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Greisen Answers the Call

November 12, 2010 - United Football League (UFL 1)
Florida Tuskers News Release


ORLANDO, FLA. - FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 - Sometimes things in sports are funny. The Florida Tuskers offered up a couple prime examples in a 31-14 win over the Omaha Nighthawks at the Florida Citrus Bowl seven days ago.

The last time Tuskers quarterback Chris Greisen started a game was against teammate Huey Whittaker's Spokane Shock in the Arena Football League's National Conference final back in July as a member of the Milwaukee Iron.

As luck would have it, Greisen's first touchdown pass of the UFL season came on a perfectly executed fade-route by Whittaker giving the Tuskers an early 7-0 lead over the Nighthawks. Adding to the irony, Greisen's masterful performance came against an Omaha defense led by his younger brother Nick Greisen who plays middle linebacker for the Nighthawks.

His 215 passing yards and two touchdown passes led the Tuskers to a crucial win in the first start of his two-year UFL career.

"It was awesome playing against my brother," Chris Greisen said after the game. "At one point we were talking and the ref asked if we knew each other so I said 'yeah, he's my brother' but it was just a great experience and to getting the win made it even better."

Greisen was called into action after Brooks Bollinger suffered injuries to his neck, ribs, and finger against the Sacramento Mountain Lions. In that game, the Tuskers faced a situation where all they needed to win was a field goal to win.

Greisen threw an interception that spelled the end and left the Tuskers looking for answers.

Head coach Jay Gruden had to make a critical decision to sit his starter in favor of back-up Greisen to give his team their best chance to win in the most important game of the season thus far.

"I have total confidence in Chris to run this offense because on some occasions he is correcting me and I feel like he knows the playbook better than I do," Gruden said. "He did an excellent job to go out there and help us win last week and followed it with another great game last night against Hartford."

The Northwest Missouri State product spread the ball to 11 different receivers in the Omaha game and followed last night with a 17 for 23 night (73.9%) where he threw for 237 yards and a couple of touchdowns in a 41-7 romp over Hartford. In two games as Florida's starting quarterback, Greisen has led the Tuskers to a pair of wins where they outscored opponents 72-21, including 69-0 in the first half.

Greisen comes from a league where he routinely puts up 100-plus touchdown passes per year. He once finished a season with the AFL's Georgia Force throwing for 117 touchdown passes, which remains a league record. In college, he led Northwest Missouri State to a national title.

It was that type of performance that has the Tuskers riding a wave of confidence heading into the last game of the season. "Heading into this season, I promised Chris a chance to compete for the starting quarterback position, but his Arena team made it to the playoffs which put him a week behind and then he got hurt the first day of camp and got another week behind," Gruden said. "So we always had a lot of confidence in his ability and it nice to know you have two quarterbacks you can trust."

The Tuskers are hoping to ride Greisen's hot passing attack all the way to an appearance in the UFL championship for a rematch against the Las Vegas Locomotives. To do so, the Tuskers and Greisen must win a rematch with Omaha and his brother next week on the road.

The situation comes down to this. If the Tuskers (4-3) defeat Omaha (3-3) next Friday, Florida returns to the UFL Championship. As to whether family feelings ever become a factor on the field, Chris says no. "I love my brother to death, but I can't stand the thought of losing to them. Especially if it means the winner goes to the title game. I don't think I would ever hear the end of it."

Tuskers Notes: Tuskers President Joe Theismann and his staff hosted a luncheon for sponsors and potential sponsors on Friday afternoon at the Citrus Club...Theismann captivated the audience with his vision of the Tuskers and the UFL's future in Orlando...After completing passes to 11 different receivers in his first start, QB Chris Greisen found 10 different receivers in the win over Hartford...Since Omaha has been designated as the site for the 2010 UFL Championship game, the league is contemplating keeping the Tuskers in the city for the entire week if they defeat Omaha next Friday to earn a championship game berth...Despite playing without three key starters on defense, the Tuskers limited Hartford to just 51 yards of rushing and just 242 yards of total offense, while forcing five turnovers..."Chuck (defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan) has done an incredible job with our defense," Head Coach Jay Gruden said. "Seems like he loses two or three starters each week and just plugs in the backups and turns them lose."...An incredible array of UFL merchandise is available at www.buyufl.com.



United Football League Stories from November 12, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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