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Florida Tuskers Game Notes

November 8, 2010 - United Football League (UFL 1)
Florida Tuskers News Release


THE GAME

The Florida Tuskers (3-3) will attempt to continue their march towards a second consecutive appearance in the UFL championship game when it entertains the Hartford Colonials (2-4) at the Florida Citrus Bowl. Toe-to-leather time is 7:07 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11 and the game will be televised live on HD NET and can be heard on WYGM (740 AM The Game). The game will have major implications for both teams. With a win, the Tuskers can remain in control of their own destiny to qualify for the UFL Championship Game on Nov. 27. At 2-4, the Colonials must win or will face elimination from championship contention.

"Our regular season finale with Omaha is the last thing on my mind right now. We are playing a Hartford team that is well-coached and has lost three games in final seconds. They have maybe the league's top running back in Lorenzo Booker, they have a solid defense and Coach Palmer does a great job getting them ready to play. Trust me when I say Hartford will have our full attention this week."

--Head Coach Jay Gruden following Friday's 31-14 win over Omaha

THE SERIES

Counting two games last year against then-New York Sentinels, the Florida Tuskers hold a 3-0 series lead over the Hartford Colonials. The teams met on Oct. 9 with the Tuskers coming away with a 33-20 win. On a day of big plays and big mistakes, the Florida Tuskers made more of the former and fewer of the later in recording a 33-20 win in the first meeting. The Tuskers, who took a lead into the fourth quarter of its two previous games only to lose, closed the game out in style against the Colonials.  After Hartford had cut a 10-point Tuskers lead to three in the 4th quarter, Florida scored on its final two possessions to put the game out of reach. "Can't say enough about our defense in the second half and how we were able to run the ball in the 4th quarter," Gruden added.  "We stepped up and played great on both sides of the ball in the second half." The Tuskers defense, which was torched for more than 400 yards in a loss to Las Vegas last week, forced four turnovers this week and held the Colonials to just 98 second half yards.  The defense also recorded five sacks, forced four fumbles, knocked down five passes and had three other tackles for loss. After taking over on downs late in the game, Florida's Dominic Rhodes put the game out of reach with a 16-yard run.  It was part of a 20-carry, 103-yard effort by Rhodes in the game.  "Sometimes I think we get away from the run too quickly," Gruden added.  "But we had pass plays open early in the game just didn't convert the opportunities when we had them.

ALL FIVE TEAM STILL ALIVE

With Saturday night's win by Sacramento over Las Vegas, all five teams remain alive for a shot at the UFL title game. Las Vegas, who can finish no worse than 5-3, has already clinched a title game spot, leaving the other four teams to compete for the other spot. Although a nightmare of combinations exist where several teams could end up tied for second place with a 4-4 record, the path to the UFL Championship game is relatively clear for the Florida Tuskers. It's this simple--win your final two games and you earn a trip to the title game. At 2-4, the best Hartford could finish is 4-4 on the season, leaving just Omaha (3-3) and Florida (3-3) as teams that can still get to five wins. With Florida playing a return match-up with Omaha next week, the Nighthawks can get to the title game by winning its final two games. Here is a synopsis of where each team stands heading down the stretch:

Team Record Games Left Comment

Las Vegas 5-2 HART Already Clinched Title Game Spot

Florida 3-3 OMA, HART Clinch title game spot with 2 wins

Omaha 3-3 FLA , SAC Can Clinch Spot in Title game with 2 wins

Sacramento 3-4 OMA Beat Omaha and get some help with tiebreakers

Hartford 2-4 FL, LV Needs Sweep and help with tiebreakers

VICTORY COMES AT A COST

Friday night's win came at a cost to the Tuskers as several more players suffered injuries. Among the more serious injuries included DL Pat Chukwurah (hip) and WR Cortez Hankton (shoulder), who are listed as doubtful for this week; Odell Thurman (knee), OL Ardrien Clarke (knee) and LB Odell Thurman (Knee) are listed as questionable. The Tuskers complete injury report:

