In the modern United States Football League, the Birmingham Stallions had a perfect record against the Michigan Panthers, beating them 33-17 in 2022 and 27-13 last year.
You can forget all about that now.
The Week 2 United Football League matchup between the clubs on Sunday at Ford Field is something of a reset for both, who enter the contest coming off season-opening victories.
Birmingham downed the Arlington Renegades, 27-14, on UFL launch weekend while Michigan nipped the St. Louis Battlehawks, 18-16.
“I don’t think we can look at last year’s game,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “I don’t think we can say, ‘Well, we beat them last year’ … I think it’s a totally different team. They may have some of the same schemes but they’ve got a new offensive coordinator (Marcel Bellefeuille), who I think is making them better.”
The headline for Michigan, of course, was Jake Bates’ 64-yard, game-winning field goal. The winners’ offense generated 280 yards on the day with 168 coming through the air.
QB E. J. Perry was 12-24-2 for 176 yards with running back Wes Hills – the USFL’s leading rusher in 2023 – amassed 85 yards on 11 carries is his first game with the Panthers.
Wideout Devin Ross had two catches for 46 yards in the win and looks forward to Sunday’s showdown.
“Clearly, they’re a good team,” Ross said. “They’ve won the (USFL) championship two years. They have a lot of good D-linemen … a lot of speed on the edge. I feel like it’s gonna be a great game. They have good personnel and great coaching.”
Defense was the Panthers’ strong suit last week, with the ‘Hawks’ passing attack limited to 199 yards and QB A.J. McCarron sacked 3.5 times.
Kai Nacua led the charge with 11 tackles.
“We had a practice against (Birmingham) a couple of weeks ago,” Panthers coach Mike Nolan said. “It was a practice, not a scrimmage, but I think both teams felt like they got a lot of work out of it. Look, they’re a very good football team. They’ve won the league two years in a row and they beat a very good team the other day and it wasn’t very close.
“Early in the season it’s hard to say what the matchups look like. We’ve got one game and they’ve got one game to look at of us, and based on that I know, they’re a very good opponent.”
Holtz knows his team’s first trip away from the Arlington hub will be a challenge.
“Mike has been a longtime college and NFL coordinator, and he’s the head coach but when you look at him, you also see a defensive coordinator. He’s got great fundamentals and I think his team plays hard.
“He knows his defense. He knows what he wants to do. There’s a lot of people that you go against that you may hurt him in the first half, and they can’t make the adjustment until the second half after they’ve had a half to talk about it. With Mike, if you hurt him, the very next play, he’s plugged it up.”
Following a couple of early turnovers – and a first half that ended with the score knotted at 11-all – the Stallions took control against the Renegades.
Quarterback Matt Corral had 201 passing yards and TD toss, while backup Adrian Martinez rushed for 52 yards on three carries before having to leave the game with a foot injury.
Waiting in the wings in former Stallions starter J’Mar Smith, who was a major reason Birmingham won the inaugural USFL title in 2022.
“Like (offensive line coach David Deguglielmo) told me, having J’Mar is like you’ve got a fire extinguisher under the sink,” Holtz said. “You’ve got a guy that’s played an awful lot of football. If the dam breaks, you got a fire extinguisher to put out any mess that’s been made.”
There were seven different pass catchers for Birmingham, with Deon Cain reeling in three balls for 66 yards and a score.
Tight end Jace Sternberger had two receptions for 32 yards.
“I gave the way we played like a six out of 10,” Sternberger said. “I felt like for everybody it was a typical first game, and we still scored 27 points. We want to always score more than 30.
“I played against (Michigan) last year and they’re a well-coached team. Very, very, sound defense from a technique standpoint.”
C.J. Marable had 18 carries for 67 yards against Arlington while Ricky Person Jr. contributed 31 yards and scored a rushing TD.
Kyahva Tezino had six tackles in the win, and Chris Jackson and Carlos Davis finished with five each.
Davis also had a sack and forced a fumble.
“I was really pleased with the way we played defensively,” Holtz said. “With that being said, I think we can play 20 or 30 percent better – just some of the misalignment situations, things that we can correct. I think we can be a pretty good defensive football team.”
The game kicks off at 11 a.m. CDT with ESPN providing TV coverage.