It’s back! My Three up, Three down column tracks the roller-coaster ride that is UFL action each week, with positives or things happening often labeled “up,” and negatives or downward trends categorized as “down.”
Up: Clock mismanagement
Throughout the season, we’ve seen coaches struggle with the game clock with under two minutes remaining in the first half or at the end of the game. Perhaps the most egregious in that category came on Friday night. With San Antonio up before the half, and with the ball, interim head coach Payton Pardee allowed about 30 seconds to run off the clock – with two times out in his pocket – ultimately leading to a Kevin Hogan fumble that was returned for a touchdown by D.C., tying the game and swinging the momentum in their favor. The Defenders eventually won the game. Granted, there are a few interim head coaches, like Pardee, who will have some issues with the clock since this is their first time dealing with it. But in this particular situation, it cost San Antonio dearly.
Down: Scoreless streaks
A couple of scoreless streaks were broken in week seven as offenses continue to find the kind of success that was elusive early in the year. The Brahmas offensive woes were what led them to change quarterbacks and find themselves at 1-5 heading into week seven. Finally, after 155 minutes of game time and without an offensive touchdown since week four, they broke through early in the second quarter when Hogan found Alize Mack in the end zone. In Arlington, the Renegades also had difficulty scoring recently after some early-season offensive outbursts. They had not scored a TD in 24 drives but against Michigan, broke that streak. Two games out of a playoff spot with three games to go, Arlington is going to need to fine-tune their offense to stay in the race.
Up: Special teams turnovers
Kick returners had a rough go of it in week seven. Each day of games featured fumbles lost by players returning kicks. After the score in which San Antonio broke their touchdown-less streak, D.C.’s Chris Rowland coughed up the ball, allowing the Brahmas to reclaim possession at the Defenders’ 12-yard line. A few plays later, a field goal broke a 6-6 tie. On Saturday, again with the game tied, Arlington’s Nico Bolden recovered a Samson Nacua fumble and a subsequent field goal gave the Renegades a 12-9 lead in the third quarter. Then, as part of Birmingham’s epic comeback against Houston on Sunday, the Stallions recovered a Roughneck fumble on the kickoff after they took the lead, preventing Houston from having the ball with about 1:30 remaining to attempt to retake control. Interestingly, the teams that recovered these fumbles only went 1-2 on the weekend.
Down: Playoff contenders
At the close of week seven, while all four playoff teams have yet to be confirmed, the difference between contenders and pretenders have crystalized. Houston had a chance to tie Birmingham for second place in the USFL Conference, but with their loss, they’re now two games back with three to go, and with Birmingham owning the tiebreaker. In the XFL Conference, Arlington has now fallen behind both D.C. and St. Louis by two games. Memphis and San Antoino are playing for pride. The real competition is at the top of the standings, where four teams, two in each conference, are tied with 5-2 records. And with three weeks remaining, the leaders of each conference face each other one more time: Michigan and Birmingham square off in week nine, while St. Louis and D.C. face each other in week 10.
Up: Tight end production
Earlier in the season, I highlighted the downside of tight end production. This week was their time to shine. Of 20 receptions by Brahmas receivers, seven came from their tight ends. Steven Stilianos had as many receptions against D.C. as he had all season. Used mostly as a blocker, Alize Mack caught his first two passes of the year, and his first touchdown. Not to be outdone, Briley Moore-McKinney had five catches for 71 yards on the other side of the field, tying for the team lead in catches. Arlington’s Sal Cannella nearly broke the 100-yard mark against Michigan, catching six passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. Jace Sternberger also caught a TD pass for Birmingham.
Down: Birmingham attendance
Despite being a three-time spring league champion and right in the thick of the playoff race this season, the Stallions distributed under 5,000 tickets for Sunday’s game against Houston. Yes, it was Mother’s Day and yes it was an 11am CST start time. But these are Memphis numbers. The only thing more plentiful than Birmingham fans in the stands the last few years have been excuses as to why the numbers aren’t better. For a team that has been this successful, this number wouldn’t be as problematic if “regular” games weren’t drawing poorly as well. It’s part of a larger attendance issue with the league this year, even though some, like Michigan, have shown signs of increases.
1 Comment
by Ken Granito
Musings about the UFL:
1. Player care: Maybe it has been the very large injury numbers, but the league finally seems like it cares about player health. After the first six weeks of the seasons where it looked like Arena Football where players could be tackled two to five feet out of bounds and a flag would never be thrown. Though head hunting has caused flags they were very non-consistent. One game I saw a stretch of 3 plays where the Brahmas had helmet to helmet hits on Malik Turner and neither flag was thrown. Additionally, I noticed whistles were blown much shorter and I saw no rugby type scrums. It wasn’t that the refs called any penalities for any of these, but it seems like the league had a discussion about it and the change was beautiful. It’s one thing to get injured on a good play and good tackle. This is football, but I really thought it was good for the league or the players association to discuss this, because overall it seemed the players realize it is in their best interest to be smart with the collisions. I saw two hand to helmets, but no helmet to helmet hits. I did not watch every part of every game, but from what I saw it looked pretty good.
2. My St. Louis Battlehawks theory is good and my friend and I are now 4-0. I chose the Battlehawks and I chose Michigan thinking the league would want to get the Renegades out of the way. Although this methodology remains undefeated it seemed the officiating was in the Renegades and not the Panthers favor so I do pay attention even when I am not correct.
