Originally posted by AP via Google (google.com)Las Vegas beats California in UFL debut (AP) – 28 minutes ago
LAS VEGAS -- J.P. Losman threw two touchdowns passes and Dede Dorsey scored twice to help the Las Vegas Locomotives win the first game in United Football League history, 30-17 over the California Redwoods on Thursday night.
A crowd of 14,209 fans attended the game at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium.
"Our defense stepped up to the plate big time," Las Vegas coach Jim Fassel said. "The things that we didn't do well at the end of the day we can coach. It was a good football game. It wasn't sloppy. It was hard hitting. It was what people want to see."
Losman, who spent the last five seasons with the Buffalo Bills, completed 21 of 31 passes for 226 yards. He threw a 1-yard TD pass to Dorsey with 13 seconds left in the second quarter, and had an 11-yard scoring pass to tight end Adam Bergen that gave Las Vegas a 17-14 lead with 11:07 left in the third quarter.
"I think guys are hungry, they're looking forward to next week," Losman said. "Ball security from the pocket standpoint was my biggest concern. These guys did an excellent job. The guys responded very well."
The Locomotives made it 30-17 on Dorsey's 9-yard TD run with 2:18 remaining in the game. Dorsey had nine carries for 63 yards and caught four passes for 19 yards.
"Dede is a flash-and-dash-take-it-to-the-house guy," Fassel said.
Graham Gano scored the first points in league history, hitting a 33-yard field goal with 3:20 left in the first quarter for the Locomotives.
The UFL's first touchdown came when Redwoods quarterback Shane Boyd scored on a 4-yard run with 11:03 left in the second quarter. California increased its lead to 14-3 on Cory Ross' 4-yard run with 8:45 remaining in the second quarter.
The Locomotives scored their first touchdown on Losman's scoring pass to Dorsey that cut it to 14-10. Following Losman's TD pass to Bergen, the Locomotives increased their lead to 20-14 on Gano's 39-yard field goal with 8:05 left in third quarter.
The Redwoods made it 20-17 on Parker Douglass' 26-yard field goal with 52 seconds remaining in the third quarter, but Las Vegas countered with Gano's 53-yard field goal with 5:32 left in the fourth quarter.
"I feel like our guys played well," California coach Dennis Green said. "I liked the way they played. I liked their effort. We didn't run the ball well in the second half. We were really chasing the rabbit into the rabbit hole in the second half."
The UFL follows mostly NFL rules. Visible differences from the NFL are that all of the referees wear solid red shirts and black pants and the yard-line and end-zone markers, as well as the sideline crew's vests, are lime green. There are also LED screens on one sideline and both end zones.
The four UFL teams will each play six games in the regular season. The championship games is set for Nov. 27 in Las Vegas.
Anybody watch it? I kinda drifted in and out during the second half.
You'd think for all the pretty flourescent colours they were sparkling all over the place, they could have had the two teams' uniforms look a LITTLE more dissimilar.
I DID see that 53 yarder - hey that Gano's pretty good eh
We got a lot of searches tonight from people looking for JP Losman's salary. They probably won't find THIS thread, but according to USA Today (usatoday.com) the salaries top out at $60K, so...
If you've got a spare 85.7M free, you too can own a virtual copy of the Media Guide (ufl-football.com) (85.7M PDF) !
Sadly, information on the opening game has not yet made the UFL site. I guess they only work 9-5 or something ;-) so you'll have to wait for the link to that box score.
I watched a bit, because of Gano. Not surprised by his performance(3/3 FGs). Last year he had a 50+ yard FG in four or five straight games for FSU. I can't imagine he won't get another shot at the NFL soon.
Other than that, it was OK stuff. Nothing I'm going to make a habit of watching.
I'm actually going to be in Vegas when they have thier next game . . . hmmmm, might have to try and check this out in person since I don't get VS. on DirecTV anymore.
"You are going to get a certain amount of snarkiness on the Internet no matter what, and my rule is that you don't post anything that you wouldn't say to someone's face." Marc Andreyko (Writer of DC Comic's "Manhunter")
The uniforms - HORRIBLE. They really shouldn't have tried to make all the teams stick to the same four-color palette. The Locos (ugh) white numbers-on-silver were tough to pick out even in HD. And NOTHING says "bush league" like gimmicky, distorted numerals on the front and standard non-distorted numbers on the back.
Otherwise, it wasn't terrible. Why they aren't playing in they spring, I have no idea. I might actually get into the UFL if it was in the spring with a few more teams.
And isn't it "LOSS-man"?
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
I can't BELIEVE they still don't have a box score available. If I had known, I would have put the game on the DVR and compiled one myself. I could have cornered the market on UFL statistics - could you IMAGINE the money I would not have made with that?
Also, on the versus.com home page you can find hype for every sport it's showing...except guess what.
All this kinda screams out CHEEEEEEEEEEEEAP more than you'd like to see at this stage of the game.
