UFL week 8 continues with the Michigan Panthers on the road against the Houston Roughnecks. Michigan is tied for the top spot in the USFL division and with only three weeks left, every win counts towards those bragging rights. Houston, on the other hand, is hoping to keep their playoffs hopes alive. A win today keeps them in the hunt, a loss eliminates their chances completely.
The Roughnecks are coming off of a tough loss which saw the Birmingham Stallions complete the largest comeback this season. Last week, Michigan edged out the Renegades at the last-second in a controversial ending. All of this leads us to what could turn out to be a fun matchup.
Unfortunately, this games shares a timeslot with the Stallions/Battlehawks outing, which is what most of the country will be seeing today.
First Quarter
Bryce Perkins was out to start the game for the Panthers, giving the Roughnecks an angle to attack to pull out a win. Barring an emergency, Danny Etling would be the QB for Michigan for the game.
In Etling’s first drive he couldn’t find his rhythm, ultimately taking a big sack on three and out, punting it away to the Roughnecks.
Jalen McClendon came onto the field for the first time of the afternoon, hoping to get Houston an early lead. After last week, the team knows no lead is large enough.
McClendon found his man in Josh Pederson who secured the first 1st down of the day for either team. It didn’t take long for ZaQuandre White to get into the zone. He found a gap and took it 30+ yards to move into enemy territory.
Lorenzo Lingard did his part shortly after, putting the team at 1st & Goal, 4 yards from the endzone. They tried, tried, and tried again; but on fourth down Coach Johnson opted to bring in the field goal unit. Chris Blewitt came in and knocked it from 26-yards to give the Roughnecks and early 3-0 lead over the Panthers.
Etling and co came back on the field and this times looked to be working a bit more smooth. He connected with Gunnar Oakes down the field, but a holding penalty brought it back.
Malik Tuner brought the team past mid-field for the first time of the afternoon. Just as things seemed to be going the Panthers way, they started to draw more bad calls. They couldn’t withstand Houston’s defense. B.T. Potter came out for a 55-yard field goal attempt, but after a Roughnecks timeout, Coach Nolan decided to bring the offense back on the field.
Jalen Moore couldn’t pull it in, but he did draw a pass interference call keeping their drive alive.
Etling took the situation into his own hands, rushing it near the endzone to put them at first and goal. On 3rd and 4, he found Malik Turner to put them on the board.
They opted for 1, and Etling found an open Cole Hikutini to give them a 7-3 lead with 28-seconds left in the first.
Second Quarter
Houston started the second quarter on third down, but McClendon started things out by converting and giving them a fresh set of downs. The Roughnecks continued to make bad mistakes on the field, drawing call after call. 3rd & 18 was just too much for McClendon to overcome. Coach Johnson brought out the kicking unit to give it back to the Panthers.
Xavier Malone came up with a huge return, running it back 88-yards to bring them 1-yard from another score.
Samson Nacua caught the short pass to find the endzone and extend their lead. Taua gave them another point on the conversion, they now held a 14-3 lead over Houston with plenty of time to go.
Cyril Grayson has another solid return for Houston, giving them great starting position.
Houston’s offense continued to struggle, but on 4th & 2 Kirk Merritt was able to convert and keep the drive moving.
McClendon wasted no time finding opportunities. Keke Chism found himself open, grabbed the 33-yard reception and a touchdown. They couldn’t get the extra-point, but they did narrow the Panthers lead.
Michigan’s offense was looking to keep the momentum going and possibly build their lead as they edged closer to halftime. This time there was just too much pressure to get the ball moving. They punted it back to the Roughnecks with around 4-minutes left in the half.
McClendon came out with his arm in mind. He aired it out deep, but his receiver couldn’t pull it in. On another attempt he was almost picked off. On third-down, there was too much coverage. Luckily for them, a flag came in to save the day, and the drive.
Jalen found Emmanuel Butler on the next play to keep the chains moving.
They ultimately couldn’t get it into the endzone. Chris Blewitt hit a new season long from 51-yards to give the Roughnecks three more. They now trailed the Panthers 14-12 with 1:42 to go in the half.
Xavier Malone took a big hit on the return, but after commercial break was shown walking off the field. Siaosi Mariner started the drive with a huge 26-yard reception to put them at mid-field. Jalen Moore kept the chains moving with a solid rush on the next play.
After a few attempts, they decided to walk away from the half with some points. B.T. Potter came back out for Michigan but was off target from 46-yards out.
