DeDe Dorsey had the Las Vegas Locos within three points of beating the Florida Tuskers. He was simply incredible on Friday evening. He averaged 11.6 yards per carry, racking up 139 yards on the ground. He was also the leading receiver for the Locos with 5 receptions for 25 yards. Quite simply, he was the best player on the field.

After the game Jim Fassel said of Dorsey, “He is so explosive and just really, really good. Marcus Shipp is great, and at first we really used DeDe to keep Marcus fresh. We will keep using him (DeDe) more and more.”

That would be a no brainer, Coach. Dorsey made something happen virtually every time he touched the ball. Like the trick play where he flicked the ball back to JP Losman for a 60 yard touchdown bomb that was probably the best play in the UFL this year.

The important message from Friday night, other than DeDe’s greatness, is that the Tuskers can be beaten. Of course, the next time we will see the Tuskers face a strong opponent will likely be the Championship Game if they face the Locos again. They manhandled the Redwoods and beat the Sentinels soundly, but I think the Locos would stand a fighting chance come the day after Thanksgiving.

Brooks Bollinger did not look as good on Friday night as he had in the previous three Tuskers games, although he did finish with 323 yards passing.

The running game also hurt the Tuskers as their leading rusher was Tatum Bell who gained 65 yards on 20 carries. They just could not find rushing lanes against the Locos front seven.

One has to wonder why Shaud Williams did not get more carries after he had a stellar run on a fake punt where he rushed for 29 yards.

Of course, the rushing game did not hurt them that much considering Taye Biddle had 74 yards receiving, Jayson Foster had 93 yards, and Marcus Maxwell had 89 yards.

Jermaine Wiggins also had a solid game with 36 receiving yards.

UFL fans will likely be hoping for a Locos/Tuskers Championship Game after the fantastic game on Friday night.

The California Redwoods and New York Sentinels provided a solid game Thursday night on VERSUS as well. Both games were well timed considering the one complaint heading into this week was that none of the games had been competitive in the 4th quarter in weeks previous.

The Redwoods 20-13 win was a solid, competitive game on Thursday night.

Shane Boyd showed the stupidity of benching him following their week one loss to the Las Vegas locos with a good performance against New York.  He threw for 192 yards, with 1 TD and 1 INT. He also rushed for 37 yards on 8 cards, with a rushing touchdown to boot.

Perhaps most importantly the Redwoods used him effectively. They rolled him out of the pocket to throw and called some QB runs.

Cory Ross had another solid game with 79 yards rushing, but he was at his strongest on the receiving end with 63 yards receiving on 7 catches – including a touchdown. Nate Lawrie had a good game with 49 yards receiving on 5 receptions.

All in all the Redwoods looked like a much stronger team than they had the previous week against the Tuskers.

The one good thing you can say about the Sentinels so far is that they have shown a never say die attitude. Even as they have lost each game they have showed grit and heart, which is important. Ted Cottrell, thus far at least, has not lost control of his team and they seem to understand that even losses are teachable moments. This bodes well for the team next year, particularly if Cottrell is able to install a 3-4 next year.

Quinn Gray looked better this week than he had the previous games, going 22 for 32 for 230 yards and a touchdown.

Thumb’s Up…

Attendance. While we would all love to see more fans in the stands the New York Sentinels drew 10,318 going up against the World Series and the Florida Tuskers drew 11,354 going up against the USF Bulls who were playing their heated rival West Virginia Mountaineers just down the road. Dennis Green told the media during his post-game press conference that, “I noticed the number of fans in the stadium and that created a great atmosphere for the guys on the field.”

Production. The games on television and in person continue to get better. Props to Tomas Llibre and the others working on the UFL technology as well, the live box scores during the games are a nice touch. The improvement from week to week bodes well for UFL year two.

Thumb’s down…

The final play for the Locos. Why go for the long ball JP? The TE was open underneath, he also could have ran for the first. It is a lot harder to play football, then watch, but as a fan I wanted to see our first OT game!

The media. I love when media outlets like to guess at how many fans are in the stands. None of the UFL attendance figures thus far have been so inflated that they deserved critiquing. Look, we know inflation happens on all levels of sport but to claim that 5,000 were in the stands on Friday night is a joke.

Quote of the week…

Dennis Green on why the UFL will last:

“Well there are three things: One being exposure, TV, every week we play, people can watch it again on replays…on their blackberries on the subway, train, or wherever. Also in your offices on the computer you can watch them online. Two, we have endless supply of players who want to gain experience; we have players who are released. We had one signed this past week. We get phone calls daily from players who want to play so there is a high demand. Also we have fans (in San Francisco) who can enjoy both teams-the 49ers and the Redwoods-because we don’t compete against one another. It’s another form of entertainment. And the third reason why it will last is because the players stand a chance to make it in the NFL.”

Game ball…

Are you joking? DeDe Dorsey all day long.

I look forward to watching him run in person this week when I travel to Hofstra for my first live UFL game!

Tune in…

To Inside the UFL Radio! This week we will have UFL Commissioner Michael Huyghue as our special guest. Tune in Tuesday night at 9 PM!