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1983 Championship - Sunday, July 17, 1983. Attendance: 50,906. TV: ABC. [NOTE: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward to about the 10:30 minute mark where kickoff begins] Anthony Carter and Derek Holloway were big enough to be enough for Bobby Hebert and definitely big enough for the Michigan Panthers, who got big plays and big days from their little guys to win the first United States Football League championship with a 24-22 victory over the Philadelphia Stars. Bobby Hebert found them 12 times. Hebert, named the game's Most Valuable Player, completed touchdown passes of 12-and 14-yards to the 5-foot7- Holloway and topped his 314-yard passing night off with a 48-yard game-sealing strike to the 5-9 Carter to give the Detroit area its first pro football championship since the Detroit Lions copped the NFL title in 1957. A preponderance of the fans who came out to 75,000-seat Mile High Stadium were rooting for Michigan. Banners for the Panthers dominated the scene and the Stars were booed during the intros. That was fine during the game, but with six seconds to play — moments before Philadelphia's Chuck Fusina hit Rodney Parker with a two-yard touchdown that made the final score close — thousands of boisterous Michigan fans surged onto the field. Some 50 police officers were forced to use chemicals, clubs and dogs to control the crowd, which bent one goal post. A dozen persons were arrested, with police estimating half from Michigan.

1983 Divisional Playoffs - Sunday, July 10, 1983. Attendance: 60,237, TV: ABC. [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward to about the 9:00 minute mark where the kickoff begins] Michigan quarterback Bobby Hebert passed for one touchdown and ran for another to lead the Panthers to a 37-21 victory over the Oakland Invaders and into the United States Football League's first championship game. The Panthers, who won the Central Division title with a 12-6 record and have now won 12 of the past 14 games, will play the Philadelphia Stars in Denver's Mile High Stadium for the title. With 25 seconds to play, after Oakland got its final touchdown, thousands of fans swarmed onto the field and tore down both goalposts. Players and coaches from both teams and the officiating crew headed for the safety of the tunnels to the locker rooms and minutes later USFL officials ruled the game was complete at 14:35.

1983 Divisional Playoffs - Saturday, July 9, 1983. Attendance: 15,686, TV: ABC. The Philadelphia Stars had come from behind before, but never quite so dramatically. And the victory never felt quite so good. Quarterback Chuck Fusina, who overcame four first-half turnovers with three touchdown passes in the last nine minutes as the Stars tied the Chicago Blitz 38-38, then went on to win 44-38 in overtime to advance to the championship of the United States Football League. "It will go down as one of the best games in history." said Chicago Coach George Allen, who saw a 21-point lead evaporate in the fourth quarter. Kelvin Bryant rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner on a one-yard run seven minutes, two seconds into the overtime. The Stars took a 16-3 record into the first USFL championship game in Denver. The Blitz took a 21-7 halftime lead after intercepting Fusina three times and recovering his fumble in the second quarter. They led 38-17 with 12:04 left in the game. The Stars started their comeback with Fusina's 17-yard scoring pass to Scott Fitzkee five minutes into the fourth quarter. Fusina passed two yards to Jeff Rodenberger for another touchdown with five minutes left in the game, and connected with Tom Donovan from 11 yards with 50 seconds left to tie it up. He finished with 22 of 33 passes for 254 yards, scrambled for 66 more yards and also caught a 12-yard pass from Allen Harvin for another touchdown. A crowd of 15,684 - less than a fourth of the capacity of the 66,000-seat Veterans Stadium watched the game in sunny, 84-degree weather.

1983 Week 18 - Sunday, July 3, 1983. Attendance: 31,905, TV: ABC. [NOTE: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis you can forward the audio to about the 7:00 minute mark where the game begins] Defensive end John Banaszak, who has played football in Michigan as a collegiate at Eastern Michigan and as a professional with the Michigan Panthers, tried to put the moment into focus. "If we win the playoffs we'll be the toast of this town," he suggested during a champagne-soaked post celebration. The bubbly put an exclamation point on the Panthers' Central Division title clinching, which brought the Detroit area within two victories of its first major league sports championship since the Tigers' 1968 World Series victory. The 33-7 victory over the Arizona Wranglers, on the final day of the United States Football League's first regular season, sent Michigan, 12-6, into a semifinal round playoff matchup against Oakland. The Invaders were the Pacific Division champs with a .500 record. In the Panthers' victory, running back Ken Lacy threw for one touchdown and ran for another in the first quarter as Arizona, 4-14, matched the Washington Federals for the league's worst record.

