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Birmingham will look to defend its USFL Championship title on Saturday in Canton when the Stallions meet the Pittsburgh Maulers. The game will be televised nationally on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. eastern time.
On Sunday night in Birmingham, the host Stallions scored on their first six possessions en route to a 47-22 crushing of New Orleans. Birmingham improved to 9-2 while the Breakers' season came to an end with a 7-4 record.
The regular season saw all 4 South division teams have no wore than .500 records, while Michigan and Pittsburgh led the North division with 4-6 marks, along with Philadelphia.
On Saturday, Pittsburgh edged Michigan 31-27 in overtime in Canton, Ohio. The USFL overtime rules give each team 3 chances to score 2 points from the opposition's 2-yard line. Pittsburgh lost the coin toss and Michigan chose defense, so the Maulers went to work and scored on 2 of their 3 tries. The Panthers missed on each of their first two attempts so the game was over.
In Birmingham's victory, former FIU quarterback (2014-2017) Alex McGough was 21-of-31 for 310 yards and no picks while tossing 4 TD passes to 3 different receivers. McGough (pronounced Mac-Goo') added 84 yards on the ground, including a 21-yard TD run. McGough threw for over 9,000 yards in 4 years at FIU.
While the Stallions advanced in a runaway performance, the other semifinal was a back-and-forth affair. The teams swapped field goals in the first quarter, but Pittsburgh took a 10-3 halftime lead on Garrett Groshek's 2-yard run up the middle. Michigan rallied with touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half to take a 17-10 lead at the end of three.
Pittsburgh answered back on Bailey Gaither's 4-yard run to tie the score at 17 with 13:33 to play.
The game would remain tied until the Maulers reclaimed the lead on a 59-yard field goal by Chris Blewitt just 3:21 to go for a 20-17 advantage. Michigan needed just 3 plays to answer and moved ahead 24-20 on E.J. Perry's 55-yard pass down the left sideline to Trey Quinn with 2:04 left on the clock.
Helped by a personal foul by Michigan on the ensuing kickoff, Pittsburgh started its drive at its own 49. Eight plays later, the Maulers went back in front with 39 seconds to go in regulation by a 27-24 count on Troy Williams' 4th down TD pass from the 6-yard line to Ishmael Hyman.
Not to be outdone for dramatics, Perry completed 4 straight passes to move Michigan from its own 33 to the Pitt 35 at the 12-second mark. An incomplete pass and a 6-yard run set up a tying 47-yard field goal as time expired.
Birmingham won the 2022 title by defeating Philadelphia 33-30 as the Stallions went 11-1. With Sunday's playoff win over New Orleans, Birmingham is now 20-3 in the league's two seasons, led by head coach Skip Holtz.