The Birmingham Stallions will play for a third spring football championship in as many years.
The winners of the USFL title in 2022 and 2023, the Stallions continued their dominance even after the league merged with the XFL to form the United Football League. In the UFL’s first season, the Stallions boasted the league’s best record at 9-1 and earned home-field advantage in the USFL conference championship, the de facto semifinal of the UFL playoffs.
Birmingham’s offense was led by all-UFL quarterback Adrian Martinez. In the regular season, he threw for 1,749 passing yards with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He also led the UFL in rushing with 528 yards and a whopping 9.8 yards per attempt. Martinez is likely to be named the UFL’s first-ever MVP.
It was the Stallions’ backup QB, though, who led them to a 31-18 victory over the Michigan Panthers in the USFL conference championship.
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Matt Corral, a former star at Ole Miss — who was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the 2022 NFL Draft — split reps with Martinez at the beginning of the season but had not played a down for the Stallions since April 20. In the third quarter of the USFL conference championship, Corral stepped in after Martinez’s second lost fumble and third turnover overall.
“My thoughts going into this was to just treat it like every other day,” Corral said. “We practice the same plays, same scenarios, each and every day. Coach (Skip) Holtz does a good job of putting us in place to get done what we’ve got to get done.”
Corral was excellent off the bench. He went 9-for-11 passing for 120 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. The interception came on his second throw, a ball intended for receiver Marlon Williams that bounced off Williams’ hands into the arms of linebacker Javin White. Corral was able to shake off the early turnover and only threw one incompletion for the remainder of the game.
“I felt like we needed a spark offensively,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “I’ve said it all along, I feel like we have two starting quarterbacks.”
Holtz praised Corral’s resolve and willingness to contribute to the team in a backup role before earning his shot in the playoffs.
“I think Matt is a very talented individual, but more than anything, I think today is an unbelievable lesson in resolve,” Holtz said. “Not in four quarters of resolve but in two months of resolve, as he has had to stand on the sideline. And yet, he has taken every weeks in practice, they’ve split reps to keep them both sharp and ready. It would have been real easy for him to hang his head, sulk, pout, and yet, he’s been completely in it and ready for his opportunity.”
Corral helped put the winning touchdowns on the board, but the Stallions defense was instrumental to the victory. The Panthers did not score in the second half, while the Stallions forced four turnovers — including two interceptions by Ike Brown and a pick-six by Daniel Isom.
“Once we made those halftime adjustments and Coach came in and told us to start creating turnovers, we just went out there and got the job done,” Brown said.
Holtz was not yet ready to name a starting QB for the UFL Championship game, but seeing both of Corral and Martinez remains a possibility.
“Thirty minutes ago, I didn’t even know we were going to the championship, so no,” Holtz said when asked if he had any early indication on next week’s starter. “We’ll look at this film and put it together. I’ll say this, I thought C.J. Marable had a great game, and Ricky Person started. We have two running backs too, and they both play. We have two very capable quarterbacks, and we’ll make the decision with the guy that we feel gives us the best chance to win the football game.”
