Author: Scott Adamson

The undercard is done.

Up next is the main event.

Birmingham defeated Michigan, 20-19, at Protective Stadium on Saturday, officially winning the USFL Conference of the United Football League’s inaugural season.

Panthers’ kicker Jake Bates – he of 64-yard field goal fame – pushed a 53-yard effort wide right on the game’s final play, meaning Skip Holtz’s team dodged what would’ve been their first-ever losing streak.

That miss followed a 12-play, 54-yard march by the Stallions that ended with Adrian Martinez hitting Jace Sternberger on a 5-yard TD toss with 59 seconds remaining.

Martinez’s 1-point conversion pass to Marcus Baugh gave the hosts the lead; they trailed 16-6 at halftime.

Birmingham (9-1, 6-0) improves to 4-0 against Michigan (7-3, 4-2) in modern-era spring football, taking both 2024 regular season matchups.

Yet for the winners, there’s no time to celebrate and for the losers, no need to mourn. Once the teams fly back to Arlington, Texas, to the UFL hub, memories of this one will quickly fade.

Their rematch next Saturday here is the one that determines which team plays for the UFL Championship and which one packs it in for the year.

“We do it again next week, and it’ll be it’ll be another good one,” Holtz said. “I mean, these two teams have done that twice. First time was a 20-13 game with them having the ball in the fourth quarter and our defense got a stop, and the same thing happened in this one.

“I’m really proud of our team and how they competed. We certainly didn’t execute very well today as an offense. I thought our defense made some great adjustments in the second half, holding them to three points. But offensively, it was a lot like last week (and 18-9 loss to San Antonio) and we’ve really got to take a hard look at just being consistent with what we do.”

Martinez went the distance and was sacked five times, but came up big when he had to. He was 14-28-0 passing for 163 yards and a TD, and still managed to scramble for 41 additional yards.

Holtz said the team needs to figure out a way to get Sternberger the ball more.

The tight end had just two catches, but they were crucial.

“That’s the beauty of this league … it’s all about opportunity,” Sternberger said. “So, it’s a pride thing. You do want to win and you want to be dominant, but the tape doesn’t lie and what you put out on tape is your resume. And so that’s what I told the guys in the huddle. I said I don’t care if we were playing a Birmingham high school, it’s gonna be televised and it’s a resume day, and every week we have the 1-0 mentality.”

C.J. Marable sparked Birmingham’s ground attack with 56 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries.

Defensively, Damon Lloyd had seven solo tackles and nine overall for the victors.

Michigan outgained Birmingham, 324-223, and came tantalizingly close to winning despite  missing several players due to injury.

Danny Etling was solid behind center, with a stat line of 16-31-0 for 195 yards and a TD through the air, and 36 rushing yards.

After getting just 47 ground yards in their first meeting with the Stallions, the Panthers netted 135 on Saturday.

Siaosi Mariner had seven receptions for 110 yards.

Javin White was a monster for Michigan’s “D,” registering two sacks, six individual tackles and two tackles for loss.

Former UAB standout Garrett Marino, Bryce Torneden and Breeland Speaks joined the sack party as well.

“We played good defense and had some big plays and sacks in the ballgame, which were nice especially on a quarterback like Martinez,” Panthers coach Mike Nolan said. “He’s likely to be Player of the Year for the league. So, there were some good things to come from the game that hopefully we can build on for next week.

“We come right back, obviously, and play them again, and we’re excited for the opportunity.”

Scoring plays: Birmingham, C.J. Marable, 1-yard run, 10:46 first quarter, 2-point conversion failed, Stallions 6, Panthers 0; Michigan, Jake Bates, 39-yard field goal, time 7:03 first quarter, Stallions 6, Panthers 3; Michigan, Danny Etling, 23-yard run, 13:40 second quarter, 1-point conversion run by Toa Taua, Panthers 10, Stallions 6; Michigan, Siaosi Mariner, 46-yard reception from Etling, 6:21 second quarter, 1-point conversion failed, Panthers 16, Stallions 6; Birmingham, C.J. Marable, 20-yard run, 11:56 third quarter, 1-point conversion run by Adrain Martinez, Panthers 16, Stallions 13; Michigan, Bates, 44-yard field goal, 13:49 fourth quarter, Panthers 19, Stallions 13; Birmingham, Jace Sternberger, 5-yard reception from Martinez, :59 fourth quarter, 1-point conversion reception by Marcus Baugh from Martinez, Stallions 20, Panthers 19.

Standout stat: 5. The number of times Birmingham QB Adrian Martinez was sacked.

Next up: The Stallions play the Panthers again next Saturday at Protective Stadium, this time with a trip to the UFL Championship Game on the line. The game is set for 2 p.m. CDT and will be televised on ABC.

Not done yet: News of Scooby Wright’s retirement has been greatly exaggerated.

