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In the USFL's inaugural season, the Michigan Panthers
won the Central Division crown, by virtue of a
tie-breaker, over the Chicago Blitz. The Blitz qualified
as the wildcard playoff team. The Pacific Division was
won by the Oakland Invaders with a 9-9 record. The
Philadelphia Stars were the league’s strongest team,
finishing with a 15-3 record and winning the Atlantic
Division. In the first USFL playoffs, Philadelphia
hosted Chicago and Michigan met Oakland.
Divisional Playoffs
Philadelphia 33, Chicago 38
Sports Illustrated
Ralph Wiley
 Charles Anthony Fusina is the kind of guy the USFL
was made for. A year ago he was employed by the NFL's
Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a clipboard-carrying substitute
quarterback who could only fantasize about leading his
team on heroic comebacks. For three years Fusina had
seen nothing beyond the broad back of Doug Williams, the
Tampa Bay starter. Then, in September, Fusina was traded
to the San Francisco 49ers and a week later waived out
of the league. "They told me I was caught in a numbers
game," he says. By the time of the NFL strike, he was
back in Tampa, working as a high school teacher. He was
even a substitute at that.
Then along came spring football. Fusina signed with
the Philadelphia Stars and quarterbacked them to a 15-3
record and an Atlantic Division title. Last Saturday at
Philly's Veterans Stadium in a wildly improbable- if
poorly attended (15,684)- first playoff game ever for
the USFL, he rallied the Stars from a 21-point
fourth-quarter deficit to a thrilling 44-38 overtime
victory over the Chicago Blitz.
Afterward he stood nonchalantly at his locker, just
out of his droopy football pants, being one sweetheart
of a guy to everyone who passed by. Many did. Suddenly
the 26-year-old former Penn State star had become a poor
man's Norm Van Brocklin. These were his numbers. He had
completed 22 of 33 passes for 254 yards and three
scores, caught a pass for a touchdown and rushed for 66
yards. "I just wanted to get as much out of myself as I
could," Fusina said. "There's not much there, I guess.
I'm not a prototype. I just wanted to keep going after
that football."
Fantasies can be wonderful, especially if they come
to pass. Saturday Fusina found himself the substitute
for a near miracle as the Stars won their way to this
Sunday's USFL championship game in Denver. The Stars'
fourth-quarter comeback was a landslide of no small
proportions. "I've never seen anything like this in my
12 years of playing football," roared Stars Linebacker
John Bunting, a former Philadelphia Eagle. "Never in a
million years," muttered Blitz Wide Receiver Trumaine
Johnson.
Coach George Allen's Blitz intercepted the first two
passes Fusina threw on Saturday and four overall.
Philadelphia turned the ball over seven times in the
game. The Blitz, gladhanding opportunity, led by 21
points early in the fourth quarter. Sure, Philadelphia
had overcome a 24-10 fourth-quarter deficit to beat
Chicago 31-24 in the regular season, but this was a
money game, a George Allen Blue Plate Special. Yet, when
Fusina and the Stars suddenly came charging back in the
final minutes, Chicago turned conservative and was DOA
in overtime after attempting but two passes in the
fourth period. You don't play the game that way, at
least not in the USFL. "There's hardly a cornerback in
this league," said Boston Breakers Coach Dick Coury, an
onlooker Saturday. "If you're trying to win here, you
want your offense on the field."
By following that philosophy the Stars had run up the
league's best record in the regular season, during which
Philadelphia's offense consisted mainly of Fusina
handing off to the redoubtable Kelvin Bryant. Bryant had
rushed for 1,442 yards, second in the league to Herschel
Walker, and been named USFL Player of the Year by the
AP. Fusina, meanwhile, had thrown only 10 interceptions
all year, but after his three in the first half
Saturday, a fan roamed the aisles playing Taps on a
flegelhorn.
The game had begun with Bryant gaining ground over
the right side, behind the drive blocking of Irv Eatman,
the 280-pound rookie tackle from UCLA. But then came the
miscues, and Eatman became frustrated. He was called for
a personal foul after sticking his helmet in Linebacker
Ed Smith's back and for holding. "We weren't very
composed at first," said Eatman.
