Spoiler alert, so stop reading now if you need to.

The Road to World Bowl XXXII found 6 teams stalled on the side of the road, looking toward next season. Oklahoma, Honolulu, Portland, Orlando, New Orleans and Baltimore all won and advance to the Divisional Round where they'll be joined by Houston and Philadelphia, coming off their BYE.

Before I get to the recaps, I'd like to congratulate trslick for getting off the playoff schneid with the Hawaiians first ever USFL post season win. The nicest guy in MFN deserves a better post season fate than what his teams have given him over the years and it's nice to finally stop putting 0-whatever in his playoff record.

American Conference Wildcard Round

Oklahoma Outlaws 9 San Jose SaberCats 3

This game had the potential to be a shootout as both teams boast top 3 offenses this season, but they also sport stout defenses. The SaberCats came in with the league's #1 rated defense and they did their job well today, sacking Raymond Settles 4 times, intercepting him twice, and holding him under 200 yards. On the other side of the field, the Outlaws defense was 10th in the league and while they only sacked Larry Henderson once, they also intercepted him twice and held him under 200 yards.

Neither team's running game got going either and the first half ended 3-3, as both teams kicked a FG after forcing a turnover and enjoying a short field. In the second half, Oklahoma had back to back 10 play FG drives, taking a 9-3 lead. San Jose had their best drive on their last possession of the game, driving into Outlaws territory but trailing by 6, they needed a TD not a FG. They faced a 4th and 12 from the Outlaws 40 and a 10 yard gain forced a turnover on downs and Oklahoma escapes the defensive struggle to advance.

Honolulu Hawaiians 31 Chicago Blitz 20

Honolulu got their first playoff win in team history as the offense had 414 yards while the defense had 5 sacks and 2 INTs. It wasn't pretty though, as the Hawaiians also had 2 turnovers, plus a turnover on downs and a missed FG, and they needed a late TD to pull away after Chicago closed the gap.

The Blitz got the ball first and drove 75 yards for a Brian Smith 12 yard TD run and a 7-0 lead. Honolulu answered with a 75 yard drive of their own on a Kevin Via 23 yard TD pass to Donald Fleming. The next score came when Blitz QB Dwayne Byrd was intercepted by Michael Moss, who returned it 17 yards for six points. The XP gave Honolulu a 14-7 lead they later extended to 21-7 after Via threw another TD pass to Fleming.

21-7 was the halftime score and the Hawaiians extended it to 24-7 with a FG before Chicago blitzed back. Brian Smith scored his 2nd rushing TD of the game, taking it 49 yards to the house and they tacked on a pair of Kenneth Williams FGs to get within 24-20 with less than 5 minutes to play. Chicago got the ball back inside the 2 minute warning but the offense went backwards, turning it over on downs at their own 3. Marvin Shavers put the nail in the coffin with a 1 yard TD run in the final minute.

Portland Storm 24 Oakland Invaders 6

Portland got the ball first and were putting together a nice drive when Gabriel Elliott lost a fumble. The Storm defense held while the offense would kick a FG and get a 65 yard Raymond Oswalt TD pass to Robert Hernandez to take a 10-0 lead early in the 2nd. Oakland would get a FG of their own on their 4th drive and they went into halftime trailing Portland 10-3.

The 3rd quarter was scoreless before James Collier scored on a 39 yard run early in the 4th, extending Portland's lead to 17-3. Oakland scored another FG with just over 5 minutes to go, cutting the lead to 17-6, but the onside kick failed. Portland took advantage of the short field as James Collier's 41 yard run on the next play extended the lead to 24-6 after the XP. The rest of the game was a punt fest and Portland advances.

National Conference Wildcard Round

Orlando Renegades 22 Pittsburgh Maulers 17

Pittsburgh QB Brian White has had a whirlwind career. White was sacked over 9 times a game as a rookie, suffering 147 sacks in all, not to mention the numerous hurries/hits he surely faced as he had a 4/30 TD/INT ratio. He improved that to 24/14 in year 2 before throwing 37 TD passes in year 3 with just 12 INTs. His QBR was nearly 110 and the Maulers hoisted the World Bowl trophy at the end of that season. In 2004 White struggled, losing his job as he only had 6 starts before he got it back this season. White led the Maulers to a glossy 14-2 record, but in those 2 losses, White threw 0 TDs and 10 INTs.

