Michigan Panthers 2025 season

[RedRamage]

For all you are suffering from the early exit of the Lions like me, remember that there's still football coming up other than that last game a couple of teams are playing this Sunday. Maybe the Panthers will have a stand out edge this season that the Lions can sign??

Here's the 2025 schedule (all times are Eastern):

Week 1 - Sun, Mar 30 - 12:00noon @Memphis Showboats - ESPN
Week 2 - Fri, Apr 04 - 8:00pm vs. Birmingham Stallions - FOX
Week 3 - Sun, Apr 13 - 12:00noon vs. San Antonio Brahmas - ABC
Week 4 - Fri, Apr 18 - 8:00pm vs. Memphis Showboats - FOX
Week 5 - Sat, Apr 26 - 7:00pm @St. Louis Battlehawks - ESPN
Week 6 - Sun, May 4 - 12:00noon vs. DC Defenders - ESPN 2
Week 7 - Sat, May 10 - 1:00pm @Arlington Renegades - FOX
Week 8 - Sat, May 17 - 1:00pm @Houston Roughnecks - FOX
Week 9 - Sat, May 24 - 3:00pm @Birmingham Stallions - ABC
Week 10 - Sat, May 31 - 3:00pm vs. Houston Roughnecks - ESPN

The schedule's a little odd with three home games early and three road games late, but I imagine that's based on availability of the venues more than anything.

This also appears to be the first year that all teams will play their home game in their home cities.

 

 

[Hongbit]

I have to admit that I was wrong and never in a million years did I think this thread would exist when the league started.  

[RedRamage]

3 hours ago, Hongbit said:

I have to admit that I was wrong and never in a million years did I think this thread would exist when the league started.  

I'm a little surprised myself. While I was alive when the original Mi Panthers were around I was relatively young and not much into football, so I had to look up some stuff on it. The original Panthers only played two seasons and the original USFL only had three season. This will be the fourth season of the New Panthers.

Technically the new USFL only lasted two seasons (before merging with the XFL to become the UFL) so old USFL lasted longer.

Doing some wiki-research, the end of the (original) Panthers is kinda interesting. Taubman was the owner of the Panthers. After the 1984 season when the owners were planning to move the season to the Fall, Taubman, a Lions fan and friend of WCF, didn't want to do it. (Side note: The two owners who were apparently spearheading the push to move to Fall were Chicago Blitz owner Eddie Einhorn and NY Generals owner Donald Trump.) Taubman figured the Panthers would never be able to compete straight up with the Lions (if he even wanted to) and wouldn't be able to find a local college stadium to play in anyway so instead merged with the Oakland Invaders.

So I supposed for those who aren't Trump fans you have one more reason to dislike him: The fall of the original USFL.

[Sports_Freak]

Pick 6 to ice the win!

[RedRamage]

It was a nice opening game for the Panthers. The defense showed up and limited the opposition to just one TD and a couple of FGs. The offense wasn't always stellar, but two TDs, two FGs were enough to win, even without the defense pick six.

I'd say that QB Bryce Perkins, late of the LA Rams, was the star of the game. 16 for 19, 163 yards, one TD in the passing game, and then 14 yards on 6 attempt on the ground, including an Barry Sanders-eque run on 4th down, evading tacklers to dive into the endzone.

On defense Frank Ginda (2023 USFL defensive player of the year) had 11 tackles and half a sack, and of course Kia Nacua (brother of Samson Nacua, Michigan Panthers; and Puka Nacua, LA Rams) had the late pick six to really seal the game.

A new other notes:

• Michigan has historically alternated QBs each quarter or half. They intended to do that again this game but QB Danny Etling only saw a few snaps after taking a big hit to the chest. The hit would have been legal (ie, it wasn't roughing the QB or a late hit or a hit to the head) except the defender lowered his helmet and speared Etling in the chest. Etling didn't appear to have major injuries, but also didn't return to the game. I thought Perkins was the better QB in the game anyway, so I wasn't too upset over that.
• During the broadcast they continuously hammered how much access the viewer was given as they interviewed players, HCs, OCs, DCs, and of course head rules bigshot Dean Blandino. I'd say on maybe about 4 or 5 occasions I thought it was informative and helpful to the viewer. The rest of the time it was very distracting for me. It was hard to follow the game when the announcers were asking questions and I was trying to figure out who was answering and what he was saying. It was too much access imho.
• Fan turn out was... HORRIBLE. It looked like a COVID game. Seriously, it was BAD. I hope Michigan fans turn out better for next weeks game but Memphis fans? I think there were more players in that stadium than fans.

[MichiganCardinal]

I’ve never seen so many Jake Bates jerseys in my life.

 

[Sports_Freak]

This Perkins guy looks like he belongs in the NFL. Amazing elusiveness. And very quick...

Edited May 4 by Sports_Freak

[RedRamage]

17 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

This Perkins guy looks like he belongs in the NFL. Amazing elusiveness. And very quick...

