2023 USFL Divisional Playoff Online Betting
Last week they ended the USFL regular season for 2023. And it was a dramatic grand finale with playoff implications at stake. With the two playoff semifinals set, there couldn't be a much bigger contrast. The South Division semifinal features the league's two highest-scoring teams with the two best records. The North Division semifinal features the two lowest-scoring teams, with both below .500.
The two USFL semifinals will be Pittsburgh Maulers vs. Michigan Panthers on Saturday, followed by Birmingham Stallions vs. New Orleans Breakers on Sunday. The winners will play in the championship game the following Saturday, July 1.
The defending champion Stallions are favored to repeat. The Stallions, who beat the Memphis Showboats 27-20 over the weekend, have the league's best record at 8-2. In two seasons of the rebooted USFL, the Stallions have gone 19-3.
The Breakers are the No. 2 seed in the South Division and will face the Stallions for the third time this year in the semifinals, a rematch of last year's South semifinal. The Breakers clinched a playoff spot by beating the Houston Gamblers on Sunday, 17-10.
The Pittsburgh Maulers clinched a semifinal berth by beating the New Jersey Generals on Saturday, 26-6. Fittingly for a team from Pittsburgh, the Maulers have allowed the fewest points in the league. However, they finished with just a 4-6 record and needed victories in the final two weeks to reach four wins, which was good enough to win the division.
The Michigan Panthers got the final playoff spot by coming back from a 20-6 halftime deficit against the Philadelphia Stars on Sunday night in a 23-20 victory. The Panthers, Stars, and Maulers all finished 4-6 in the East, but the Maulers got the top seed with the best division record (4-2), including going 2-0 against Michigan. The Panthers swept the Stars.
The bad news for the Breakers is that their reward for finishing with the league's second-best record is that they'll have to beat the team with the best record to reach the final. Birmingham beat New Orleans three times last year, including the semifinal, and once more this season. On top of that, the South Division semi will be held in Birmingham.
But the Breakers, who won one more game than they did last season, have reason to believe they can pull off an upset. They scorched the Stallions' defense in Week 3 in a 45-32 victory. The teams' other meeting, in Week 7, saw Birmingham win 24-20.
The Stallions have scored the most points in the league by far, led by quarterback Alex McGough (league-leading 20 TD passes, second-most passing yards at 2,104). Jace Sternberger leads the USFL in receiving TDs (7) despite playing tight end.
The Breakers, meanwhile, have allowed the second-fewest points in the USFL while also scoring the second-most. New Orleans quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson is the only QB to have thrown for more yards (2,433) than McGough, while running back Wes Hills is the league's rushing yards leader (679).
The Stallions beat the Breakers 31-17 in last year's semifinal after grabbing the lead before halftime on a 90-yard kick return TD (the league's first). The rematch is set up to be the best game of the season; expect the Breakers to keep it closer than last year, with a real shot at an upset.
Pittsburgh was 2-6 through eight weeks. Michigan entered Sunday night with a 3-6 record and trailed the Stars by two touchdowns at halftime. Yet somehow, here we are, with one of those teams set to make the USFL championship game.
To the Maulers' credit, they finished with a bang, holding their last two opponents to a combined 13 points to finish 4-6. Pittsburgh relies on the league's best defense. Offensively, quarterback Troy Williams (1,414 yards, 6 TDs, 3 INTs) is also the team's rushing leader (341 yards, 3 TDs).
The Maulers beat the Panthers twice this season (23-7 in Week 5 and 19-7 in Week 9), accounting for half of Pittsburgh's wins.
Michigan, which struggled through a 1-6 stretch after starting the season 2-0, switched up its starting quarterback for the regular-season finale. After going with Josh Love (1,556 yards, 13 TDs, 10 INTs) all season, the Panthers went with E.J. Perry, a more mobile QB, on Sunday night. Perry threw for 141 yards without a passing TD or pick but led the team in rushing with ten attempts for 48 yards and a touchdown.
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