FILE - Michigan Panthers wide receiver Joe Walker (8) receives a punt during the second half of a USFL football game against the Houston Gamblers Sunday, April 17, 2022, in Birmingham, Ala. A revived United States Football League — borrowing the moniker and team nicknames from a league that went out of business 36 years ago — launched last month with all regular-season games being played in Birmingham, Alabama. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)AP
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We are coming down the stretch in the first season of the reboot of the United States Football League, and while the Michigan Panthers are not going to be in the playoffs, they sure have kept things interesting! Almost every game was lost by a single score, and several were lost on the final possession. This past week was no different down at Protective Field in Birmingham, Alabama where the Panthers and New Orleans Breakers engaged in the first overtime game in the USFL this season. It was a best of five attempts to score from the two-yard line. In the end, the Panthers fell to 1-6 as the Breakers scored twice to Michigan’s once and the final was 31-27.
Head Coach Jeff Fisher sure has kept this USFL season interesting, hasn’t he? Not only have the Panthers played a plethora of close games, but he had the two games where he refused to use a kicker, failing to even have one on the active roster for one of them. Last week might have been the shocker of the entire USFL season when Michigan released their quarterback and top overall pick in the USFL draft, Shea Patterson, on Thursday. He absolutely had his struggles, but he had been playing much better the previous two weeks, since Fisher started to let him throw more than 15 times a game. The Panthers did bring in Josh Love, formerly of the Pittsburgh Maulers, and he would take over the quarterback reins, even with the return of Paxton Lynch.
The stats don’t look great for Love as he completed just 48.6% of his passes for 179 without a touchdown or interception and he ran for only 16 yards. However, he injured his thumb around the middle of the game, and he was clearly impacted to the end. Some passes sailed, while others fell well short of their intended mark. But Love had the team close the whole game and even grabbed the lead a couple of times late. The broadcast also mentioned that despite his injury, the team still didn’t bring in Paxton Lynch because Love wanted to gut it out and show his new team that he was the leader. Assuming his thumb injury isn’t serious, you can bet that Love will be the starter for this team going forward.
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The ground game also was great as the team ran for 192 yards and averaged an impressive 5.6 yards per carry. Reggie Corbin got back on track with 108 yards on 13 carries with several long chunk runs. His speed and patience are two great attributes, and he looks like a guy who at least deserves to be on an NFL roster. Cameron Scott also got a rare touchdown run, and Stevie Smith did his usual thing with a one-yard touchdown. With a quarterback the team had never played before, it isn’t a surprise that no receiver topped 50 yards on the game, but what was surprising was the Panthers finally found a kicker after struggling mightily with that position all year long. Cole Murphy hit four out of five field goal attempts including a 60 yarder! If Michigan had him all year perhaps, they would have two more victories. Of course, he did miss one in this game, so perhaps they should have won this one.
The pass defense struggled again as Kyle Sloter and Zach Smith combined for 228 yards and three passing touchdowns. The run defense was much better as the Breakers only ran for 89 yards on 3.9 yards per tote. Frank Ginda continues to be a machine with 13 tackles in this one while Jameson Houston had seven including one tackle for loss. But when it counted the defense continued to give up big plays to Sloter and the Breakers, allowing them to tie the game as New Orleans kicked a game-tying field goal as time expired. They then allowed the Breakers to score on their first two attempts at overtime, sealing the sixth loss of the season. If Michigan is going to finish the season strong, they will need the defense to tighten up as they have allowed 27 points or more in three straight games.
On the other side of the field this week will be the Philadelphia Stars. They are 4-3 after a 35-24 win over the Houston Gamblers last week and surely have their sights set on a playoff spot. They have done well despite losing starting quarterback Bryan Scott several weeks ago. Case Cookus has performed well, and the Stars have scored 35 points in each of their last two games. They do have two solid running backs in Matt Colburn and Darnell Holland, although Colburn has certainly taken over the majority of the carries recently. Both scored a touchdown last week when the Stars ran for 152 yards against the Breakers. Quarterback Clayton Thorson has been very hit or miss. He is tied for the league lead with 10 touchdown passes through seven games, but he is also second in the USFL with seven interceptions and averages just 141 passing yards per game. This could be a decent matchup for the Panthers, as their run defense has been better than their pass defense.
The Stars are favorites in this game by 6 points and the over/under has been set at 47.5. Vegas has certainly watched the scoring increase in this league greatly as a few weeks ago most of the point totals were in the 30s and a decent number of times the unders were still hitting. Philadelphia has won their last two games by an average of nine points against the Bandits and the Gamblers, who both have decent offenses. Case Cookus isn’t exactly lighting up the box score, but he has completed a good percentage of his passes and is putting points on the board. However, their defense isn’t great at all as they allow 25.3 points a game while scoring 25.1 points.
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This one is probably going to come down to the combination of Josh Love and Reggie Corbin. The Stars are one of the worst rush defenses in the league, allowing 163 yards per game on the ground and we know the Panthers love to run. If Corbin can break off a few more big runs, I think this game can be close. In fact, for just the second time all season, we are going to pick the Panthers to cover the spread here, as we think they will definitely keep it within six.
They only have one loss all season that is by more than a single score. The Stars have played well of late, but I am not confident in them on a weekly basis to play a complete game. That point total is pretty high though. However, as stated earlier, the Stars have put up 35 points in each of their last two games and I already said that Michigan’s defense has been very giving lately. With Josh Love now at quarterback, the Panthers have a more competent and consistent quarterback than they had earlier in the season, and I think they will continue to score points. For Week 8 of the USFL season, give me the Panthers getting six points and I do think the game will go over the 47.5-point total. Enjoy the weekend and we will be back for Week 9!
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