The Birmingham Stallions are the inaugural USFL champions after defeating the Philadelphia Stars 33-30 in an entertaining, roller-coaster final on Saturday.
Stallions linebacker Scooby Wright III's 46-yard pick-six of backup quarterback KJ Costello with 3:03 remaining proved to be the game-winning touchdown.
Costello rebounded with a late 12-yard touchdown to Chris Rowland, and Philadelphia got the ball back with under a minute left, but the Stallions' defense held firm down the stretch to preserve the win.
The USFL Championship MVP trophy went to Victor Bolden Jr., who caught six passes for 64 yards and a touchdown with 3:16 remaining to give Birmingham a 26-23 edge.
Bolden caught that pass from backup quarterback Alex McGough, who replaced injured starter J'Mar Smith (leg injury).
Other Stallions stars included running back Bo Scarbrough, who amassed 135 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Marlon Williams led the team in receiving with seven catches for 105 yards and a score.
Birmingham led 20-9 at halftime, but Philadelphia starter Case Cookus, who tossed three touchdowns while completing 17-of-29 passes for 222 yards, led the Stars on a 14-0 run to take the lead. Two of his passing scores went to Suell, and the other was courtesy of Devin Gray. Unfortunately, Cookus was carted off the field with an injury in the fourth quarter and did not return.
In the end, the USFL's best regular-season team finished off their year with the championship. Twitter heaped praise on numerous Stallions, including Wright, Scarbrough, Bolden and Williams.
Birmingham went 9-1 in the regular season before beating the New Orleans Breakers in the semifinals and Philadelphia in the finals for an 11-1 mark. The Stars, who end their year at 7-5, took down the 9-1 New Jersey Generals before meeting the Stallions.
The United States Football League came back this spring. While the new incarnation of the USFL has no real ties to the original league we last saw in action in 1985, its eight teams are named after classic franchises.
Two of those teams—the Philadelphia Stars and the Birmingham Stallions—are set to face off in the new USFL's inaugural championship game.
The regular season began with eight teams and two divisions, North and South. Four of those teams made the postseason, which had its opening round on Saturday. Now there are two, and by next Sunday night, only one will stand.
2022 USFL Championship
Where: Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, Canton, OH
When: Sunday, July 3
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
TV and Live Stream: Fox, Fox Sports App
Playoffs Recap
Philadelphia Stars 19, New Jersey Generals 14
The Stars' path to the title game included a big hurdle in the form of the New Jersey Generals. The Generals finished the regular season tied with Birmingham with a league-best 9-1 record.
However, Philadelphia carried plenty of momentum into the playoffs thanks in no small part to the late emergence of quarterback Case Cookus.
Cookus wasn't Philadelphia's starter when the season opened, but the 12-round draft pick shined once he got the opportunity. Despite making just six starts, Cookus ranked fourth in passing and tied for second with 12 touchdown passes.
Philadelphia won four straight before falling to New Jersey in the regular-season finale.
While Cookus had an up-and-down outing in the playoff rematch—he completed just 50 percent of his passes and threw an interception—he did run for a touchdown and got plenty of help from his teammates.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, the Stars took a five-point lead on an electrifying 88-yard punt-return touchdown by Maurice Alexander Jr. just inside of the two-minute warning. On the ensuing Generals drive, cornerback Amani Dennis sealed it with an interception.
Birmingham Stallions 31, New Orleans Breakers 17
While the finish of the Stars-Generals game was wild, the New Orleans Breakers and Stallions matchup was just as thrilling early.
New Orleans struck first with a Jordan Ellis touchdown run, but Birmingham scored on the next two possessions. Stallions quarterback J'mar Smith tied the game with a touchdown pass to Osirus Mitchell. Birmingham then took the lead when DeMarquis Gates picked off Kyle Slotter and returned it 71 yards for the score.
The Breakers tied it up late in the second quarter, but Birmingham immediately answered with a 90-yard kick-return touchdown by Victor Bolden Jr.
Sloter threw his second interception of the half on New Orleans' final possession before the break.
The scoring wasn't as fast or furious in the second half, as Birmingham utilized a physical, ball-controlling brand of offense led by Smith and running back Bo Scarbrough. As was the case often during the regular season, this was enough for the Stallions to close things out over the final two quarters.
This set up an intriguing matchup for next week's game.
Preview and Predictions
Much of next Sunday's game will hinge on the play and the health of Cookus. He has helped guide one of the USFL's top passing attacks—Philadelphia led the league with 12 touchdown passes in the regular season—but isn't immune to making mistakes.
Birmingham's dominant defense, meanwhile, is great at capitalizing on errors.
Cookus also suffered a back injury on Saturday, though it doesn't appear to be truly concerning.
"It's going great," Cookus told Sara Perlman of NBC Sports. "They took me to the tent, wanted to get some x-rays just for precautionary reasons, but feeling great, gonna get a little rehab this week and be ready for it."
Even if Cookus is at 100 percent, he'll have a tough challenge in Birmingham's defense. This is a squad that hasn't surrendered more than 20 points in a game since Week 2.
If the Stars hope to pull off another upset, they'll need to get off to a fast start. The Stallions have shown time and time again that they know how to grind out games and limit opposing opportunities late.
Philadelphia will also have to avoid miscues. Birmingham is a well-balanced team with great chemistry. Some of that stems from coach Skip Holtz having several of his former Louisiana Tech players—including Smith, wideout Adrian Hardy and fullback Bobby Holly—on his roster.
Sloppy football isn't going to beat Birmingham. The Breakers learned that when two interceptions and a special-teams disaster cost them any chance of taking momentum into the second half.