Originally posted by CRZI can't BELIEVE they still don't have a box score available. If I had known, I would have put the game on the DVR and compiled one myself. I could have cornered the market on UFL statistics - could you IMAGINE the money I would not have made with that?
Also, on the versus.com home page you can find hype for every sport it's showing...except guess what.
All this kinda screams out CHEEEEEEEEEEEEAP more than you'd like to see at this stage of the game.
I watched the first half, for the novelty factor- it'll be something like the CFL and Arena football is (and was)- I'm not going to make it must-see viewing, but if there's nothing better on, I'll check the game out.
Lots of early hiccups, and it's never a good sign when you can figure out just how many people are actually clapping, and you can clearly hear the fans heckling the coaches. We know that the UFL has no real clothing contracts, since Jim Fassel and the Vegas staff were rocking some bowling shirts, and Denny Green's shirt had some bizarre-looking diamonds on it.
Too much green on the field too. Down markers, and plyons are green, and it really doesn't stand out enough to easily pick them up on sideline plays.
And whoever chose the end-zone cameras for the starting lineups and other dead-play periods on Versus needs to be fired, because they showed stands that were TOTALLY empty, as in not even one loner sitting in the endzone. League commish claimed 15,000 on the broadcast, no way in hell that's true. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the announced attendance was 14,209, but they also say that it didn't look that full. So, it's the typical sports attendance, where it goes by tickets "sold". I'd like to know how many of those 14,209 were actually comps.
Very disappointing that the jerseys are so lousy because their logos are actually pretty cool.
I thought it was fine but I have wonder if there is any reason Versus doesn't show NHL more than twice a week. I know the NHL isn't killing in ratings or anything but I would have to think that more people would rather watch the NHL than some of the other things they air, like the UFL for example.
Originally posted by kwikWe know that the UFL has no real clothing contracts, since Jim Fassel and the Vegas staff were rocking some bowling shirts, and Denny Green's shirt had some bizarre-looking diamonds on it.
As was said on another message board, with Men's Wearhouse being such a prominent sponsor, maybe they should have put the coaches in some sweet suits, old school style?
I vaguely expected the lack of a box score. That was why I postponed any UFL Fantasy League I was going to do until I was sure that they were going to have that.
I watched the first half off-and-on. It's difficult, because it doesn't have the stars the NFL has, and it isn't as action oriented as arena league is (50 yard field, 8 men to a side, players can be moving forward at the snap). So I'm not sure what it has going for it, except that it's more professional football. And that card would work better in the spring when people are starved for football, not in the fall, when we have college and NFL games every week.
DISCLAIMER: May or may not be accurate - their "attendance" number is rather amusing, for instance
I see 18,000. I don't know how amusing that was, except I thought the AP recap said 14,000. Interesting that the debut was in Sam Boyd Stadium, same place as the XFL debut.
DISCLAIMER: May or may not be accurate - their "attendance" number is rather amusing, for instance
I see 18,000. I don't know how amusing that was, except I thought the AP recap said 14,000. Interesting that the debut was in Sam Boyd Stadium, same place as the XFL debut.
So the "official" number is 18,187, the Vegas Sun is reporting 14,209, and the league commissioner claimed 15,000 on Versus last night. I'll put good (non-existent) money on the ACTUAL number being somewhere in the range of 8,500-10,000 actually in the stadium last night.
I believe that one of the reasons the UFL is playing during the fall is so that they can up the talent pool available. Leagues that play in the spring interfere with hopefuls who are wanting to go to NFL camps and hopefully compete to make the cut. Playing for the UFL in the fall means players who made it all the way to the preseason only to be cut or released from the practice squad have a chance to stay in football shape and build a resume that NFL teams can look at come the spring.
The uniforms are terrible, and if you are in a drunken haze a little tough to follow.
I totally missed out on any hype leading off to the kickoff. I would have liked to have seen Losman who is still better than a lot of the QBs on NFL rosters.
I'd like to see the league do well to see more boarderline NFL talent, but those empty stands are a scary sight.
The UFL web site is terrible. You can watch the games on there, but can't follow any kind of running scoreboard. ESPN and Fox don't have the UFL in their scores section.
I would watch this if I knew about it in advance and it were on a Wed or Thursday night.
Edit: Mark Cuban just started bashing Peter King on Twitter for ... uh, I guess not knowing about the UFL games being on HD.net
Paul McGuire was the announcer for the Florida Tuskers vs. New York Sentinels game. He actually did a much better job than Flutie and whoever did in the first game. Apparently the 4 defensive linemen have to play with their hand down, and they allow a maximum of 5 rushers. Sounds kind of like Pro Bowl rules. The Florida uniform is definitely the best of the bunch.
Still pretty amateur. I just heard them call Jermaine Wiggins "Jeremy".
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I believe he was a former DB for the Pats. I can't believe any former player would be this hard up for $$, unless they spent their checks buying 8 cars and 3 houses or something.