>> joel: de'andre johnson clearly has the ability to read the back side defensive end. that will be on his left. this defensive end. >> curt: darius victor. there is a flag on the play as he gets near the first down marker. let's see what the penalty is. >> referee: illegal motion, offense number 5. stepped forward. five-yard penalty from the previous spot. second down. >> curt: that is on the

receiver, kavontae turpin. tough one. >> joel: that was a good run. that was a nice run. >> curt: a possible first down depending exactly where they spotted it and now it is second and 13. here comes the blitz. right through the middle of the field and victor picked up three yards. it will be third and ten. that will take us to the two-minute warning. new jersey and birmingham all tied at 21-21.

>> curt: keep in mind, nick rose missed two makeable field goals and you wonder if it does not influence their decision making. >> joel: it might be four-down territory, even in a tight game. i love this. 21 zipper waggle flood. they are faking the run.

17 in a row. he is going to waggle out and try to flood the field on a play action pass. >> curt: there is the fake. johnson keeps it. and he is going to be short of the first down, good job by jojo tillery. >> joel: skip holtz took a time-out by the official. looked like he lowered his shoulder, but he was just short of it. >> curt: so birmingham calls a time-out to stop the clock and try to preserve some time. >> joel: his elbow went down just across the 30. so it is about a fourth and two. i am surprised they are not trying to go for this here. >> curt: you can see skip holtz calling the time-out right away.

terry rozier, nick rose. >> joel: i would think about going for it on fourth down. i trust the run game more than nick rose. >> brock: there was no hesitation. this is the head coach's decision. you. >> joel: nick rose missed two, both to the left. everything he has done has been hooked to the left. >> curt: and this will be from 47 yards away. the hold by brock miller and he makes it! it hit to the left but just good. nick rose gives new jersey a three-point lead with 1:49 left on the clock. >> joel: what a clutch kick by nick rose stepping up after two

misses. great series by de'andre johnson. rose, that is manning up and making a kick right there. gives the generals a three-point lead. >> curt: you called it. initially it looked like it wanted to go left and it just straightened up. heck of a kick. just good enough. >> joel: brock, we were talking about it. no hesitation by mike riley and his kicker kicked with the confidence that his coach instilled into him. >> brock: you listen to him all night, i think he said gosh darnit. he has poise, turpin jumped offside. gives him a thumbs up. it is an encouraging sideline. it is a calm sideline. on the other side, skip holtz has done the same thing.

they have been poised. they delivered. there is no doubt in their mind. remember, the clock stopping. a lot of confidence on that side as well. >> joel: and a lot of time. 1:49 with two time-outs is a lot of time. >> curt: two time-outs and the clock stops on first down. going. still going. turns it out across the 40 needing only a field goal. birmingham will have good field position. >> joel: their offense has been really good when they targeted osirus mitchell. >> 23 smash. j'mar smith has played really well here in the second half.

due to the injury to alex mcgough. 135 yards and a touchdown. in the air and that is a little bit short. skips it to mitchell. incomplete. >> joel: this is when j'mar smith has to calm himself down. tendencies of quarterbacks that find themselves in this situation inside of two minutes, you don't get rushed. it is the ones that calm themselves down and continue to play in a similar rhythm to what they play in all game that can find success in these two minute situations. >> curt: smith. pulls it down. finds the open field and slides at midfield. he slid a yard short.

the clock will keep going. >> joel: right. that is where the ball is spotted and it was short of the sticks. >> curt: bolden with the catch. >> joel: here we go. let's go celtics. 48 stop. 48 stop. 48 stop. >> curt: throws it too high. marlon williams. >> joel: kicker, aubrey brandon aubrey, number 10.

never played football. he played soccer at notre dame. he was in the mls. this is his first professional football game. >> curt: he might be called on to tie the game. >> joel: i love it. >> curt: welcome to pro football young man. draw play. facemask it looked like on the play, and they get it on top of the run, chris orr grabbed marble right by the facemask. this will be a big gain. >> referee: during the run, personal foul defense number 45, facemask, 15-yard penalty from the end of the run. automatic first down. the clock will start at the snap because of the foul. >> curt: so that will be a 22-yard-gain in total. seven on the run. 15 on the penalty. >> joel: and now, you know, 48

seconds is an eternity now with two time-outs and the field position they have at the 20 yard line. >> curt: maybe a touchdown instead of a game-tying field goal. >> joel: no doubt. no doubt about it. >> curt: j'mar smith towards the end zone and over threw angeline incomplete. >> joel: boy angeline had a step on the outside. he saw the man coverage. there it is. he is open. the ball just overthrown by smith going to the corner.

looking back, going up to bolden and this is overthrown and incomplete. >> joel: henry played a ton of football for west virginia, over 50 games started. he was not fooled on the straight fade. good coverage on victor bolden. >> curt: third and ten. do you try to get yards or do you go for the touchdown? >> joel: i would go for a first down. that is in the flat. marble, the running back. what did you say you would do? >> joel: i would get the first down. >> curt: that is what they did. >> joel: and a great block on the outside. >> curt: victor bolden. >> joel: he threw a terrific

block, right there. got marble out to the outside. another great block by williams, 17. sets up a first and goal for the stallions inside of 35 seconds. >> curt: a gain of 13. ball at the 7 yard line. 33 seconds left. they hand it to marble up the middle. good tackle to save a touchdown. birmingham, forced to call a time-out.

