By: Jack Elliot
USFL Insider since 1983

Introduction – Questions from the Preseason

• Can Boston go undefeated for two years?
• Can Randall Cunningham sustain his preseason numbers?
• Will the new coaches fly or flop?
• Will Moose actually punt?
• Can new teams rise to the top or will the old guard continue to dominate?
• Will any of the expansion teams win a game?

Before you read more, click here for the first half stats!

Expansion

The lastest round of expansion brought four new teams into the league; Carolina T-Birds, Cascadia Evergreen, Minnesota Norsemen, and Toronto Titans. They went a combined 0-16 in the regular season and experienced some definite growing pains. All four teams continue to struggle in the regular season, being outscored by over 100 points on average. That’s over 10 points per game. Expansion teams traditionally start off slow and the teams have some time to build. Besides, at least one recent expansion team showed that things can turn around quickly.

State of the League

Traditional powers still hold sway over the league. Boston, Houston, and Tampa Bay lead their divisions. New Jersey, Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver all currently hold playoff spots. However, two teams that showed promise last year by breaking into the playoffs, Las Vegas and Oklahoma, continue their success into 1987. Oklahoma is only one game back of Houston in the Central and undefeated (yes, read that again) Las Vegas is three games in the lead in the Pacific.

The other big surprise in the league is San Antonio. Behind boisterous new head coach, Jerry Glanville, the Gunslingers are at 4-5 and a half a game out of the playoff hunt at the halfway point. Glanville, who feels that the league slighted him by placing the logo over his face on the banner, has used that as motivation to get his team playing much better than their previous three years. They’ve won twice as many games this year as last and there’s still half a season to go.

New Coaches

In addition to the coaches for the expansion teams, three other teams changed their coaches in an attempt to change their fortunes. Barry Switzer took over in Oklahoma and has the Outlaws in prime position to take the division if Houston falters. Mike Gottfried took over in Pittsburgh and had to immediately massage some egos when the team took George Swarn in the first round of the draft. So far, the experiement hasn’t paid off as the coach tries to figure out how to get both back the right number of touches. And, the aforementioned Glanville in San Antonio has his team playing inspired ball with a rookie quarterback.

Randall Cunningham

The one man wrecking crew for the undefeated Vegas Ace is putting up ridiculous numbers and the frontrunner for the MVP. He has completed 68% of his passes for just under 2400 yards, 31 TDs, and 12 interceptions. He’s also rushed for 6 touchdowns. Rumors are now flying that he might bolt for the NFL and I can’t blame him. Catch him while you can because there may only be a maximum of 13 more games to see him play in the USFL.

The Breakers Lose

After running the table to a 21-0 record last year, Boston started off 7-0 this year before finally getting tripped up by New Jersey in week 8. The undefeated streak will go down as one of the best in football. League GMs called the rules changes instituted by the league “The Duningan Directive” as a nod to the dominance shown by the former CFL quarterback last year. He is still slinging it, as are several other quarterbacks in the league. The directive went less to reigning in the offenses and more to illustrating the talent gap in the league.

Moose Crossing?

One of the more interesting questions from the preseason got a disappointing answer during the regular season. Daryl “Moose” Johnston, who punted for the Denver Gold in an attempt to help Jim Asmus improve his place kicking, got taken off the job and put back into the rotation as a running back. This reporter mourns the loss of the “What if” of Moose punting. But, we got 4 glorious weeks of it. And, who knows? If Asmus starts missing again, we might see the Moose boot.

Looking Ahead

The first half of the 1987 USFL season delivered some surprises in the middle of the cream rising to the top. I, for one, am looking forward to the second half and what that brings. Come back in another 9 weeks for our discussion of the regular season and a look ahead to the playoffs and crowning the 1987 USFL Champion in Memphis.