Thrilling overtime win puts Stallions Back In Thick of UFL Playoff Race

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - May 11, 2026

By Steve Irvine

An important step toward reaching the UFL playoffs was the biggest reward for the Birmingham Stallions after a gutsy 21-17 overtime win over the Dallas Renegades on Saturday night at Protective Stadium.

With the win, the Stallions pulled into a tie with the Renegades and the Louisville Kings for the fourth place with three games left to play. The Houston Gamblers can join that group at 3-4 with an upset win over the St. Louis Battlehawks on Sunday night. A loss on Saturday would have put the Stallions in a difficult spot in regards to postseason play. Instead, after finding a win in a game that the Stallions never led in regulation, the Stallions enter the final three weeks with the tiebreaker over the Renegades and the Louisville Kings.

  “I thought just a unbelievable job by the team and the fellows of just battling through adversity,” said Birmingham head coach AJ McCarron. “I don't know what the deal is here from an offense standpoint. We just play a little slow, but I tell you what I'm most proud of is the fact that we are becoming a team that can battle through adversity and gel together and play good football at the right time. This part of the season, you've got to be able to play good team football and you've got to have some of these wins in your season where you battle through and just find a way to win. I thought it was a great job by the boys tonight.”

The Stallions found a way in every phase of the game to pull out the win. The defense limited one of the best offenses in the UFL to 282 yards and came up big with a pair of stops in an overtime that consists of each team getting three chances from the 5-yard line. Quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the offense sputtered much of the night but came up big to tie the game with 2 minutes left in regulation and then scored on their first two chances in overtime to seal the win. Special teams came up with one of the biggest plays of the game when defensive tackle Jayden Peevy blocked a 53-yard field goal attempt by Colton Theaker on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime.

“They fought all the way through to the late touchdown to get themselves tied,” said Dallas coach Rick Neuheisel. “I thought we were going to have a walk-off field goal but somebody got their hand on it and they were better than us in overtime.”

It was that of game. Dallas seemed to control the game most of the way but the Stallions found a way to answer. It began in the first half when Thompson-Robinson threw his lone interception on the second offensive snap for the Stallions and Dallas built a 10-0 lead. The Stallions finally got on the scoreboard with 3:57 left in the first half when Thompson-Robinson threw a strike to Daewood Davis for a 46-yard touchdown on 4th-and-11. Dallas took the 10-7 lead into halftime and it stayed that way until Anders Carlson tied the score on a 40-yard field goal with 8:59 left in the game.

Dallas took the 17-10 lead with 5:48 remaining on a 15-yard run by Ellis Merriweather, setting up one final opportunity for Thompson-Robinson and the offense.

“I mean, nothing was really said,” Thompson-Robinson said. “We kind of went through that a little bit last week. We jumped on the Storm early, right, and then kind of stalled out and let them get back in that game. So we've now had two different sides of that taste and definitely a lesson tonight to learn from on if we don't start fast, what that can lead to.”

Deon Cain put the Stallions in good field position with a 40-yard kickoff return that finished seven yards short of midfield. Three plays into the possession, Thompson-Robinson found Jaydon Mickens for a 17-yard gain to the Renegades 24-yard line. Three plays later, the Stallions faced 4th-and-4 from the Dallas 18-yard line. Thompson-Robinson found Mickens at the 7-yard line for a first down and the Stallions receivers wiggled away from two defenders to turn it into an 18-yard touchdowns. Carlson’s extra point tied the game.

Dallas slugged its way down the field and eventually had a shot at the potential walk-off field goal. McCarron called timeout just before the ball was snapped for Theaker’s 53-yard attempt. Theaker went ahead with the practice kick and had enough distance to reach the stands behind the goalpost.

“We wanted him to think about it a little bit more and kind of see whether they were going to line up a certain way or whatever,” McCarron said. “It allows us to have an opportunity to see what they're in and then adjust. But I trust our special teams coaches and, you know, Todd Watson and (Kevin) Sherrer working together, great  call by them.”

Theaker’s official kick barely crossed the line of scrimmage before it was hit by the 6-foot-5, 307-pound Peevy, who has been with the team for two weeks.

Dallas began overtime at the 5-yard line but quickly moved up to inside the 1-yard line because of a pair of Birmingham penalties. Backup quarterback Luke Lehnen attempted a quarterback sneak but was swallowed by the Ricky Correia and TJ Carter and interior of the Stallions defense. Officials couldn’t determine whether Lehne reached the end zone and it went to replay official Dean Blandino, who ruled that Lehnen was short of the end zone.

“Looked very much like our quarterback got in,” Neuheisel said. “I mean, when you splice the two pieces of tape together, which we were able to see, is how our our quarterback worked to the left and gained some measure of yards. Then you look from behind and you see that he never went down and he burrows. When you start with the idea that we were on the half-yard line, I don’t see how you say he didn’t get in.”

Obviously, the feeling was different on the other side after what is officially a first play stop.

“The way the rules are set up, that kind of makes the most sense that you want them to go first, right, knowing that you're going to have an opportunity,” Thompson-Robinson said. “So when they don't get it, you smell the blood in the water.”

Thompson-Robinson got the Stallions off to a good start in overtime by scrambling around right end and getting into the end zone for the conversion. The Stallions defense then came up with another big play, this time on a sack by Isaac Ukwu. Thompson-Robinson and Mickens then ended the game by hooking up on a pass.