White imploded again today, throwing 4 INTs and losing a fumble, yet still nearly led a comeback. The first 3 INTs happened in the first half, and while the official stats said zero points off turnovers, they did contribute to field position shifts that gave Orlando good field position following punts. The Renegades got a FG in the 1st and a Damien Oleary 11 yard TD pass to Christopher Espinoza to take a 10-0 lead in the 2nd. Pittsburgh was driving for a score late in the first half when another White INT kept the Maulers scoreless in the first half.

Orlando extended the lead to 13-0 with a FG in the 3rd qtr that Pittsburgh matched, making the score 13-3 heading into the 4th. Orlando missed a FG but the Renegades sacked White, causing him to fumble and the defense recovered. That led to a FG, then White threw his 4th INT, leading to another FG and a 19-3 Orlando lead. Pittsburgh fought back with a Larry Martinez 1 yard TD run midway through the 4th to pull within 19-10. The onside kick failed and a couple of punts later, Orlando had the ball again, kicking a FG at the 2 minute warning to lead 22-10. Brian White quickly found Patrick Howard for a 72 yard TD pass and now trailed 22-17. The onside kick failed again but the Maulers defense forced a punt, getting the ball back with no timeouts, 40 seconds on the clock and 96 yards for the game winning TD. Those hurdles were too much to overcome as Orlando advances to the next round while Brian White takes criticism from fans and the media.

New Orleans VooDoo 36 New Jersey Generals 7

New Jersey QB Eric Hansen was sacked more times in his rookie year with Pittsburgh than Brian White a year later as he was taken down 218 times. Hansen didn't play as badly as White today but he tried. Hansen threw a pair of INTs, lost a fumble and took 6 sacks. One of those sacks ended up as a lost fumble, leading to the VooDoo's first 3 points and another sack occurred in the end zone for a safety.

When the Generals offense wasn't helping the VooDoo win, the defense did. New Jersey had no answer for Michael Ferrell, who caught 13 passes for 180 yards and a TD. Willie Graham threw for 323 yards and 3 TDs, the other 2 went to Jose Brown. James Aguirre led the VooDoo RBBC with 83 yards and a TD as New Orleans jumped out to a 19-0 lead and never looked back.

Baltimore Stars 10 Georgia Force 3

Georgia might have had the worst record of the playoff teams but the Force defense did a great job today holding down Baltimore's 10th ranked offense. They held the Stars to 190 yards, allowed less than 3 yards a carry, sacking Jerry Parker 5 times and intercepting him twice. Georgia also held Baltimore to 1/14 on 3rd down conversions.

Unfortunately for Georgia, the Baltimore defense played even better, holding the Force offense to 104 total yards. The Stars didn't force any turnovers but they only allowed 6 first downs all game, sacking Christopher Williams 5 times.

In the first qtr, Baltimore punt returner Douglas Jordan, fumbled a punt but picked it up and returned it 38 yards to give the Stars great field position. The offense went three and out but they started so deep in Force territory, the 36 yard FG gave them an early 3-0 lead. Later in the 1st qtr, Georgia got a FG thanks to field position off the first Parker INT to tie the score.

Early in the 2nd, Georgia was forced to punt from their 4 and Baltimore started near midfield. It took 11 plays to cover 52 yards but Jerry Parker's 8 yard TD pass to Kenneth Allen gave the Stars a 10-3 lead they would not lose.

The second half isn't worth mentioning as it was all punts except each team's last drive when Georgia turned it over on downs before Baltimore drained the clock to 0:00 to advance.

It's more likely a coincidence but does anyone think there is a correlation between all the sacks White and Hansen took as rookies and them having meltdown games like they did today?

In real life, they never would have taken so many sacks as they'd get hurt or benched before it got that bad, but could MFN have something in the code that activates after a QB takes say 300 sacks?

I stopped early on the Hammond game. The engine triggered badly on him from the start. He came out mostly passing and caught him quickly with interceptions.

