{"id":22801,"date":"2022-06-10T16:16:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T20:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=22801"},"modified":"2022-06-10T16:16:19","modified_gmt":"2022-06-10T20:16:19","slug":"usfl-week-9-preview-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/usfl-week-9-preview-picks\/","title":{"rendered":"USFL WEEK 9 PREVIEW & PICKS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re down to our final two weeks of the USFL regular season and maybe the last chance some of these pitiful head coaches have to be employed outside the grill at a Waffle House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s just one playoff spot up for grabs, with the New Jersey Generals, Philadelphia Stars and Birmingham Stallions already clinched. Still, the schedule must still be played out. We have point spreads and totals<\/a>, so let\u2019s pick some games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SATURDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEW JERSEY GENERALS AT MICHIGAN PANTHERS (+7.5, O\/U: 47)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week the Generals drew the hapless Pittsburgh Maulers and delivered the expected result, winning 29-18. The Panthers, who are just as hapless as the Maulers, picked up their latest defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Stars, 46-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luis Perez remained at QB for New Jersey, completing 75 percent of his passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. Darius Victor carried the ball 17 times for 87 yards and three touchdowns. Trey Williams had 12 rushes for 66 yards. KaVonte Turpin caught five passes for 83 yards and a TD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, guess what! Paxton Lynch got the call for the Panthers last week and wasn\u2019t completely terrible. The former NFL first round pick completed 67.5 percent of his passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns and only threw two interceptions to the other team. It\u2019s something for Michigan to really celebrate. Lynch added 20 yards and a touchdown on the ground. La\u2019Michael Pettway hauled in seven balls for 97 yards and a touchdown. Cameron Scarlett caught Lynch\u2019s other TD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s the thing about the Generals, who have easily the best quarterback play in the league. Perez was out there for everybody before the season started. He went undrafted in the USFL draft and New Jersey only signed him after the guy they drafted to start, Ben Holmes, was injured in the preseason. Head coach Mike Riley might have DeAndre Johnson back this week, who was the best QB in the league before he went down with an ankle injury. How is Riley so much better at finding quartebacks than every other USFL coach? It\u2019s ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, Michigan has no chance here. Riley probably won\u2019t work his way back into the NFL but could land a real NCAA head coaching job from a pretty fantastic USFL performance. Panthers head coach Jeff Fisher should be in danger of getting fired from a league that might not even exist a year from now. Generals 34, Panthers 17<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOUSTON GAMBLERS AT BIRMINGHAM STALLIONS (-12.5, O\/U: 43.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week ago the Gamblers put forth their worst performance of the season, falling 13-3 to the Tampa Bay Bandits. The Stallions were on the ropes for three quarters, but a field goal in the fourth kept their record perfect with a 10-9 victory over the New Orleans Breakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since nothing else worked, Houston handed the keys to new quarterback Kenji Bahar who was just bad in a football way, but sadly for this league, not in a USFL way. There have certainly been worse performances by QBs in this league in its inaugural season. Bahar completed 55.9 percent of his passes for 159 yards, no touchdowns and a pick. He rushed for 49 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

J\u2019Marr Smith did all he could to cost the Stallions the game, but somehow picked up the victory finishing a pathetic 15 of 29 for 183 yards, a TD and an interception. He added 45 yards on the ground. Bo Scarbrough had 14 carries for 54 yards. Marlon Williams caught seven passes, nearly half of Smith\u2019s completions, for 109 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Houston is one of three one-win USFL teams and arguably the only one who shouldn\u2019t be in that group. They\u2019ve taken halftime leads in most of their games and really been a hard luck franchise. Birmingham, on the other hand, has experienced the exact opposite. The USFL\u2019s only \u201chome team\u201d seems to get all the breaks to keep that first \u201cL\u201d off the board. It would be great if the Gamblers, of all teams, could be the first to hang a loss on them. Smith is dying to give one of these away. But I don\u2019t see it happening. Stallions 20, Gamblers 10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SUNDAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TAMPA BAY BANDITS AT NEW ORLEANS BREAKERS (-3, O\/U: 43.5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bandits exploded for 13 points in the second quarter before taking the rest of the game off on offense, winning 13-3 over the Houston Gamblers in Week 8. The Breakers found themselves on the wrong side of a defensive struggle, losing thanks to a fourth quarter field goal to the undefeated Birmingham Stallions, 10-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan Ta\u2019amu is still giving Tampa Bay head coach Todd Haley acid reflux with his play, completing 57.1 percent of his passes for only 98 yards, one touchdowns and an interception. Juwann Washington had 20 rushes for 60 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Breakers, Kyle Sloter too was outright hot garbage. He also completed just 57.5 percent of his passes for 251 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions. Taywan Taylor caught four passes for 76 yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two teams combined for a total of 22 points a week ago, so I\u2019m not expecting much here. New Orleans opened the year strong and looked like the second best team in the USFL. Now, this is basically a playoff game as these are the only two teams still alive for the final spot. I think the Breakers get it done. Breakers 23, Bandits 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHILADELPHIA STARS AT PITTSBURGH MAULERS (+8.5, O\/U: 48)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week the Stars poured it on the Michigan Panthers, reminding every Los Angeles Rams fan exactly why Jeff Fisher was shown the door with a 46-24 victory. The Maulers lost, as they usually do, this time to the best team in the North, the New Jersey Generals, 29-18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia\u2019s Case Cookus continued to prove he\u2019s a real boy for the Stars by having one of the best quarterbacking games of the season for any USFL franchise. He completed 20 of 26 for 247 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. He rushed for 102 yards and another TD. I didn\u2019t know this human lived on the planet three months ago and he does this? It\u2019s pretty great. Matt Coburn II had 16 carries for 47 yards and a score of his own. He caught three passes for 49 yards and another touchdown. Pro Wells had one snag for a 51-yard touchdown. Jordan Suell caught five balls for 46 yards and a TD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pittsburgh tossed the keys to a fresh new quarterback, former Steelers undrafted free agent Roland Rivers and got pretty much the same results as with their previous QBs. Rivers was pretty awful, completing 47.4 percent of his passes for 218 yards, a touchdown and a pick. He added 28 yards and a TD on the ground. DelVon Hardway hauled in three passes for 64 yards. Isiah Hennie had six catches for 60 yards and a score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stars are in cruise control and playing for nothing, but there\u2019s no reason to take a stumble against arguably the worst team in professional football. Stars 33, Maulers 13<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 3-1<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 2-2<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight up:<\/strong> 20-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against the spread:<\/strong> 15-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow Adam Greene on Twitter <\/em>@TheFirstMan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connect with us our socials on <\/em>Twitter<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>Instagram<\/em><\/a> for the latest sports news, viral moments, betting odds and the occasional memes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE We\u2019re down to our final two weeks of the USFL regular season and maybe the last chance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22802,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22801\/revisions\/22802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}