RADIO
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 3 USFL Power Rankings
- Birmingham Stallions
- Michigan Panthers
- New Jersey Generals
- New Orleans Breakers
- Philadelphia Stars
- Memphis Showboats
- Pittsburgh Maulers
- Houston Gamblers
Week 3 USFL MVP Ladder
- McLeod Bethel-Thompson (QB, New Orleans Breakers)
- Josh Love (QB, Michigan Panthers)
- Darius Victor (RB, New Jersey Generals)
- Reggie Corbin (RB, Michigan Panthers)
- Case Cookus (QB, Philadelphia Stars)
- Sage Surratt (TE, New Orleans Breakers)/Jace Sternberger (TE, Birmingham Stallions)
Week 3
New Orleans Breakers at Birmingham Stallions (Saturday, April 29th, 12:30 PM)
BHAM (-6), O/U 48.5
Best Bet: Stallions (-6) & Over 48.5
I have definitely been impressed with the Breakers' offensive efficiency and ability to make their opportunities count, led by the veteran passing of McLeod Bethel-Thompson and the lights-out receiving of Sage Surratt, but with victories by a combined 14 points against teams easily in the USFL's bottom-tier, they have a lot more to prove. That is not the case for the Birmingham Stallions.
The only Stallion in my MVP ladder is TE Jace Sternbernger, because they have all been so phenomenal that it is incredibly difficult to pick. Alex McGough picked up the pace too last week, and Birmingham proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are very much the best team in the league, even with a depleted roster. The Generals proved that they still belong in the USFL's upper-echelon--it was just the Stallions making them look bad, and piecing up my Showboats 42-2 sent a daunting message to the rest of the league.
In allowing 15 points to the Pittsburgh Maulers, it set in just how many holes exist in the New Orleans defense. I don't think this one will be near as bad as Birmingham-Memphis, but I do think that Birmingham has it all, while the Breakers have offense. It is more trustworthy than that of Memphis, but not enough to not take a loss by at least a touchdown. I'm looking for a final score range of 28-14 to 35-21, so lay six with Birmingham and favor the over.
Memphis Showboats at Houston Gamblers (Saturday, April 29th, 7:30 PM)
MEM (-1), O/U 43.5
Best Bet: Showboats (-1) & Over 43.5
Ah, now this is a much more important and doable matchup for the Memphis Showboats. Last week's matchup with the Stallions demonstrated clearly and unequivocally that the South Division is a two-team contest until much further notice, but to be fair, the Showboats have a solid performance (albeit, a loss) under their belts against the Philadelphia Stars, and I challenge any team on earth outside of the NFL to play the Birmingham Stallions right now and not look second-rate.
Not a lot about the Houston Gamblers really pops to me. T.J. Pledger has accumulated nice numbers without Mark Thompson in the backfield, but while QB Kenji Bahar ranks fourth in the league in passing, he is also tossing for a 3:5 TD-INT ratio--and while the bottom-tier of the league seems able to hang in close contests with New Orleans, the Week 1 loss to the Panthers shows how far behind Houston really is (and how much better Michigan is).
These teams both sit at 0-2 because they have played very good teams. However, I think Memphis has played the better composite, and their loss to Philadelphia remains the best individual game performance between the two. I think this will be a close game, but more importantly, a shootout. Right now, I think the Showboats have the more explosive offense and the defenses here have been unimpressive or at the very least, still present too many question marks to rely on as a determining factor here. I expect the Showboats to grab their first win here by a final score ranging from 28-26 all the way to 38-35, with Bahar and Brady White both throwing for 275+ yards.
Pittsburgh Maulers at Philadelphia Stars (Sunday, April 30th, 12 PM)
PHI (-6), O/U 44.5
Best Bet: Stars (-6) & Under 44.5
The first Pennsylvania North Division rivalry of the 2023 USFL season, and there couldn't be a better clash of team identity. The Philadelphia Stars and QB Case Cookus looked every bit an offensive powerhouse in Week 1 against the Showboats, but got absolutely pummeled last week, 24-10, in a gritty contest with the Michigan Panthers. The Pittsburgh Maulers on the other hand have scored a combined 18 points and given up a combined 43, though their defense has still looked quite stout considering that their two losses came to the Breakers and Generals.
Ultimately, I consider the Maulers to be the USFL's version of the San Antonio Brahmas with their defensive emphasis, but even that comparison now seems strained because Pittsburgh's offense has been way worse than San Antonio's. James Morgan and the Pittsburgh passing game has been essentially non-existent, while the rushing attack of Madre London and Garrett Groshek has severely underperformed, with the only points going on the board via special teams and defensive scoring.
I think the Philadelphia Stars are definitely a good enough offense to outscore the Maulers by a considerable margin, but just one-dimensional enough as a team to let the Maulers get more than the three that they managed last week against New Jersey. I think the Stars easily cover up to seven or eight points, but that Pittsburgh can hold the Stars to a certain ceiling, with a final score range of 21-6 all the way to 30-15, highly favoring the under.
New Jersey Generals at Michigan Panthers (Sunday, April 30th, 4 PM)
MICH (-4), O/U 44.5
Best Bet: Generals (+4, ***ML (+160)***) & Over 44.5
No matter how you shake it, this is at minimum a matchup of top-five USFL squads and quite possibly two of the top three. New Jersey--coming off of a strong 2022 campaign and a strong performance in Week 2 with everyone wondering if they can get over the hump known as Birmingham, and Michigan--the team we are all just impressed with in 2023 when compared to last year who have demonstrated strength in virtually every category in football.
There's a clash of RB strength in this game between the Panthers' Reggie Corbin and the Generals' Darius Victor, while I can still not locate a single injury report indicating whether NJ's Trey Williams will be available for Sunday. This is also a clash of QB-situations, with Josh Love sort of coming out of the blue for a great start to the year and DeAndre Johnson splitting time with Dakota Prukop. Mostly, this is a clash of results through two weeks, with the Panthers grabbing two decisive victories over the Gamblers and Stars by a resounding 53-23 margin, and the Generals getting pummeled by the Stallions in Week 1 only to bounce back with a 20-3 win over the bottom-dwelling Maulers where in which they looked like the 2022 version of themselves.
I do think that so far, the Michigan Panthers are the most improved team in the USFL and are very much in contention for the postseason. However, I also think that the Generals are far too good of a team still to overreact on this much, and that a 27-10 loss to Birmingham isn't so bad in hindsight. I think that a run-dominated but very well-rounded game plays out from both sides, with a final score range of 24-21 to 29-25. I think the Generals are an easy play on the points at +4, but this game is a 50/50 contest, so I'm all about the ML too in capping off Week 3 action.
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