Notes, quotes and more from a full day at Protective Stadium, capped off by Birmingham’s 42-2 blitz of Memphis…
HOW THEY SCORED
Birmingham (2-0) initiated what would become a rout on its first offensive drive, one that culminated in Alex McGough’s 16-yard scoring pass to Davion Davis. McGough was three-for-three on a march that covered 87 yards in 13 plays.
Brandon Aubrey kicked the score to 7-0 at 9:45 of the first quarter.
Birmingham mixed and matched running and passing on their next trip to paydirt, with Zaquandre White scoring a 2-yard TD on his first carry as a Stallion at 1:53 of the first.
That culminated an 11 play, 81-yard drive, and Aubrey’s PAT made it 14-0.
Memphis (0-2) had a chance to get on the board 2:17 before halftime when Alex Kessman came on to try a 48-yard field goal, but the attempt sailed wide right.
The Stallions responded by quickly working their way into Showboats territory and ending a five play, 63-yard junket with a 25-yard scoring toss from McGough to Jace Sternberger at 1:34 of the second stanza.
The PAT made it 21-0.
With time running down in the half Todd Haley’s team got as deep as the Birmingham 30, but a pass to the end zone was picked off by T.J. Carter, and after 30 minutes the 21-0 score stood.
Birmingham removed all doubt about this one at 9:38 of the third quarter when White broke loose on a second, third and fourth effort TD scamper covering 35 yards. Aubrey’s PAT made it 28-0.
The march covered 77 yards and eight plays, and was kept alive by an illegal participation penalty on Memphis when the Stallions were set to punt.
Skip Holtz’s charges added insult to injury at 3:48 of the third frame when McGough found Thaddeus Moss on a 7-yard touchdown connection to end a six play, 47-yard drive.
Aubrey made it five-for-five on extra points, and the Stallions were way out front, 35-0.
The Showboats’ defense got the first score of the night for the visitors with just 51 seconds remaining in the third, sacking McGough in the end zone to cut the deficit to 35-2.
Memphis’ offense had a chance to return the favor following the kickoff, advancing all the way to the home team’s five. But the Birmingham defense held for four downs, and the tally remained 35-2.
The Stallions added an exclamation point 1:57 from the finish when McGough threw his fourth touchdown pass of the night, this one a 2-yard toss to Myron Mitchell. Aubrey made the PAT, and the 15 play, 95-yard mega-march closed this one out at 42-2.
STANDOUT STATS
McGough was simply magnificent in a wire-to-wire performance, going 21-28-0 passing for 301 yards and four touchdowns.
“I’m just trying to get the ball (in the receivers’ hands) as fast as I can and just follow my reads,” he said. And the (offensive line was amazing) All the sacks and the safety were my fault … the sacks were me holding the ball too long.”
White and CJ Marable proved to be quite the rushing combo, combining for 140 yards (White had 72 plus two touchdowns).
And Sternberger stepped up in a big way, hauling in five catches for 127 yards and a TD.
“I heard all week about who we didn’t have, who we lost,” Holtz said. “Starting quarterback, starting tailback, starting wide receiver … but let’s talk about what we do have. We have a quarterback (McGough) whose played a lot of football and has an awful lot of talent. He was the first pick of this football team. He was the first Birmingham Stallion.
“And we have a young running back who I think the world of (White) who nobody’s seen yet because he’d been sitting in third place. We’ve got talent on this team, everybody’s been working and it was a matter of how we’d perform under the lights, and I was impressed with what I saw tonight.”
The entire Birmingham defensive unit shared the glory, limiting the Showboats to 202 yards of total offense.
Memphis QB Brady White was 15-25-1 through the air for just 141 yards.
“Defensively, I thought we played an outstanding football game,” Holtz said. “They played awesome … swarming, flying around. We lost a lot of guys on offense but everybody’s still here on defense. We had two guys out, but everybody else was back, and they stepped up.”
The 40-point margin of victory is the largest since the league began play in 2022.
POINTS APLENTY
The New Orleans Breakers (2-0) and Houston Gamblers (0-2) started things off Saturday USFL action with an early showdown at Protective Stadium, and it was one of the more entertaining games in the league’s young history.
The Breakers won, 38-31, in a contest that saw the teams combine for 667 total yards.
For the second week in a row McLeod Bethel-Thompson shined behind center, throwing for 251 yards and two TDs. But it was a breakout performance from running back Wes Hills, who finished with 110 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, that stole the show.
Hills seemed surprised when Breakers boss John DeFilippo told him he had hit triple digits.
“I got over 100 yards … 110? All right,” he said. “The O-line did a really good job. They opened up everything for me, otherwise I obviously wouldn’t have gotten 110 yards, so big shout out to them.”
DeFilippo then said the actual rushing total for his RB was 113 yards.
“Cool!” Hills said. “I’ll take that.”
The New Orleans team is spending its second season in the Birmingham hub, and it already feels like “home” for DeFilippo, who is in his first season at the helm.
“We’ve talked about how important it is to win at home, and win your divisional games at home, and that was a good football team we played today,” he said. “It was a great team effort. We made plays of defense when we needed to.”
REFS MOVE UP
The USFL isn’t just a league designed to help players get a shot at the NFL. It has – and continues to be – a springboard for officials.
On Thursday it was announced that nine USFL game day officials have been selected to be part of work crews during the 2023 NFL season.
James Carter (referee), Scott Campbell (umpire), Walter Flowers (line judge), Brett Bergman (line judge), Jason Ledet (field judge), Frank Steratore (side judge), Martin Hankins (back judge), Tyree Walton (back judge) and Brian Sakowski (down judge) earned the promotions after being part of the NFL Officiating Development Program.
“Nine of 12 new NFL officials coming from the USFL shows that our leagues share the same exacting standards of officiating,” USFL Head of Officiating Mike Pereira said in a statement. “We’re proud that in just two years, the NFL has selected 17 of its 22 new officials from the USFL. It demonstrates that our close relationship benefits everyone, especially for football fans.”
Incidentally, former NFL official Ronnie Baynes, the USFL Game Supervisor, has strong Alabama ties. A member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, Baynes is a Talladega native who was a three-year starter on the Auburn University football team and two-year starter for the Tigers’ baseball squad.
NEXT UP
The battle of the Birmingham hub takes place next Saturday when Birmingham and New Orleans meet at Protective with an 11:30 a.m. CDT start. The game will be televised on USA and Peacock.