1983 Week 17 - Saturday, June 25, 1983. Attendance: 30,396. TV: ESPN. Fred Besana passed for 227 yards and a touchdown as the Oakland Invaders capitalized on blunders by the Boston Breakers to clinch the Pacific Division title. Boston, which got 122 yards rushing from halfback Richard Crump, crumbled from its own mistakes in the third period. The Invaders recovered a fumble on their own 48 and moved to the Breakers' 3-yard line with the help of three penalties. Ted Torosian scored from one-yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving Oakland a 17-13 lead. Boston later had a touchdown nullified by a holding penalty and settled for a 24-yard field goal by Tim Mazzetti that closed the gap to 17-16 with 6:01 left to play.

1983 Week 17 - Sunday, June 26, 1983. Attendance: 25,041, TV: ABC. Five of Bobby Hebert's passes fell neatly into the arms of receivers Anthony Carter, Derek Holloway and Ken Lacy as Hebert set a United States Football League record for touchdown passes in one game and increased his league lead in that department to 26. Hebert defied the heat in Soldier Field -- where the temperatures reached 99 degrees in the stands and zoomed to an estimated 134 degrees on the artificial turf -- and blistered the Chicago Blitz secondary with 12 completions in 21 attempts for 247 yards. His performance before 25,042 fans -- 7,100 above the Blitz's average home attendance -- led the Panthers to a 34-19 triumph over their Central Division rivals and pulled them into a tie with Chicago for the division lead. Each team was 11-6 with one week to go in the regular season, but Michigan would win the division in case of a tie because they won both head-to-head confrontations this season. Hebert, who opened the scoring with a 39-yard pass to Ken Lacy. His other TD passes were of 42 and 15 yards to Holloway and 35 and 32 yards to Carter, whose eight receptions for 143 yards gave him over 1,000 yards for the season.

A look back at the sixteenth week of the 1983 USFL season.

Friday, June 17, 1983. Chicago Blitz (10-5) at Birmingham Stallions (8-7). Attendance: 23,459, TV: ABC. [NOTE: This 1983 game between the Chicago Blitz vs Birmingham Stallions is missing the last six minutes of the contest, but that audio does not affect the outcome. The Blitz actually scored one last time despite being ahead. The rest of the game is intact.] A change of uniforms didn't work at all for the Birmingham Stallions -- but a change of scene did for Bobby Scott. Thinking his players would be cooler by wearing white instead of the traditional home red in the rainy, 75-degree weather, Birmingham Coach Rollie Dotsch had them switch uniforms for their game with the Chicago Blitz. The plan backfired, though, when Scott -- acquired from the New Jersey Generals earlier in the season -- was hotter than the weather. Scott completed his first tosses for Chicago and led the Blitz to a 29-14 United States Football League rout of the Stallions.

A look back at the fifteenth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 15 - Monday, June 13, 1983. Attendance: 26,840. TV: ESPN. [Note: The game is joined in progress late in the second quarter. The rest of the game is complete] Kevin Shea booted a team-record three field goals and Jerry Aldridge sprinted down the sidelines 80 yards for a touchdown to lead the Oakland Invaders to a 16-10 victory over the Denver Gold in a key USFL Pacific Division game. Shea accounted for Oakland's only three points in the second half when he capped a nine-play, 29-yard drive with a 43-yard field goal. Running back Arthur Whittington carried five times on the drive, picking up 26 yards to set up the score. With a little over two minutes to go, Denver drove from its own 23 to the Oakland five, but halfback Harry Sydney fumbled the ball and it was recovered by nose guard Dupre Marshall. The Invaders then killed the clock to score their eighth victory against seven losses and take a one-game lead over Los Angeles with three games left to play. Denver fell to 6-9.

