[1] He held fast to USFL founder David Dixon's original blueprint for the league, keeping tight controls on expenses (including player salaries) while heavily marketing the team in the Rockies.
It got to the point that an irate Miller once threatened to quit unless Blanding decided to "act like a fucking owner of a professional football team.
With one of the league's lowest payrolls going into the 1984 season, the Gold shot out of the gate to a surprising 7–1 record and were tied atop the USFL along with the powerful Philadelphia Stars and Birmingham Stallions after 8 weeks.
Their early success was attributed to an opportunistic offense and a bend-but-don't break defense that seemed to overcome their personnel issues at linebacker.
Unwilling to join his fellow owners in reckless spending, Blanding sold the team to auto dealer Doug Spedding for $10 million in April 1984.
[2][1] Over the second half of the season, Morton had a QB shuffle that saw him use four different starters in Penrose, Bob Gagliano, Fred Mortensen and rookie Ken Hobart at various points over the last nine games.
Acquired from Jacksonville in May,[6] Hobart made his first pro start on June 8, a two-point loss to eventual champion Philadelphia, decided by a late field goal.
Running back Harry Sydney was the main offensive weapon rushing for 961 yards and ten touchdowns to lead the Gold.
The Gold offense was centered around a short passing game featuring running backs Sydney and Vincent White making 44 and 37 receptions respectively to finish 1–2 in team receiving.
Tackles Steve Rogers and Ray Wagner along with guards George Yarno and Greg Feasel and centre Tom Davis did a solid job opening holes and creating pass protection most of the season.
With the departure of Choate and Whittington in training camp, the Gold were not able to convert linebackers John Bungartz, Greg Gerken and Kelvin Newton into effective everyday starters.
Instead of signing a replacement for Gortz, place kicker Brian Speelman took over the punting duties and served in a dual role for the remainder of the season.
With under six minutes left in a 10–10 game, Gold QB Craig Penrose found WR Elmer Bailey in the end zone for a 6-yard scoring play to give Denver a late 17–10 lead.
On the next series, Denver safety Darryl Hemphill picked off Express QB Tom Ramsey and returned it 42-yards for the major to quickly seal a 27–10 victory for the Gold.
The Express got on the board first when rookie K Tony Zendejas hit a 36-yard field goal 9:08 into the contest to give the host club a 3–0 lead after the first quarter.
The Gold (1–0) travel to Tulsa to take on the Oklahoma Outlaws (1–0) next Saturday (Mar.3rd) while the Express (0–1) host the Birmingham Stallions (0–1) next Sunday (Mar.
Led by former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star QB Doug Williams, the Outlaws won their opener the previous week, 7–3 over the Pittsburgh Maulers.
Davis was the chief advocate of the Run & Shoot offense in the USFL and had implemented the system in Houston that helped make Jim Kelly a superstar.
The network, who had considerable influence over the USFL due to the structuring of the league's television contract, did not want the embarrassment of having a game played in a near-empty stadium.
[14] Instead Spedding, Bassett, and the USFL as a whole were doomed by the ill-advised attempt to move the playing season to the fall in 1986 in direct competition with the more-established NFL.
The jury cited the league's abandonment of Denver and several other major markets as one reason why it awarded the USFL only nominal damages.