I dunno... I worry (for his sake) that faster/stronger/bigger NFL defense would be making the tackles that he's breaking/evading, but then you'd also have faster/stronger/bigger OL protecting him too, so I dunno.

Beyond that, though, if you're not watching Michigan Panthers football, you are definitely missing out on some entertaining games. No, it's not NFL caliber, but Perkins has been a LOT of fun to watch this year.

[RedRamage]

 

[Sports_Freak]

3 hours ago, RedRamage said:

I dunno... I worry (for his sake) that faster/stronger/bigger NFL defense would be making the tackles that he's breaking/evading, but then you'd also have faster/stronger/bigger OL protecting him too, so I dunno.

Beyond that, though, if you're not watching Michigan Panthers football, you are definitely missing out on some entertaining games. No, it's not NFL caliber, but Perkins has been a LOT of fun to watch this year.

I agree, he's fun to watch. The guy is quick. He played for the Rams but never stuck. I really wouldn't be surprised to see another NFL team sign him. Maybe the Browns? They seem to be collecting QBs...🤣🤣

[Sports_Freak]

The NFL should look into giving coaches a Super Challenge. This looks like a good UFL rule and would cancel out some bogus penalty calls. And it wouldn't delay a game too much. Getting the calls right is pretty important in these days of legal gambling. I mean, we don't want people calling the games fixed, do we?

[Sports_Freak]

Another amazing Panthers win. They stole that game...Perkins is amazing.

[RedRamage]

On 5/10/2025 at 2:52 PM, Sports_Freak said:

The NFL should look into giving coaches a Super Challenge. This looks like a good UFL rule and would cancel out some bogus penalty calls. And it wouldn't delay a game too much. Getting the calls right is pretty important in these days of legal gambling. I mean, we don't want people calling the games fixed, do we?

The only thing I hate about the super challenge is how specific it needs to be.

For example, last week Nolan challenged DPI on a play. The defender was not flagged so Nolan was challenging that the defender should have been flagged. They reviewed it and said: Yep, defender was holding...but the defender was holding only BEFORE the pass was thrown, once it was thrown the defender wasn't holding anymore, so it was only holding, not DPI. But because Nolan specified that he was challenging the no-DPI call, the challenge failed.

I like the idea of a super challenge, but I think it needs some tweaking. Now obviously you can't Challenge the whole play and have the replay booth review the entire 22 players on the field for the entire play... that would take forever and end up with a LOT of ticky-tacky penalties that had no outcome on the actual play.

What I'd like to see is that you challenge everything that happens in, say, a 5-yard circle at a specific point: Refs/replay looks at the 5 yard zone at the time in question and reviews everything that happened in that area. A bad flag thrown? Pick it up. Something not called that should have been? Flag it.

[RedRamage]

On 5/10/2025 at 4:15 PM, Sports_Freak said:

Another amazing Panthers win. They stole that game...Perkins is amazing.

I want to say that they got a little help from the refs on the clock there... but I think you could reasonably make the claim that they did get the Timeout in. Plus I thought the refs hosed them on some calls earlier in the game.

Panther's secondary did NOT look good though.

[Sports_Freak]

5 hours ago, RedRamage said:

I want to say that they got a little help from the refs on the clock there... but I think you could reasonably make the claim that they did get the Timeout in. Plus I thought the refs hosed them on some calls earlier in the game.

Panther's secondary did NOT look good though.

It was a pretty exciting finish. I think they caught a break from the refs but they didn't waste that break. They executed the plays they needed to pull off a fantastic finish. 😆

[MichiganCardinal]

The clock stops on a 1st down under two minutes in the UFL. He was definitely down with a second left. As long as he made the line to gain, the clock stops then and Michigan can call their last timeout before it restarts.

[Sports_Freak]

54 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

The clock stops on a 1st down under two minutes in the UFL. He was definitely down with a second left. As long as he made the line to gain, the clock stops then and Michigan can call their last timeout before it restarts.

I didn't know that. Yeah, he was down.

[RedRamage]

14 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

The clock stops on a 1st down under two minutes in the UFL. He was definitely down with a second left. As long as he made the line to gain, the clock stops then and Michigan can call their last timeout before it restarts.

Ah, I did not realize that... then yeah, that was absolutely the right call and not any sort of generous gift from the refs.

[Sports_Freak]

The Panthers clinched a playoff spot with yesterday's victory. Bryce Perkins didn't play (ankle) and we won with our backup QB and a good defense;

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Panthers are being relocated (again). Sad, but hard to say it was unexpected. The attendance and interest just wasn’t there.

[RedRamage]

Saw that last night too. Here's a news story on it. https://www.woodtv.com/sports/report-ufls-michigan-panthers-to-relocate/

Sad but as you said @MichiganCardinal not super shocking. The story mentions that they are looking at other places like: "Boise, Idaho, Columbus, Ohio and cities in Kentucky and Florida as possible new homes."