After suffering a neck injury that ended his 2024 season, the Birmingham Stallions linebacker was placed on IR and implied he was retiring when he tweeted out a photo of his cleats hanging on the crossbar of a goal post.

“I was just upset in the moment, because that’s when I found out I was going to be going home,” Wright said on Saturday. “It is what it is … just some frustration.”

Wright says previous injuries compounded the latest one, and how well it heals will determine if he can make it back on the field in 2025.

“I’ve been playing football since I was 21, and now I’m 29,” he said. “It’s kind of like I have a black belt in football. It’s hard to be away and I want to stay involved.”

If his days on the gridiron are over, though, he already has options moving forward.

“Back in 2021 I went through the Fire Academy and got my firefighter certification,” he said. “All my certifications are in California, so I would do that there. I’ve also done some TV work back in Arizona working on the sidelines.”

He adds that Birmingham will always be a special place to him, regardless.

“I loved being in Birmingham … I personally hated being in Arlington,” he said. “It just didn’t feel the same because I loved being around the community here and being involved in it. If I can come back and play for Birmingham next year, I hope the team will be back here instead of Arlington.”

Attendance: Officially, it was listed as 7,133, but that must have reflected tickets sold because there were no more than 4,000 people in the stands.

OTD in 1974: The Birmingham Americans of the World Football League signed Jim Mitchell, the starting tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, to a multi-year contract set to begin in 1975. Mitchell led the Falcons in receiving in 1973 with 32 catches for 420 yards.

OTD in 1991: The Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football fell to the Barcelona Dragons, 10-3, in the WLAF playoffs. A crowd of 37,590 showed up at Legion Field for the clash, which saw the hosts get their only points off Win Lyle’s 28-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

Birmingham finished the season with a 5-6 record.

So, what’s to make of Saturday’s Week 10 clash between the Birmingham Stallions (8-1, 5-0) and Michigan Panthers (7-2, 4-1) at Protective Stadium?

The object of the game is to win, of course, but the win that matters most comes on June 8. That’s when they play again – at the same venue – with the USFL Conference Championship and a trip to the United Football League’s title showdown in St. Louis on the line.

Do you rest starters?

Do you shut down your offense?

Do you treat the game like an exhibition, even though the best way for UFL players to get a shot at the NFL is to never take a day off?

If you listen to Michigan coach Mike Nolan, there’s plenty to play for this Saturday as well as the next. As for who’ll play, however, well … who knows?

All teams are dealing with injuries, but the Panthers have been inundated with them.

“Hopefully we get some (injured players) back, but I kind of wonder … do I want them back now, or do I want to wait till next week to get them back?” Nolan said. “Things like that are the kind of the decisions we’re in the process of making. Naturally, this game is important to us for a lot of personal reasons, I would say as much as anything because obviously you want to win the division.

“We all know that whether we win it or not, we’re still going back to Birmingham. So, a little bit of that plays into it.”

The Stallions clinch the division with a victory, or a loss by 21 points or fewer.

While the Panthers are coming off their fifth straight victory, the Stallions are trying to rebound from their first UFL loss – an 18-9 setback to the San Antonio Brahmas last Saturday. It snapped a 15-game winning streak dating back to the 2023 USFL season and was also the first time Skip Holtz’s team has been held to single digits in its nearly three season history.

Holtz said his charges are angry about the defeat, and have no intention of going through the motions in Saturday’s first leg of the Michigan series.

To get back on track, though, they have to fix some things.

“San Antonio has got a really good defense and did a really nice job, but I think we had three drops in the first quarter,” he said. “We ended up with four on the day. We just did not execute very cleanly, which was one of the frustrations that I had. It was just very hard to get momentum going … we weren’t very consistent as an offensive football team.

“But probably one of my biggest frustrations that came out of this game was the personal fouls. We ended up with four of them.”

Birmingham and Michigan met in Week 2 at Ford Field in Detroit with the Stallions taking a 20-13 victory. The winners rolled up 161 rushing yards in the that game, but since then the Panthers have become one of the best teams in the league at stopping the run.

If you look at that game for clues about this one, you won’t find many.

“They’ve changed quite a bit,” Holtz said. “They’ve changed philosophies. Offensively, they’ve become much more open. They started running their quarterback much more after our game. They had an injury to their starter, their backup went in last week, and he’s very athletic. They started running him a lot more, doing the zone read … they’ve gone away from a traditional professional offense.”

Since E.J. Perry went down for the season with injury, Bryce Perkins has stepped up for Michigan. In last week’s come-from-behind, 26-22 victory over Houston, the former University of Virginia record-setter went 12-15-1 for 121 yards and a touchdown.

Backup Danny Etling was 12-18-1 for 110 more yards.

“I think a lot of credit obviously goes to Bryce and his work ethic,” Nolan said. “He’s continued to work hard and he’s an exciting player to watch. He can extend plays, which is always important in our league and any league, for that matter, with the quarterback position, especially when the play breaks down.”

