Teams that achieve a 31-4 record over the course of three seasons have limited opportunities for revenge games. But the Birmingham Stallions get one on Sunday.

On May 25, the Stallions sustained their only loss of the 2024 United Football League season, falling to the San Antonio Brahmas 18-9 on May 25.

Since that setback, Birmingham has beaten the Michigan Panthers on successive Saturdays – 20-19 in the regular-season finale on June 1 and 31-18 in the UFL playoffs on June 8.

Winners of the USFL championship the previous two seasons, the Stallions have reached the inaugural United Football League Championship Game for a rematch with the Brahmas at 4 p.m. CDT Sunday at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis.

“We know we have a great challenge with San Antonio,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “I think our players are really excited. If they could have picked one team to be in it, I think it’s San Antonio because it’s the only blemish on our record, and it’s not very often in sports that when you lose a game you get a do-over. And so to have the do-over, I think, is really exciting for our players. I think they’re really excited about this opportunity. Not only is it for the championship, but it’s against our only blemish, so I think there’s going to be a lot of emotion in this game, I think there’ll be a lot of excitement with great respect for San Antonio on the field.”

After stopping the Stallions, the Brahmas lost their regular-season finale to the St. Louis Battlehawks 13-12 on June 1 to lose homefield advantage for the XFL Championship Game. But San Antonio rebounded for a 25-15 victory over the Battlehawks in the XFL Conference Championship Game to earn a third straight game in St. Louis.

The San Antonio defense yielded the fewest yards and the fewest points in the UFL this season. Only once did the opposition score more than 19 points against the Brahmas this season – St. Louis in a 31-24 victory over San Antonio on April 14.

The Birmingham offense scored the most points and gained the most yards in the UFL this season.

“They’ve got a great defensive football team,” Holtz said. “It’s not an overly complicated scheme, I think. It’s not that they do a million things and blitz from everywhere and create an ungodly amount of pressure with what they do. They just play solid, fundamental football. They’re built on speed. They’re athletic. They create a lot of pressure with just four down. They don’t need to blitz because their front is so athletic.

“I think their defensive ends are some of the most athletic in the league with the way that they come off the edge and the pressure that they create on an offense. Their linebackers are not 240 pounds, 6-4; they are athletic, they are fast, they are quick. And what they do is they keep the ball in front of them and they run like heck to the ball. They’re a physical group because of the speed that they create. …

“We got to be playing our best football if we expect to move it at all or score any points.”

The Stallions defense gave up the second-fewest points and yards in the UFL in 2024. The Brahmas offense does not have mirror stats. San Antonio ranked sixth in scoring and fourth in yards during the regular season.

Chases Garbers started at quarterback in the Brahmas’ first three games, then was sidelined by injury until coming off the bench in the Week 8 win over Birmingham. For the first time since he got hurt, Garbers went all the way under center in San Antonio’s semifinal victory over the Battlehawks on Sunday and threw two touchdown passes.

San Antonio ran for a season-high 240 yards last week, buoyed by running back Anthony McFarland’s 69-yard touchdown.

“They have an offense that complements their defense very well,” Holtz said. “They don’t turn the ball over a lot, they control the ball, they make first downs, and then you have a limited number of opportunities to beat that defense.”

FOX will televise the United Football League Championship Game.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.