3. Big time milestones were met this week. Luis Perez now has 7,013 yards passing in the legacy UFL and remains in 2nd place all-time behind Jordan Ta’amu. 3rd place Case Cookus reached the 5,000 yard milestone with 5,164 yards and tied AJ McCarron for 3rd place in Touchdown passes with 39. Did you know Cookus also ranks 12th in rushing yards. CJ Marable passed Mark Thompson and now has 1,384 yards rushing. He is now less than 400 yards from Darius Victor’s 1,757. Although Abram Smith has not had the year we wanted for him. He has enough class to pass the 1,000 plateau and now has 1,004 rushing yards and Jacob Saylors passed Trey Williams and is now 10th in all-time rushing yards with 809 yards. Sal Cannella reached the 1,500 yards receiving plateau. The legacy UFL’s 2nd all-time leading receiver now has 1,577. Jace Sternberger now sits as the 5th all time leading receiver with 1,136 yards and Tyler Vaughns moved in 6th with 1,098 skipping over Darrius Sheppard, Jontre Kirklin, Jahcour Pearson and Cody Latimer in the process. Congratulations to all the players in the league for continuing to play the game they love and this week doing it with style and class.
4. I have read some interesting thoughts by some people regarding the Stallions attendance this week. It is Mother’s Day. Maybe sitting a little too much is something mom’s don’t necessarily want to do on a warm Sunday afternoon. This is a pretty cool thought. But what if it is something more. A couple of years back Daryl Johnston really expressed his frustration with the Birmingham fanbase for not supporting the team like he would have hoped. I get it. The team has been the best team in the league and you think more people would come to the stadium. I get it. But you have to admit the fanbase of the Stallions is REALLY committed to its team, coming out in the heat with those metal bleacher seats to root on their team. They pound. They holler. Is it possible they are tired of the ridiculous officiating that the league has brought on the Stallions this year. The officiating has been so bad the Stallions honestly don’t know what they have on offense. It seems most big plays they have are coming back and it seems the way they account for the teams great defensive line is by letting opponents do whatever they want to the Stallions. Maybe this is the Stallions’ fans way of saying “ENOUGH”!!! There were three plays where Dean Blandino interupted the Stallions vs Roughnecks game looking to take away a play the Stallions made. 3 times. I think you should interrupt a game to make a play right, but if you are going to do that do it every play there is a questionable play. When the league picks and chooses like it does. It makes it seem like the league is picking a choosing. Just a note…..by the 2nd time Blandino interrupted the stadium was already much louder than you think 4,500 fans should be. By the 3rd time, they were really loud, vehemently telling the league to just stop. Give the Stallions fans some credit. They know they are done with the UFL and its ways. I hope Stallions’ fans come back for their last game, but if I were the UFL, I would think there are enough stadiums with under 10,000 in attendance. Just maybe I should leave one of my better teams alone and call a fair game.
5. I will be away next week, but will love to check up on the Battlehawks vs Stallions next week.
6. Thinking about how much better 10 teams will be for the league.
7. Shout out to the Michigan Panthers for losing Nate Brooks to the NFL this past year, losing Levonta Taylor. I thought I saw Adonis Alexander all wrapped up, DJ Miller leave the field. They had also already lost Breeland Speaks, Walter Palmore and now Frank Ginda. Just a note. I watched the whole Panthers vs Renegades game and I saw #10 Noah Dawkins on the field. Lately I have notice #45 Donovan Mutin playing with Ginda, but I did not hear about Ginda getting hurt.
8. Either Brahmas or Showboats will get win #2 this week. That is awesome!
9. I really like Jalan McClendon. As a matter of fact, before the season started, I had stated I would prefer to have him start. When you think about how competitive he has helped the Roughnecks become. Ask yourself, if the league weren’t against veterans, what could have PJ Walker done with the Roughnecks, even better the Battlehawks.
10. I give the announcers during the Fox broadcasts credit for bringing up a couple poor officiating calls during their telecasts this week. I was happy to see the broadcast team doing this again. It seems it had stopped. When you can’t talk against the officiating crew it seems the only person you can comment on is the head coach.
11. It’s funny how last year when they allowed 1 Super Challenge I felt if you get it right they should keep it. Somehow I saw that, but they couldn’t. I am not that smart. This year they said you can keep it if you get it right, but you can’t do it again. IF officiating crews are going to use it a crutch, they should have more than a possible two. Note. In the NFL you can challenge 3 plays.
12. If challenging a Pass interference call or defensive holding call, if you challenge one on the right player, you should not have to specifically say which one you have. Referees get the timing of those plays wrong often. Why would you put that burden on a coach in about 15 seconds. To do so is unrealistic. Again, just another reason I say…..I am not that smart. I just pay attention. Shouldn’t this league have already thought about that? I think they are trying to look better, which is a step up because two or three weeks ago they could care less. I think the league is starting to wonder what this league looks like. This league likes to think this is year two, but the USFL has been around since 2022 and the XFL since 2023. That is 4 four years and 5 seasons of experience. They already have the experience to do what is right. If they aren’t doing what’s right it is because they can’t agree what is right or they don’t care what is right and that is on them. I hope they continue to do better. They have the makings of a great legacy if they choose it to be a great legacy.