Player Injury Status

Bryan Save Back P Patrick Chukwurah Arm/Hip D TimMcGargile Thumb P

Adrian Clarke Knee Q

Cortez Hankton Shoulder D

Herana-Daze Jones Finger P

Maurice Price Knee/Thigh P

Odell Thurmond Knee Q

Brooks Bollinger Finger P

CHURKURWAH A WARRIOR

Make no mistake about it, Tuskers defensive end Patrick Chukurwah is one tough customer. In Florida's Oct. 21 loss to Sacramento, Chukurwah was forced out of the game with an injury later-diagnosed as a torn biceps muscle. The injury normally would have resulted in season-ending surgery, but Chukurwah elected to try to put off surgery and attempt to play with the injury. Last week, he did not practice until Wednesday and was listed as third team on the Tuskers depth chart. "Our feeling was maybe we could get 6-8 plays out of him on key third down passing situations," Head Coach Jay Gruden said. Instead, Chukurwah took more than half the snaps in the game and finished with three tackles and pair of quarterback sacks. He did leave the game on the final series when he suffered a hip flexor injury, which cost him a game earlier this season.

TUSKERS ADD LINEBACKER

Due to a series of injuries, the Tuskers added linebacker Jeremy "J" Leman to its active roster on Monday of last week. Leman played his college football at Illinois, where he was a standout linebacker from 2004-07. A consensus first team All-America selection in 2007, Leman earned first team All-Big 10 honors in both his junior and senior seasons. For his college career, he posted 407 total tackles, with 39.5 tackles-for-loss, 8.5 quarterback sacks, 6 forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Leman was a free agent signee of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007 and also spent time in the NFL with Carolina, Philadelphia and San Diego. Leman had a solid game in his first outing for Tuskers, recording 2.5 total tackles.

RHODES V. BOOKER

Thursday's game will feature a match-up of two of the top running backs in the United Football League. Florida's top running back is former NFL standout Dominic Rhodes, who leads the Tuskers in rushing with a club record 393 yards. Rhodes had an outstanding game against Omaha last week, rushing for 111 yards on just 11 carries. His 10.1 yards per carry in the game, as well as his 65-yard touchdown run, were also club records and his eight touchdowns score this season is by far the most in the UFL. Rhodes 65-yard TD run is also the longest of the season by a UFL running back. A UFL rookie, Rhodes has posted four of the top six rushing games in franchise history. While Lorenzo Booker, a former Florida State standout, is an accomplished runner (51-248-4.9 avg.) and is also dangerous out of the backfield on swing passes. Booker has 18 catches for 238 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown reception.

TUSKERS TOP SINGLE GAME RUSHING HIGHS

Player No.-Yards Avg. Opponent Date

Dominic Rhodes 11-111 10.1 Omaha 11.5.10

Dominic Rhodes 20-103 5.2 Hartford 10.9.10

Tatum Bell 15-70 4.7 New York 10.10.09

Tatum Bell 20-65 3.3 Las Vegas 10.30.09

Dominic Rhodes 18-60 3.3 Sacramento 10.21.10

Dominic Rhodes 11-59 5.4 Las Vegas 9.30.10

LAST TIME OUT: TUSKERS TAKE DOWN OMAHA, COLONIALS LOSE IN OVERTIME

Florida 31, Omaha 14 (11/5/2010)

After his team struggled offensively for the third time in four games two weeks ago against Sacramento, Florida Tuskers head coach Jay Gruden told his team it was time to start having fun and to quit playing tight. They apparently took the suggestion to heart. Back-up quarterback Chris Greisen, making his first UFL start, threw for 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns and running back Dominic Rhodes ran for club record 111 yards and another score as the Tuskers routed Omaha, 31-14, before 9,203 fans at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The victory evened Florida record at 3-3 and moved them into second place in the United Football League on a tie-breaker over Omaha, who fell to 3-3. Wins in their final two games of the season will send the Tuskers back to the UFL Championship game. "For the first time in a long time, we played with the consistency," Head Coach Jay Gruden said. "For a first start, Chris Greisen played almost a perfect game. After we built the 31-0 lead we went into a conservative mode by design but overall I was very happy with offense, defense and special teams." Greisen completed 23 of 31 passes on the day. He kept several plays alive by moving in the pocket, something that Gruden felt was a key to the game. "Chris isn't the fastest quarterback ever, but there's a lot of great quarterbacks that aren't particularly fast. He moved around enough to buy some time and that was a huge factor." The play of Rhodes was also impressive. In recording his second 100-yard game this season, Rhodes did it on just 11 carries. He added 22 yards on a screen pass and accounted for 152 all-purpose yards.

