Tuskers Continue UFL Dominance, Trounce Redwoods

The Florida Tuskers continued their dominance of the UFL. Despite the easy nature of their wins, coach Jim Haslett is confident his team has remained motivated.

Brooks Bollinger threw two touchdown passes and back-up Chris Greisen tossed one more as Haslett's Tuskers thoroughly dispatched the California Redwoods, 34-7, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night.

"They know this is their last stop and that, if they want to get back to the NFL, they need to play at a high level, and have fun doing it," Haslett said. "And they understand that, so I don't need to harp on them."

The coach certainly had nothing to get on them about last night in the lone contest in Week 3 of the UFL's inaugural season.

Marcus Maxwell, Jayson Foster and Andrew Pinnock each had a TD grab, while Taye Biddle had five catches for 133 yards for Florida, which has won its first three games to start the season -- all in convincing fashion.

"We have a lot of guys that play for each other and play to win the game," Bollinger said. "That's been a big key to our success. We know how good we can be. The record has nothing to do with it.

"The bar has been set high, and we want to live up to that and raise it. At times tonight, we didn't do that, I just feel like we can play better."

The Tuskers took advantage of five turnovers by the Redwoods, who continued their quarterback carousel. Starter Mike McMahon was pulled in the second quarter for Shane Boyd, who was the team's Opening Day signal caller before being benched in the second contest.

Neither was impressive in this one, combining to go 9-of-30 for 101 yards and four interceptions (two apiece) in leading California's dismal offense.

"The offensive poor play, obviously, was turnovers," Redwoods coach Dennis Green said. "But a dropped pass has about the same effect, and we had about seven or eight of those. Because they give up a first down, they give up time of possession and they give up the ball, and they also give the other team a little bit of juice.

"We had five turnovers. Seven or eight dropped balls is about as poor offensively as we can get."

Green admitted that he is not afraid to make another switch under center.

"Well, No. 3 (QB Liam O'Hagan) might play next week," the coach said. "I don't think we are like Las Vegas, New York, not even like Florida, we really did need preseason games. There's really no compelling reason why one guy beat out the other guy. We just had to select one, and we did.

"We selected Shane Boyd for the first game and he was less than OK. And we said OK, we bring in more receivers and get another quarterback, McMahon, and Mike McMahon was just OK. I don't think there is any reason to think Liam O'Hagan isn't as good as the other two guys."

However, there was sluggish play for both teams to start the game, with the defenses causing havoc in the first quarter. Florida held the UFL's leading rusher, Cory Ross, in check while California used an aggressive pass rush in a scoreless opening period.

From there, however, the Tuskers took over.

Ross finished with just 59 yards on 18 carries for the Redwoods, who trailed, 17-0, at halftime and by 27 points after three quarters.

In the second, Bollinger connected with Biddle, the UFL's leading receiver, for the longest pass play of the game, a 51-yard gain to California's 4-yard line. Two plays later, Michael Pittman scored his first rushing touchdown of the season to give the Tuskers a 7-0 lead.

Florida defensive tackle Willie Andrews, on the ensuing possession, stripped Ross and Tuskers linebacker Odell Thurman recovered at the California 19-yard line. Bollinger then connected with Foster to give the Tuskers a 14-point lead and force Green to pull McMahon in an attempt to spark his club.

The Tuskers scored on their first two possessions of the third and capped their scoring in the fourth, when Greisen found Maxwell. Florida outgained California, 381-198, in the romp.

Bollinger, the UFL's leading passer, threw for 224 yards for Florida, which is the league's only undefeated team. It will host the Las Vegas Locos -- against whom the Tuskers posted a 29-15 win on Oct. 14. -- at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida on Oct. 30.

"We still have a lot to prove...every player and every coach have goals they want to accomplish," Biddle said. "We're not really looking at our record, we just want to continue to have fun every week and play our hardest."