With 1:55 left before halftime, Chicago's Johnson ran
a four-cut corner pattern and took a teardrop pass- the
ball came down almost vertically- from Quarterback Bobby
Scott for a 12-yard touchdown. That made the score 21-7,
and the Stars needed a quick complement to Bryant's
running. They resorted to a little razzle-dazzle.
Running Back Allen Harvin took a handoff from Fusina at
the Blitz 12, and ran- fled, actually- back and to his
right before sidearming a curve some 30 yards across the
field to a kneeling Fusina, who got up and scored. "That
play really didn't come off," said Harvin, a rookie from
Cincinnati. "I was swallowed. I just threw it. I
couldn't believe it worked."
 Harvin is a short (5'9") back with cuboid physique
and two diamonds in his left earlobe. His tree-stump
legs are the real gems. Throughout the game he mixed
phantom and bruising steps, finishing with 87 yards on
20 carries. "We were just as wary of Harvin as we were
of Bryant—if not more wary," said Blitz Linebacker Stan
White afterward.
"By halftime, we could feel their weariness," said
Eatman. "We said, 'They're tired.' We knew we had to
pound them, make them feel their age." Indeed, Chicago
was more than a year and a half older per man, but the
Stars had trouble taking advantage of that. Turnovers
continued to plague them, and with 12:04 remaining in
the game the score reached 38-17 when Chicago's Tim
Spencer ran one yard for a touchdown following Fusina's
fourth interception.
Fusina refused to buckle to the Blitz. On Philly's
next possession, facing first-and-10 from his own 46, he
looked to Scott Fitzkee, a former Penn State teammate,
and hit him for a 37-yard gain. "I felt the game change
right then," Fusina would say. Two plays later he found
Fitzkee over the middle with a floater for a TD. "An
area throw," said Fusina. "I never saw it." Score:
38-24, Chicago. Time of drive: 2:35. Time remaining:
9:29.
The Blitz went into a huddle- and might as well have
stayed there. Two trips into the line set up third-and-Trumaine.
Scott sent Johnson on the fly but left the ball short.
Another teardrop, but this time Philadelphia Cornerback
Jonathan Sutton was at the Stars' 32 to intercept.
Fusina was now on a run of 10 straight completions.
He hit three for 29 yards and then ran for 22 to the
Blitz 12. Harvin slashed to the two in two carries
before Fusina rolled right and flipped to Fullback Jeff
Rodenberger. Touchdown. Score: 38-31, Chicago. Time of
drive: 2:47. Time remaining: 4:59.
The Blitz offense trotted out aimlessly. Three inside
tries by Kevin Long. Nothing doing. Punt. The sequence
creaked with antiquity. "Oh yes! Great! Big NFL George
Allen, he couldn't bite the bullet!" shouted Vince
Papale, the former Philadelphia Eagle wide receiver, now
a diehard Star supporter. Later, Allen admitted, "Our
problem was conservatism on offense and not being able
to stop them. When that happens, you lose."
Fusina completed four of his next six and ran for 17
more yards to move Philly to Chicago's 11. One
completion was to Tom Donovan, another Penn Stater and a
relative wisp at 6'0" and 183 pounds. On second-and-10
from the 11, Donovan lined up as a flexed tight end,
lost in Eatman's shadow. He delayed, crossed, and Fusina
found him with a soft pass he released off his back
foot. Donovan gingerly stepped away from prone Safety
Don Schwartz and scored. Then he did a full somersault (video).
The fans went into paroxysms. Score: 38-38. Time of
drive: 1:56. Time remaining: 0:50.
Chicago couldn't respond. Scott threw a tentative
pass that was slapped away. Doug Dennison carried twice.
The Blitz offense looked up at the clock. Bang.
Overtime was Star time. Philly took the kickoff and
went on a classic ground sortie, led by Eatman, Left
Tackle Brad Oates and his younger brother, Bart, the
center. Harvin got 22 yards in three carries, Fullback
David Riley nine in two, but it was Bryant's game now.