Houston would secure good field position, but only had 16-seconds to execute before halftime. McClendon started things out by taking a shot to Justin Hall, who moved them into enemy territory.
They couldn’t get into field goal range before the clock ran out, but they were only down by two at halftime.
Third Quarter
Houston would start the half receiving the kickoff. Cyril Grayson continued to shine on the return, bringing it near the 30 for the Roughnecks.
Justin Hall took a big hit, temporarily bringing him out of the game. McClendon found a new target in Josh Pederson. Pederson secured a first down and moved the team past midfield as they looked to regain the lead.
Justin Hall came back in, caught the pass, but it wasn’t enough to convert the 3rd down. Coach Johnson opted to go for it on 4th & 2, but Spivey couldn’t pull it in.
The Panthers would now regain the ball with great starting position. Etling now had an opportunity to build a solid lead over Houston to start out the half.
Toa Taua was doing well today for the Panthers, which he’s been doing all season. After Malik Turner brought them 1-yard shy of a first down, Taua came in to finish the job.
This is when Houston turned up the pressure. The Roughnecks defense came in strong, pushing the Panthers back to 3rd & 18. This didn’t shake Danny Etling. Etling found Devin Ross completely open. Ross then ran it into the endzone for another Panthers TD. Toa Taua was able to get the extra-point conversion, putting Michigan up 21-12 with 6:31 to go in the third.
Houston was now down by 9, but in the UFL that’s still just a one-score game. There was still a lot of time left, but they’d want to keep up with the Panthers so the score didn’t get away from them.
Lawrence Keys pulled in a solid pass from McClendon to move the chains and get the Roughnecks at the enemy 43. Kenih Lovely ruined all of their momentum with one little interception. To make matters worse for Houston, Lovely ran it all the way back for a pick-six.
McClendon came back on the field, this time to a much larger deficit. It looked like it might be a quick three and out, but Josh Pederson pulled in the pass to keep the drive alive.
The Roughnecks continued to chisel away at the yards, securing another fresh set of downs with 22-seconds left in the third. Cyril Grayson closed out the third putting them 1-yard away from another first down.
Fourth Quarter
Things started out shaky for the Roughnecks in the fourth. McClendon was nearly picked off again, luckily for them the ball hit the ground during the catch.
Lingard’s name came up a lot during this drive. McClendon leaned on him to keep the ball moving, in the longest drive of the game so far. For all the effort they put into it, one play took it all away. Houston fumbled the ball and Noah Dawkins scooped it up and ran it 82-yards for another Panthers score.
Before the play could be challenged, the booth reviewed it and determined that it was an incomplete pass rather than a fumble, giving the Roughnecks a little hope.
The Panthers defense came up with a big sack, forcing Houston back into fourth down. With time running away from them, they decided to go for it but could not convert.
Michigan’s offense came back on the field with a two-score lead. They’d be looking to add to that and effectively close out the game and clinch their playoff spot.
The Panthers relied heavily on the ground game during this drive. Not only was this working for them, it was also running more time off the clock.
On third and long, Jalen Moore was the guy to keep it going this time around. They continued to take their time, running more and more time off.
Michigan was able to bring the game under 6-minutes before ultimately going for a 52-yard field goal. B.T. Potter knocked it in to give them a solid 30-12 lead with 5:15 to go.
If Houston had any hopes of winning this game they needed to score a touchdown on this drive. Today was just not their day. On a bad snap, McClendon could not get a good handle on the ball and fumbled it away. Michigan now had the ball with a little over 3-minutes left. They would take their time for the rest of the matchup coasting to a win.
It seemed like Houston may have given up at this point. They had two timeouts left, but Coach Johnson allowed the clock to run down to the 2-minute warning.
With 1:48 to go the Panthers went for it on 4th and short, but could not convert. The Roughnecks had one more shot to make this a game.
McClendon made a few deep attempts, and Cyril Grayson was able to pull it in at the goal line. But, they only had 6-seconds left. McClendon passed it off to Justin Hall for the TD, but it was a little too late.
The Michigan Panthers have officially stamped their ticket to the playoffs.
Unfortunately, for Roughnecks fans, they have been eliminated from the postseason. It was revealed that there is a scheduling conflict at Ford Field. Even if the Panthers win the division, they’ll be playing on the road. But, bragging rights are on the line. Houston may be out of the playoffs, but they’re record is still 400% better than last season. They’ll head into the final stretch to build on that record and work towards next season.
The UFL Playoffs are shaping up, who is your pick to win the championship? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below or join the conversation on Discord.