Birmingham has been led by Adrian Martinez, who is the league’s leading MVP candidate. He continues to top the UFL in rushing yards (487) and is third in passing, with a stat line that shows 120-201-3 for 1,586 yards and 14 TDs.

But before he won the starting job, he split time with Matt Corral, and it would hardly be surprising if the former Ole Miss star sees plenty of playing time on Saturday.

Running back Larry Roundtree III, tackle Armani Taylor-Prioleau, linebacker Elijah Sullivan, cornerback Mark Gilbert and kicker Chris Blewitt have been activated by the Stallions, while linebacker DeMarquis Gates, running back Ricky Person Jr., defensive back Nevelle Clarke and offensive lineman O’Shea Dugas have been placed on the inactive roster.

Ramiz Ahmed, who filled in for Blewitt during his absence, was waived on Tuesday.

Birmingham leads the league in total yards (3,252) and rushing yards (1,244), while Michigan is No. 1 in rushing TDs at 18.

Defensively, the Stallions and Panthers are 1-2 against the run and near the middle of the pack defending the pass.

On paper, it looks to be a fairly even match, but a mysterious one in that who plays and for how long is anyone’s guess.

Regardless of the lineups, Holtz – and Nolan – want their teams to come out of the fracas as healthy as possible.

“I think one of the things I probably didn’t take into account is the wear and tear that travel takes on your football team in this league,” Holtz said. “Something that I have never done before is where you’re on the road for nine straight weeks (traveling from the Arlington, Texas, hub). As the year’s gone on, I’ve kind of gone to just shoulder pads on Tuesday and shorts on Wednesday. But this week, we took them out of pads completely. We’ve got to coach little things in the details at this point.”

Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN and listened to on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM.

Linebackers are sometimes called “quarterbacks of the defense,” and Birmingham Stallions hitman Kyahva Tezino has certainly been a vocal leader in that role.

It’s no surprise, then, that he harbors dreams of calling plays on both sides of the ball – once his playing career is over.

“If you’re a player wherever you go, you try to take a little from each coach and see what you can put in your coaching style one day,” Tezino said on Wednesday. “I think whenever it’s my time to coach, I’ll use what I’ve learned from (Birmingham head coach Skip Holtz) all the way to my Pop Warner coach and take it forward.”

At age 26, the United Football League standout has plenty of time to plan for his next vocation.

Right now, though, Tezino’s mind is focused on stopping the Michigan Panthers.

Not only do the Stallions (8-1) play the Panthers (7-2) in a Week 10 matchup, they’ll face them again a week later in the USFL Conference Championship Game.

Both contests will be played at Protective Stadium.

Birmingham won a Week 2 matchup with the Panthers, 20-13, at Ford Field in Detroit.

Tezino had five tackles and an assist in that contest, one that saw the winners limit Michigan to just 205 yards of total offense.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” he said. “But it can be done. Last year I was with the (Pittsburgh) Maulers and we beat Michigan three times, so it just comes down to the kind of want you have. You’ve got to know the situation. Somebody might say this is a ‘waste week’ or a game where we see what they do for next week, but I think we know what we’re playing for, and that’ll help us for this week.”

Through nine games with Birmingham, Tezino leads the team with 65 tackles (37 assisted), and also has a half sack as well as four pass break-ups. Among all UFL defenders, he ranks fourth in number of tackles.

As a senior at San Diego State University, Tezino was an Honorable Mention All-American as well as First Team All-Mountain West Selection. In five seasons as an Aztec, he made 148 solo tackles, assisted on 140 more, had 14.5 sacks and also picked off a pair of passes.

His single-game best was a 17-tackle showing against Army in 2017.

The 6-0, 235-pounder was taken by Pittsburgh in the 31st round of the 2022 United States Football League Draft.

During the 2023 season with the Maulers, he had 94 tackles (54 solo) and two interceptions. Stallions fans might recall he led Pittsburgh with 11 tackles in a 28-12 loss to Birmingham in the USFL Championship Game.

A year earlier in the Maulers’ debut campaign, he registered 55 individual takedowns and 70 in all.

Tezino was signed by the San Francisco 49ers last year before being waived in August, and originally entered the NFL after signing with the New England Patriots as an undrafted rookie free agent on April 27, 2020. Following his release three months later, he inked a deal with the Carolina Panthers as a practice squad player but was let go on August 16, 2020.

With designs on getting back to the NFL – something he hopes to do before transitioning to coaching – that means there are no off days. Week 11 has much higher stakes than Week 10, but Tezino has no plans to take it easy in the first of a two-game set.

“With a 10-week regular season you don’t have a bye week, so if you make the championship, you play 12 games straight games,” Tezino said. “But everybody knows that, and everybody is trying to get to the NFL, so you just have to take your soreness with a grain of salt.”

Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN and listened to on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM.