Category: Alternative Football

In J’Mar Smith and Alex McGough, the Birmingham Stallions had formidable co-pilots in their drive to another United States Football League title.

When the defending champions take the field against Memphis on Saturday, McGough will have the keys – and the map – all to himself.

It was announced on Wednesday that Smith was gone for the season after suffering an injury to his left ring finger in Birmingham’s 27-10 victory over New Jersey in the season opener.

“He came to me during the game and told me he had injured his hand,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “It wasn’t his throwing hand and he said, ‘If you need me to go back in, I can go back. I might have a hard time under the center, but I can do it.’

“We kind of buddy taped it, but Alex did a really good job and we didn’t feel like it was worth it (to put Smith back in), so we finished the game with Alex.”

Smith was 10-15-1 passing for 160 yards and a touchdown pass – one that came on Birmingham’s first offensive play – when he was forced to exit.

McGough’s first pass was also a TD, and he finished with 68 yards through the air and 55 more on the ground with a rushing TD.

Immediately after the game, however, no one knew the team’s quarterback room would be missing a key component.

“I found out Sunday,” Holtz said. “They did an MRI and everything and saw it was a tendon, and tendons are not quick-healing things.”

McGough and Smith are friends, which made hearing the news tough for both.

“Yeah, it was hard for me,” McGough said. “He’s been at practice both days and we’re friends. It’s hard for him, and I know it is. And I’m just here for him. He knows I’m here. We’re all here for him. Everybody is, and he’ll be able to bounce back quick.”

Later on Thursday Smith tweeted: “I love you all! Successful surgery, road to a fully functioning hand! 1-0 Mentality GIDDY UP!”

McGough was the first quarterback taken by the Stallions last season, one of eight flagship QBs that launched the new league. He got the game one start but rolled his ankle, opening the door for Smith to get his shot.

By season’s end, Smith had thrown for 1,572 yards and 10 touchdowns to McGough’s 460 yards and three touchdowns.

McGough rushed for 135 yards and scored three times, and the two tag-teamed a Stallions victory over Philadelphia in the inaugural USFL Championship Game when Smith exited with cramps.

“I mean, (running) … it’s part of my game,” McGough said. “I know it makes the coaches nervous. I wish I could not do it. You know, I wish I could sit back there and throw the ball. But I think when the opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to make plays and just try to do what’s best and not get hurt.”

Holtz said he’s asked McGough not to run, but isn’t convinced he’ll listen.

“He plays the game with passion and emotion, and that’s what I love about him and that’s what makes him such a good player,” Holtz said. “But he’s probably a little bit hard to control sometimes because when he goes out there, he’s an instinctual player who is very athletic, and he’s gonna pull the ball down and run some with it.”

With Smith out, Jalen Morton moves up to the No. 2 spot on the depth chart. The 25-year-old has been on a pair of NFL offseason rosters and played with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 2021 to 2022.

“That guy’s got a rocket arm,” McGough said. “He’s got a lot of athletic ability … pretty similar to me. And so far in practices, he’s doing great. Hopefully he doesn’t have to go in but if he does, he’s ready.”

QB Kyle Sloter, a first-round selection of the New Orleans Breakers in 2022 who last played for the XFL’s Arlington Renegades, was signed Thursday night.

As for being the man expected to take every Birmingham snap from center on Saturday when the Showboats come in for a 6 p.m. kickoff, McGough says he’s ready, too.

“It just means that I have to step up,” he said. “I have to be the guy now.”

Coming Friday: Stallions deal with injuries, brace for Memphis.

Football is a game, of course, but to hear McLeod Bethel-Thompson tell it, it’s also an art form.

And the erudite quarterback of the New Orleans Breakers has painted on many different canvases.

“It’s very different football, really, having played all three from arena ball to the CFL to NFL football, or American football,” said Bethel-Thompson, who has experience in the National Football League, Arena Football League, United Football League and most recently the Canadian Football League. “You can see the different sides of the game, because the game is coming from different aspects.”

The NFL represents classicism, followed by the CFL, which has been an abstract genre unto itself since 1958 (with roots that date back more than a century).

The two-year old United States Football League and the XFL, which wraps up the first regular season of its third incarnation this weekend, make up what I’ll call the avant-garde.

While salaries vary dramatically, the common thread among the gridiron art forms is that their players play for pay.

But the rules?

Depending on where you hang your helmet, there are some significant differences that create their own special flair.

The NFL has an extra point and two-point conversion.

The USFL has a standard PAT kick, two-point conversion and three-point conversion.

The XFL also has tiered conversions worth one, two and three points, but all must be attempted via run or pass – there are no kicks.

In football’s biggest league, the ball is placed down at the 35-yard line for kickoffs with a standard onside kick option.