I didn't need to look any further than when I saw 212 short getting sacked and intercepted.

Engine went wrong from him right out of the gate.

Therefore, I think his pitter-pattter rhythm from the very start carried throughout - a trigger of the engine to throw down the security gates on him.

Anything he did would have went wrong..

and oh I don't think the sacks they took early on matter...

Your game. I can see what happened with the out of the gate medium passing. He had good coverage and either you got intercepted or didn't get it off.

The short ones he must have scouted and won on an overpower v. your attempt to use them. -10 on a short pass was a hmm.

On the short passing his D structure must have had a lot more potency than your weaponry + scouting.

(it's why I was saying without my elite WR I'd abandon the team - I wouldn't have done it...)

take him away and I'd get over-powered no matter what I did aka lose dice rolls

SPOILER ALERT!!! Stop reading if you don't want to know the scores yet.

American Conference Divisional Round

Houston Gamblers 51 Honolulu Hawaiians 24

Gus "Hightest" Gas lit up the scoreboard early, taking the opening kickoff 101 yards to give Houston an instant 7-0 lead. A few possessions later and Gas was at it again, taking a Dale Baber pass and racing 92 yards to the end zone for a 14-0 lead. Honolulu got a FG to cut it to 14-3 then Baber almost had an 84 yard TD pass to Agustin Fiecke but he got tackled just short of the goal line. Lex Luger then caught a short baber pass for a TD and a 21-3 1st qtr lead for the Gamblers.

Houston wasn't the only team making big plays as Honolulu got within 21-10 on a 71 yard Kevin Via TD pass to Paul McQuay. Via threw for exactly 400 yards today, completing 29/36 with 3 TDs and 0 INTs but the Hawaiians got less than nothing from their running game literally. Four players ran the ball for Honolulu and none finished with positive yardage and the team finished with -26 yards rushing on 18 carries. A little help from the running game and defense would have went a long way today.

Houston closed out the first half scoring with a pair of FGs to take a 27-10 halftime lead.

The 3rd qtr and early 4th saw the teams trade TD passes as Baber found Lex Luger again for a 47 yard TD, Via hit Richard Klein for a 21 yard score, Baber and Luger connected for a 3rd TD, this one for 82 yards before Via answered with a 5 yard TD pass to Michael Sinclair.

That rally made the score 41-24 Houston with 11:43 to play but Honolulu was finished scoring and didn't know it yet. Via was sacked in the end zone for a safety and Baber later found Randy Savage for a TD pass to cap the scoring as Houston advances to the Conference Championship.

Dale Baber completed 27/42 for 537 yards and 5 TDs without an INT. Lex Luger caught 9 passes for 209 yards and 3 TDs while Gus "Hightest" Gas caught 5 for 138 and a TD to go with his kick return TD. Rookie of the year candidate Randy Savage ran for 63 yards and caught 7 for 67 more and a TD.

Portland Storm 14 Oklahoma Outlaws 10

Oklahoma is probably kicking themselves right now as they lost despite out playing Portland today. The Outlaws shut down the Storm running game, allowing 2 yards on 15 carries. Portland was just 1/15 on 3rd down and had just 207 passing yards. Oklahoma's offense produced 339 yards, rushing for 127 but Raymond Settles threw 2 costly interceptions which ultimately led to their downfall.

Steven McCurdy's 1 yard TD run late in the 1st gave Oklahoma a 7-0 lead and a short FG midway through the 2nd gave the Outlaws a 10-0 halftime lead. It could have been more, as Oklahoma was driving late in the half, getting to the Storm red zone inside the 2 minute warning but Settles threw his first INT, costing the Outlaws at least 3 points.

The 3rd quarter saw the teams exchange punts and that continued into the 4th where Portland punter Michael Godsey pinned Oklahoma at their own 4 yard line. The Outlaws got a 1st down run called back for a holding penalty before Settles was intercepted on the next play by Mario Allen, who returned it 19 yards for a score. Portland finally cracks the scoreboard and trail 10-7 with just under 12 minutes to play.

