The summary below is an abbreviated version of one written by RJ Young for Fox Sports. The full article can be found here.
The photography was copied from social media and uncredited.
Bo Scarbrough ran down the Michigan Panthers in the Birmingham Stallions' 33-17 win at Protective Stadium on Saturday night.
Scarbrough ended up with 105 rushing yards on 16 carries on a night when the Stallions' best running back, CJ Marable, was out due to injury. The Stallions were also missing starting linebacker Scooby Wright for a second consecutive game.
...the Stallions' passing offense regressed. Former Louisiana Tech quarterback J’Mar Smith got the hook in the third quarter after starting the game 12 of 25 for just 135 yards — though he did throw two TDs.
Former Florida International quarterback and Stallions No. 1 pick Alex McGough came on in relief, completing his only pass attempt for 40 yards.
It was a game in which the Stallions' defense picked things up by coming up with two important takeaways, and Stallions safety JoJo Tillery notched nine tackles — all solo — including a sack.
Panthers kicker Cole Murphy smashed a 56-yard kick through the uprights to put Michigan ahead 3-0 in the first quarter — the longest kick of the inaugural USFL season.
Stallions kicker Brandon Aubrey responded with a 22-yard field goal on its opening drive with 2:07 left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, though, wideout Osirus Mitchell picked up the offense when he turned a quick hitch into a 30-yard TD that put the Stallions up 10-3 with 11:28 left to play in the half.
Following a 40-minute lightning delay, the Panthers turned a defensive stop into their first TD of the evening with quarterback Shea Patterson sneaking into the Stallions' end zone. Murphy’s extra point tied the game at 10-10 with 4:11 left to play in the half.
As halftime drew near, the Birmingham defense recovered a fumble at the Michigan 18-yard line and turned it into a field goal — and 13-10 lead — with 1:42 left in the half.
Out of the locker room, the Stallions managed to put together another scoring drive as Smith threw his first TD pass of the night to running back Tony Brooks-James, who was moved to wide receiver last week, then back to running back with the injury to Marable.
But Aubrey missed the extra point to keep the score 19-10 — a one-score game in the USFL. However, after Patterson threw a TD pass to wideout Devin Ross, Michigan coach Jeff Fisher elected to kick the traditional extra point, and the Stallions kept a 19-17 lead with 1:36 left in the third.
That was the last time the Panthers would be within striking distance, as the Stallions held running back Reggie Corbin to 71 rush yards on 16 carries, and the Panthers to 91 as a team.
Smith’s shaky play through the third quarter was enough for Holtz to try McGough at quarterback with just over a minute left in the third quarter. However, Holtz said the plan was always to play McGough.
McGough proved to be good enough with his legs, and even better with his hand-offs to Scarbrough, who punched in his first career USFL TD from 28 yards out with 11:20 left to play. That gave the Stallions a 26-17 lead.
On the ensuing drive, a Patterson pass attempt was batted down by defensive tackle Willie Yarbary, and defensive end Johnny Newsome snatched it out of the air for the interception. It was the Stallions' 11th takeaway through six games.
McGough converted a third-and-26 to wide receiver Peyton Ramzy, which gave McGough a chance to punch it in himself with what would be the icing TD of the game.
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