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With the fourth week of play in the new USFL now completed, a few unique characters within the football league have been emerging. Let’s now summarize the games from the USFL’s Week #4:
Birmingham 16, Tampa Bay 13
The league-leading hometown Birmingham Stallions remained the only unbeaten team in the USFL as they scratched out a 16-10 win over a tough Tampa Bay Bandits squad Saturday night.
Led by a couple of players with Hall-of-Fame cartoon names, Birmingham quarterback Alex McGough (yes, it is pronounced “Magoo”) passed for 139 yards and ran for 39 more and a touchdown to lead the Stallions offense.
The former Florida Atlantic University signal caller was a seventh round draft pick of the NFL Seattle Seahawks back in 2018, but he didn’t quite make it to the NFL level. He has been on NFL practice squads in Seattle, Jacksonville, and Houston prior coming to the USFL this spring.
The Birmingham Stallions went with Mr. McGough at quarterback position for the first time since he suffered an ankle injury in Game #1. Former Louisiana Tech Bulldogs QB J’Mar Smith has done a great job for Birmingham in the interim.
Defensively, it was none other than Birmingham linebacker Scooby “Doo” Wright leading the way with six tackles and a key sack. You could find Scooby inside Tampa Bay’s offensive backfield on nearly every series. When Tampa Bay had one final opportunity to tie or win the game in the final minutes, Scooby “snacked” on the Bandits’ quarterback and then ran off the field with his own unique celebration. He later called it his “Sharkdawg”.
“Half-shark, half-dog,” Wright said after the game. “It’s my spirit animal.”
Birmingham head coach Skip Holtz said, “There is nobody that has more fun on that field than Scooby Wright. He is fun to coach, but it is even more fun to watch him play, with the passion and energy he brings every day. I love him.”
Philadelphia Stars 26, Michigan Panthers 25
This game was played Friday night at 9PM Central time on FS1. The game’s unusual midnight conclusion could have mysteriously played into the outcome as Michigan’s placekicker, Michael Carrizosa, missed a point-blank 21-yard field goal as time expired. With the loss, Michigan dropped to 1-3, while Philly gladly moved up to 2-2 on the USFL season.
As for the placekicker, he is no longer showing-up on the Michigan roster as of Monday.
Michigan running back Reggie Corbin (who plays the position a lot like former NFL star Darren Sproles) racked-up 152 rushing yards on 12 carries including a league-best 88 yard touchdown scamper for the Panthers. However, it was Philadelphia quarterback Case Cookus who was, sorry about this, “stirring up” a great game for the winners.
Case Cookus could very well be the “Never give up on your dream” poster boy for USFL football players. He received no college football scholarship offers coming out of high school. After a season playing at a nearby junior college, Cookus played college football at FCS (small college group) Northern Arizona University. In the two football seasons since graduating from Northern Arizona in 2020, he has played football for the New York Giants (undrafted free agent), Denver Broncos (three days), Minnesota Vikings (three days), Las Vegas Raiders (six days), and played most of 2021 with the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Elks.
In leading Philadelphia to victory late Friday night, Case Cookus completed 22 out of 30 attempts for 190 yards and two touchdowns for the Stars. He also ran four times to add another 35 yards.
USFL Fun Fact – Case Cookus is the third former Denver Broncos quarterback now playing in the USFL. He joins Paxton Lynch (Michigan Panthers) and Kyle Sloter (New Orleans Breakers) in the spring football league.
New Jersey Generals 21, Pittsburgh Maulers 13
In a Saturday afternoon game seen by a smattering of fans in the stands and probably not a lot more at home who were willing to pay to watch it on NBC’s Peacock premium internet service, the New Jersey Generals continue to believe that two heads are better than one. At the quarterback position, that is!
New Jersey won its third straight game and improved its record to 3-1 with an easy 21-13 win over the hapless 0-4 Pittsburgh Maulers Saturday afternoon in Birmingham. The Generals have been platooning two quarterbacks during their games, and it has worked well in recent weeks.
De’Andre Johnson completed 9 of 10 passes for 98 yards while alter-ego Luis Perez connected on 11 of 14 passes for another 102 yards for New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Maulers continue to underperform on offense this season as the team has tallied just 39 points in four games. This week, the team had zero offensive turnovers yet only produced 13 points.
The Pittsburgh Maulers remain the only winless team in the USFL after four games.
New Orleans Breakers 23, Houston Gamblers 16
The fourth week of play in the USFL concluded Sunday afternoon with an exciting last-second touchdown scored by the New Orleans Breakers to beat the 1-3 Houston Texans 23-16.
With the game tied at 16-16, the New Orleans Breakers (3-1) looked as if they were setting up for a game winning field goal attempt with just ten seconds to play and the ball on Houston’s 29 yard line. Instead of attempting the winning field goal on third down, Breakers quarterback Kyle Sloter lofted a pass into the end zone where wide receiver Jonathan Adams snagged it for the winning score.
After the game, Adams joked that the play call was, “Dual right…throw it to me!”
Jonathan “Jay” Adams goes 6’3” and 220 pounds and played college football at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. In 2020, he was named the Sun Belt Conference offensive player of the year as a senior for the Red Wolves.
Adams signed with the Detroit Lions last year as a free agent, but he didn’t quite make it to the NFL’s big show. He was eventually released by the Lions.
Through his first four games of the USFL season, Adams has now collected 13 receptions for 213 yards (good for #4 in the league). Jay Adams is proving that he is still a very capable and productive wide receiver.
Will another NFL team give Jay Adams a second chance? Based on his performance in college and the USFL, a smart NFL team should take another look. Soon.
Other USFL News:
Pick up the pace!
The NFL (for all its faults) is incredibly consistent in keeping their football games to approximately three hours in total length. The USFL games have been dragging longer than anticipated, and that’s bad news for television.
The USFL announced last week that the game’s play clock will continue to run after incomplete passes during the first and third quarters in an attempt to keep football games less than three hours. Keep an eye on this next weekend!
USFL Players Union?
News is circulating that the national steelworkers union is attempting to organize the USFL players and encourage them to join their union. The most obvious problem with organizing the USFL football players is that their football league hasn’t even played half of its first season yet, and there are no guarantees for another season. If the television ratings from last weekend’s slate of games declined again, there may not be a USFL next season anyway. The league’s owner (Fox Sports) has previously stated that their goal is to have 1.4 million television viewers per game in 2022. Other than Week #1, the weekly viewing audience totals have been less than expected and are moving in the wrong direction.
The TV schedule keeps shuffling week-to-week!
This week marks the halfway point of the USFL regular season. Alas, the USFL keeps shuffling the game days and starting times on us.
This week, there will be one Friday night game, a Saturday afternoon game, and two early afternoon games on Sunday. Last weekend, there was a late Friday night game, a Saturday afternoon game, a Saturday night game, and a Sunday afternoon finale. The lack of scheduling consistency for both game days and starting times is working against the USFL’s ability to build a reliable television audience.
Check out the starting times for the Week #5 games (all games Central Time and are played in Birmingham, Alabama):
Friday 5/13 – Michigan Panthers (1-3) vs. Tampa Bay Bandits (1-3) – 7PM – USA Network
Saturday 5/14 – New Orleans Breakers (3-1) vs. New Jersey Generals (3-1) – 2PM – Fox
Sunday 5/14 – Birmingham Stallions (4-0) vs. Philadelphia Stars (2-2) – 11AM – NBC
Sunday 5/14 – Pittsburgh Maulers (0-4) vs. Houston Gamblers (1-3) – 2PM – Fox
Moral of the story?
If you want to keep spring football around for another year, watch a USFL game on television this weekend!