We had a few more punts following the pick 6 before Portland got the ball on their own 20 with 4:27 to play. The Storm needed to at least get in FG range to send the game to OT but Oklahoma's defense was feeling confident as Portland had just 129 offensive yards all day. Raymond Oswalt started the drive 7/7 but they were all short passes as they gained 24 yards to get near midfield, with a 1st and 10 from their 44. Two knocked down passes and a 4 yard completion had the Storm facing 4th and 6 from their 48 with the clock ticking inside 2 minutes. Oswalt found Jack Ramos for a 52 yard TD pass to give Portland a 14-10 lead, saving their best drive for last.

Oklahoma had 3 timeouts and over a minute to answer but they ran out of time as they got near the red zone and Portland advances to the Conference Championship.

National Conference Divisional Round

Philadelphia Bell 33 Orlando Renegades 7

This was an odd box score for a 33-7 game as Philadelphia ran 9 times for just 15 yards and were 1/13 on 3rd down and they won. The Bell even used both QBs today as Bryant Smith entered the game in the 4th qtr when Philadelphia had a 26-0 lead. Joel Jasso lit up the Orlando defense before exiting the game, completing 28/48 for 331 yards and 2 TDs. Jasso threw his first TD on the first drive, connecting with Roderick Uribe for a 90 yard score. Uribe finished the game with 10 catches for 184 yards and that TD.

Steve Matthews added a pair of FGs while the Bell defense forced the Renegades to punt on every 1st half possession en route to a 13-0 lead at the break. Orlando's offensive woes extended into the second half as an INT led to another Bell FG, then some punts and another INT led to 10 more Philadelphia points and a 26-0 4th qtr lead.

Bryant Smith was under center for Philadelphia now and he was 0 for his first 5 passes, including a pick 6 by Leonard Chastain to finally get Orlando on the scoreboard. Smith bounced back and got those points back with a 2 yard TD pass to Charles Thompson, ending the scoring for the day as Philadelphia is 1 game away from their first ever World Bowl.

New Orleans VooDoo 31 Baltimore Stars 0

The defending champion VooDoo had their second consecutive blowout in this year's playoffs, handling Baltimore to advance to the Conference Championship for the 6th straight season. The New Orleans offense wasn't great today but they didn't need to be with how their defense played. They still had 444 total yards, running for 4 yards a carry and getting 305 yards from Willie Graham, who completed 27/44 with 1 TD and 1 INT.

The VooDoo defense didn't create any turnovers, but they didn't need to as they only allowed 60 total yards all game. Baltimore QB Jerry Parker completed 19/41 for 94 yards but he was sacked 7 times for minus 56 yards, with 2 of those sacks happening in the end zone for safeties. David Jacquez and John Keel did the honors for the scoring sacks.

Not much else to say about this game as New Orleans had solid, unspectacular games from most of their skill players and took care of business as they seek back to back titles.

Bumping this up over last season's playoff preview post. I apologize for those who clicked that, if you have yet to do so, the new post is nothing so feel free to mark it as read.

I had too many tabs open and had last year's preview open looking for past head to head results, when I typed this year's preview in that thread by mistake. Sorry.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Stop reading if you don't want the results revealed

The American Conference Championship was quite the battle as both teams put up over 400 yards and hit several big plays, but Houston was able to outlast Portland to advance to their 9th World Bowl. The Gamblers will seek their 9th league title against the Philadelphia Bell, who will be playing in their first World Bowl. Philadelphia and Houston prevented a 3rd straight Portland vs New Orleans World Bowl. That would have been the first time in league history the same teams played in 3 straight against each other...as it is, it's the third time we've had an immediate World Bowl rematch and the first one that wasn't a sweep. Houston beat Washington in XXI and XXII while New Jersey beat Portland in XXIV and XXV.

