Birmingham, AL - The USFL's best two offenses squared off in Birmingham on Sunday evening for a ticket to Canton to take on the Pittsburgh Maulers for the 2023 USFL Championship. The Stallions, playing in front of their home crowd came out firing on all cylinders.
The Stallions would finish their first 7 possessions with points, scoring 5 touchdowns while adding 2 field goals. It wasn't until a fumble in the latter stages of the 3rd quarter that the Stallions were held scoreless on of an offensive drive. That would also be their only drive not to end in a score for the entire game, as their lone drive in the 4th quarter, with the exception of their last drive that ended with kneel downs out of the victory formation, ended in a touchdown as well.
Although the voting for the season awards was completed prior to this weekend's games, Birmingham QB Alex McGough left no doubt that he is the league's MVP and Offensive Player of the Year for the 2023 season. McGough carved the Breakers defense for 310 yards and 4 touchdowns through the air on 21/31 passing. The 67% completion percentage and QBR of 139.8 are videogame-type numbers from the Florida International product.
The New Orleans Breakers attempted to mount a comeback in the 4th quarter, with 2 touchdowns but it was too little too late as they were facing a 40-7 deficit at the start of the final 15 minutes.
The victory pits the Stallions against the Maulers in a battle between the League's best offense and top defense. In the regular season, it was the Stallions coming out on top 24-20 over the Maulers in Canton. Since then, the Maulers have been playing much better on the offensive side and McGough had his worst game of the season against the Ray & Jarren Horton-led defense for the Maulers, throwing two picks to keep the Maulers in striking distance.
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