1983 Week 14 - Saturday, June 4, 1983, Attendance: 32,908, TV: ESPN. [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward the audio to near 7:30 minute mark where the kickoff begins.] Fred Besana, leading passer In the United States Football League, got the best of No. 1 rusher Herschel Walker by firing three touchdown passes and leading the Oakland Invaders to a 34-21 victory over the New Jersey Generals. Oakland, 7-7, took the Pacific Division lead, moving ahead of Los Angeles which is 6-7 going into a Sunday game. Walker took the league scoring lead, raising his season point total to 98 with two touchdown plunges and a 2-point conversion run. But the Generals' rookie fumbled the ball away on his first carry and was held to 72 yards on 21 carries. Walker, the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner from Georgia, helped attract the Invaders' third best home crowd where 32,908 tickets were sold. For the season Walker had 1,545 yards rushing, with his total combined yardage rushing and receiving was 2,007. Besana completed 10 of his first 11 passes including touchdown tosses of 8 yards to Arthur Whittington and 24 to Raymond Chester. In the second half, he hit Wyatt Henderson on an 8-yard TD pass.

A look back at the thirteenth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 13 - Sunday, May 29, 1983. Attendance: 15,668, TV: ABC. [NOTE: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward the audio to the 7:51 minute mark where the game begins] Boston's 21-17 victory over Philadelphia on a last-play tipped touchdown catch by Frank Lockett halted the Stars' eight-game winning streak and prevented them from winning the United States Football League's Atlantic Division title. Boston began its winning 65-yard drive with 1:50 to play. Johnnie Walton threw on all 12 plays, completing seven passes. On fourth-and-two at the Philadelphia 14 with four seconds to go, Walton threw to Charlie Smith in a crowd in the end zone. The ball bounced off Smith's hand and fluttered a few feet away to Lockett and his catch gave the Breakers, 8-5, their third consecutive victory and dropped the Stars to 11-2.

Monday, May 30, 1983. Tampa Bay Bandits (9-3) at Michigan Panthers (7-5). Attendance: 23,976. TV: ESPN. [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame talk, you can forward to about the 4:00 minute mark where the kickoff is set to begin] Terry Miller might have surprised some of the folks around the United States Football League with his two-touchdown performance for the Michigan Panthers. Don't include Panthers Coach Jim Stanley in that group. Miller, acquired from the Denver Gold last week, rushed for 55 yards on 12 carries with TD runs of 5 and 10 yards to lead Michigan to a 43-7 tout over the Tampa Bay Bandits before a crowd of 23,976 in the Silverdome at Pontiac. "I've known what Terry can do for many years," said Stanley, who recruited Miller out of high school and had him at Oklahoma State from 1974 to 1978. "We already had some good backs here, but when he became available, I felt he could help us, too." The Panthers also got a boost from quarterback Bobby Hebert, who completed 13 of 23 passes for 166 yards and one touchdown, and a fired-up defense that forced four fumbles, blocked a punt and recorded six sacks for 48 yards. "All year long, we'd make mistakes, but our defense would bail us out," said Tampa Bay Coach Steve Spurrier of his club's play. "We couldn't do it today. Michigan got up early and never quit" Michigan's 43 points was the highest of any team in the USFL as the Panthers raised their record to 8-5 in the Central Division. Tampa Bay and Chicago share the Central lead with 9-4 records. Tampa Bay's lone touchdown came on Jimmy Jordan's 37-yard pass to Eric Truvillion in the third quarter.

Week 13 - Friday, May 27, 1983. Attendance: 38,829. TV: ESPN. [NOTE: Kickoff begins at the 5:31 minute mark if you don't want to hear the pregame analysis.] Quarterback Fred Mortensen ran for two touchdowns and strong safety David Dumars returned an interception 78 yards for another score, leading the Denver Gold to a 21-19 United States Football League victory over the Birmingham Stallions. The victory marked the coaching debut of former National Football League quarterback Craig Morton and snapped a five-game losing streak for Denver, now 5-8. Birmingham had its five-game winning streak ended and dropped to 7-6. A crowd of 38,829 about 4,000 below Denver's season average witnessed the contest.

A look back at the twelfth week of the 1983 USFL season.

Week 12 - Monday, May 23, 1983. Attendance: 20,042, TV: ESPN. Scott Norwood kicked a 46-yard field goal 4 minutes 32 seconds into overtime to give the Birmingham Stallions a 23-20 victory that snapped the Michigan Panthers' six-game winning streak. Birmingham, which blocked an extra point with 2:52 left in the fourth quarter to force the overtime, lost the toss but held Michigan. The Stallions took over at the Michigan 35 after the Panthers were penalized for having an ineligible receiver down field on a fake punt play. Birmingham ran three plays to reach the 28 and Norwood, who had missed from 49 yards earlier, easily made the 46-yarder. Both teams were 7-5 in the United States Football League's Central Division in week 12 of the 1983 season.

