ARLINGTON – If past performances are any indication, if you didn’t have the two-time USFL champion Birmingham Stallions as your preseason favorite in the first-ever season of the United Football League, maybe you should honestly reconsider.
Former Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral guided the Stallions to a rather convincing 27-14 victory against the Arlington Renegades in the 2024 UFL opener at Choctaw Stadium on Saturday before a crowd including not only Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the league’s ownership partners, but Pro Football Hall of Fame luminaries Troy Aikman and Deion Sanders.
Yes, the UFL kicked off its inaugural 10-week regular season of spring football on Easter weekend in hopes of bucking history when the idea of spring football has failed numerous times over the last 20 years.
Corral completed 12-of-21 passes for 201 yards and a touchdown, along with an interception. His scoring strike covered 39 yards to Deon Cain and proved to be the tying touchdown, after the two-point conversion completion to Ricky Person Jr. knotted the score at 11-all with just three seconds remaining in the first half of play.
Cain, who played collegiately at Clemson, led the Birmingham receiving corps with three catches for 66 yards and also totaled 91 yards on four kickoff returns, giving him a day’s work of 157 all-purpose yards against the Renegades.
Perez, Corral’s opposite as quarterback of the Renegades, was 19-of-28 for 214 yards with a touchdown and an interception also. He was sacked twice for minus 11 yards.
Arlington’s Taylor Russolino’s 38-yard field goal with 3:08 left in the opening quarter gave the Renegades a 3-0 lead after a 10-play, 45-yard drive following a Darren Evans pick of Corral at the Renegades 41-yard line.
Birmingham was quick to answer, though, with a 27-yard field goal of its own by Chris Blewitt knotting the score at three with 12:30 remaining in the second quarter.
The Renegades took the lead for the second and final time when Perez, who guided A&M-Commerce to the NCAA Division III title in 2017, hooked up with Isaiah Winstead on a 51-yard scoring strike and then hit the former East Carolina wide receiver again on a two-point conversion from the five-yard line to give Arlington an 11-3 lead with 9:01 remaining in the first half.
After Corral and Cain worked their magic to tie the score at halftime, the Stallions added on with a two-yard rushing touchdown by Person to cap a five-play, 45-yard scoring march in just 1:53 to give the visitors’ a 19-11 edge with 4:59 left in the third period, following a conversion completion to Gary Jennings.
Arlington answered with an eight-play, 29-yard drive, which stalled, bringing in kicker Russolino for his second field goal of the game, this one 45-yards, to trim the deficit to 19-14 at the end of the third quarter.
The Stallions wrapped up the scoring with a seven-yard C.J. Marable run, completing a seven-play, 50-yard drive in 3:35 and it came with 11:25 left to play. The conversion completion was from Corral to Amari Rodgers, another former Clemson star.
Marable led all rushers with 67 yards on 18 carries. The Stallions outrushed the Renegades 183 yards to 61.
The Stallions held a 409 to 262 yards edge in total yardage.
Birmingham also held a slight time of possession advantage (32:55 to 27:05), and converted 8-of-12 third down attempts compared to the Renegades 6-of-11.
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See more coverage of the United Football League on Sunday here on THE FOOTBALL BEAT, including editor / publisher Mitch Lucas’s “What’s Causing All This?” column.
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