Las Vegas 24, Hartford 21, OT (10/23/2010)

Get me around the 42-yard line, Steve Hauschka told Jim Fassel, and I'll win this game for you. The Las Vegas kicker made good on his promise to his coach, connecting on a wind-blown 53-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining in overtime to send the Las Vegas Locos to a thrilling 24-21 victory over the Hartford Colonials on Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium. "I hit it pretty solid on my foot and I felt it, so I knew it was going to be good," Hauschka said.

 The game marked the first regular-season contest to go to overtime in UFL history. Hartford's Taylor Mehlhaff missed wide right on a 38-yard field goal attempt with five minutes left in overtime."We've had three losses like that," Hartford coach Chris Palmer said. "We've been close. I think we're a good football team but our record doesn't indicate that."

 

Trailing 21-13, Josh McCown led Hartford on a furious late touchdown drive to send the tight game to overtime, moving the Colonials 69 yards on 11 plays in just more than five minutes. Tight end Tyson Devree caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from McCown with 1:04 to play, then McCown hit wideout Syndric Steptoe on a quick pass for the tying two-point conversion to tie the game. McCown completed 21 of 34 passes for 217 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

TUSKERS WAIVE FOSTER, BRING BACK STANDEFORD

On Monday, the Tuskers waived wide receiver Jayson Foster and brought back WR John Standeford. Foster, who was in his second season with the Tuskers, had four receptions for 42 yards in five games played. Standeford was the last receiver waived by the Tuskers this season. A former standout at Purdue, Standeford left the Boilermakers as the Big Ten's all-time leader in receptions with 266. An undrafted free agent, he played for Detroit in 2008-09, where he caught 16 balls for 249 yards. Standeford also earned a Super Bowl ring as a member of Indianapolis Colts in 2006.

RAZOR THIN MARGIN BETWEEN VICTORY AND DEFEAT

Although the Tuskers are 3-3 on the season, one could make the argument that the team could just as easily be 6-0 at this point in the season. Consider the following:

*Florida had 4th quarter leads in all three of its losses

*Opponents had to convert 4th down plays on its game-winning drive three times

*Florida 20-17 loss to Las Vegas on Sept. 30 came on a field goal on the game's final play

Had the team stopped the fourth down plays, the Tuskers most likely would have won both Sacramento games. With the score tied at 17-17, the Tuskers failed to convert on a third and three play, and the subsequent punt set up Las Vegas on its game-winning drive.

TUSKERS DEFENSE COMES UP BIG

If the Tuskers do end up making it to the UFL championship game, head coach Jay Gruden may want to look at raises for defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan and his defensive staff. Heading into this week's game, the Tuskers defense is allowing just 19.8 points per game. But even that total is misleading, as Orlando's offense was directly responsible for a couple of those touchdowns on interceptions and turnovers that either directly resulted in touchdowns or gave opponents a short field on several others. Furthermore, Bresnahan's defense have lost several starters this season to injury. Those totals include the following players and games missed: Safety JR Reed (ankle-5 games), DE Eric Powell (ankle-5 games), DE Patrick Chukurwah (hip flexor-1 game), CB Fahkir Brown (neck-3 games), LB Weston Dacus (hamstring-4 games), DE Chris Harrington (knee-3 games), Tim McGarigle (concussion, thumb-3 games), DT Langston Moore (biceps tear-2 games), and LB Anthony Schlegel (shoulder-1 game). In all, the Tuskers have had 10 starters or key reserves miss a total of 27 games this season.