1983 Week 11 - Monday, May 16, 1983. Attendance: 32,862, TV: ESPN. New Jersey's Herschel Walker and a five-game winning streak by the Michigan Panthers brought out the crowds at the Pontiac Silverdome. They got what they wanted — a good show by Walker and a better show by their own Ken Lacy. While Walker ran for 87 yards — and caught passes for 105 more — it was Lacy who generally won the hearts of the 32,862 Panther fans, chalking up 156 yards and a touchdown as Michigan came back from a 17-3 halftime deficit with an explosive third quarter. John Williams also made the crowd sit up and take notice with a fine second-half performance, scoring two of the three TDs in the Panthers' rally to help them extend their current winning streak to six. Walker, meanwhile, moved back into the USFL rushing lead with 1,138 yards, 17 ahead of Philadelphia's Kelvin Bryant. Walker also caught three passes for 105 yards.

A look back at the tenth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 10 - Saturday, May 7, 1983. Attendance: 16,307, TV: ESPN. The game between Boston and LA took place on Saturday May. 7, 1983 at the LA Memorial Coliseum with attendance around 16,307 but you couldn't tell by watching video of the game. Week 10 of the inaugural season of the USFL saw the LA Express win that day by a close margin due to a game winning field goal by kicker Vince Abbott. The Los Angeles Express, 5-5, held onto a one game lead in the Pacific Division by tipping the Boston Breakers 23-20. Mike Rae, who replaced starter Tom Ramsey after he left the game with a bruise of the Achilles tendon, connected with Kris Haines for a 6-yard touchdown with 18 seconds remaining to seal the Los Angeles victory. Rae hit on nine of 12 passes for 104 yards and Haines caught six passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns.

A look back at the ninth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 9 - Sunday, May 1, 1983. Attendance: 10,971, TV: ABC. John Williams scored on a 1-yard dive with 1:23 left and a late Boston rally ended three yards short of the Michigan goal line, as the Panthers held on for a 28-24 United States Football League victory over the Breakers. The touchdown, which extended Michigan's winning streak to four, overshadowed a brilliant passing performance by Boston's Johnnie Walton, who completed 37 of 49 for three touchdowns and 422 yards. Williams' touchdown capped a 43-yard drive that followed a 17-yard punt by Boston's Dario Casarino.

1983 Week 9 - Sunday, May 1, 1983. New Jersey Generals (2-6) at Denver Gold (4-4). Attendance: 47,940, TV: ABC. The logical choice to become the USFL's first ever 1,000-yard rusher did just that Sunday. Herschel Walker gained 172 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter, to lead the New Jersey Generals to a 34-29 victory over the Denver Gold. He thus became the first USFL back to pass the 1,000 yard mark, amassing 1,023 yards in 221 carries at that point in the season. New Jersey moved to 3-6, five games behind Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division. Denver at 4-5, tied with Los Angeles one-half game behind Arizona in the Pacific Division.

Another look back at the eighth week of the 1983 USFL season.

A look back at the eighth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 8 - Saturday, April 23, 1983. Attendance: 13,184, TV: ESPN. Quarterback Bobby Hebert connected with Anthony Carter on a 26-yard touchdown toss and then threw a yard to Mike Cobb to pace Michigan to a 34-24 victory over the Los Angeles Express. Novo Bojovic kicked four field goals as the Panthers, 4-4, rallied in the second half, while Los Angeles fell to 4-4.

