The Philadelphia Stars secured themselves a second place spot in the standings for the USFL North Division this past Saturday. Of course that’s only after two games, but after their first loss to the New Orleans Breakers in week 1—a 23 to 17 loss—the win certainly sends the right message and boosts morale for the team and its fans.

No, attendance at games isn’t great. In fact it’s abysmal, but the ratings have been good so far and that’s promising and it means one thing: The fans are happy to see these teams back and the support is there on TV at least, but more on the ratings later….

The final score between the Stars and the Pittsburgh Maulers finished 30 to 23 for the Stars. In fact the old fire of the Philly Stars was seen on the field this past weekend and they played a lot more like the former USFL champs they were back in the eighties.

Of course the players are not the same quite obviously, and heck, it isn’t even the same league, really, but that old fighting spirit and intestinal fortitude seen in many of the Philly sports teams and athletes was sure present on the gridiron this past Saturday as spots from the game definitely proved.

The Maulers of course are coming off of a loss in Week 1 to the Tampa Bay Bandits…17 to 3. They did eventually score their very first touchdown of the season against Philly this week, but of course they couldn’t at all hold onto the potential win, or rather their few advantages during the game as the game played out on Saturday.

It was late in the first quarter that the Maulers got their first advantage—a field goal by Ramiz Ahmed (25 yards)—the game was a tad back and forth from then on, leading to the Star’s win of course. It was a little while after the Maulers garnered for themselves a 16 to 14 lead that QB, Bryan Scott, passed to Maurice Alexander securing a 21 to 16 lead. But even after that point, the Maulers didn’t at all go down easy, securing another touchdown, bringing the game to a 22-21 lead. So a lot certainly happened on the way to the final score for sure.

Take a look at the video for highlights of this well-played game:

The game also provided the league with the very first 3-point conversion in the leagues history, which of course now belongs to the Philadelphia Stars; the aforementioned 3-point conversion led to the Stars’ lead and ultimate win, obviously. So put that one in the history books, folks.

I know I shared some of the highlights from Saturday’s game, as these articles usually go, but how about jumping into the DeLorean with Marty and Doc Brown for a trip back to the mid-eighties (don’t forget the hover board!), for a look back to when these teams once faced each other:

As for the aforementioned ratings…ratings have been good, but they did drop a tad this week, with viewership down a tad, but hopefully with enough hype and interest attracted, those numbers can go up.

An example: Week 1 on Easter Sunday drew 771, 000 viewers, and this week, for Friday’s game between the Panthers and Generals, it drew 363,000. Those numbers are way different, but we need to keep a close eye on just why the numbers vary and what exactly the factors are, so we’ll keep you posted on that front, dear readers, moving forward. My colleague here at USFL News Hub has a great take on it; check out his piece on the ratings issue (link below).

If more games are like the one here, back and forth and full of just what these USFL teams can offer, attendance and hopefully ratings will improve. These men are playing some great football for the most part and football fans everywhere should take notice.

As for Philly, they’re set to face the New Jersey Generals on Sunday, May 1^st at 8PM EST.

NEXT: USFL News: Week 2 TV Ratings See Expected Decline