UFL Playoffs By The Numbers: Michigan RB Toa Taua dazzles with hat trick
The Panthers took down the defending champion Birmingham Stallions in the USFL Conference Championship Game on Sunday, 44-29, followed by the Defenders pulling out a 36-18 win over the powerhouse St. Louis Battlehawks in the XFL Conference Championship Game.
Here are the numbers to know ahead of the upcoming UFL title game on Saturday:
2: St. Louis finished the regular season with the best record in the league but saw its championship hopes dashed in the conference title game for the second consecutive season. Road teams went 2-for-2 this weekend.
3: After leading the league in rushing touchdowns in the regular season with six, Michigan RB Toa Taua kept it rolling in the playoffs with 85 rushing yards and a season-high three scores in the Panthers' double-digit win in Birmingham.
4: Birmingham's quest for a fourth consecutive spring football title under head coach Skip Holtz — Birmingham had won back-to-back USFL titles in 2022 and 2023 before taking the inaugural UFL crown last year — came to an end on Sunday. The loss also snapped a seven-game winning streak against Michigan that dated back to 2022.
5: The Defenders' defense dominated up front in the upset over the Battlehawks. The Defenders had five sacks and nine tackles for loss in the win, as head coach Blake Williams' group controlled the game from start to finish.
15: While it came in a losing effort, Battlehawks All-UFL linebacker Willie Harvey stuffed the stat sheet against the Defenders with 15 total tackles — the most by any player in a single game this season — and a sack.
24: The Panthers will take on the Defenders in the 2025 UFL Championship Game on Saturday. The two teams met in Week 6 of the regular season, with the Panthers handing the Defenders their worst loss of the year, 38-14, in Detroit.
44: The 44 points scored by Michigan were the most Birmingham has allowed in a UFL game and the second most it has allowed in four years of spring football; the defunct New Orleans Breakers scored 45 against the Stallions in 2023.
73: Michigan and Birmingham's 73 combined points is the most (regular or postseason) in a game in UFL history.
100: St. Louis' offense this season was predicated on its run game. It finished the regular season averaging a league-best 144 rushing yards per game. However, DC was the one team that figured out how to stop it, as it was the only team to hold the Battlehawks under 100 rushing yards in a game. What's more, the Defenders did it twice — in their Week 3 win in St. Louis and the playoff win on Sunday.
272: After sitting out the final three games of the regular season with an ankle injury, Panthers All-UFL QB Bryce Perkins showed no ill effects in the win over Birmingham. He completed 80% of his passes (20 of 25) and had 272 total yards of offense to go with two total touchdowns.
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