USFL Week 7: Stallions top Maulers, clinch playoff spot
The Birmingham Stallions are not just the USFL's only undefeated team after beating the Pittsburgh Maulers on Sunday, they're also now a playoff team.
The Stallions (7-0) clinched a spot in the postseason with a hard-fought victory, a win that required a 100-yard rushing day from Bo Scarbrough and four field goals from Brandon Aubrey to pull off.
The Stallions are the second team to clinch a playoff spot, following the New Jersey Generals, who clinched Saturday.
Here are the top plays from Sunday's game.
Birmingham Stallions 26, Pittsburgh Maulers 16
After stopping the Maulers on the game's opening drive, the Stallions got on the board first with a field goal by Aubrey. The kick was set up by a beautiful 53-yard pass from quarterback J'Mar Smith to wideout Victor Bolden.
The catch made Bolden the first player to compile 1,000 all-purpose yards this season.
The Maulers struck back, though, taking the lead on a 4-yard plunge by Madre London.
The Pittsburgh defense continued to give the Stallions fits, as evidenced by the big sack from Nasir Player. The Maulers added a field goal to their tally a short while later to take a 10-3 lead.
The Stallions' Aubrey nailed another field goal late in the first half, which left the Maulers with a 10-6 edge at the break.
The Stallions came out fired up in the second half. First, Bo Scarbrough went for a big gain on the ground.
Then, after the Maulers forced fourth down, Birmingham dug into its bag of tricks — Bobby Holly rumbled 52 yards for a touchdown on a fake punt.
Swallowed up!
Birmingham is doing what it can to remain undefeated, and it came up with a clutch sack courtesy of Willie Yarbary to hold its opponent to a FG.
Aubrey helped capitalize on the pivotal defensive play with a pretty 42-yard field goal to push Birmingham into a 16-13 lead.
Up the ante
Birmingham struck again midway through the fourth, this time with a punch up the gut from CJ Marable.
Sweep the leg!
Pittsburgh brought itself within a TD with a huge 58-yard power kick from Ramiz Ahmed.
Birmingham hung tough though, getting another conversion from its own kicker, who knocked in another FG to remain perfect on the day.
The kick put the Stallions up 26-16, a tally which held until the game's close. Birmingham punched its ticket to the playoffs and improved to 7-0 with the victory.