For the day he would carry 24 times for 142 yards, and
25 of them came on this drive. Bryant got the last yard
in a dive over Philly's right side (video). "They've got a lot
of old guys on their team, and we just kept coming and
coming," he said.
"To paraphrase the Sixers, we believed we were a team
of destiny," said Bart Oates. Allen has had his share of
destiny's teams. In the locker room afterward, he called
the Stars "a good club," but he also spoke of the days
when he built the Redskins and Rams. When gently
reminded that this was a new day and a new league, Allen
quieted. And when he left, he wore the pained look of an
older man who is suddenly reminded that destiny isn't
particular.
Michigan Panther 37,
Oakland Invaders 21
Sports Illustrated
Alexander Wolff
 Bobby Hebert says his surname is pronounced A-bear,
though he isn't one. He's a Panther, a Michigan Panther
from the Louisiana bayous who grew up 40 miles south of
New Orleans. "Almost nobody realizes you can go south of
New Orleans," he says in a voice laced with the French
patois his parents speak. "I trace my ancestors to Nova
Scotia. They were French pilgrims who didn't want to
pledge allegiance to the Queen. So they said, 'Hey,
later.' "
That's more or less what Michigan told the Oakland
Invaders at the Pontiac Silverdome last Sunday during a
37-21 win in the other USFL semifinal. Both times the
Panthers went for first downs on fourth-and-one, they
scored important touchdowns. The first came just before
the half on a three-yard Hebert pass, thrown into a
thicket of hands, that little Anthony Carter somehow
grabbed hold of (video). That put Michigan up 17-7. The second
was Fullback Ken Lacy's 18-yard bolt through the line
late in the third quarter; that ran the score to 31-14
and the doubt from anyone's mind.
Oakland had the poorest record (9-9) of the league's
semifinalists and made the playoffs by winning the
Pacific Division, an aggregation of teams so
Charmin-soft that Birmingham, also 9-9, placed last in
the Central Division yet beat the Invaders twice.
Meanwhile, Michigan had won 11 of 13 games after a 1-4
start. "We've come back from the epitome of the pits,"
crowed Linebacker John Corker after the Panthers
clinched their division in the final week of the regular
season- meaning the Panthers that Oakland would play
hardly resembled the bunch the Invaders had whupped
33-27 in the season's third week.
Since then Michigan had plugged up a porous offensive
line and seasoned an offensive unit that had begun the
year with 10 rookies by moving three former Pittsburgh
Steelers, Tackle Ray Pinney and guards Thorn Dornbrook
and Tyrone McGriff, into the lineup. "In the 13 games
since they've been here, I've only been sacked five
times," Hebert says gratefully.
Another midcourse correction: Instead of having
receivers bring in the plays, which would often get lost
in the translation, Hebert, who hails from Cut Off and
is a rookie out of Louisiana's Northwestern State, now
reads en anglais from a crib sheet taped to his wrist.
"He can get his numbers out pretty good," says
Michigan's Defensive End John Banaszak, still another
ex-Steeler. "It's words he has problems with."
In the meantime, Panther Coach Jim Stanley, standing
by his young team during the bumbling start, learned how
to take advantage of his wide lightning, Carter and
Derek Holloway, who finished the season with 20
touchdown catches between them. "Of course you have to
try some things to get Anthony the ball," says Stanley.
"We moved him around and put him in motion. We try to
scratch where we itch, and early we were itching all
over."
The Panthers' improvement, plus owner Al Taubman's
decision to drop the $14, $12.50 and $11 tickets to
$8.50 for the playoff game, lured a crowd of 60,237 to
the Silverdome, a league attendance mark. The 3,500 or
so bleacher patrons paid $5, which was the regular
Silverdome parking concessionaire's fee until Taubman
bought up all 12,000 spaces on Thursday so he could
charge three bucks per. After all, it shouldn't cost as
much to park your car as it does to park your rear, even
in the Motor City.