The USFL has kickoffs from the 20-yard line and no player can line up more than a yard back from the kicker; XFL kickoffs place the kicker at his own 30 while the rest of the kicking team lines up at the receiving team’s 35 and the return team at its own 30.

The USFL has an onside scrimmage option, which is a fourth-and-12 play from the offensive team’s 33, while the XFL features regular onside kicks plus a fourth-and-15 scrimmage play option from the 25, but that can be used in the fourth quarter only.

The Triple A leagues have added several other tweaks, such as “shootout” format to settle overtime games and double forward passes – all designed to add a little excitement to games and all that are, to me, quirky and fun.

But while those innovations require some adjustment, they pale in comparison to switching from Canadian to American rules (and vice versa). It’s like transitioning from impressionism to realism.

Bethel-Thompson is fresh off a 302-yard, one touchdown performance in the Breakers’ 22-15 victory over the Pittsburgh Maulers on Sunday.

Before coming to the USFL, however, he spent the past seven seasons in the CFL, helping the Toronto Argonauts win two Grey Cups and throwing for 4,731 yards and 23 touchdowns in Toronto’s 2022 championship season.

The CFL gives offenses only three downs to make 10 yards; there are 12 players to a side; the field is 110 yards long and 65 yards wide; the end zones are 20 yards deep; offensive and defensive teams must line up one yard apart on scrimmage plays; and teams can score a single point when the return team fails to advance the ball out of the end zone (even on a missed field goal).

Following a preseason scrimmage at Legion Field, Bethel-Thompson discussed some of the changes he had to make to his game after leaving Canada.

“So, the three-down game is a totally different ballgame, designed for bigger fields,” he said. “And the first thing I noticed walking out here, obviously, was the size of the field. This field is tiny compared to what I was used to. And the end zones are different and you go from three downs to four downs, so among other things your timing is different. You have to time up your feet with your eyes.”

Before talking with Bethel-Thompson I already had a defensive player’s perspective – in reverse.

Bryant Turner Jr., a former CFL All-Star who spent most of his career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, was a defensive lineman by trade. The former UAB Blazer had played by American rules his entire life until heading north of the border.

“The biggest change for me is the yard off the ball,” Turner told me a while back during an episode of the From the 55 Yard Line podcast hosted by Greg Smith. “As a defensive lineman in the CFL you have to be a yard off the ball at the snap but honestly, I think that actually worked out better for me. I came in as a defensive end but was quickly moved to defensive tackle because of my speed.

“The yard off the ball allowed me to use my quickness. I could set up different plays to help me take advantage of that.”

Playing by three-down rules was something of a double-edged sword.

“The three downs versus four can be a good thing because basically you can be out there and then back on the bench in two plays,” Turner said. “Of course, the bad thing is if your offense is out there for just two plays then you’re right back on the field. Honestly, you can get tired running on and off the field.”

And the difference in size of the field?

Yeah, that’s a biggie.

“It might not sound like much until you’re running full speed, then that 65-yards wide feels like 80-yards wide when you’re a defensive lineman trying to run down a screen,” Turner said. “The rules are made for the offense to score, so as a defensive player who has to run to the ball, you always have to be running.”

As for Bethel-Thompson who – at age 34 – hopes to make it back to the NFL, football is an artistic endeavor regardless of the style.

“It’s like learning how to ride a bike a little bit, because I did play American football first so that’s what I first knew,” he said. “But playing the different kinds, and having played all three, it really shows how beautiful the game of football is and how bodies and minds work together to kind of orchestrate this piece of art on a different tapestry.

“So, based on my experience, this is a medium-sized tapestry.”

Notes, quotes and random thoughts from Birmingham’s 27-10 win over New Jersey … and other USFL stuff, too.

HOW THEY SCORED

Birmingham struck paydirt on its first play from scrimmage following a fumble. J’Mar Smith dropped back to pass at his own 39 and hit UAB product Austin Watkins on a 61-yard TD play, one that saw Watkins stretch for the catch at the 5-yard line and roll into the end zone following a fingertip grab.

Brandon Aubrey’s kick made it 7-0.

Generals’ backup QB Dakota Prukop put his team on the board next in the second quarter with a 2-yard run over left guard, and Nick Sciba toed the PAT to tie things up at 7-all. It capped off a nine-play drive that covered 61 yards.

Birmingham regained the lead on the ensuing march when Aubrey nailed a 23-yard field goal after a Stallions’ drive stalled, making it 10-7.

A goal line stand forced a turnover on downs and prevented the Generals from moving ahead before halftime, allowing Birmingham to take over at its own one with 3:20 left before intermission.

However, D.J. Daniel picked off a Smith pass at the Stallions 14, and the visitors were back in business, but only briefly.

