The Rush lost at home to open the year against the Orlando Predators
47-35 in front of a SRO crowd of 16,143, the franchise's first
sellout and a franchise record for attendance.

The whole team came out flat and QB Billy Dicken couldn't get on
track, going 24-47 for 245 yards, throwing 2 TDs and 1 pick and
running for another TD. The two touchdowns though were both thrown in
the last minute of the game. Jamie McGourty scored the 1st 2
touchdowns of the game and ended up with 5 yards on 4 rushes. Bob
McMillen pitched in 4 yards on 2 runs. Antonio Chatman led the
receivers with 10 catches for 97 yards, Dale Koscielski and Cornelius
Bonner each had 4 catches for 45 and 33 yards respectively and 1 TD
each. Anthony Ladd had 3 catches for 39 yards, Dameon Porter had 24
yards on 2 catches, and McGourty caught 1 pass for 7 yards.

For the Preds, Jay Gruden threw 6 TDs on 18-36 attemps for 200 yds.
Rick Hamilton ran for 19 yds. on 4 attempts, and Connel Maynor ran
for 8 yds. on 2 runs and a TD. OS Travis McGriff led them with 6
catches for 116 yds. and 4TDs. Corey Fleming and Thabiti Davis also
had a TD catch each. Though thye didn't have any sacks, they applied
constant pressure on Dicken, which threw him off his rhythm.