1983 Week 8 - Monday, April 25, 1983. Attendance: 32,182, TV: ESPN. Frank Corral kicked a 27-yard field goal with 2:47 remaining in overtime to give the Chicago Blitz a 17-14 win over the New Jersey Generals in United States Football League action. The victory before 32,182 fans raised Chicago's record to 5-3 and dropped New Jersey to 2-6. New Jersey's Herschel Walker gained 138 yards in 36 carries to take the league lead in rushing with 851 yards. He needed 111 yards to overtake Philadelphia's Kelvin Bryant, who had 110 yards against Boston the same week. Corral had missed a 35-yard field goal, attempt earlier in the overtime. New Jersey lost a chance at victory with 17 seconds to go in regulation time when Dave Jacobs' 45-yard field goal attempt veered wide right. The Generals took a 14-7 fourth quarter lead when linebacker John Joyce rambled 13 yards after free safety Keith Moody blocked a Corral punt. A pass from Dave Boisture to Victor Hicks gave the Generals a two-point conversion. Chicago tied it four minutes later on a one-yard plunge by Kevin Long. The eight-play, 74-yard drive featured a 32-yard pass from Greg Landry to Trumaine Johnson, the leading receiver in the USFL.

Another look back at the seventh week of the 1983 USFL season.

A look back at the seventh week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 7 - Sunday, April 17, 1983. Washington Federals (1-5) at New Jersey Generals (1-5). Attendance: 35,381, TV: ABC. Herschel Walker scored two touchdowns and became the United States Football League's leading rusher with a 143-yard effort as the New Jersey Generals held off Washington's comeback bid to drop the Federals into last place in the United States Football League with a 23-22 victory. Washington's Ken Olson missed a 38-yard field goal with eight seconds left to put an end to the Federals' fourth-quarter rally. Walker carried the ball 28 times and rushed for more than 100 yards for the third straight week to pass Philadelphia's Kelvin Bryant by one yard as the league's leading rusher with a seven-game total of 714 yards. The Generals boosted their record to 2-5, while the Federals fell to 1-6 before the Giants Stadium crowd of 35,381.

Another look back at the sixth week of the 1983 USFL season.

A look back at the sixth week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 6 - Sunday, April 10, 1983 Attendance: 7,984 TV: ABC [NOTE: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward the video to the 6:00 minute mark where kickoff starts. Also since this game was a blowout the network ABC with a few minutes left switched to the Birmingham vs Chicago game for bonus coverage. Unfortunately the video received didn't have all of the last minutes of the game]. Ted Torosion rambled for two touchdowns through the wind and rain after an interception and fumble recovery by Oakland as the Invaders snapped the Boston Breakers' four-game winning streak. Richard Crump put the Breakers, 4-2, ahead 7-0 early in the second quarter with a 1-yard plunge before Torosion got his first touchdown on a 2-yard run with 1:45 left in the period. Kevin Shea's extra point attempt was blocked, leaving Boston ahead 7-6. Torosion's touchdown climaxed an 80-yard march started by Derrick Martin's interception in the end zone of Johnnie Walton's pass. Crump's fumble on Boston's first play after the kickoff was recovered by Matt Elisara at the Boston 22-yard line. Five plays later Shea connected on a 28-yard field goal to give Oakland, 3-3, the lead for good, 9-7, as time ran out in the first half. QB Fred Besana throws his first interception in nearly a month, setting a USFL-record for most consecutive passes without a pick (135 attempts). The miscue proves to be of little consequence as the Invaders roll over the Boston Breakers, 26-7, at Nickerson Field.

1983 Week 6 - Saturday, April 9, 1983. Attendance: 46,848. TV: ESPN [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward the video to the 5:00 minute mark where the kickoff begins] Rookie running back Greg Boone broke a tackle enroute to an 11-yard touchdown, capping a 73-yard, overtime drive as the Tampa Bay Bandits got a fine passing performance from quarterback John Reaves to down the Denver Gold, 22-16. With the victory, the Bandits bounced back from an embarrassing 42-3 loss to Chicago last week, and raised their division-leading record to 5-1. Denver saw its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 3-3. Reaves, who played nine seasons in the National Football League mostly as a backup, completed 38 of 63 passes for 357 yards. He engineered two long second-half scoring drives that enabled Tampa Bay to erase a 13-3 halftime deficit and take a 16-13 lead late in the fourth quarter. He then directed the Bandits 73 yards for the winning score in the sudden-death overtime.

Another look back at the fourth week of the 1983 USFL season.

Another look back at the fifth week of the 1983 USFL season.

A look back at the fifth week of the 1983 USFL season.

A look back at the fourth week of the 1983 USFL season.

