For the first time this season, The Football Beat crew did not have anyone at a United Football League venue this weekend.
And Birmingham made history.
The Stallions, defending USFL champions and now defending USFL Conference champions, defeated Memphis, 39-21, at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, the former Liberty Bowl.
It kept coach Skip Holtz’s Stallions undefeated, 6-0, on the inaugural UFL season, but it did a lot more than that.
The Stallions are the first this year, and the first ever, to clinch a spot in a conference championship.
The win was built on a 22-point second quarter.
Memphis made the game look a bit closer by scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Birmingham got a 369-yard, four-touchdown passing day from Adrian Martinez, who completed 23-of-36 passes along the way and didn’t throw a pick. Kevin Austin Jr. had four catches for 108 yards and a score, and Marlon Williams had four catches, as well, for two TDs. C.J. Marable had four catches for just 13 yards, but one of them for a touchdown.
Birmingham rolled up 466 total yards, 22 first downs, scored three of their four trips in the red zone and went 4-of-9 on third-down conversions.
But the Stallions’ offense didn’t have all the fun.
The defense had three sacks on Memphis quarterbacks Case Cookus and Troy Williams and recovered two fumbles and intercepted Williams.
Birmingham is back home this Saturday, hosting St. Louis – a UFL Championship preview? – at 4 p.m. Eastern / 3 Central at Protective Stadium on FOX.
In other games this past weekend:
St. Louis Battlehawks 22, Houston Roughnecks 8 (Saturday): Well, speaking of the Battlehawks…
Houston has had its issues this year, as have the Memphis Showboats. But the Roughnecks actually played pretty well in the first half of this game, holding STL quarterback A.J. McCarron and the Battlehawks to 14 points and – in the game – to just 3-of-12 on third downs and 242 total yards (negative 5 rushing yards).
Still, McCarron got his, so to speak: 24-of-37 for 255 yards, three touchdowns and did throw a pick. Hakeem Butler had another big day: six catches for 134 yards and two scores. Steve Mitchell Jr. caught McCarron’s other score, and finished with four catches for 35 yards. Jahcour Pearson had five for 46.
The Battlehawks’ defense held Houston in check: a 19-of-34 for 135-yard day for quarterback Reid Sinnett, no touchdowns, although the ‘Necks did rush for 83 yards and got their only TD on the ground (Mark Thompson, who finished with 45 yards and the score on 13 carries).
Houston is part of an all-Texas battle this Sunday. San Antonio’s Brahmas visit the Roughnecks on Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern / 2 Central at Rice Stadium, on ESPN.
Michigan Panthers 28, Arlington Renegades 27 (Sunday): And things were just more miserable for the Arlington Renegades, after the Panthers’ Jake Bates hit the go-ahead field goal as time expired, a 42-yarder that gave his team the win.
And in this game, there wouldn’t have been a more fitting result, as Bates hit seven – SEVEN – field goals in the game, and his counterpart for the Renegades hit two. Nine total field goals in the game were successfully completed by the kickers.
Bates hit two in the first quarter (55 yards, 43 yards), one as time expired in the half (a 60-yarder!), two more in the third (a 45-yarder midway through, at the 6:34 mark) and one with 4:35 left; then two in the fourth quarter: a 49-yarder with just under eight minutes to play, and then the game-winner.
And just moments before Bates hit his game-winner, the Renegades’ kicker, Jonathan Garibay, hit one from 48 yards out with 54 seconds left that Arlington likely thought was THEIR game-winner.
Passing yardage was about even – Danny Etling of Michigan had 181 yards to Luis Perez’s 180. Neither quarterback threw an interception. Etling threw a touchdown to Siaosi Mariner. The Renegades got a pair of rushing scores from Dae Dae Hunter and J.P. Payton (a receiver) and finished with 111 yards rushing.
Arlington comes home this Saturday to host Memphis, a 1 p.m. Eastern / noon Central kickoff at Choctaw Stadium, and the Panthers play at the D.C. Defenders on Sunday, a noon Eastern / 11 a.m. kick. Both of those games air on ESPN.
D.C. Defenders 18, San Antonio Brahmas 12 (Sunday): D.C. lived up to its name, as defense carried the day against the Brahmas – who didn’t have a great final offensive series, as they tried to either tie the game or get the winning score.
The halftime score was only 6-3, Defenders: San Antonio kicker Ryan Santoso hit a 43-yard field goal to open the scoring and Cam’Ron Harris ran for a 2-yard touchdown for D.C., with the two-point attempt missing.
Defenders kicker Matt McCrane hit a third-quarter field goal from a haul, 54 yards out, to put his team up 9-3, and then San Antonio tied it on a 2-yard pass-and-catch from Dormady to John Lovett.
The anxiety party continued into the fourth quarter, with McCrane putting D.C. back up, 12-9, on a 58-yarder, Santoso tying it on a 40-yarder with 7:27 left, and then the game-winner: a pass from Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu to Kelvin Harmon, a 13-yarder with 5:07 left.
D.C.’s defense was able to smother the Brahmas’ remaining time on the clock.
As mentioned, the Brahmas are at Houston on Sunday, and D.C. hosts Michigan on Sunday at noon Eastern / 11 a.m. Central at Audi Field, on ESPN.
