How many games have there been where the long snapper made a key play in a positive way? It happened on Friday night, when Birmingham’s Ryan Langan came up big with the game in balance, helping the Stallions take a 21-12 victory over the Michigan Panthers.

The play that threatened to overshadow the rest of the United Football League game happened on the first snap, when Birmingham’s Alex McGough got hurt on a quarterback keeper and did not return.

The Stallions turned to Matt Corral under center in a bid to avert the first back-to-back losses in franchise history, and his ledger in his first action of the season included a 52-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Deon Cain at Ford Field in Detroit.

But Birmingham got its first victory of the 2025 season on the backs of its defense, with as assist from Langan.

Leading 18-9 after Michigan had halved its deficit on quarterback Bryce Perkins’ 9-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marcus Simms and 3-point conversion run with 9:16 remaining, the Stallions had an untimely three-and-out, forcing a punt by Colby Wadman from the Birmingham 16-yard line.

Michigan wide receiver Devin Ross muffed the punt, setting off a scramble for the football that the officials eventually determined was back where it had started on the play – in Langan’s hands – but at the Michigan 46-yard line.

Birmingham turned the turnover into a 31-yard field goal by Harrison Mevis with 1:53 to play.

Although the Panthers got the field goal back with 26 seconds left, Birmingham’s defense forced an incompletion on the fourth-and-12 onside-kick alternative by Michigan to end the game.

The Stallions defense also made a goal-line stand to keep Michigan from scoring from first-and-goal at the 2-yard line in the third quarter to protect a 12-0 lead. Birmingham stopped four straight rushing attempts by running back Nate McCrary.

“What I saw,” Panthers coach Mike Nolan said, “was we didn’t knock them off the ball.”

The Birmingham defense caused the Panthers to punt after both the interceptions by Michigan defensive back D.J. Miller Jr., had two sacks by defensive end Bradlee Anae and got an interception from strong safety A.J. Thomas.

After a 25-yard return, Thomas lateraled the football to defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey, a 290-pounder who rumbled for 9 more yards to put Birmingham on the Panthers 23-yard line. The Stallions cashed that in with a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Ricky Person Jr. for a 12-0 lead with 11:27 left in the third quarter.

After the goal-line stand, Corral unleashed the touchdown pass to Cain as Birmingham took a 18-0 lead with 14:52 to play.

Corral completed 18-of-29 passes for 198 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and ran three times for 15 yards. The last time that Corral played, he came off the bench in relief of UFL MVP Adrian Martinez to rally Birmingham to a 31-18 victory over Michigan in the USFL Conference championship game on June 8.

“It’s just being a pro,” Corral said. “… When the opportunity presents itself, you got to be ready, and that’s on nobody else but yourself.”

The Stallions lost 18-11 to DC in their opener on Sunday, with the Defenders registering eight sacks. On Friday night, the Panthers didn’t register any sacks.

“What a difference a week makes,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “A week ago, I thought we had probably arguably our worst performance in three years in this league as an offensive football team. We did not play very well, and I was really proud the way the team came out and practiced this week, the sense of urgency they had, the energy they practiced with, the sense of determination to get it done. …

“Even though today wasn’t sexy, it wasn’t a high-scoring affair – it was kind of a slugfest with two heavyweights sitting in the middle of the field kind of duking it out. We called somewhat of a conservative game a little bit offensively. Because of that, we got the lead. I felt like let’s just punt the ball away if we can’t make a first down and make them go 80 yards against our defense. I felt really good about the way our defense was playing today.”

Next time out, the Stallions play their home opener when the Arlington Renegades come to Protective Stadium in Birmingham at 7 p.m. CDT Friday.

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