Dominant Second Half Propels Stallions To Largest-Ever UFL comeback win
MAY 12, 2025 - BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA
By Steve Irvine
J’Mar Smith, the fifth Birmingham Stallions to play this season and was active for the first time this season, came off the bench to provide the winning points in an improbable come-from-behind 33-25 victory over the Houston Roughnecks in a key UFL USFL Division victory on a cloudy Sunday at Protective Stadium.
Life certainly hasn’t been boring for the Stallions this season.
“Kind of a ho-hum game,” Stallions coach Skip Holtz joked in the postgame press conference. “The game is 60 minutes long. And we have almost mastered the art on how to try and use every one of those 60 minutes to try and find a way to win a football game.”
The script on this one was for the Stallions to fall into a 25-6 hole in the second quarter, go into halftime trailing by 13 points, pitch a second half shutout and turn it over to the backup quarterback in the final minutes to help finish off the biggest comeback in the two seasons of the UFL.
It gets better. Not only was Smith playing for the first time this season but the last time he took a snap during a regular season game was in the 2023 season opener. He spent the 2024 season serving as the team’s No. 3 quarterback and opted not to report when the Stallions reported for camp this season. Smith was an emergency addition as the No. 3 quarterback for the team’s home game against the Memphis Showboats on April 25. He was released after that game but returned late the next week when starter Matt Corral had to go on the injured reserve list.
Smith entered Sunday’s game as the backup quarterback, meaning he was one play away from entering the game. That play happened with just under nine minutes left when starter Case Cookus was sacked on a play that was negated by a defensive offsides penalty. The right-handed Cookus hurt the elbow on his throwing arm and was forced to leave the game with the Stallions facing a 3rd-and-5 situation. Smith’s first pass was knocked down by a Houston defender and the Stallions got a 52-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis, his third of the second half, to trim the deficit to 25-21 with 7:52 remaining.
Smith then went to the sideline to regroup for his next opportunity.
“Just get back out there,” said Smith, who was the team’s most productive quarterback during the USFL championship season in 2022 and has played for Holtz since his college days at Louisiana Tech. “That was the main thing for me. It's been a long time coming, like everyone said. I know the offense pretty well. Me and Coach have been together for a while. So just knowing what he wants to out there, (then) execute and put the ball in play. Try to be smart with the ball, move the ball, and just try to get the ball in the end zone, that was the main thing for me.”
After a defensive stop, the Stallions took over at their own 25-yard line with 5:13 on the clock. He scrambled for no gain before connecting with Deon Cain for a 23-yard gain and running for 11 yards to the Houston 41-yard line. He misfired on a swing pass to running back C.J. Marable before finding Jace Sternberger across the middle. Sternberger turned the play into a 32-yard gain before being pushed out at the 9-yard line. Smith connected with Davion Davis for an 8-yard gain on second down and then weaved into the end zone on a run-pass option on third down.
“Coach Holtz gave us a (run-pass option) read,” said Smith, who was playing in front of his 1-year-old son for the first time. “They took the pass away, I just had to make a play getting in the end zone, try to evade a couple defenders, and that's what I did.”
Smith came up short on the one-point conversion run, leaving the Stallions with a 27-25 lead with 1:55 left in the game. The Stallions kickoff coverage made a huge play on the ensuing kickoff with Mario Goodrich forcing a fumble by Houston’s Lawrence Keys III. Tre Norwood hustled to recover the football at Houston 17-yard line. Houston was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty following Smith’s touchdown run and that penalty was enforced after the kickoff, which moved the ball to the 2-yard line. Stallions running back Ricky Person Jr. scored on first down to give the Stallions an 8-point lead with 1:44 remaining.
It was then up to the Stallions defense to secure the win. Carlos Davis put the Roughnecks in a hole with a second down sack for a loss of eight yards and Perrion Winfrey ended the possession with a fourth down sack of quarterback Jalan McClendon. It was a fitting end for a Stallions defense that was sensational after halftime. The Stallions allowed 200 yards, 10 first downs and 18 points in the first half and gave up 29 yards, three first downs and no points in the second half.
The Stallions running game produced 142 yards on 32 carries with Person (13 carries for 60 yards), Marable (10 carries for 44 yards) and Smith all scoring touchdowns on the ground. Cookus was 17-for-34 for 199 yards, including an 8-yard touchown pass to Sternberger with three seconds left in the first half. Smith finished 3-for-5 for 63 yards and had nine yards on four carries.
The Stallions (5-2 overall) kept pace at top of the UFL Division standings with co-leader Michigan. Houston (3-4) remained in third place.