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The 2023 USFL season is officially upon us, and we are finally getting XFL and USFL action together for our viewing pleasure this Spring football season. Sportsbooks are now available on that device in your pocket all over the world, and so this is going to be a Spring Football season like no other. I'll be here every week providing sports betting advice for USFL action, so join me here and pay homage to the original "fun" league. Be sure to also read all our other weekly USFL Fantasy Football articles.
If we ever start expanding into the realms of the European League of Football, Indoor Football League, Fan Controlled Football, and/or (I can only hope) the CPBL of Taiwan come baseball season–I'll be right here to discuss the full happenings across the board.
They might not be the #1...or #2 leagues...but damn it, we've congregated here because we love sports. So, when the powers to be in professional sports decide to supply our hungry demand for more year-round action, it would be fundamentally and morally wrong of us to not take a head-first dive into Spring Football education so that we can continue to enter DFS contests and place anxiety-inducing bets on games that most of our friends and family probably won't even know are being played--and if you're still reading this paragraph, I am fully confident that you share my sentiment on that point. Anyway, let's get to talking about the Spring Football league that started it all with the likes of Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Reggie White, Doug Flutie, and near-Congressman Herschel Walker.
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Week 9 USFL Power Rankings
- Birmingham Stallions
- Memphis Showboats
- New Orleans Breakers
- Philadelphia Stars
- Houston Gamblers
- Michigan Panthers
- Pittsburgh Maulers
- New Jersey Generals
Week 9 USFL MVP Ladder
- Alex McGough (QB, Birmingham Stallions)
- Mark Thompson (RB, Houston Gamblers)
- Breeland Speaks (DE, Michigan Panthers)/C.J. Marable (RB, Birmingham Stallions)/Frank Ginda (LB, Michigan Panthers)
- Greg Reaves (LB, Memphis Showboats)/Luis Aguilar (K, Philadelphia Stars)/Reggie Corbin (RB, Michigan Panthers)
- McLeod Bethel-Thompson (QB, New Orleans Breakers)
Week 9
Michigan Panthers at Pittsburgh Maulers (Saturday, June 10th, Noon)
PIT (-1.5), O/U 41.5, PIT (-120), MICH (+100)
Best Bet: Panthers (+1.5), ***ML (+100)***, & Under 41.5
This is going to be a close game, and so while I believe it to be appropriately handicapped, I still have to enter Week 9 feeling better about the Michigan Panthers than the Pittsburgh Maulers, who have taken the reigns from Michigan as the USFL team most likely to be its own worst enemy and lose a game despite having every opportunity to steal it. In this critical game for both of these teams' postseason chances, Bailey Gaither and Reggie Corbin will not be participating due to injuries. This means that we will get to see Toa Taua at fullback for the Panthers, and Stevie Scott III in as the starting running back (a role we already know that he can handle). For the Pittsburgh Maulers, they are going to be missing one of their key weapons in every offensive department in Gaither, which means that the big-play ability of Isiah Hennie and Josh Simmons will be even more important overall with how the running game has struggled behind Garrett Groshek and the underutilization of Madre London.
Troy Williams had an efficient performance last week in a game that Pittsburgh had in their grasp against the Houston Gamblers, holding Mark Thompson in check, while Michigan actually endured a mediocre outing from Corbin and a solid performance from QB Josh Love to a near-victory over New Orleans. I think at this point, the Michigan Panthers defense has caught up to the almost the level of the Maulers, and even without Reggie Corbin, I still trust the Michigan offense overall more than that of Pittsburgh without Bailey Gaither. If Troy Williams is limited on his feet, the Maulers are in for a rough outing. The shift in the spread due to Corbin's injury is a bit exaggerated. In a 50/50 game, Michigan takes it by a final score of 17-13 to 21-20 and all but lock up a playoff slot. so ride the Panthers on the ML and go full-swing on the under.
New Orleans Breakers at Memphis Showboats (Saturday, June 10th, 3 PM)
Pick Em, O/U 43.5, (-110 each)
Best Bet: Breakers (-110) & Over 43.5
I wish both of these teams could pick up a win this week and both potentially make the playoffs, but the first scenario is impossible and the second is quite unlikely. This is a true contrast of styles--offense versus defense--in a near 50/50 game that will be a battle of who has developed their roster into the better overall product. Last week, the Breakers kept pace with the rest of the South Division and picked up a win over the Panthers, and though Wes Hills has continued to struggle in his rushing efficiency in the past couple of weeks and McLeod Bethel-Thompson threw for two INT, he still did manage 328 yards and two TD on 25/34 passing.
