The playoff matchups were set last weekend.
We have the New Jersey Generals (9-1, 1st Place North) vs. the Philadelphia Stars. (6-4). The other matchup is the Birmingham Stallions (9-1, 1st Place South) vs. the New Orleans Breakers. (6-3*)
* Breakers play the Houston Gamblers Sunday. We also have the battle to see who claims the worst record between the Michigan Panthers (1-8) and the Pittsburgh Maulers (1-8).
Anyhoo, the Playoff semifinals are on Saturday, June 25. The first game will be the Stars vs. Generals at 3pm EDT and the Breakers vs. Stallions at 8pm EDT, with the winners of those games meeting on Sunday, July 3 at 7:30pm EDT for the championship. These games will be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
The matchups:
1) New Jersey Generals defeated Philadelphia Stars twice (including today's game). The Generals are riding a nine-game win streak since losing the opener to the Birmingham Stallions in the inaugural game. The Stars were on a 4-game win streak before their loss today to the Generals. The Generals appear to be the hottest team going into the playoffs and should defeat the Stars a third time.
2) Birmingham Stallions defeated the New Orleans Breakers twice, but neither was an easy win. Birmingham won the first eight games of the season before losing in Week 9. Their momentum appeared to be waning before today's week 10 win. They also have had the advantage of being the "home team" every week playing all games in Birmingham, something they will not have in Canton, Ohio. The Breakers will be a challenge to overcome a third time, barely losing 10-9 a few weeks ago.
USFL Plusses and minuses...
The obvious problem with this season was the decision to play all games in Birmingham (a cost-cutting measure no doubt). The poor attendance, especially with games not involving the Stallions, was really glaring. Which leads to criticism 2, and the obvious canned fan noise being piped through the television broadcasts. And of the teams represented in city name only, must be tough to create a base of fans in those areas if they're not getting local games to attend. As far as the play of the game itself, the kicking game was the most obvious deficit in quality (it has improved somewhat as new kickers were brought on).
The best thing the league has introduced and something the NFL should adopt, is being allowed to hear the review referee's thought process on reviews and challenges, and really helps bring clarity to rulings and reduces confusion over such decisions. The NFL review process has always baffled announcers and fans watching on TV with many of their calls.
Whether the USFL continues into another season, and with the XFL version 3 trying another shot at it in a hopefully post-pandemic world, we'll see what happens.
Anyhoo, see you next weekend for the playoffs, and as USMB's Numba One Stallions fan... GO STALLIONS!!!