The Birmingham defense tightened, and held Jersey to a 25-yard field goal that put things even again at 10-10.

The Stallions only had 1:21 to run their two-minute drill, but that’s all they needed as Alex McGough stepped in and fired a six-yard scoring toss to Jace Sternberger on his first throw of the night with just :04 left on the second quarter clock.

The kick was good, and the Protective Stadium tenants were ahead 17-10 at halftime.

McGough was at it again in the third quarter, this time with his legs.

Engineering a two play, 40-yard mini-drive, the signal caller finished things off with a hard-charging, tackle-breaking 29-yard TD run.

The kick made it 24-10, and the Generals were on the ropes.

Birmingham added insurance with just 6:49 left on the game clock with a 49-yard field goal, upping the ante to 27-10 and sending some fans heading for the exits.

ORIGINAL STALLIONS HONORED

Those of us who followed the first iteration of Birmingham Stallions got a blast from the past Saturday when four of their former players were honored before the game. Receiver Joey Jones, offensive guard Buddy Aydelette, defensive lineman Jackie Cline and linebacker Herb Spencer were reintroduced to Birmingham football fans, along with team president Jerry Sklar.

Aydelette was a USFL all-star during all three of the Stallions’ seasons (1983-85).

INJURY WOES

Smith injured his finger – which paved the way for McGough’s appearance –  and there were several other Stallions worse for wear when the game ended, including linebacker Scooby Wright. The most serious injury was to receiver Marlon Williams, who suffered a torn Achilles.

“We’ve got more depth on this team this year than last, and we’re gonna need it,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “I grabbed (general manger) Zach Potter and said, ‘We’ve got to talk.’ We may be on the free agent hunt to find some guys to fill the roster so we have enough guys to practice at the level we want to practice.”

ALL FOR ONE

McGough and Smith are both competitors, but they’re also friends who cheer each other on. McGough said that’s the way it’s been the whole time they’ve been teammates.

“We both know that if he’s in there, he’s gonna do good and if I’m in there, I’m gonna do good,” McGough said. “There’s no competition in that sense. There’s love and respect, and you see it down on the field. J’Mar hurt his hand and coach told me to be ready and I was ready.”

McGough was 7-11-0 passing for 68 yards and a TD, and ran for 51 yards and a score to lead Birmingham’s ground game.

Smith finished 10-15-1 for 160 yards and a touchdown.

TODAY IN HISTORY

The original Stallions played the Michigan Panthers on April 15, 1984, at the Pontiac Silverdome before 42,655 fans. Birmingham won, 28-17, to improve to 7-1 in their second USFL season. Stallions quarterback Cliff Stoudt – in his first year with the club after playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and backing up Terry Bradshaw for seven years – threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another.

That was also the same day the New York Times proved to be harbingers of the league’s ultimate doom. The paper reported that – based on conversations with two “prominent USFL executives” – the league would play spring seasons in 1985 and 1986 and move to a fall schedule for 1987.

Commissioner Chet Simmons told the Times a possible shift to fall had been discussed at length.

“But this is a league of very prudent businessmen, who will look at all reasonable opportunities that may be made available to us,” Simmons said.

Yeah, about that …

TODAY IN HISTORY: PART 2

The Birmingham Fire played the London Monarchs on April 15, 1991, losing 27-0 before 18,512 fans at Legion Field in a World League of American Football game. The Fire were outgained 404 yards to 112, dropping to 1-3 on the season.

DÉJÀ VU

The Memphis Showboats made their United States Football League debut Saturday at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, dropping a 27-23 decision to the Philadelphia Stars in a contest that kicked off the circuit’s 2023 campaign. Case Cookus led the winners with 212 yards and three touchdowns on 20 of 29 passing.

The original Showboats also played their first USFL game against another version of the Stars back in 1984, falling to Philly, 17-9, in front of 28,898 fans at what was then known as the Liberty Bowl.

While the franchise 39 years ago was a pure expansion team – the USFL grew from 12 to 18 teams in its second season – the modern Showboats are a rebrand of the 2022 Tampa Bay Bandits.

ATTENDANCE

The USFL doesn’t release attendance figures, and I’m terrible at making guesses, but the Protective Stadium crowd seemed to be around 18,000.

Holtz appreciates every one of them.

“The crowd was great and hopefully we can continue to build on it,” he said. “I told the team at the end of the game I want them to get to the locker room so I can talk to them, but it’s hard for me to pull my players away from the fan base. They’re all on the wall signing autographs and pictures. We’re so appreciative of the way the people support us, chanting for the defense … the crowd was awesome. I’d love to see it just continue to build.

“It’s professional football in Alabama. Come support it.”