 Taubman's reduction of prices helped the Panthers
attract fans who knew whose fault it was that this was
the first pro football playoff game in Michigan since
1957 in which the state would be represented. Jerry
Green, the respected columnist for The Detroit News,
made a position-by-position comparison of the new team
with the city's NFL franchise and decided the Panthers
are better at the skill positions and could play the
Lions to a standoff. Banners reading HELLO PANTHERS
GOODBYE LIONS and LIONS EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT decked the
Silverdome at kickoff. "All week we've been psyching
ourselves up by asking each other, 'What's the ticket
sales, what's the ticket sales?,' " said Noseguard Dave
Tipton on the eve of the game. "We're ecstatic."
So were the fans, who stormed the field with :25
left. "We couldn't hear anything out there," said
Invader Coach John Ralston. "The noise caused misfires
on a couple of our turnovers. Against a good team like
Michigan, you have to play error-free."
In fact, Oakland's biggest blunder may have occurred
before the game. Arthur Whittington, the Invaders'
leading rusher this season with 1,043 yards, was
supposed to sign a new contract with the club before it
left Oakland on Friday afternoon. But the Invaders had
practice that morning. Whittington claims that he phoned
Ralston's office to tell him he'd have to miss the
workout to sign the contract. Player Personnel Director
Chuck Hutchison answered the phone and, according to
Whittington, gave his O.K.
"That wasn't my understanding of the conversation,"
said Hutchison later. "Art told me he'd go to practice
and then take care of the contract." When Whittington
didn't show for the workout- or at the Invader offices
where his attorney, John Maloney, had gone- Ralston
assumed that Whittington was AWOL. On Saturday morning,
after Oakland had worked out at the Silverdome, Ralston
and Whittington had a 40-minute confrontation. Ralston
wouldn't talk about it afterward, but Whittington would.
"He told me I wasn't going to play," Whittington said.
"I'm a professional athlete, been one for six years
[five in the NFL]. They're being childish and acting
like this is college. They don't want to win. If he
comes and tells me now I'm going to play, I'm not."
The Invaders kept insisting that Whittington remained
questionable because of cracked ribs that had kept him
out of the two previous games. Not so, according to
Whittington, who said, "Oh, I can play with sore ribs."
Whittington did play, but not until late in the
second quarter, just about when the Panthers' active
four-man linebacking corps began running amok. In the
first period Oakland Quarterback Fred Besana had used up
more than seven minutes in a 78-yard touchdown drive for
a 7-0 lead. But the Invaders needed four cracks to push
the ball in from the Michigan two, and the Panther
offense seemed inspired by their defense's stubbornness.
After the ensuing kickoff, Hebert found Holloway over
the middle for 40 yards, setting up running back John
Williams' five-yard scoring run. With matters tied, the
Michigan defense hunkered down.
"Our defense [a 3-4] is a linebacker's defense,
geared to mobility," says Tipton. "The three down
linemen are supposed to cause enough interference in the
offensive line to let the linebackers move in and make
the play." The starting backers had 17 tackles, seven
assists, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, a sack
and an interception; Invader running backs Ted Torosian,
Louis Jackson and Whittington combined for only 19 yards
on 18 carries. The interception, by Kyle Borland, led to
a 38-yard field goal by Novo Bojovic, a Yugoslav
emigrant who has gained some notoriety this year by
keeping a clove of garlic in his right shoe for good
luck.
So Michigan is a team whose flavor is a little Gallic
and a little garlic. Hebert finished with 18 completions
on 27 attempts for 295 yards. He also threw a goofy
interception, a swing pass that Oakland Linebacker David
Shaw ran 19 yards for the Invaders' second score. But
Hebert laughed it off afterward, pointing out that in
this Sunday's championship game in the Mile High City,
the same pass would be an overthrow because of the thin
air. "And where I come from," he added, "it's below sea
level."
In any case, a mile high is far from the epitome of
the pits.
USFL Championship
Michigan
Panthers 24, Philadelphia Stars 22
Sports Illustrated
Ralph Wiley
 Only 3:11 remained in the first USFL Championship
Game at Denver's Mile High Stadium last Sunday when
Anthony Carter, the Michigan Panthers' wide receiver and
No. 1 engine, loped out of the Michigan huddle and along
the Philadelphia Stars' 48-yard line. When he reached a
spot 10 yards from the sideline, he stopped, shifted all
162 of his pounds off his injured left foot and
leisurely assumed a scissored stance. "I had hurt my
ankle on a catch in the third quarter," he said later.