GREISEN OUTSTANDING IN FIRST START

Although he has passed for more than 5,000 yards and 100 touchdown passes in 2010, he had not made a start this season. At least he had not made a start in the United Football League. Tuskers backup quarterback Chris Greisen put up Offensive Player of the Year numbers for the Milwaukee Iron of the Arena Football League this spring, but began and remained on the Florida's bench as a back-up quarterback for the Tuskers. Head coach Jay Gruden waivered for most of the week on whether to start Brooks Bollinger, who was battling neck, thumb and rib injuries, or Greisen, who had not started a professional outdoor game since his days with the Rhein Fire (NFL-Europe 2003). Greisen responded with a tremendous outing, hitting on 23 of 31 passes (74.1%) for 215 yards and pair of touchdowns. Behind Greisen, the Tuskers built a 31-0 lead before head coach Jay Gruden shut down the offense. Greisen completed 10 of his first 12 passes as Orlando built a 14-0 lead. "Given his first start and with the exception of the interception right before halftime, I though Chris played a great game," Head Coach Jay Gruden said. "He did a great job of moving around keeping plays alive and converted a lot of big third-down plays."

RHODES LEADS UFL IN SCORING

Through six games this season, Tuskers running back Dominic Rhodes leads the UFL in touchdowns with eight and 48 points. With two regular season games to go, Rhodes has already broken the league touchdown record of 5 (Cory Ross, California). Rhodes 393 rushing yards is already a Florida Tuskers season record, breaking Tatum Bell's 2009 mark of 277 yards in six games. Rhodes 48 points trails Tuskers kicker Nick Novak (49) for the overall lead in league scoring.

NOVAK CHALLENGES FANS TO KICK CANCER

Few people have not been affected in some way, shape or form by cancer. It has touched practically everyone in some shape or form. Despite being that common, it doesn't make it any less cruel, any less heart-wrenching or any less devastating when it strikes. Kicker Nick Novak knows this first hand, as it struck a devastating blow against his former neighbor and close friend Annie Arth. While attending the University of Maryland, Novak's parents made a job-related move to Lafayette, Indiana - where they moved next door to Tom and Annie Arth. The new neighbors became fast friends and Nick became close to the couple during breaks from college. It wasn't unusual for the Arths to travel with Nick's parents to watch him play on weekends for the Terrapins. He grew to adore Annie Arth's sharp sense of humor and tell-it-like-it-is personality. So Novak was devastated to learn that Annie had been diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer. Perhaps it was a touch of fate that Novak will make the biggest field goal of his life - a 39-yard field goal as the Washington Redskins defeated the Seattle SeaHawks in overtime - on the very day that Arth would pass away from the insidious disease. In the aftermath of the game-winning quick, Nick Novak fought back tears as he spoke with media members about the significance of the moment and the significance of Annie Arth's influence on him. "I just wanted to get it through there for her," Novak said. "That was for her." Although time has passed, Arth continues to inspire Novak. Prior to the Sacramento home game, Novak announced he was donating $25 for each field goal he makes for the remainder of the UFL season to the American Cancer Society in Arth's memory. He is also issuing a challenge to all Tuskers and UFL fans to match or beat his donation. A fund in being established in memory of Annie to: Arth at the Central Florida Chapter of the American Cancer Society. "Annie was a great friend and a great person," Novak said. "And cancer took her from us. That same story has been repeated way too often and it's time we all band together and help find a cure for this horrible disease." Fans wishing to match or beat Novak's challenge can send their donations: Central Florida Chapter, American Cancer Society, 1601 West Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32804.

TWO PICK SIXES...WELL SORT OF...