American Conference Championship

Houston Gamblers 34 Portland Storm 27

Houston got the ball first and took all of 4 plays to take a 7-0 lead as Dale Baber found Lex Luger with a 57 yard TD pass. Portland would need 5 plays to answer on their first drive as Raymond Oswalt threw a 28 yard TD pass to James Kendrick. The game would have been tied but Larry David's cousin Aaron was wide right on the XP, making the score 7-6 Houston. Later in the 1st, Houston would extend their lead on a 1 yard Mark Merlo TD run with the XP making it 14-6. Portland would take their next drive inside the Houston red zone but Oswalt was intercepted by Gorilla Monsoon, thwarting the scoring drive for now. That's because Dale Baber promptly gave it back, with Mark McKibben giving the Storm 1st and goal from the 9. A couple of plays later, Oswalt connected with Robert Hernandez for a 13 yard TD pass to get within 14-13.

The second quarter started and Portland finally forced a Houston punt before Oswalt led a 13 play, 71 yard FG drive as the Storm took the lead 16-14. Portland nearly doubled Houston's time of possession and this is part of the reason...the Storm took 7:11 off the clock on that long FG drive while the Gamblers answered in 11 seconds as Baber found Luger for a 75 yard TD to take the lead right back 21-16. The rest of the first half saw no more scoring.

Houston extended their lead further as Gus "Hightest" Gas took a handoff 51 yards for a TD, with the XP pushing the score to 28-16. The rest of the 3rd saw no more scoring but Portland began another 13 play FG drive with those 3 points coming early in the 4th.

Portland was now within 28-19 but the Gamblers hit another big play right away as Baber found Luger for a 68 yard gain to set up first and goal from the 7. Merlo nearly got his 2nd TD on the next play, but was stopped short so Baber took it in himself with a 1 yard TD run. The 2 point try failed but Houston still led 34-19 with 12:08 to play.

Portland answered with a 14 play drive, advancing down to the Houston 4 where they faced a 4th and 1. Gabriel Elliott was stuffed by J.J. Kilroy, preserving the Gamblers 15 point lead. Portland would get the ball back and have another extended drive. The Storm kept the ball 13 plays, getting a short Raymond Oswalt TD pass to Robert Hernandez, and a 2 point pass to Gabriel Elliott. Portland was now within 7 points with 1:45 to play but they were out of timeouts and were forced to try an onside kick. That kick failed and Dale Baber kneeled down 3 times as the Houston Gamblers advance to their 9th World Bowl.

Dale Baber was 13/19, 315 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT with Lex Luger doing the heavy lifting. Luger finished with only 5 receptions but he scored twice and had 232 receiving yards. For Portland, Raymond Oswalt completed 50/66, 450 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. Robert Hernandez caught 10 for 133 yards and 2 scores while Richard Petty caught 14 for 123.
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National Conference Championship

Philadelphia Bell 23 New Orleans VooDoo 7

The game started with the defenses flexing their muscles as the first quarter was all punts until the final seconds, when Philadelphia QB Joel Jasso was intercepted by Michael Simmons, giving New Orleans the ball at the Bell 27. Four plays later Willie Graham threw a 6 yard TD pass to Benjamin Jones and the XP gave the VooDoo a 7-0 lead. Philadelphia would answer with a FG to make the score 7-3. A couple of drives later, Willie Graham had New Orleans knocking on the end zone door with a 1st and goal at the 4, but Graham was intercepted in the end zone by Lewis Gomez. The teams went into halftime with New orleans leading 7-3.

Philadelphia came out ready for the 3rd quarter as the defense forced a three and out, then Jasso led a 14 play, 79 yard TD drive, throwing a 7 yard scoring pass to Alfredo Montoya. The XP made the score 10-7, and New Orleans was ready to tie the score later in the 3rd but Sam Adam's cousin from Boston, Mark Adams missed a 42 yard FG. Four plays later, Stanley Martinez scored on a 4 yard run with the XP extending the lead to 17-7.

Philadelphia would extend their lead to 20-7 early in the 4th with a Steve Matthews 45 yard FG. New Orleans then faced a 4th and 8 from their 42 and down 13 in the 4th, the VooDoo went for it, but Graham was sacked, turning it over on downs. That led to a lead extending FG by Matthews to give the Bell a 23-7 lead. New Orleans would get the ball 4 more times in the last 6 minutes but they punted, turned it over on downs twice, then the clock ran out as Philadelphia holds on to advance to the first World Bowl in franchise history.