"Bent the foot back."
At this point, the Panthers led the Stars by 17-14,
which was not by as much as they should have,
considering how Michigan had dominated most of the
action. And Philadelphia was charging. The Stars had
scored 11 fourth-quarter points, and Philly Free Safety
Mike Lush had just stove in a Panther trap, planting a
shot on Running Back Ken Lacy that put Lacy out of the
game. Carter had already blown some opportunities to
make Michigan's task easier, dropping three passes and
bobbling two punts to ruin his chances for runbacks. He
later admitted to having been unnerved by this "big"
game, which wasn't so big that it couldn't be
overshadowed in Denver by the arrival in training camp
of a single NFL player, new Bronco Quarterback John
Elway. "I was uptight," Carter said. "I wasn't like me."
Yet, despite his glitches, he was having a good game. He
had already caught eight Bobby Hebert passes for 131
yards. But he was still one very big play short of a
great game. Ten seconds later, he was not.
"Bobby just told me to make sure I took the
cornerback deep, so I made sure I did," said Carter of
the 48-yard touchdown play that gave Michigan a 24-14
lead and, in effect, the USFL championship. The play was
an audible, one anticipated so early that Hebert had
mentioned it in the huddle. "We caught them in a blitz
we expected," said Hebert. "I knew they'd try to
disguise it. Lush came too late. And A.C. just...wow!"
The play was split right A44 pass corner 2, a quick
sideline throw to Carter. He gave Cornerback Antonio
Gibson a darting inside feint and then broke out to
receive Hebert's bullet.
Gibson closed on Carter's outside shoulder,
protecting the sideline. Stars Strong Safety Scott
Woerner read the play and came over to lend a hand. But
Carter circled inside Gibson and sliced like a fish by
Woerner, who was having a long day. As he reacted to
Carter's cutback, Woerner felt his left knee hyperextend
when his cleats held too firmly. He fell backward,
rendered helpless by Carter's move. "I saw it then,"
said Carter. "I had gotten over the drops. I knew they
were looking for me on the big play, and it had finally
happened." While fellow Wide Receiver Derek Holloway,
who had caught passes for Michigan's two earlier TDs,
blocked Philadelphia Cornerback Jonathan Sutton,
Carter's afterburner kicked in and he flew to the end
zone, untouched (video). "You know, I think I should have kept
that ball," said Carter, "but I threw it into the
stands."
 Some of the 50,906 people in the stands, in a sense,
threw themselves back at Carter. As time was running
out, the fans swarmed onto the field. They retreated
while Philadelphia scored a meaningless touchdown and
two-point conversion to make the final score 24-22, but
then poured back. Mace was sprayed at the crowd that was
trying to take down the goalposts, and nearly 100 of
Denver's finest moved in to restore order. Seventeen
people were arrested, a couple of them well-oiled
Michigan backers. One woman suffered a two-inch gash on
her forehead, and at least two people were handcuffed.
Their names weren't Carter or Holloway, however. As far
as Philly's secondary is concerned, those two are still
at large.
Philadelphia had come into the game needing to
control the ball and keep it away from the high-powered
Michigan offense. Think of the Panthers as the vintage
Pittsburgh Steelers—oh, all right, miniature Steelers,
perhaps, but dominant in their world—led by Hebert, who
would complete 20 of 39 passes for 314 yards and three
touchdowns and win the game's MVP award, Carter,
Holloway, proficient tight ends and backs and the
cleverest offensive linemen in the league. "We blitzed
to take the trap away," said Lush. "We worried most
about that. I played like a middle linebacker most of
the time. Of course, you give away some things when you
play that way."
