A casual glance at the Alliance of American Football
stats gives off a strong impression the Orlando Apollos shouldn’t break
much of a sweat in their second meeting against the Memphis Express.

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But
numbers, as is well-known, can be deceiving. And anyone who watched
last month’s first encounter between the East Division rivals will
easily recall how Memphis gave the Apollos fits on both sides of the
ball.Orlando emerged with a 21-17 triumph that night, and the
memory still leaves something of a sour look on coach Steve Spurrier’s
face.“They stuffed us probably better than anyone,” Spurrier recalled earlier this week. “We were fortunate to score 21 points.”On
the heels of last week’s dominant victory in Atlanta that locked up a
postseason berth, something to keep the Apollos’ focus certainly
couldn’t hurt. First snap at the Liberty Bowl is set for 2 p.m., with
TNT broadcasting the game.An Orlando victory would secure
home-field advantage in the division playoffs, meaning the Apollos (6-1)
— set to finally come off five weeks of workouts in Georgia — wouldn’t
have to leave Central Florida again until earning a berth in the AAF
championship game in Frisco, Texas.After Saturday, the Apollos wrap up the regular season with home games against San Diego and Birmingham.“To
clinch a playoff spot is fantastic,” said quarterback Garrett Gilbert,
“but we feel like we’ve got a lot of work to do to improve between now
and then.”The Apollos rolled up 362 yards of offense against
Atlanta as De’Veon Smith punched in three short touchdown runs and
Gilbert threw a touchdown pass for the seventh time in as many outings.
Orlando also got another defensive score when Deji Olatoye returned an
interception 65 yards for a touchdown.The Apollos have four pick-six touchdowns this season, including a pair from cornerback Keith Reaser.“It’s just hard to lose to anybody when your defense scores,” Spurrier said.The
Apollos also lead the league in fewest points allowed (15.0) while
ranking No.3 in defensive total yards and second in passing yardage
allowed. That’s in addition to an offense that ranks first or second in
every key offensive category.Memphis (2-5), on the other hand,
ranks in the league’s bottom half across the statistical board. It’s
even worse on offense, where the Express are among the bottom two in
every major category.That said, the Express enter the game with a
bit of momentum after beating Birmingham last week in the AAF’s first
overtime contest. Memphis scored the final 17 points of the game, capped
by Brandon Silvers’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Dan Williams in the extra
period.Silvers, a former standout at Troy who gave way to newly
signed Johnny Manziel in spots, threw for 266 yards and two scores
against the Iron. That easily earned the nod from coach Mike Singletary
to start against Orlando.“Right now, Brandon is our
quarterback,” Singletary told Memphis reporters. “I’m very excited about
what Johnny does and what he brings to the team, but Brandon is our
starting quarterback.”Manziel, the troubled former Heisman
winner who was claimed by Memphis after his dismissal from the Canadian
Football League, went 3-for-5 for 48 yards and picked up another 20
yards with his legs.Though Spurrier has never coached against
“Johnny Football” — South Carolina never crossed paths with Texas
A&M during Manziel’s two years — he was reminded of some things he
saw while breaking down video from other SEC teams.“It adds to
the defense’s problems when the quarterback can run like Johnny can,”
Spurrier said. “Now whether they play him a lot or Brandon Silvers … I
suspect they’ll play both of them.”Both quarterbacks are new to
the Apollos, who saw Christian Hackenberg and Zach Mettenberger the last
time they met. Another poor outing forced Hackenberg to the bench as
Mettenberger threw two touchdown passes in the Express’ rally.Mettenberger,
though, was lost for the season to an ankle injury two weeks ago. Not
only that, but Devin Lucien — who caught Mettenberger’s first touchdown
pass — also is done after an injury last week. And Sherman Badie, who
ran for 75 yards against the Apollos, missed last week with a knee
injury.Spurrier, not surprisingly, is more concerned about his
own side. The Apollos were held to a season-low 207 yards through the
air by Memphis, bogging down after scoring on their first two
possessions.Orlando’s second-half scores came on a 37-yard pass
from Gilbert to Rannell Hall, improvising on a fourth-and-7 scramble,
and Gilbert’s 21-yard scamper on an option call. The Apollos also were
hurt by eight penalties for a loss of 124 yards.“Man, we didn’t move the ball well on those guys,” Spurrier said. “… We can play a lot better offensively.”