Here are three elements from the first match of the spring championship: Big names … just not on the field The natural problem facing all start-up football leagues is that the top talent is in the NFL. This leads to a ceiling on the quality of football that is shown, and this was evident from time to time throughout Saturday’s game. Except for a few players who could make the avid college football observer say “Oh, this guy!” – it was a Scooby Wright III who saw this game – the most recognizable people on the pitch may have been the coaches: Mike Riley (Generals) and Skip Holtz (Stallions) should be names well known to football fans. But off the field, the presentation was top notch. Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt called the action for Fox (the game aired on NBC at the same time). As one would expect from two long-time Fox employees, they did a professional job and treated the action with the respect it deserves – even if it’s not the NFL or the biggest college football game of the week, the guys put their bodies on the line. for our fun after all. Former Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett also made his debut as a television analyst for NBC, appearing before the game and at halftime. Fox used a wide variety of cameras, including drone skycam shots and a “helmet camera,” which led you right into the chaotic heart of the action. In the third quarter, Riley spent a lot of time making a microphone, which gave an interesting picture of what football coaches do on the sidelines. Overall, it was a steady transmission. It’s still football! Even if it was not the highest quality, a big advantage for the USFL debut: It’s still football! The story goes on What, will you pretend every NFL game is good? Soccer is a deeply bizarre game and beauty can be found in the silly moments of the sport – like a guy taking a sack with a thread in his mouth. But that does not mean that some spectacular games were not played. Randy Sutherfield opened the scoring for the Generals with a great grip, absorbing a huge blow to keep the touchdown. With the subsequent occupation, Osiros Mitchell of Birmingham made a touch with a wonderful one-handed grip. The game even had an exciting ending: Generals’ Nick Rose, having missed twice earlier in the game, scored the 47-yard touchdown with 1:54 to finish. But the Stallions came down to the field and achieved the winning touchdown in a showdown with General J’Mar Smith with just 23 seconds left. Satterfield, a Lyon College product, was among the highlights of this first competition, ending the game with five 100-yard catches and a touchdown. Mitchell, a Mississippi alum, had five catches for 96 yards and one score. Birmingham Stallions wide receiver Osiros Mitchell celebrates after scoring against the New Jersey Generals during the first half at the Protective Stadium. Maybe one of the players who came out on the field on Saturday is one of the stars to emerge in this league and get a rupture in the NFL. This was the case for PJ Walker, who led the XFL as a general to work with the Carolina Panthers. A location a strange choice Birmingham hosted this competition – and technically it will be for every game the USFL plays. The Protective Stadium and the historic Legion Field will be the venues for all of the regular season games played in the league before the playoffs in Canton of Ohio. Saturday’s match at the Protective Stadium – in which the Birmingham team actually took part – did not appear to be full. This does not seem to be the best sign for the league. Is there an appetite among the select people of Alabama for many USFL matches a day? Will a fan of other teams travel to Birmingham to watch the match of the “home” team? Will the structure of a tournament site prevent fans from fully sticking to the product? The XFL had many cities that attracted over 17,000 fans in Week 1 in early 2020 and seemed to have a solid thing in the works before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic closing the league. Last year, the American Football Alliance collapsed amid financial problems. Time will tell if the renewed USFL will succeed, but for at least one day it helped to satisfy this football itch. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USFL first game: What we learned from Generals vs. Stallions