What you give up is double coverage on the wide
receivers, a luxury the Stars felt they could not
afford. The Panther line was anchored by three former
Steelers: Right Tackle Ray Pinney, and guards Thorn
Dornbrook and Tyrone McGriff. "We do a lot of pulling
because we do a good job at it," said Pinney, 29. "The
coaches put some things in when Tyrone and Thorn and I
came here around mid-season. I'd say this offense is
very similar to what we used to run at Pittsburgh."
"Primarily, the trap is the basis of our running
game," Michigan Coach Jim Stanley conceded, "but it also
reduces pressure on our passer."
This suited Hebert. The only thing that Terry
Bradshaw has on him is age, rep and size of target.
Hebert burned Woerner with a 37-yard strike down the
middle to Tight End Mike Cobb late in the first quarter,
setting up a 33-yard Nino Bojovic field goal and a 3-0
lead. Woerner had faked a blitz and had his back to the
play, racing to get into the coverage, when the ball was
snapped.
Meanwhile, the Panthers' line was busying itself
freeing Cleo Miller, the 30-year-old former Cleveland
Brown, for unlikely gains. Miller, who was subbing for
an injured John Williams (bruised toe), rushed for 80
yards in 12 carries, 6.7 per try.
Michigan took a 10-3 lead with 2:11 left before
halftime. Carter had caught a third-and-20 sideline
throw at the Michigan 37 with his toes snug against the
left boundary stripe. "He was definitely out of bounds,"
Lush grumbled later. "The ref told me, 'I'm sorry. I
didn't see it.' " Carter was definitely in bounds when
he caught a third-and-10 pass for 13 yards to the Stars'
12. When he went in motion right on the next play, the
Stars' secondary came with him. Holloway, moving left,
slipped behind Woerner and could have posed for a
portrait as he waited for Hebert's TD throw. "Pound for
pound, Holloway might be the best football player in
America," Stanley said afterward of the 5'7½",
166-pounder from Arkansas. Panther Strong Safety David
Greenwood added, "A.C. is the fastest player on the
team, unless Holloway has something to say about it."
Greenwood himself had plenty of say during the week
of preparation. An All-Big Ten safety at Wisconsin and
the conference's outdoor high jump champion, Greenwood
had been the lone surefire defensive back signed early
by the USFL. In addition to doing the punting duties—he
had a 45.8 average on Sunday—Greenwood anchored the
USFL's best secondary, which also included Safety John
Arnaud and NFL veteran corner-backs Clarence Chapman
(New Orleans) and Oliver Davis (Cleveland). Greenwood
himself covered his assignments tightly and hit people
like a falling tree. Oakland Coach John Ralston had
given him credit for the key play in the Panthers' 37-21
semifinal victory over the Invaders the week before;
Greenwood had poleaxed Receiver Wyatt Henderson over the
middle, the ball popping free for an interception. He's
good enough to star in the NFL right now, and it seems
he would like to do so, posthaste. Or maybe he wouldn't.
Greenwood was quoted during the week leading up to
the title game as saying he'd like to play soon for the
Saints, the NFL team that drafted him in the eighth
round. Panther owner A. Alfred Taubman then said the
quote was taken out of context. "I talked to David and
there was nothing to it," Taubman said. "He said he was
only kidding around and that he's learned a lesson. He
was well aware that he has a contract here for three
years. There are loopholes in any contract, but I don't
think, even if there were any, David would escape."
Greenwood said, "I had mentioned that if it were
possible and the money right, I'd play anywhere. My
agent [Greg Campbell] brought it up, and I trust him.
This is a business. If I go belly up, I can always go
back north and live off the land."
Michigan drove boldly to start the second half.
Carter caught two more third-down passes, the second on
a 13-yard Hebert heater that zipped past the four Stars
surrounding Carter and put the ball on the Philly 14.
"We had to play a guessing game," said Lush. On third
down, the Stars guessed Carter and blitzed with Lush.
Stanley had sniffed it out, and Hebert's audible was
prearranged. Holloway ran a quick post from left to
right and cradled his second touchdown throw. Michigan
led 17-3 with 7:49 left in the third quarter, and the
clock was threatening to take Kelvin Bryant, the
league's MVP and its most gifted running back, out of
Philadelphia's game plan. Tough, because Bryant usually
is the Stars' game plan.
