Top 10 plays from Week 10 of 2023 USFL season
The 2023 USFL regular season wrapped Sunday with New Orleans and Michigan pulling off huge wins to grab the final two postseason spots up for grabs.
They're joined by the reigning champion Birmingham Stallions and the Pittsburgh Maulers as this year's four playoff teams.
Despite being eliminated from playoff contention, Philadelphia, Memphis and Houston still showed up in a big way in Week 10. All of these teams landed on our list of top-notch plays in the regular-season finale.
Here are the top 10 plays from Week 10 of the USFL season.
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10. Justin Hall, WR, Houston Gamblers
With Houston looking to strike back after the New Orleans Breakers got on the scoreboard with a touchdown earlier in the quarter, Hall got the Gamblers into the red zone with a leaping sideline grab to bring down quarterback Kenji Bahar's pass for a 28-yard completion.
9. Trey Quinn, WR, Michigan Panthers
Quinn's spectacular one-handed catch came when the Panthers needed a spark the most. Down 20-6 coming out of halftime in a must-win game against the Philadelphia Stars, Quinn's snag on the pass from quarterback E.J. Perry powered a scoring drive that provided the first of 17 unanswered points as the Panthers rallied for a playoff-clinching 23-20 win.
8. Terry Wright, WR, Philadelphia Stars
The Stars may have wilted late against the Panthers, but they opened the game with a bang as quarterback Case Cookus found Wright open in the end zone and Wright made a spectacular diving catch to complete the 23-yard touchdown play on the game's first drive.
7. Diondre Overton, WR, Stars
Cookus may have needed some help from Wright with his first touchdown pass, but he put this ball right on the money for Overton, splitting two Panthers defenders over the middle of the field for a 29-yard strike to put Philadelphia up by 14 just before halftime.
6. Josh Simmons, WR, Pittsburgh Maulers
After the New Jersey Generals opened the USFL North Division's other regular season finale with a field goal, the Maulers marched down the field for a touchdown on their first offensive drive thanks in large part to this juggling 22-yard catch from Simmons.
5. Alex McGough, QB, Birmingham Stallions
The defending USFL champion Stallions enter the playoffs with a league-best 8-2 record thanks in large part to McGough, who made this 45-yard touchdown strike to tight end Jace Sternberger look effortless. It would hold up as the game's winning score as the Stallions knocked the Memphis Showboats out of playoff contention with a 27-20 win.
4. Vontae Diggs, LB, New Orleans Breakers
Gamblers quarterback Montell Cozart was trying to find a receiver in the end zone for a toe-tap catch. Instead, the toe-tapping player at the other end of Cozart's pass was Diggs. The Breakers linebacker tipped the ball to himself, providing a huge momentum shift in what ended up to be a crucial turnover as the Breakers won by just one score, 17-10, to officially clinch their playoff berth.
3. AJ Richardson, WR, Panthers
No play on this list perhaps directly impacted the 2023 USFL playoff picture more than Richardson's third-quarter touchdown off teammate Marcus Simms' punt block, putting the Panthers right back within striking distance and paving the way for Michigan's comeback victory in a game it needed to win to keep its season alive.
2. Eli Walker, S, Maulers
The Maulers were able to seal their USFL North Division title thanks to this 46-yard fumble return to the end zone from Walker after Pittsburgh pass-rusher Nasir Player knocked the ball out of Generals quarterback De'Andre Johnson's hands. Walker's scoop-and-score put Pittsburgh up by two scores, and the Maulers never looked back from there.
1. Derrick Dillon, WR, Memphis Showboats
The Showboats' first season back in the modern USFL may not have turned out the way they would have liked, but at least Memphis football fans got one more lasting memory from this season thanks to Dillon's game-opening 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.