Category: Alternative Football

The San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL Conference finished with a 4-0 mark against USFL Conference teams in the inaugural season of the United Football League – including an 18-9 victory over the Birmingham Stallions on May 25.

That snapped the two-time defending USFL champions’ 15-game winning streak dating back to 2023, and ultimately helped the XFL contingent win the head-to-head battle with the USFL, 9-7.

So, what does that mean entering Sunday’s rematch between the teams in the UFL Championship Game in St. Louis?

Simply that 2024’s premiere spring football clash will feature the circuit’s two best squads.

San Antonio (8-3) is playing its best football of the year thanks in large part to getting its running back room healthy, while Birmingham (10-1) is one victory away from dynasty status.

The Stallions average 26.5 points and 347.5 yards per game to 19.2 and 296.6 for the Brahmas. Birmingham has tallied 31 touchdowns to 24 for San Antonio and has the league’s top-ranked offense.

On the other side of the ball, the XFL Conference champs have the No. 1 defense, yielding just 15.3 points per game to 18 for the USFL Conference standard bearers.

“We know we have a great challenge with San Antonio,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “Our players are really excited. if they could have picked who we’d play, it’s San Antonio. It’s not only their record, but it’s not very often in sports that when you lose a game, you get a do-over.

“I think they’re really excited about this opportunity. Not only is it a championship game, but it’s against our only blemish. So, I think there’s gonna be a lot of emotion.”

Brahmas boss Wade Phillips said his charges are equally pumped about their shot at glory.

“I’d feel great for the players,” Phillips said. “They work really hard at it and they deserve where they are now, and I think they deserve a championship. But, they have to play for it and win it.

“We beat a team that hadn’t lost a game in two years, and now we just beat a team (St. Louis) that hadn’t lost a home game. So, I believe we’ve been the underdogs almost every game and we like playing that role.”

The Brahmas have been outstanding on defense since Week 1, but now their offense is showing how good it can be.

In last week’s 25-15 win over St. Louis in the XFL Conference title tilt, Anthony McFarland rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown while John Lovett was back in the lineup and ground out 83 yards.

Although he played in just eight regular season games, Lovett was the league’s third-leading rusher with 422 yards and five TDs.

Chase Garbers is once again starting at QB, and threw for 765 yards and six TDs in five regular season appearances.

The team has several talented receivers, led by Jontre Kirklin, who has 56 catches for 614 yards and three paydirt receptions.

“We’ve got to tackle,” Birmingham safety JoJo Tillery said. “Their receivers are great once they get the ball in their hands, and the yards after the catch is going to be big for them. I know McFarland has been doing a lot – he’s a physical runner. Those guys are elusive, so we have to try our best to get them on the ground as soon as you can.”

The Stallions, of course, feature UFL MVP Adrian Martinez at quarterback as well as Matt Corral, who could be considered QB1-A.

Martinez has hit 134 of 229 passes for 1,749 yards, 18 TDs and three interceptions.

He led the UFL in rushing with 528 yards in the regular season.

Corral came on in relief for Martinez in last week’s 31-18 victory over Michigan, and San Antonio defensive coordinator Will Reed said there’s a plan for both.

“There’s two schools of thought,” Reed said. “Martinez got them there, just didn’t have a great game. Matt got them out of it, so OK, we’ll go back with Adrian. There’s also the possibility they’ll play both. And then the other piece is there’s one game left … Matt came in and had the hot hand, maybe that’s who they’ll stick with. We have to prepare for seeing both or either/or.”

Stallions tight end Jace Sternberger has scored four times and caught 25 balls for 454 yards; Deon Cain has 436 receiving yards and three touchdowns; and Marlon Williams has racked up 313 yards and four scores catching the ball.

Ricky Person Jr. (342 yards, six TDs) and C.J. Marable (309 yards, four TDs) give Birmingham a nice 1-2 punch when Martinez or Corral opts to hand the ball off.

Although Holtz is certainly concerned with the San Antonio attack, it’s the defense that really grabs his attention.

“When you look at them as a defense, they have the No. 1 defense in our league, having given up 20 or more points one time,” he said. “When you look at their schedule, they’ve given up 9, 12, 15, 18, 13 … they’ve got a really strong defense, and they do a really nice job. They’re a very talented group.

“They’ve played great ball all year, you know? It’s not an overly complicated scheme. It’s not that they do a million things and blitz from everywhere and create an ungodly amount of pressure with what they do, they just play solid, fundamental football. They’re built on speed.”

Linebacker Kyahva Tezino leads the Stallions in tackles with 70, while tackle Carlos Davis has seven sacks and A.J. Thomas, three interceptions. The team has 29 sacks and eight INTs in all.

Josh Moseley paces the Brahmas with 75 tackles, linebacker Wyatt Ray has recorded 5.5 sacks (they have 32 for the year), and cornerback Teez Tabor has two of his team’s four picks.

The 2024 campaign demonstrated that the former USFL and XFL teams that merged into the UFL formed a balanced league. But after 11 weeks, there is little question which sides stand above the rest.

“I think the two best teams have earned their way into the championship,” Holtz said. “And so, really excited to have the opportunity to play in the championship game, really  excited to have the opportunity to represent the city of Birmingham, but really glad that we have the opportunity to go against a quality team.”

Game time is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday at The Dome at America’s Center. The contest can be seen on FOX.

If you decide to pore over Wade Phillips’ coaching resume, you might want to pack a lunch.

It’s gonna take a while to get through.

Since starting as a graduate assistant at the University of Houston in 1969, Phillips has held 22 different positions. And over the past 45 years, he has made stops at one high school, three colleges and 10 different NFL franchises – including head coaching stints with the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys and interim gigs with the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans.

