The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
On Saturday, the Birmingham Stallions defeated the Michigan Panthers 20 to 19 to wrap up the regular season at Protective Life Stadium in Birmingham.
Michigan attempted a 53 yard field goal with three seconds left that would have won them the game; but missed. The Stallions improve to 9 and 1 on the season. Michigan falls to 7 and 3.
Michigan had 324 yards of total offense on the day versus just 223 for the Stallions.
The Stallions scored a touchdown on their first possession, on their opening possession of the second half, and in their final possession of the game with just 59 seconds left.
Michigan scored 16 points in the first half; but were held to just a field goal by the Stallions in the second half.
Stallions quarterback Adrian Martinez only completed 50% of his passes on the day going 14 for 28 for just 163 yards. He threw the ball to 8 different receivers on the day.
The Stallions Head Coach is Skip Holtz.
"These two teams have now met twice," said Holtz. "We certainly didn't execute well as an offense."
"We have not played very crisp for two weeks in a row," said Holtz.
"We had a lot of three and outs," said Holtz. Then things turned around in that last drive. "It was like a light bulb coming on and we were able to make some first downs."
"Proud of the team," said Holtz. "This is playoff football. Two good defenses going at it."
Next week the Stallions will play Michigan again; but this time it will be for the USFL conference championship.
"I am very excited to get to play for a championship," said Jace Sternberger.
The winner of next week's USFL Conference Championship game will advance to play the winner of the XFL Championship game between the St. Louis Battlehawks and San Antonio Brahmas – who both finished the season at 7 and 3.
Holtz and the Stallions won both USFL championships in 2022 and 2023. The USFL has since merged with the XFL to create the Ultimate Football League (UFL).
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