In Week 8, the Showboats notched a nine-point, 25-16 win over the sputtering New Jersey Generals, and while their defense once again shined and their running crew ended the day with solid stats, those numbers are a bit misleading considering the last-minute go-off by Kerrith Whyte. I definitely think that the Memphis backfield has showed up more often and that HC Todd Haley has committed to running the ball an appropriate amount, but that with Cole Kelley doesn't pound-for-pound touch the offensive production of the New Orleans Breakers in an average week. Even so--this is going to be a close game. Let's not forget that this was the Showboats second win in their now five-game streak, and their defense is going to cause enough disruption both in rushing MBT, limiting Wes Hills, and creating turnovers. This won't be another 17-10 contest though, and they won't be catching the Breakers by surprise. New Orleans takes their revenge in the Liberty Bowl by a score of 24-20 to 31-21, so lean over.
Birmingham Stallions at Houston Gamblers (Sunday, June 11th, 2 PM)
BHAM (-3.5), O/U 45.5, BHAM (-175), HOU (+150)
Best Bet: Stallions (-3.5) & Over 45.5
This is now two-straight games where Mark Thompson has looked human--but granted--those games were against two of the best defenses in the league in Memphis and Pittsburgh. The real problem for the Houston Gamblers has now become the fact that Kenji Bahar has been back to passing inefficiently and committing turnovers, or is that just what it appears to be when you are getting rushed by the Maulers and Showboats? The ability to open up the field would surely make things easier on Thompson out of the backfield. The Birmingham Stallions are once again coming off of a classic contest that proved themselves as the best team that the USFL has to offer, mounting a fantastic comeback to shock the surging Philadelphia Stars 27-24.
Alex McGough, C.J. Marable, and the bulk of the Birmingham receivers have looked damn-near unstoppable over the last dew weeks, as even a phenomenal offensive outing by Case Cookus wasn't enough for the Stallions to take what would have been a very understandable loss. Houston was only able to escape last week with a hard-to-believe one-point victory over Pittsburgh, and even with their Week 5 win over Birmingham, I firmly believe that those Gamblers had reached their peak performance of the year while the Stallions were merely on the way to reaching theirs. Maybe the Stallions don't keep Mark Thompson in check like he was the last two weeks, but Houston can't score as many points as this McGough-Marable one-two punch. Birmingham wins this game 24-20 to 31-27, so I lean slightly towards the Stallions and the over.
Philadelphia Stars at New Jersey Generals (Sunday, June 11th, 7 PM)
PHI (-2.5), O/U 43.5, PHI (-135), NJ (+115)
Best Bet: Stars (-2.5) & Over 43.5
I must be missing something here, because the close handicapping of this game defies all logic of what we have seen over the last handful of weeks. Last week, the Philadelphia Stars had a signature victory over the Birmingham Stallions well within reach before blowing it 27-24, while the New Jersey Generals dropped a 25-16 contest to the Memphis Showboats in a game where Darius Victor looked downright mediocre and yet Dakota Prokop looked dangerously versatile at quarterback. What is most important entering Week 9 is that Case Cookus looked phenomenal and RB Dexter Williams had a solid outing, even though Matt Colburn II took a step back.
The only way that this game has been appropriately handicapped is if you trust HC Mike Riley to start Prokup over Kyle Lauletta and utilize Prokup's legs to slow the pace of the game down and gain yardage better than the backfield has been. If there is ANY wavering in that at all, and if Darius Victor doesn't go off, it is hard to see a scenario where Luis Aguilar isn't at least nailing enough field goals to send the Generals home for good for the 2023 campaign. If New Jersey wants to pass at all, I trust that the Stars will be able to force a turnover or two to match the one or two that they will probably create, and Case Cookus continues his annual tradition of popping off leading into the playoffs. The Stars win this game by a final score between 24-16 and 30-21, so I lean slightly to the over and am very confident in a play on Philly.
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