All four USFL North teams are below .500, but alive for two playoff berths

Eight-team football leagues can lead to all sorts of unusual outcomes. In the second year of the reconstituted USFL, for example, all teams in the USFL North are below .500 after nine games — and all four teams in the USFL South are above .500.

It sets the stage for a final week of the regular season in which the 4-5 Philadelphia Stars, the 3-6 New Jersey Generals, the 3-6 Pittsburgh Maulers, and the 3-6 Michigan Panthers will compete for two playoff berths.

On Saturday, the Generals play the Maulers in Canton. On Sunday, the Stars and Panthers face off at Ford Field in Detroit.

In the South, the 7-2 Birmingham Stallions have clinched a playoff berth. The New Orleans Breakers are 6-3, and the Houston Gamblers and Memphis Showboats are each 5-4.

The postseason starts on June 24, with a pair of games that weekend. The championship game will be played on Saturday, July 1, in Canton.