On Saturday night at 9 PM EST/6 PM local the Las Vegas Locos will take on the California Redwoods in what might be the biggest regular season game in the (short) history of the United Football League. The game will take place on the campus of San Jose State, a recently added venue. If the Locos win then they have locked up a bid to their home town Championship Game, while the Redwoods can continue to control their own destiny with a win of their own.

The Las Vegas Locos

The Locos bounced back from their disappointing loss to the Florida Tuskers in St. Pete in a very strong fashion with a 41-10 romp over the New York Sentinels. Now they will look to build on that strong performance and wrap up a sweep of the California Redwoods.

JP Losman looked extremely sharp last week against the Sentinels, bringing his total yardage through four games to just under 1,000 yards. The Locos offense looked strong from top to bottom with David Kircus bringing in a team leading 6 receptions. Josh Scobey was the second leading receiver on the team filling in for DeDe Dorsey. The Locos offense seems predicated, in part, on swing passes to the halfbacks.

Adam Bergen and Tab Perry also looked sharp.

The Locos offense will receive a boost with Dorsey returning from a slight injury, this should boost the Locos running game after they gained only 59 yards last week.

The Locos D limited the Redwoods for much of the inaugural UFL game. Teddy Lehman and Brandon Moore will hope to continue the trend this week, although the Redwoods offense has looked better in the weeks since – minus the Tuskers disaster. Wendell Bryant has looked better with each passing week and will continue to knock off the rust against a pretty good Redwoods offensive line.

Trey Young will look to build off a dominating performance last week at corner, although considering he was facing Ingle Martin at QB last week and Martin looked like one of the worst QB’s in professional football last night perhaps the Tuskers shouldn’t be too worried.

The Redwoods

Shane Boyd completed over 78% of his passes in his last game with 187 yards and a touchdown, he also rushed for a touchdown. Boyd has continued to be the best QB on the Redwoods roster, making Dennis Green pulling him earlier in the season even more puzzling. Boyd, however, seems to be gaining confidence from week to week.

He has connected quite frequently with Cory Ross, who had seven receptions out of the backfield last week. Nate Lawrie was another one of his primary targets and will be a handful for the Locos secondary. Ross is also the leading rusher in the UFL and I expect him to continue to turn in great performances. Ross can keep the Redwoods in the game no matter what and I expect him to get an NFL offer come the end of November.

Dontarrious Thomas is quietly turning in a defensive player of the year type of season. He will continue to be a beast at linebacker, along with Prince Kwateng. The Redwoods defense is better than many give them credit for and they could be a handful for the Locos tomorrow.

The Result

This might be another nail biter. I am going with the Locos in a 21-17 victory that will send them to the Championship Game in their home town.

San Jose football fans can buy tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C00435AB87C5B27?artistid=1379425&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=8