USFL '85: Nasty War 1.0.0

'USFL '85: Nasty War 

 

A continuation of my USFL Project, this is a "hypothetical" season that features all 18 clubs from '84, with some modifications to rosters. 

Features:

 

-7 minute quarters
-Stats after every quarter
-Wedge Returns
-Directional Punting
-Formation Experimentations
-Graphic Tweaks, including funky end zones (watching USFL games I came to admire how bad the end zones often looked)
-Stat Tweaks

-Sim Data Tweaks

-Offensive Formation Tweaks 
-3 team, 3 Division Structure
-12 teams make playoffs (as opposed to original 8 teams)
-18 game, locked, '85 schedule
-All Pro: '85 All-NFL Vs. '85 All-USFL in Vanilla (Gerald Riggs replaces Eric Dickerson on NFL All-Pros)

 

Notes: 

-As the four clubs that folded/merged are returning, '85 territorial lists returned to their general '84 designations, and new players were redistributed. The imagined '85 rosters of the Blitz, Maulers, Outlaws, and Panthers generally resemble their '84 assemblies, though I did take liberties and retained players. This meant the surviving clubs had to be reworked. I tried to keep these "realistic" by filling gaps with actual territorial selections or by doing research into near-miss signings. Dickerson, for instance, did consider an offer from the Wranglers in '83 and used the league as leverage for negotiations in '85. 

 

-These rosters are continued from my reimagined '84 roster. If you want accuracy, an NFL and USFL '85 hack by Buck on TBorg has real-life rosters and some cool graphics. 

The schedule is an adaptation of the original '84--I flipped interdivisional and conference hosts, but they are the same "pattern"; I did shuffle the weeks around to avoid the same schedule. If I can get to an '86, maybe I can make one that swaps inter-conference and inter-divisional matchups.

 

Territorial and Open Draft Picks

*Year denotes their territorial selection; unmarked players were territorial or Open Draft selections in ‘85 unless noted. 

Arizona
Ron Brown ('84)
Randall Cunningham
Rickey Hunley ('84)
Vernon Maxwell ('83)
Rick Mallory ('84)
Pete Mandley (‘84)
Rich Moran 
Vance Johnson 
Lionel Vital 

 

Baltimore
Troy Benson ('85 Maulers territorial pick, traded for Mike Johnson, imagined)

 

Birmingham
Al Del Greco
Kevin Greene 
Paul Ott Carruth 
Emmanuel King 
Freddie Joe Nunn 
Jerry Rice

 

Chicago 
Carl Aikens ('84)
Dwight Beverly ('84)
Bobby Bell Jr. ('84)
Mitchell Brookins ('84)
Mike Burgereau (‘84)
Jeff Dellenbach
Babe Laufenberg ('83)
Alex Moyer
Ken Stills
Stacey Toran ('84)
Al Toon 
Dan Turk 
 

 

Denver 
Joe Walter
Rich Miano

 

Jacksonville
Frank Bush

Damian Johnson*
Robert Lavette

A.V. Richards*
Gary Wilkins

 

Houston 
Ray Childress
Jeff Fuller (‘84)
Raphel Cherry

 

Los Angeles 
Duane Bickett

 

Memphis
Tiger Greene
Herman Hunter 
Fuad Reviz 
Chris Scott ('84)
Gizmo Williams 
Carl Zander 

 

Michigan
Carl Banks ('84)
Mike Green ('83)
Ali Haji-Sheikh (‘83) 
Paul Skansi ('83)
Steve Smith ('84)
Daryl Turner ('84)
Lonnie Young 

 

New Jersey
Steve DeOssie
Lionel Emmanuel ('84 LA territorial pick, imagined trade w/LA)
Herman Fontenot 
Doug Flutie
Eugene Robinson 

 

New Orleans
Bud Brown 

Dino Hall
Calvin Magee*
Eric Martin
Lance Smith
Elton Veals ('84)
 

Oakland 
Damon Allen (imagined rights trade w/LA)
Bo Eason ('84)
Damone Johnson
Reggie Langhorne 
Tom Neville
Ron Rivera (‘84)
Tom Toth 
Dokie Williams (‘83)

 

Oklahoma
Tom Benson ('84)
Scott Case ('84)
John Goode ('84)
Jamie Harris
Rodney Harding 
Shawn Jones 
Kevin Murphy
Terry Orr (imagined rights trade w/San Antonio)

 

Pittsburgh
Dwight Collins ('84)
Chris Doleman 
Willie Drewery 
Tom Flynn ('84)
Bill Fralic
John Frank ('84)
Mike Johnson ('84 territorial pick, signed w/Baltimore, imagined trade w/Baltimore for rights to Troy Benson)
Tony Paige ('84)
Doug Strang 
Ron Wolfley 

 

San Antonio
Danny Bradley (imagined rights trade w/Oklahoma for Terry Orr, though an actual territorial selection in ‘85)
Alan Veingrad

 

Tampa Bay 
Eddie Brown 
Steve Calabria (NJ territorial pick, imagined traded to Bandits though Jim Bassett claimed to sign him in '85)

 

Washington
George Adams
Louis Cooper
Mike Golic
Willie Joyner ('84)
Lester Lyles 
Bob Olderman
Andre Reed 
Chris Washington ('84)

 

Free Agency/Veteran Transactions/Returning from ‘84 What-If Hack

 

Arizona
Eric Dickerson
Ronnie Lott (1-year deal offered during hold-out)

 

Chicago
Irving Fryar
Walter Payton

 

Denver
John Grimsley
Prince McJunkins

 

Houston
Billy Sims

 

Jacksonville
Deron Cherry (imagined)
Brian Sipe (trade w/New Jersey for draft pick)

 

LA
Reggie Brown (played '83, appeared in one game in '84, stays w/LA for '85, imagined)

 

Michigan
Anthony Allen (trade w/LA before club folded) 

 

New Jersey
Mark May (imagined but offered)
Randy White (imagined but offered)

 

New Orleans
EJ Junior
Johnny Meads
Alan Risher (trade w/Arizona, imagined)

 

Oklahoma
Greg Kragen
Darrol Ray (nearly signed for '85 back in '83)
J.C. Watts (expressed interest, rights held by NJ)

 

Pittsburgh
Jeff Hostetler (offered in '84)
Russ Grimm (offered in '84)

 

San Antonio
Earl Campbell (offered in '83)

 

Tampa Bay
Cris Collinsworth (signed to start playing in '85)
Wilber Marshall

 

Washington
Boomer Esaison 

 

*Will appear in a future USFL Hack