The United States Football League game at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium on March 27, 1983 featured a matchup of two teams that had started out strongly in the new league's inaugural season. Both the Philadelphia Stars and Tampa Bay Bandits were unbeaten after three weeks of play. The Bandits, coached by Steve Spurrier, had an outstanding passing game with veteran QB John Reaves, who had started his pro career as the first draft choice of the NFL Eagles in 1972 (Reaves and Spurrier pictured at right). He had good targets in another veteran pro, WR Danny Buggs, and newcomer Eric Truvillion, the other starting wide receiver. The overlooked defense was a good one and featured NT Fred Nordgren and CB Jeff George. Philadelphia, under Head Coach Jim Mora, was less flashy on offense, featuring star rookie RB Kelvin Bryant and ex-NFL backup QB Chuck Fusina. The defense was especially tough, with the linebacking corps led by unheralded Sam Mills at its heart.

A look back at the third week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 3 - Saturday, March 19, 1983. Attendance: 28,952. TV: ESPN Oakland quarterback Fred Besana ruined Michigan's home opener, completing 24 of 30 passes for 341 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Wyatt Henderson in route to the Invaders' 33-27 win. It also overshadowed a sparkling comeback engineered by Bobby Hebert, the Panthers' quarterback, who was benched early. Hebert returned late in the third period and threw three TD passes to Derek Holloway. Both teams came into the contest at 1-1. Coached by Jim Stanley, the Panthers had scored just one touchdown in the first two contests (they won their opening game over the Birmingham Stallions by a 9-7 score thanks to three Novo Bojovic field goals). Rookie QB Bobby Hebert, a largely unknown quantity from out of Northwest Louisiana State, had won the starting job but was off to a slow start, as was the far-more-heralded rookie WR Anthony Carter from the Univ. of Michigan, who had been the team's biggest preseason signing. Oakland was coached by John Ralston, formerly of Stanford and the Denver Broncos, and had its own unheralded starting quarterback in Fred Besana, a 29-year-old who had last been behind center for the Twin Cities Cougars of the semi-pro California Football League. Backup to Steve Bartkowski and the ill-fated Joe Roth at California, he had failed to make the cut with the NFL Giants and Bills, but was making the most of his opportunity in the new USFL. He had already found a favorite target in WR Wyatt Henderson. The Invaders, who had skimped on talent coming out of college, also featured TE Raymond Chester and HB Arthur Whittington veteran ex-Raiders, on offense. There were 28,952 in attendance at the Pontiac Silverdome for the Saturday night game. Hebert started poorly, completing only one of his first seven passes, and was relieved by backup Whit Taylor. Still, the Panthers led by 3-0 after one quarter of play thanks to a 44-yard field goal by Bojovic. Oakland took the lead in the second quarter as Besana connected with Henderson on a fly pattern for a 45-yard touchdown. Bojovic kicked another 44-yard field goal but Kevin Shea was successful from 32 yards and the Invaders were up by 10-6 at the half. Oakland scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter, with Besana tossing another TD pass to Henderson, this time of 22 yards, and Whittington running for a 14-yard score. The extra point was missed after the latter TD, but it hardly seemed to matter as the Invaders held a commanding 23-6 lead. The Panthers were down but not out, however, and Hebert returned to the game to spark a furious rally. It began with a touchdown pass to WR Derek Holloway that covered 48 yards and, with the successful extra point, made it 23-13 heading into the fourth quarter. Fred Besana completed 24 of 30 passes for 341 yards with three touchdowns and none intercepted. While Wyatt Henderson scored two of those TDs among his three catches for 93 yards, Raymond Chester was Oakland's top receiver as he pulled in 7 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown. Arthur Whittington also had a big day, rushing for 109 yards and a TD on 26 carries and adding 4 catches for 46 more yards. For the Panthers, following the shaky start Bobby Hebert ended up completing 13 of 23 throws for 289 yards with three TDs and no interceptions. Derek Holloway caught three passes -- all for touchdowns -- and gained 108 yards. RB Ken Lacy was the team's leading ground gainer with 23 yards on 8 attempts. Anthony Carter had a mixed performance, pulling in two passes for 85 yards that included the one long bomb that set up Holloway's second TD. However, he also fumbled two punts, one of which led to an Oakland score.