Irv Eatman, Philly's 280-pound right tackle, had
said, "The Panthers don't have that good a defensive
team. Their linebackers play five yards off the line, 12
yards away from Kelvin. No way they can do that. He'll
get over 100 yards and we'll win, no doubt."
 Bryant had 42 yards on nine first-half carries. He
took a pitch on the first play from scrimmage following
Michigan's second touchdown, swept right, saw nothing
and reversed field, churning around left end to turn a
disaster into a 22-yard gain. Two Fitzkee catches and a
Greenwood personal foul set up David Trout for a 34-yard
field goal, which he missed. Undaunted, Bryant keyed the
assault again, gaining 14 yards over Eatman on the first
play of Philly's next possession. Wide Receiver Rodney
Parker split Arnaud and Chapman and gathered in Harvin's
fluttering prayer of a halfback pass for 42 yards to
Michigan's 22. Eatman pounded on the ear holes of
Bryant's helmet after the back ripped off 12 more—he
would finish with 89 yards on 13 carries—to the eight.
Bryant was rested during the next two plays, a costly
respite as the Stars netted a scant three yards. The
teams changed ends to begin the fourth quarter, and
Bryant reentered the game for third and goal from the
five.
Quarterback Chuck Fusina stuck the ball in Bryant's
stomach as he headed right. Everyone followed except
Fusina, who had kept the ball on a naked bootleg, and
Linebacker John Corker, the league's Defensive Player of
the Year. Corker pulled Fusina down, the Stars settled
for a field goal, and Michigan still had breathing room
at 17-6. Corker didn't make many tackles, but he made
big ones. He had two sacks of Fusina.
After a Lush interception, the Stars inched to the
Michigan 31, where they faced fourth-and-three. Wide
Receiver Willie Collier made a courageous catch over the
middle at the Michigan 24 and had to be carried off the
field. Two plays later Collier was back, airborne and
horizontal as he gathered in Fusina's 21-yard touchdown
throw. It was 17-14 after Collier caught a two-point
conversion pass off a Fusina roll-out. The Stars had
come back from 21 down in the fourth period to beat
Chicago in the semis and had come from behind to beat
Michigan 29-20 in the regular season. Was this Rocky
III? "This isn't the same Michigan team they played
then," Lacy said.
Behind Dornbrook's blocks and Miller's carries,
Michigan used up some time, making a first down before
Greenwood punted a knuckleball. Woerner, who had blocked
a 58-yard Bojovic field-goal try with :26 left in the
first half, raced up to field it but let it bounce and
then watched as the ball rolled 20 yards to the
Philadelphia five. Woerner dropped his helmet in
disgust.
On third-and-four from his own 11, Fusina sent
Collier short and over the middle. Fusina, harried,
threw the ball into the ground at Collier's feet. Later
Fusina said, "Maybe I thought he'd take it shallower.
Maybe it was a bad throw. I wish I had it back, that one
play."
Michigan wasn't in a philanthropic mood any longer.
Dornbrook, pulling left, led Miller for six yards and
Lacy for nine. Lush began to creep up. He dinged Lacy.
Hebert now knew the audible option was available.
"The idea was to keep Carter from going deep," said
Sutton. "Our philosophy in the game was to let them
catch the short ones." The Stars executed the philosophy
but not the tackle, and Carter flew into a bit of
history.
"When I saw Anthony break," said Holloway later in
the crowded dressing room, "I knew I just had to wave at
Sutton. He wasn't going to catch him. That Anthony, he's
my man."
Carter was by now dressed in his Michigan- as in
Wolverines- T shirt, jeans and visor, and was standing
impatiently with his wife, Ortancis, while waiting for
the police to clear a way through the milling crowd. He
had places to go: back to Detroit for two days, and then
on to his home in Riviera Beach, Fla. for the summer.
He'll return to Ann Arbor in the fall- he's 18 hours
short of an education degree. "Can I get a cop?" Carter
said, scissoring his pelican legs. "I'm scared." His was
definitely not a fear of flying.
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