After not having an interception return for touchdown in their first 12 games, the Tuskers had two last week against Omaha. Well sort of. At the 10:17 mark of the third period, Keiwan Ratliff became the first player in Florida history to return an interception for touchdown when he stepped in front of a Jeff Garcia pass and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 Florida lead. With 5:15 remaining in the game, a different sort of "pick six" occurred. On a 4th and goal play for Omaha, Terrance Melton intercepted Matt Gutierrez in the back of end zone. Melton decided to return the ball, only to have wide receiver Robert Ferguson punch the ball out of Melton's hands and recover in the end zone for a Nighthawks score. Although Ratliff was the first score on an interception, his 29-yard return was far from a record. In a 2009 game, Tuskers safety Jerome Carter returned an interception 80 yards but was tripped up inside the five-yard line before scoring. "Terrance started to return the ball and then decided to take a knee, Gruden said. "Unfortunately, Ferguson was able to punch the ball out before he went down."

TUSKERS/UFL ANYTHING BUT MINOR LEAGUE

While many UFL coaches, players and administrators often cringe when casual football fans use the phrase "minor league" or "semi-professional" to describe any brand of football that is not the NFL, it helps to sometimes look at the facts to show just how impressive the playing resumes are for UFL players. Here some eye-opening facts concerning the Florida Tuskers current 52-man roster:

50 of 52 Tuskers players have been through at least one NFL training camp

41 of 52 Tuskers players have been on an NFL active roster

37 of 52 Tuskers players have played in NFL games

27 of 52 Tuskers players have played in 10 or more NFL games

23 of 52 Tuskers players have played in 20 or more NFL games

21 of 52 Tuskers players have made NFL starts

18 of 52 Tuskers players have played in 30 or more NFL games

14 of 52 Tuskers players have played in 40 or more NFL games

9 of 52 Tuskers players have played in 50 or more NFL games

The Tuskers 52 current players have played in more than 1,400 NFL games and have made close to 500 Starts

The Tuskers offensive line (excluding tight ends) has played in 224 NFL Games and made 139 starts

EXPERIENCE PART II

Here are some more NFL facts in figures concerning the Florida Tuskers 2010 roster...

TE Jermaine Wiggins has played in the most NFL games (105)

OL Shane Olivea has made the most NFL starts (57)

QB Brooks Bollinger has passed for 2,256 yards and 9 TDs in NFL games

RB Dominic Rhodes has 3,114 NFL Rushing Yards, 1021 receiving yards, 3,122 kickoff return

Yards, 7272 all-purpose yards and has scored 32 touchdowns

DB Keiwan Ratliff has 145 total tackles, 4 interceptions and 9 PD in 73 NFL games

LB Odell Thurman has 98 tackles and 5 Interceptions in 16 NFL games

DE Darrion Scott had 128 tackles and 10 quarterback sacks in 48 NFL games

DT Grady Jackson has 359 tackles, 35.5 sacks, and 129 NFL starts in 185 career games played

HANKTON REMAINS A STUDENT ATHLETE

When most people hear the term "student-athlete" they most likely think of a high school or college player. But once a player reaches the professional ranks, any continuation of his education is pretty much limited to what he learns on the football field. But for a player looking to truly further his education, he must travel beyond the sidelines. For Tuskers wide receiver Cortez Hankton, that means taking a ride to east Orlando for classes at the University of Central Florida, where he is in full pursuit of a Master of Business Administration degree. "The biggest thing to me is the knowledge that life in football doesn't last forever so I'm preparing for the transition of life after football," Hankton says. "Getting my MBA is a big part of my life plan now that my football days are numbered. It makes sense to take advantage of the time I have right now. I had the opportunity to go to school in Orlando so I am making the most of it."

HAT DAY FOR FANS

The first 2,000 fans through the gates this Thursday will receive a free Florida Tuskers hat ($20 value), compliments of the Florida Tuskers and the United Football League. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

The Tuskers will close out their 2010 schedule on Friday, Nov. 19 when they travel to Omaha for a return matchup with the Nighthawks. Orlando defeated the Nighthawks, 31-14, at the Florida Citrus Bowl on Nov. 5. The game will most likely determine the second participant in the UFL Championship game.

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