1983 Week 3 - Sunday, March 20, 1983 Attendance: 26,949, TV: ABC [Note: If you want to skip all the pregame analysis forward to the 6:30 minute mark where the game begins] Chicago gave George Allen the cold shoulder. The coach of the Windy City's entry in the United States Football League brought the Blitz into snowy Soldier Field and barely one-third of the 68,000 seats in the ancient edifice were filled. And the Denver Gold left the Blitz with a cold, empty feeling, too. Quarterback Ken Johnson swept into the end zone on a fourth-down, 1-yard keeper with 18 seconds remaining to defeat Chicago. The 16-13 defeat was the second last minute loss by the Blitz. "It's like a doctor doing a lot of things properly and then the patient dies," said Allen. Denver Coach Red Miller said he never considered playing it safe, going for the "sure" three points with a field goal and then hoping for a shot at victory in overtime. "We didn't think 'kick' at all," Miller said. "I didn't want to tie. We wanted to win -- and it was a big, big win for our young team." Johnson drove Denver 70 yards to its winning touchdown, passing twice to tight end Bob Niziolek for gains of 14 and 13 yards, the second completion putting the ball at the Chicago 3-yard line. Three plays gained just two yards, setting up the fourth-and-1. "I took a good look at the goal line right before the play," Johnson said. "It looked like a yard and a half away." And with the snow and the wind, the footing was treacherous. But Johnson crossed up the defense, sweeping around left end and scooting over a goal line he couldn't see because of the snow. Greg Landry's 42-yard touchdown pass to Lenny Willis and field goals of 27 and 38 yards by John Roveto accounted for the Blitz scoring. Harry Sydney set up a field goal by Brian Speelman with a 36-yard run, then sprinted 30 yards for the first TD by the Gold.

A look back at the second week of the 1983 USFL season.

1983 Week 2 - Sunday, March 13, 1983 Attendance: 38,205, TV: ABC Herschel Walker had his second mediocre game as the Generals lost for the second time, falling 25-0 to the Philadelphia Stars. Walker, who rushed for 65 yards in his pro debut in Los Angeles, gained 60 yards against the Stars and fumbled twice, two of New Jersey's seven turnovers. Chuck Fusina, once the backup quarterback for the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ran for one touchdown and passed 8 yards to Scott Fitzkee for another and Kelvin Bryant outshone Walker with 114 yards and a touchdown before 38,205 fans in Philadelphia.

1983 Week 2 - Saturday, March 12, 1983 Attendance: 28,434 TV: ESPN George Allen and the Chicago Blitz were two-touchdown favorites when they invaded Arizona to start Week Two of the United States Football League season. Alan Risher and Jim Asmus threw that line out the window and hung the Blitz out to dry. Allen's team was the only road team favored when the new league debuted and was a heavy favorite against the Wranglers, not only because of the Blitz' 28-7 opening-day victory in Washington (and Arizona's 24-0 first-game loss to Oakland) but because of Allen, who never had a losing season as a National Football League coach. For three periods, Allen's team looked every bit as good as that line, building a 29-12 lead Saturday night on Greg Landry's three touchdown passes. Then Risher took command. Arizona's rookie quarterback, who had thrown a 6-yard touchdown pass to Mike Smith in the third period, completed scoring strikes of 10 yards to Jackie Flowers (and the 2-point conversion to Mark Keel) and 9 yards to Neil Balholm. That cut Chicago's lead to 29-27. And when Arizona's defense held(sacking Landry in the process), Risher guided the Wranglers into position for Jim Asmus' field goal, a 33-yarder with one second remaining that beat the Blitz 30-29. That Asmus was still around was a bit of a surprise. After he missed two field goals in the loss to Oakland, the Wranglers paraded place-kickers through tryouts during the week.

