November 8th, 2009 by Xander Rich

From last weeks near upset of Florida to this weeks trouncing of the struggling New York Sentinels, make no mistake about it: The Las Vegas Locomotives are for real – and they just might have enough in the tank to pull an upset over the undefeated Florida Tuskers.

Sure, it’ll take more than a rested and healthy DeDe Dorsey to do it. Sure, they’ll have to have a superb night from Locos quarterback J.P. Losman. Sure, they’ll need an intense secondary to shake up and throw off Florida wideout Taye Biddle and newly-emerging target, Marcus Maxwell.

Don’t forget where the championship game is being played, though.

Las Vegas has consistently shown solid attendance numbers in the United Football League’s “Premiere Season” with Sam Boyd Stadium owning the best league average so far. They are playing better football every week, and the defense looked the best it’s looked so far Wednesday night against New York at Hofstra University’s James M. Shuart Stadium. Throw in a first-ever championship possibility, and you can almost guarantee a good draw of loud, passionate fans rooting for the Locos to win it all on November 27^th.

So, what does this mean for Florida?

It means they better be at the top of their game.

Last week’s game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg was NOT the kind of ball we’ve we’ve seen from the Tuskers all season. Huge holes in the run defense were exposed, Tuskers quarterback Brooks Bollinger was pressured, sacked and made costly mistakes in the first half, causing them to look up at a seven-point deficit for the first time all season.

In fact, there were a few “firsts” the Tuskers would prefer to forget about. Locos running back DeDe Dorsey embarrassed the defense of Florida as he rushed for 139 yards; the first time a team has gained over 100 rushing yards against the Tuskers. They scored 24 points against them – the most allowed – through four games. Vegas went stride-for-stride with Florida through nearly the entirety of the game.

Had Losman been able to keep the drive going with just one more completion, we might have been talking about how the Tuskers will respond to their first loss of the season coming out of the bye next week.

The main point, though, is this: Florida is NOT invincible. They are beatable. It took them three quarters to adjust to flea-flicker plays and a running game that was flat-out too good for them to stop.  It took them one half of being dominated by misdirection and constant pressure on their passing game for them to finally start completing passes to receivers that have seen nothing but wide-open green for three weeks.

A completely different Las Vegas Locomotives team has emerged after five weeks of play, from the same roster Jim Fassel helped build in the off-season, and are clearly the only team strong enough to challenge the mighty Tuskers for UFL Championship honors.

Will the Locos’ third try be the charm that brings the title to Sin City, or will Florida pass the honors into the hands of Jim Hasslett and the city of Orlando?

The season’s not over yet – but it’s sure getting interesting.

Hang onto your conductor’s hat.