Birmingham cornerback Shyheim Carter broke up a pass in the end zone on the final snap to preserve the Stallions’ 26-22 victory over the Michigan Panthers on Saturday.

Carter’s pass-breakup was Birmingham’s second in the end zone of the final 15 seconds in a dramatic and hard-fought end to a game that supposedly didn’t mean anything.

The Stallions and Panthers are tied for the lead in the United Football League‘s USFL Conference at 6-3 with one weekend remaining in the regular season. The teams already had secured the conference’s two playoff spots, and, by completing a season sweep of Michigan, Birmingham would have locked up the right to host the USFL Conference Championship Game if they remain tied through one more game.

But that was not at stake on Saturday. Because of a scheduling conflict at Ford Field in Detroit, the UFL already had assigned the USFL Conference Championship Game to Birmingham regardless of how the teams finished in the standings.

That appeared to affect the game not a whit as the Stallions took the lead twice in the fourth quarter and made the second rally stand up.

Birmingham quarterback J’Mar Smith completed 22-of-31 passes for 307 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Both touchdowns went 19 yards to wide receiver Deon Cain. The first, with 1:54 left in the first half, allowed the Stallions to tie the game at 7-7. The second, with 2:22 remaining in the game, put Birmingham in front 26-22 after Cain had twisted and turned his way across the goal line.

Michigan quarterback Danny Etling answered Cain’s second TD by completing 8-of-9 passes for 66 yards to put the Panthers on the Stallions 9-yard line with 21 seconds to play.

Etling used a spike on first down to stop the clock. Birmingham linebacker Demarquis Gates broke up Etling’s second-down pass. Wide receiver Jaylon Moore caught the third-down pass, but he was out of bounds. And Carter, a former Alabama defensive back, broke up the fourth-down throw.

“The defense was able to get the stop,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz said. “I would have liked to have gotten the stop with two minutes to go on the 30-yard line. But nonetheless we made the stop.”

Of all the plays in the game, though, nothing surpassed Birmingham wide receiver Cade Johnson’s catch of a third-and-10 throw for a 57-yard gain on the first play of the fourth quarter. With the Stallions trailing 16-13, Johnson got his hands on a long throw by Smith, had the football knocked away by cornerback Keni-H Lovely and caught the pass while he was falling to the ground.

The candidate for UFL Catch of the Year served as the springboard for Birmingham’s first lead at 20-16 as running back Larry Rountree III scored his second touchdown of the game on a 1-yard plunge with 11:23 left to play. Rountree scored his first touchdown on a 14-yard run with 6:08 left in the third quarter to tie the score at 13-13.

After Rountree’s second touchdown, a 45-yard Etling-to-Siaosi Mariner completion fueled a touchdown drive for Michigan. Running back Toa Taua’s 2-yard tote gave the Panthers a 22-20 lead with 7:47 remaining.

On the way to regaining the lead for the final time, Birmingham converted two third-down snaps and scored on a third-down throw. For the game, the Stallions succeeded in gaining a first down on 11 of their 13 third-down snaps, including a 26-yard reception by Johnson on third-and-26 and a 48-yard reception by Jalen Camp on third-and-24. Three of Birmingham’s touchdowns came on third down.

“I thought J’Mar stood in there and threw some clutch balls,” Holtz said. “By the stats, I don’t know if this is accurate, but we were 11-of-13 on third down, which is pretty stinking good.”

The Stallions close the regular season against the Memphis Showboats at 2 p.m. CDT June 1 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. FOX will televise the game.

“If we can continue what we’re doing for one more week,” Holtz said, “we’re not playing in Birmingham because we have to, we’re playing in Birmingham because they’ve earned it.”

Michigan and Birmingham will meet again in the USFL Conference Championship Game at 2 p.m. June 8 at Protective Stadium. The winner will advance to the UFL Championship Game, a contest won by the Stallions last season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

Michigan State football earned the walk-on commitment from Jack Lansing, a 3-star linebacker from Hartland (MI) earlier this month. Now, the in-state product has scheduled his official visit to Michigan State.

Lansing, a 6’0″ and 200 pound linebacker that plays at Hartland High School, is a highly valued walk-on commitment, ranking very high for a walk-on as an 84 rated 3-star according to 247Sports. While he may begin as a preferred walk-on, the opportunity to begin his career on scholarship or gain a scholarship while on campus is still very much a possibility.

The Spartans value in-state recruiting, and adding a prospect like Lansing shows their importance on making sure no prospect falls through the cracks on their watch.

Lansing’s trip to East Lansing will be starting on June 20.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on X @Cory_Linsner

The Michigan Wolverines got their quarterback in the 2025 cycle when they flipped Bryce Underwood from LSU. They recently secured their top quarterback target in the 2026 class with top 100 signal caller Brady Smigiel committing to the maize and blue. Looking forward to the 2027 class, Michigan has placed themselves in the driver’s seat for the top-rated quarterback in that class as well.

Kavian Bryant is the No. 42 ranked overall recruit in the ’27 class but is the No. 1 overall rated quarterback in the class.As the top QB in the class, Bryant will likely continue to rise in the recruiting rankings in the coming months.

For Michigan, Bryant is the top quarterback on the board and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey recently went to visit the star QB to continue building their relationship. Bryant had this to say about Michigan after a recent visit.

“Michigan has a lot of good qualities, the education, the facilities, The Big House. It was an eye opener.”

– 2027 top ranked QB Kavian Bryant

Advertisement

Education is clearly important to Bryant; he currently carries a 4.6 GPA in high school. Not many schools can offer the athletic program to match an elite education like the University of Michigan can. Bryant is a solid two sport athlete with D1 offers in basketball as well. He has expressed interest in playing both football and basketball at the next level. Again, not many universities can offer a top tier football and basketball program like Michigan can.

Currently the Wolverines have a 50% prediction for landing Bryant, but there is a ton of recruiting left in this battle. It remains to be seen if Michigan can close the deal and land their third straight elite quarterback.

– Enjoy more Michigan Wolverines coverage on Michigan Wolverines On SI –

More Michigan News:

Social media reacts to Michigan football landing TE Mason Bonner

Michigan football: Bryce Underwood labeled a top-25 QB before taking a college football snap

Michigan football gains prediction to land another offensive weapon following commitment of 4-star TE Matt Ludwig

For additional coverage of University of Michigan athletics:

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel: @WingedHelmetMedia
• Follow us on Facebook: @TheWingedHelmet
• Follow us on Twitter: @TWH_chris | @TrentKnoop | @JerredJohnso