If Philadelphia can play mistake-free football and perhaps get a few takeaways of their own, they can claim the title. The Stallions have only lost once this season, and it came against the Houston Gamblers, who finished the season with just three wins.
Birmingham had a chance to rally late in that one but Smith threw an interception in Houston territory with less than two minutes remaining.
On paper, though, this is a matchup that favors the Stallions. When these two teams met back in Week 5, Birmingham cruised to a 30-17 victory. Expect similar results next Sunday.
Prediction: Birmingham 27, Philadelphia 17
Former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett has joined NBC's broadcast team for the upcoming USFL season.
Garrett joins an analyst trio that also includes former NFL fullback Michael Robinson and current New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan. Jac Collinsworth and Paul Burmeister will serve as the play-by-play commentators for the revived league, which kicks off play this week.
Garrett, 56, was the head coach of the Cowboys from 2011 to 2019, posting an 85-67 record. He spent the last two seasons as the New York Giants offensive coordinator under Joe Judge before being fired in November.
This will be Garrett's first experience as an in-booth analyst. He has been on an NFL coaching staff every year since his retirement as a quarterback following the 2004 season.
Fox is set to launch its spring football league, the USFL, in April. But the league faces a roadblock after the owners and executives from the original USFL filed a trademark lawsuit to prevent the network from using the same brand and team names.
According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, a complaint was filed Monday in California by "The Real USFL, LLC." The complaint describes Fox's USFL as "an unabashed counterfeit" of the original league that ran from 1983 to 1985. It stated that the network is attempting to use a league name as well as eight team names and logos "to which it has no right."
"It has traded on the false narrative that Fox's League and USFL teams are the offspring of the original. They are not," the complaint says.
Florio stated that the lawsuit "includes claims for trademark infringement, false advertising, and false association." The lawsuit will determine if the original USFL retained the rights to its trademarks, which is what the network disputes.
Per Florio, Fox felt it didn't have to negotiate with the original league because it "claimed that the USFL had been defunct for more than 30 years, and that it had abandoned its trademarks."
"Fox could have easily started its own league with new teams, but instead chose to take the goodwill and nostalgia of the original league without the permission of the people who actually created it," attorney Alex Brown said.
Brown continued, "Fox can't dispute that the 'Real USFL' marks are recognizable and valued because they're using them and purposefully confusing its league with the original. Rather than do the right thing, Fox has chosen to try and bully the prior owners into submission. That's not going to happen."
Fox's USFL is expected to kick off April 16. The league held its draft last week and training camp is scheduled to begin March 21. Florio pointed out the possibility that the original USFL files a preliminary injunction that forces the league to delay its launch.
Jeff Fisher is returning to professional football as a head coach in the USFL.
The Michigan Panthers announced Fisher's hiring on Thursday:
The Panthers were announced as one of eight members of the new United States Football League that is set to debut this spring.
Fisher and Larry Fedora (New Orleans Breakers) were the final two head coaches announced by the league. Skip Holtz (Birmingham Stallions), Kirby Wilson (Pittsburgh Maulers), Mike Riley (New Jersey Generals), Todd Haley (Tampa Bay Bandits), Kevin Sumlin (Houston Gamblers) and Bart Andrus (Philadelphia Stars) were previously hired.
The USFL announced on Tuesday that games will be played at Protective Stadium and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.
Fisher, 63, is returning to the head-coaching ranks for the first time since he was fired by the Los Angeles Rams in December 2016. He has a 173-165-1 record with six playoff appearances in 22 seasons as an NFL head coach between the Rams and Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans.
Week 1 of the USFL season will begin on April 16 with the Birmingham Stallions hosting the New Jersey Generals at Protective Stadium. The full regular-season schedule has yet to be announced.
Rosters will be determined by a player-selection meeting on Feb. 22-23. Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported players must sign a contract with the USFL prior to the meeting to be eligible for selection.
The 2022 season will consist of a 10-week regular season, followed by two playoff rounds. The championship game is scheduled to be played on July 3.
The USFL revealed the hiring of its first four head coaches on Thursday: Kevin Sumlin, Todd Haley, Mike Riley and Bart Andrus. The league is scheduled to begin play this spring.
"Today is a monumental day for the new USFL as we hit the 100 days to kickoff mark," USFL president Brian Woods said in a statement, per ESPN.
Woods continued, "To attract Mike Riley and Todd Haley, two former NFL head coaches, Bart Andrus, a former head coach in NFL Europe and CFL, plus an experienced college head coach in Kevin Sumlin, to the USFL, speaks to the quality of the league we're building."
The USFL will begin its season on April 16 and will run through mid-June. The league will feature eight teams playing a 10-game schedule.
Sumlin, a former head coach at the University of Houston, will coach the Houston Gamblers. Sumlin also coached at Texas A&M and most recently at Arizona. He was fired after going 0-5 in the 2020 season.
Haley will coach the Tampa Bay Bandits. The former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs also spent time as offensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Riley will be at the helm of the New Jersey Generals. He coached the Los Angeles Chargers from 1999-2001 and had stints at the collegiate level with Oregon State and Nebraska. Riley also had positions with the AAF and XFL.
Andrus will be in charge of the Philadelphia Stars. He's had coaching stops in the CFL, UFL and NFL Europe.
One more name has emerged as a possible coach, as Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman reported that former Auburn head coach Gene Chizik is a candidate to lead the Birmingham Stallions. Feldman stated that there is a mutual interest, "but nothing has been finalized."
Each USFL team's roster will consist of 38 players and a seven-player practice squad. The league will hold a player selection meeting from Feb. 22-23, and training camps will begin on March 21.