Considered one of the best defensive coordinators in NFL history, Phillips has served the DC role eight different times with seven different big-league teams.

But the past two years he’s taken his experience to spring football – last year with the XFL Houston Roughnecks and this season as head man with the United Football League’s San Antonio Brahmas.

And while he has a Super Bowl ring as an assistant with the Broncos, he is one win away from walking off the field as a championship-winning head coach for the first time.

The Brahmas (8-3) face the Birmingham Stallions (10-1) on Sunday in the UFL Championship Game in St. Louis, and the team from Alamo City has Phillips’ fingerprints all over it; a smothering defense and blue-collar approach.

With his 77th birthday a week away, he stays in the game because the game is an integral part of his life.

“It’s coaching, you know?” he said. “It’s what I do. I mean, that’s what I’ve done. I’m probably not good at anything else. I like coaching, I like being around the players, I like the strategy of the game and the reward of winning. It’s a neat feeling and a cool feeling for everybody.”

Before joining the Roughnecks in 2023, Phillips’ most recent coaching job was defensive coordinator with the Rams from 2017-19.

But he showed he still knew how to draw up Xs and Os when he came to spring ball, leading the Roughnecks to a 7-4 record and XFL South Division title.

When the XFL and USFL merged to form the UFL, the Roughnecks were effectively disbanded. The nickname and locale remained, but the club was simply the USFL Houston Gamblers rebranded.

Phillips was then moved to the Brahmas, who limped to a 3-7 mark under Hines Ward during the 2023 XFL season.

Predicted to be an also-ran in the new league’s first year, San Antonio has the top-ranked defense in the league, is the only team to defeat Birmingham, and holds a 4-0 mark against the USFL Conference.

So, how different is coaching at this level versus the highest level?

Other than money, Phillips says it’s the same.

“It’s not any different,” Phillips said. “These are grown men and I try to treat them like grown men. But also, you preach character and I think it’s important that you have the right kind of players and right kind of people. So, I just emphasize certain things that I think will help them not just in football, but in life itself.

“But, no, it’s not different. It’s coaching, it’s organization, it’s organized the same way because you’re the head coach and everything comes to you.”

Stallions coach Skip Holtz has long admired Phillips, although he certainly hopes to flip the script on the 18-9 regular season loss his team suffered to San Antonio in Sunday’s rematch.   

“With all the years of him walking up and down the sidelines and watching professional football, the success that he’s had, his character … it’s hard to do it,” Holtz said. “It’s very difficult to be a head football coach. I think it’s even more difficult to be a head football coach with the success that he’s had year in and year out. I think he does a great job. He’s done it with character. He’s a great man … I think he is. I have always been a fan of his.”

And if the Brahmas walk away with the UFL crown, will Phillips walk away from coaching?

Don’t count on it.

“They’ll probably run me off some time,” Phillips said. “But as long as I’m healthy – and that’s a factor at my age, I understand that – but as long as I’m healthy and can contribute, which I think I have, I don’t set a time limit.

“But I get older every day … I know that.”

Since the United Football League is in its first season, there is no “Comeback Player of the Year Award.” But if officials decided to overlook that small detail, San Antonio Brahmas quarterback Chase Garbers would likely be the runaway winner.

Garbers, who’ll guide his team into action against the Birmingham Stallions on Sunday in the UFL Championship Game in St. Louis, suffered an injury to his left wrist on April 14.

It was so severe that the Brahmas announced it was season-ending, thus opening the door for Quinten Dormady to assume the starter’s role.

Dormady did well, but Garbers battled back – playing with a brace on his wrist – and returned to action against the Stallions on May 25.

He helped spearhead an 18-9 victory over the two-time defending United States Football League champions, and has played in every game since, albeit in pain.

His status was in question going into the XFL Conference Championship Game last Sunday, but he went the distance in San Antonio’s 25-15 victory over the St. Louis Battlehawks.

“Chase had a great game,” San Antonio coach Wade Phillips said. “He handled the crowd noise really well. He had pain in that hand that had been broken, but he came out and was determined to do well. I could see it in practice.

“It showed in the game, obviously. I’m sure there was some pain in that left hand, but he really played well.”

While Garbers did have two turnovers – including a fumble that resulted in a scoop-and-score – he also went 15-21-1 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. A potent rushing attack helped the winners amass 410 yards of total offense and beat St. Louis for the first time since the clubs began XFL play in 2023.

A week earlier in the regular season finale, San Antonio fell to St. Louis, 13-12, with Garbers playing sparingly.

“It was a good team win in all three phases,” Garbers said. “It was really complementary in the run and passing game. Our running back room is really, really good. To go there two weeks in a row, face a hostile crowd and beat a  really good team, means a lot.

“Overall, the offense played well. Obviously, there are some things to clean up, but we’re working on that going forward.”

During the regular season Garbers played in five games, going 96-140-2 for 765 yards and six touchdowns. Entering the biggest contest of the year, he insists he “feels fine.”

“Unlike the majority of guys on this team, I had five weeks off of football in the middle of the year, so I had time to relax and get the body right in time for this playoff run,” he said.

While the Brahmas (8-3) have shown they can win regardless of who is taking snaps, Birmingham coach Skip Holtz understands why Garbers will get the call when they face the Stallions (10-1) for the championship.

“I think he is probably one of the most underrated players in this league,” Holtz said. “Not because he’s flashy at what he does, but because he’s just solid at everything, and he does a great job of playing in their system.

“He doesn’t do anything to get them beat, so I think that’s a huge testament to him and to that football team.”