From 2015, Amin and the Vassals review George R. R. Martin's "The Last Super Bowl" in a spoiler filled discussion that was recorded before the Super Bowl, which thus explain their pro-Seahawks hopes. Sports are universally beloved. Geographically, athletic competitions take on various forms; the NFL, NBA, MLB are strong in America; NHL in Canada; Premier League in Europe; and Cricket in India. But the now legendary George R. R. Martin wrote about the downfall of them all in “The Last Super Bowl,” a fantastically written short story in February 1975's issue of Gallery Magazine, a men's magazine. The story is actually two tales, as he covers the last Super Bowl which takes place in January 2016 and interjects the depiction of that Super Bowl, between the Green Bay Packers and the Hoboken Jets, and the downfall of real sports. Real sports, in the 2016 of Martin's fictional world, have been overtaken in popularity by simulated sports. Simulated sports are controlled by a computer that can put any team, from any era, against any other for the enjoyment of the spectators. The technology he describes in the computers that control the simulated sports may have been a thing of science fiction in 1974, when I assume he wrote the piece, but here in 2022, our computers are powerful enough to create those simulations. Just look at video games like Electronic Arts' Madden and FIFA series. The implications that computer simulated games would overtake the real thing isn't so far fetched now, but back in 1975, Martin was looking to a future where the complexities of computers and their power seemed infinitely abundant. The last Super Bowl – just think about it. No more National Football League, no more National Basketball Association, no more Major League Baseball, the players all replaced by pixels and simulations. The piece is entitled “The Last Super Bowl” because the NFL was the last sport to fall to the computerized simulations. Martin explains that the NBA and NHL disbanded in 2010, while the MLB lasted just until 2014, with the NFL holding on just long enough to have one last Super Bowl in 2016. Why have the real leagues folded to simulations? Money, of course, which is the underlying scariest thing about this piece. The power of the media, which still exists to a certain degree, functions in Martin's simulation to make decisions not in the interest of art or tangible implications for the cultures we live in but for profit and a healthier bottom line. These are things that aren't science fiction, as they are now an overt fact of our society. You can read it here at Sportsmaster Simulations...

A look back at the action of the inaugural week of the original USFL.

From the public domain comes the premiere of original USFL preview show.

1983 Week 1 - Monday, March 7, 1983 Attendance: 38,352 TV: ESPN Monday Night and the Legion Field crowd was hyped as their Birmingham Stallions took on the Michigan Panther's in the first USFL Monday night game. The Stallions were spurred on by their crowd and stayed close. On Monday, March 7, 1983; The Panthers opened the season with a 9-7 win over the Birmingham Stallions at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL. This was the first professional football game ever broadcast on ESPN. Serbian kicker (via Central Michigan) Novo Bojovic kicked the winning field goal from 48 yards out in the waning moments to preserve the win. Coach Jim Stanley had no trouble describing the United States Football League debut of his Michigan Panthers and the Birmingham Stallions, and neither did the 38,352 fans. "It was a good defensive game first and foremost," Stanley said after the Panthers defeated Birmingham 9-7 on three field goals by Novo Bojovic, two for 49 yards and one for 48. The hometown fans had only one chance to cheer, when Birmingham quarterback Reggie Collier skirted right end on a bootleg keeper for the game's only touchdown. Other than that, the most cheering occurred before the kickoff when a parachutist delivered the game ball at midfield. All the scoring occurred in the first half although Birmingham threatened twice after the intermission. Scott Norwood missed a 27-yard field goal attempt on the first play of the fourth period and later Birmingham drove from its 39 to the Michigan 32 but linebacker Ray Bentley intercepted at the 19. Bentley was a main reason it was a good defensive game. He had another interception and led his team in tackles with 10. Linebacker Larry McPherson of Birmingham had 12 tackles and the Stallions' Mike Raines sacked Michigan quarterback Bobby Hebert twice.

1983 Week 1 - Sunday, March 6, 1983 Attendance: 45,102, TV: KBTV Denver Chuck Fusina ran for a touchdown, David Trout kicked a pair of field goals - one from 50 yards - and the Stars held off a Gold rally in the fourth quarter before 45,102 at Denver. Denver's last chance to win the game failed with 22 seconds left when substitute Gold quarterback Ken Johnson's pass to fullback Larry Canada in the end zone fell incomplete on fourth down from the Philadelphia two. The Denver Gold debut in a 13-7 loss to the Philadelphia Stars, but the real story is the attendance - 45,102 cross the turnstiles at Mile High Stadium, with less than 1% requesting refunds under the team's innovative refund policy.

A wrap up of the USFL vs NFL saga that ends with a victory by the USFL in court and a financial settlement of one dollar. Mike Pesca, Slate, also joins to talk about the biggest risks facing the NFL, whether the Patriots are good or bad for the league, and what our culture would look like if football never took off as a professional sport in the first place. Plus, he talks about his latest book, Upon Further Review: The Greatest What Ifs in Sports History.