I guessing they are thinking that markets with NFL teams are preventing people from showing up from for "minor league" football games. That makes some sense I guess... but not so sure about Florida with three NFL teams and concerns that Jacksonville not being able to stay there themselves.

Anyway, it would be cool if Grand Rapids was considered... but I don't know if it's quite big enough here and we also don't really have a great football stadium in the city. GVSU is probably the closest one that would be decent enough, but then that's 15 miles outside of GR so makes it even less likely.

[MichiganCardinal]

1 hour ago, RedRamage said:

Saw that last night too. Here's a news story on it. https://www.woodtv.com/sports/report-ufls-michigan-panthers-to-relocate/

Sad but as you said @MichiganCardinal not super shocking. The story mentions that they are looking at other places like: "Boise, Idaho, Columbus, Ohio and cities in Kentucky and Florida as possible new homes."

I guessing they are thinking that markets with NFL teams are preventing people from showing up from for "minor league" football games. That makes some sense I guess... but not so sure about Florida with three NFL teams and concerns that Jacksonville not being able to stay there themselves.

Anyway, it would be cool if Grand Rapids was considered... but I don't know if it's quite big enough here and we also don't really have a great football stadium in the city. GVSU is probably the closest one that would be decent enough, but then that's 15 miles outside of GR so makes it even less likely.

It seems like their ideal market is the same as minor league baseball: cities that are largeish, but don't have a professional sports team: Austin, Louisville, and Albuquerque come to mind.

Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Lansing all could have been more successful for a spring football league, especially if they marketed to students. Using Ford Field was a losing venture from the start though.

Edited July 24 by MichiganCardinal

[RedRamage]

1 minute ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Using Ford Field was a losing venture from the start though.

Perhaps... but it also lent some appearance of legitimacy to the team as well. Just using my Grand Rapids example: Where would they have played? The best football stadium in the area would be GVSU, but as mentioned that's quite outside the metro area of GR. The other real possibility would be Davenport's stadium... I forgot that Davenport had a stadium in my earlier post. That's actually further away than GVSU from downtown GR, but closer to many of the suburbs of GR which sprawls more south than west, east or north and its also VERY close to the airport.

Anyway, you're either in a Div. II stadium or worse, a High School stadium, if you center yourself in GR. Playing in a stadium like that is going to very much brand you as a very minor league team. Compare that with playing in Ford Field. Obviously no one is going to assume a team (or league) is a major player just because it plays games in an NFL stadium, but at the same time they're playing in an NFL stadium:

That means they're not just some fly-by night thing, right?  I mean NFL stadiums don't just open their doors because someone comes up and asks nice. They have to have some important people behind them to even get a stadium to listen to their pitch, right?

[MichiganCardinal]

24 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

Perhaps... but it also lent some appearance of legitimacy to the team as well. Just using my Grand Rapids example: Where would they have played? The best football stadium in the area would be GVSU, but as mentioned that's quite outside the metro area of GR. The other real possibility would be Davenport's stadium... I forgot that Davenport had a stadium in my earlier post. That's actually further away than GVSU from downtown GR, but closer to many of the suburbs of GR which sprawls more south than west, east or north and its also VERY close to the airport.

Anyway, you're either in a Div. II stadium or worse, a High School stadium, if you center yourself in GR. Playing in a stadium like that is going to very much brand you as a very minor league team. Compare that with playing in Ford Field. Obviously no one is going to assume a team (or league) is a major player just because it plays games in an NFL stadium, but at the same time they're playing in an NFL stadium:

That means they're not just some fly-by night thing, right?  I mean NFL stadiums don't just open their doors because someone comes up and asks nice. They have to have some important people behind them to even get a stadium to listen to their pitch, right?

I agree, I see it both ways. The problem is the UFL wants to have full stadiums, but then is using 64,000 seat arenas that they will never come close to filling.

St. Louis has really good attendance, averaging around 30,000. Everyone else hovers around 10,000 though. Michigan was around 8,000 in Ford Field. It feels like they would be better off leaning into that attendance expectation and booking Van Andel Arena (capacity 11,000) or even the new Amway Stadium that just recently broke ground (anticipated capacity 8,500). If you're routinely selling out, your crowd is going to be better and your product will improve. It will be a hot ticket in town and people will tune in on TV to see what the fuss is all about. The UFL doesn't seem interested though, the smallest stadium they use right now is DC's Audi Field (capacity 20,000)... Notably though they're not relocating the DC team.

Maybe I'm wrong, I'm just a fan.

[RedRamage]

Van Andel 

2 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

It feels like they would be better off leaning into that attendance expectation and booking Van Andel Arena (capacity 11,000) or even the new Amway Stadium that just recently broke ground (anticipated capacity 8,500).

I agree with everything you said except that Van Andel Arena can't do football*. It's a hockey/basketball sized place.

*Okay, technically it can do Arena football. Fond memories of the Grand Rapids Rampage... but that's not UFL football.