin Driggers 17 yard TD pass to Jose Moses. Oakland is winless on the season and most teams in their position would fold up and coast the rest of the game, losing by a lopsided score. The Invaders fought back however, getting within 17-6 before the Storm closed out the first half with a FG for a 20-6 lead. Oakland went on a second half run, scoring 10 points in the 3rd on a Lawrence Linville FG and a 57 yard Andrew Moreno TD pass to Charles Brockman. The Invaders scoring run continued in the 4th with 2 more Linville FGs and Oakland found themselves winning 22-20 with less than 7 minutes to play. The Oakland defense forced a punt but Moreno was intercepted. The Oakland defense held again and the Invaders went into clock killing mode on offense. RB Dale Wild ran for 117 yards, but he coughed up the football inside the 2 minute warning, setting up Portland at the end of FG range. Melvin Driggers was thinking TD though, and he drove the Storm down the short field, finding Richard Robinson for an 8 yard TD pass. The 2 point conversion failed but Portland had the lead back 26-22. Oakland went backwards, turning it over on downs and Portland hangs on for the win to improve to 5-2.
Outlaws 17 Express 11
For some reason, Oklahoma benched Carlos Williams, letting Robert Hill get the start under center. The Outlaws have had trouble scoring but so have their opponents, as their 5th ranked scoring defense had them at 4-2 coming into today. Hill didn't set the world on fire, completing 15/30 for 196 yards, 2 TD and 2 INT, and Los Angeles out gained Oklahoma 285-251. In fact, the Express ran the ball better and won the turnover battle 2-1, yet this year, Oklahoma just finds ways to win. Hill's TD passes came in the first half and the Outlaws led 14-3 at the break. Los Angeles scored a TD and a 2 point conversion in the 3rd to pull within 14-11. Oklahoma extended it to 17-11 with an early 4th qtr FG and that was it for the scoring chances as both defenses stood strong.
Force 45 Stallions 27
There were a lot of footballs flying through the air at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium as Georgia WR Glen Hampton continued his assault on the record book with 10 catches, 245 yards and 3 TDs. Force QB Thomas Jacobi found Hampton for two scores in the first quarter for a quick 14-0 lead, then after a Stanley Gordon 3 yard run for Birmingham, fired his 3rd TD pass of the quarter to Daniel Franks for a 21-7 lead after 15 minutes. Georgia scored the first 10 points of the 2nd qtr with a FG and the 3rd Jacobi to Hampton TD pass but Birmingham scored the next 10 to trail at the half 31-17. Birmingham got within 7 in the 3rd quarter before the Force answered with 2 TDs to put the game away. Birmingham QB Norman Maldonado completed 38/54, 374 yards 2 TD, 1 INT while Francis Schultz led the Stallions in rushing yards (59) and receiving (6-102). Georgia QB Thomas Jacobi completed 31/47, 526 yards and 5 TDs, with Louis Gonzalez helping Hampton out with 8 catches, 115 yards and a TD. The win makes both teams 3-4, tied for first in the South with Shreveport.
Wranglers 14 Steamer 11
Speaking of Shreveport, they would have had sole possession of first place if they could have won against Arizona today. The Steamer out gained the Wranglers 323-263, ran the ball for 1 more yard per carry (4.17-3.19), turnovers were even and they had the time of possession advantage. While Shreveport moved the ball more consistently, it didn't translate into many points. On the other side, Arizona had a lot of drives go nowhere, but they did have a 9 play, 91 yard TD drive that ended with a Brian Carmichael 5 yard TD pass to Rodney Hawkins for a 7-0 lead. The next time Arizona had the ball, Carmichael found Elias Williams for a 63 yard TD. Shreveport got a FG to trail at the half 14-3 and a 4th qtr George Marcil TD pass to Martin Haley. They went for 2 and converted, trailing 14-11 with plenty of time to play. With 3:36 to go, Shreveport faced a 4th and 16 from the Arizona 33, and rather than try a 50/51 yard game tying FG, they opted to punt. The strategy seemed to work somewhat when they got the ball back but George Marcil was intercepted on the first play and Arizona ran the remaining clock to preserve the win.
Bell 20 Breakers 15
This game featured 756 total yards, 5 turnovers, 7 red zone trips with just 2 TDs and a combined 3/21 on 3rd down. Boston got the scoring underway with a pair of FGs but Philadelphia answered with a pair of Sidney Maggard TD passes for a 14-6 lead. The Breakers got within 14-9 with a FG late in the 2nd quarter but Philadelphia answered with a pair of 4th qtr FGs to take a 20-9 lead with 3:22 to play. Larry Henderson brought Boston within 20-15 with a late TD pass to George Cade. The 2 point conversion failed but the onside kick did not, and Boston had a chance to win. Henderson had the Breakers down to the Philadelphia 4 yard line with 0:22 left, but a completion in the field of play failed to reach the end zone and having no timeouts, the game clock hit 0:00 before Boston could put the ball in the end zone. Jamie Epperson ran for 104 yards and caught a TD pass for Philadelphia while teammate Craig Hines caught the other TD, leading the Bell with 138 receiving yards.
Wheels 12 Hawaiians 0
Detroit didn't play their best game, but Honolulu's offense looked lifeless without Anthony Davis as the Wheels win a battle of attrition 12-0. Detroit had 331 yards to just 148 for the Hawaiians, but the Wheels turned the ball over 4 times, and scored just 1 TD in 4 red zone trips. That was a 12 yard Gabriel Flanagan TD pass to Matthew Houston and Detroit led 7-0 at the half. The score stayed 7-0 until midway through the 4th, when Willie Haygood sacked backup QB Edwin Clarkson in the end zone for a safety. Honolulu attempted an onside kick that failed, and the short field allowed Detroit to add 3 points, giving us our final score of 12-0.
Stars 12 Bandits 7
It's been a tough year for both Baltimore and Tampa Bay, as each are going through transition phases searching for their QB of the future. Bandits owner Mcarovil is a Cleveland Browns fan, and surely he is having PTSD watching his Tampa Bay team cycle through QBs like the Browns did before Baker Mayfield. The current QB is rookie Nicholas Irvine, who is going through the typical rookie growing pains. Irvine did throw a TD pass today, finishing 23/42 for 179 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Baltimore replaced long time starter with veteran Stephen Ponder, and the results haven't been good. Irvine and the Bandits got the lone TD of the game, but Ponder led 4 FG drives as Fred Boyce kicked the Stars to their first victory of the season.
