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The shocker of all shockers occurred on Saturday in the United Football League when Birmingham saw its 15-game winning streak (USFL/UFL) come to an end. The Stallions, leaders of the USFL conference went to San Antonio and fell 18-9. With that victory, and St. Louis' 36-22 loss at Arlington, the Brahmas took sole possession of first place in the XFL Conference.
St. Louis and San Antonio had already clinched their playoff spots.
Meanwhile, Michigan, the second-place team in the USFL Conference, rallied from a 22-12 deficit entering the fourth quarter to stave off the upset bid at Houston and escape with a 26-22 win.
Birmingham and Michigan had also clinched their playoff spots. The USFL conference was clinched by Birmingham after just 6 games had been played. The Stallions are now 29-4 all-time in USFL/UFL games, including back-to-back USFL championships. The Stallions are coached by Skip Holtz.
The longest regular season winning streak in the NFL belongs to the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts who closed out 2008 with 9 straight victories, but lost the 2008 Wild Card playoff game at San Diego (now LA Chargers) in overtime in what became Tony Dungy's final game as head coach. Jim Caldwell was promoted from within to replace Dungy and the team reeled off 14 straight wins to open the 2009 season. It wasn't until Caldwell stirred controversy by sitting Peyton for the last two games and the Colts were blown out each time to end their regular season winning streak at 23 games. Indianapolis managed to rebound from those losses and advanced to the Super Bowl where they fell 31-17 to New Orleans and Drew Brees after entering the game as a 5-point favorite. Peyton's father, Archie, started 139 games as the QB for New Orleans from 1971 to early 1982.
Michigan, which had clinched the other USFL Conference playoff spot a week ago, now owns the longest winning streak in the league at five games in-a-row.
Ironically, both regular season finales on Saturday are previews of each conference championship matchup with Michigan visiting Birmingham and San Antonio traveling to St. Louis. Birmingham has already locked down hosting privileges for the USFL Conference Championship, but the winner in St. Louis between the homestanding Battlehawks and the visiting Brahmas will determine who hosts the rematch for the XFL Conference crown.
The championship game for the inaugural season of the UFL will be played in St. Louis on Sunday, June 16.
The fourth UFL game this past weekend saw the DC Defenders romp to a 36-21 win at the Memphis Showboats. DC is the only other team in the UFL that has a shot at a .500 season and they can clinch a 5-5 record with a win at home over Arlington on Sunday,
The other game this Sunday will send Houston to Memphis with the Renegades looking to halt a 5-game losing streak while the Showboats have dropped 8 straight.
The home teams went 0-2 on Saturday while the visitors took both Sunday games. Over-all, the league attendance was just 33,298 which was, by far, the lowest of the year. But it all comes down to a matter of who is hosting the games and, other than San Antonio, all of the attendance leaders were on the road.
By contrast, last week's games produced the season's second-highest cumulative attendance at 63,413, buoyed by St. Louis which accounted for slightly over half (50.07%) of the total. Next week will see home games for the top three attendance teams in the league - St. Louis, Birmingham and DC.
San Antonio attracted 11,839 for the win over Birmingham. The Brahmas must be seeing the same people every week as 11,395 showed up for week 8, compared to 11,251 in week 4 and 11,790 in week 3. all of those numbers are slightly under the opening weekend turnout of 13,164
The numbers for Birmingham are a bit puzzling as the best team in the league saw attendance of just 10,245. The Stallions are only averaging 10,957.
XFL Conference
| Team | Won | Lost | Pct. | PF | PA | Home | Road | Conf. | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c-San Antonio Brahmas | 7 | 2 | .778 | 180 | 140 | 4-1 | 3-1 | 3-2 | W3 |
| c-St. Louis Battlehawks | 6 | 3 | .667 | 247 | 190 | 4-0 | 2-3 | 4-1 | L1 |
| e-DC Defenders | 4 | 5 | .444 | 178 | 219 | 2-2 | 2-3 | 2-3 | W1 |
| e-Arlington Renegades | 2 | 7 | .222 | 215 | 218 | 2-3 | 0-4 | 1-4 | W1 |
USFL Conference
| Team | Won | Lost | Pct. | PF | PA | Home | Road | Conf. | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c-Birmingham Stallions | 8 | 1 | .889 | 245 | 161 | 4-0 | 4-1 | 5-0 | L1 |
| c-Michigan Panthers | 7 | 2 | .778 | 209 | 169 | 4-1 | 3-1 | 4-1 | W5 |
| e-Memphis Showboats | 1 | 8 | .111 | 169 | 278 | 0-4 | 1-4 | 1-4 | L8 |
| e-Houston Roughnecks | 1 | 8 | .111 | 146 | 214 | 1-4 | 0-4 | 0-5 | L5 |
c- Playoff berth clinched
e - eliminated from playoff contention
Week 9 Results (Home Team in BOLD):
Saturday
Arlington 36, St. Louis 22
San Antonio 18, Birmingham 9
Sunday
Michigan 26, Houston 22
DC 36, Memphis 21
Perkins Leads Panthers to 26-22 Comeback Win Over Roughnecks
Defenders Roll to 36-21 Victory Over Showboats
Brahmas Hand Birmingham First Loss in 18-9 Affair
Renegade Defense Forces Four Turnovers, Seals Win Over Battlehawks
Week 10 Games
Michigan Panthers vs Birmingham Stallions
Saturday, June 1 | 2:00 PM ET | Birmingham, AL | Protective Stadium | ESPN | ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM
San Antonio Brahmas vs St. Louis Battlehawks
Saturday, June 1 | 4:00 PM ET | St. Louis, MO | The Dome at America's Center | FOX | FOX Sports on SiriusXM
Arlington Renegades vs D.C. Defenders
Sunday, June 2 | 12:00 PM ET | Washington, D.C. | Audi Field | ABC | ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM
Houston Roughnecks vs Memphis Showboats
Sunday, June 2 | 7:00 PM ET | Memphis, TN | Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium | FOX | FOX Sports on SiriusXM