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.