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The United Football League is down to its final game in its first year. The UFL title game is a rematch of a Week 9 battle in which the San Antonio Brahmas defeated the Birmingham Stallions 18-9 in San Antonio, giving the Stallions their only loss of the year. This game is not just a rematch—it's a part of the UFL's history.
Broadcast Information
The game will be at 5 p.m. EST on June 16 in the Dome at Americas Center in St. Louis. The game will be on FOX, bringing you the top-notch coverage of award-winning broadcaster Curt Menefee and established analyst Joel Klatt. Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard will join Menefee and Klatt, adding his unique insights to the game. The title game will also stream in 4K on most streaming devices, such as Apple TV, Android TV, Roku devices and Fire TV, ensuring you don't miss a single detail of this epic rematch.
The Stallions and the Brahmas meet for history, as the winner will be the first-ever UFL Champion. The Birmingham Stallions are trying to keep their spring professional football dynasty going, capturing their third title in as many years. The Brahmas, led by legendary coach Wade Phillips, look to capture their first title. Phillips's defensive mind against the offensive mind of Birmingham coach Skip Holtz is a prize fight in calling plays. The Stallions were supposed to be here after being picked at the beginning of the year as the favorite. On the other hand, San Antonio was coming off a 3-7 season under former coach Hines Ward and was picked near the bottom of power rankings for the UFL at the start of the season.
Stallions Key Players
The Stallions are led offensively by the UFL MVP quarterback Adrian Martinez. He will have to play better than in San Antonio in Week 9. Martinez is expected to move outside the pocket and create opportunities with his legs. While Martinez is important, the key player for this matchup is what some consider the best tight end in the UFL, Jace Sternberger. The former first-team All-American from Texas A&M has shown the ability to be a weapon to let the Stallions offense keep linebackers honest and not allow them to cheat up in run support. At 6-foot-4 and 251 pounds, Sternberger can make catches in a crowd and make big plays after the catch with his speed.
Defensively, the Stallions front will have to stop a very good San Antonio ground game with help from the linebackers. Outside linebacker Kyahva Tezino, the team's leading tackler will have his hands full all day. Tezino had 8 tackles, two of them tackles for a loss, in the previous meeting. The linebackers need to get to San Antonio quarterback Chase Garbers and make his decision clock speed up in hopes of forcing an error.
Brahmas Key Players
For Phillips, the recipe for success is simply to play good, solid defense and run the ball. The Brahmas do both very well, which is why one of the key players in this championship game is the duo of running backs John Lovett and Anthony McFarland. The two combined for 198 yards on 29 carries for 1 touchdown. The lone score came on a McFarland 69-yard scamper. The duo set the tone, averaging 6.8 yards a carry in the XFL Conference Championship game against the St. Louis Battlehawks. Garbers will benefit if the ground game is established, allowing him to find dynamic wide receiver Jontre Kirkland.
Defensively, San Antonio knows it can stop the Stallion's offense, but can it do it again? Key to the defense's success will be safety Jordan Mosley. Mosley, from Havertown, Penn., is a hybrid safety who can provide run support and defend the pass. In the previous matchup, Mosley led the team with 8 tackles and disrupted the Stallion's offense the entire game. The Brahmas and Mosley will have to be ready for multiple quarterbacks, as last week the Stallions used former Ole Miss quarterback Matt Coral, who was the Week 1 starter for Birmingham before giving way to the eventual UFL MVP Martinez.
Game Prediction
Although the Week 9 meeting was technically a one-score game, the Stallions never seemed to be able to mount a comeback against the Brahmas. San Antonio scored with a double pass from wide receiver Kirkland to Justin Smith for a 36-yard score and the Brahmas never trailed in the entire game.
This is a great matchup of very solid coaches with very good football teams, and when people say styles make fights, this should be a doozy. When predicting the winner, you must look at experience and leadership. There are a lot of Birmingham players with championship game experience, which should give them a slight advantage. The Stallions are the team everyone thought would be here at the beginning of the season, and here they are, just one game away from three consecutive championships. The Stallions will claim their third and continue their spring football dynasty with a hard-fought 24-17 victory over a very game San Antonio team.
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