>> rodeo 28 now. rodeo 28 now. >> curt: what a start for the usfl. 24-21, birmingham. tenth play of the drive. going for the win. smith rolling right. dives and scores.

>> curt: the hometown stallions take the lead with 23 seconds left. >> joel: it is a great read by j'mar smith on the outside. >> curt: first lead of the game for birmingham. and it is a four-point game. >> joel: they are trying to get the ball to victor bolden. on a speed play. 28 rodeo now. bolden is right here. he will take off to the flat. they are trying to pick for him. cuts, dives, puts the ball in

the blue paint. excellent job by j'mar smith. he did not have his initial read. he did not panic. he did not just throw the ball away. scooby wright, flooded on the sideline. his quarterback just gave the hometown stallions a lead. >> curt: let's not lose sight of the kick by brandon aubrey. he never kicked in a football game before tonight. if he does not make it, it is a three-point game. now they need a touchdown. >> joel: i guess he is the pride of notre dame soccer right now as he comes in and makes the extra point. you know, it is interesting. brandon aubrey, the kicker, he took notre dame's penalty kicks.

he gets it off -- 18 ticks left on the clock. new jersey with one time-out left to go. de'andre johnson trying to bring his team back. >> joel: remember, with the first down rule and the clock stopping, you can throw it over the middle. they still have a time-out. so, there is a chance here for the generals. and on defense for the stallions, you cannot get beat deep. these safeties have got to be deeper than the deepest and wider than the widest. >> curt: turpin and satterfield the two big weapons down at the bottom of the screen. through the air.

he had his man beat and that ball was under thrown allowing brian allen time to break it up. >> joel: i saw what you saw. turpin had a couple of steps and he did not have enough strength to get it down the field and brian allen almo came down with it on the contested catch. that is the difficulty of taking too much time in the backfield. this is not a hal mary situation but now with 10 seconds. if you can get closer to 50 and get the clock stopped. johnson. down the sideline. overthrows everybody. clock is at 2 seconds. one final play. barring a penalty on the defense of course.

one play left. >> curt: i think we can all interpret that. hail mary. they need a prayer answered. will it be here on easter weekend. no. that will do it. and the hometown birmingham stallions win the inaugural game of the usfl in front of the home folks 28-24 the final. j'mar smith with the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds. >> good game guys.

hell of a game guys. hell of a game. give it up. give it up. >> curt: what a game. it is hard to imagine a better start to the usfl. touchdowns by each team on the opening drive and went down to the final drive. birmingham getting the win 28-24. >> joel: i know we are about to see fireworks over the stadium, but we saw them on the field tonight. that was a well-played game. we saw excellent quarterback play with great defense, calm coaching, teaching on the sideline. we saw it all. that could not have gone better. man, what a start to the usfl. what a tremendous game and effort by both teams. >> curt: you know those of us here at fox and nbc have been talking about it. the 57 cameras, 32 microphones, the players and the coaches.

in the end it comes down to football, and we saw good football tonight. >> joel: there is no doubt about it. those guys came out and gave a professional effort and they should be proud of themselves. what a tremendous night. >> curt: well, the celebration is just beginning here in birmingham. after each and every game in the usfl we will announce our candidates for player of the game for the week and the fans will get to vote for it. here are the guys for tonight's game. >> joel: every game we will take offense, defense, special teams. at the end of the week, all of the 12 players that come from the four games, you go on usfl digital and fox sports digital, nbc sports digital. you can vote for the players to see who is the usfl player of the week. j'mar smith, our offensive player of the game. 156 pass yards. luani with the big hit, the interception, two passes defended for the generals. he will be the defensive player

of the game and brandon aubrey who hit all of the extra points and did a heck of a job in the first football game of his life. i love it. >> curt: what a night. four touchdowns for each team. make it four scores for each team, pardon me. 28-24, birmingham gets the win. don't go anywhere. the usfl postgame show is coming up next and we begin to wrap up the night here in birmingham.

♪ >> coach garrett, i tell you this. feels like football season. birmingham, alabama. look at j'mar smith, rolls right. chunks it back. gutsy dive across the goal line. 28-24, the hometown stallions figure out a way to get it done. here is brock with tonight's hero, j'mar smith. >> brock: let's start at the

end. take me in the touchdown run, the play call. >> coach holtz told us, you know, going into the drive we got the ball back under two minutes. we knew what we had going forward with the play call. simple. name and number. trying to get the rhythm and tempo going. we got down there. missed a couple of throws. got to work with the guys to get that connection going. they called the play and covered the route. sometimes the quarterback has to make a play for himself and put the team in the best situation to win. >> brock: did you know you would get this type of run tonight? >> no. alex is a great guy, a phenomenal guy. praying for him. i don't know what happened. we will talk about it after. always got to stay ready when your number is called. >> brock: fireworks are going off over your shoulder. you waited for this opportunity. >> most definitely. >> brock: you were conference usa player of the year, three straight touchdown drives to

close it out. >> it feels good, man. i can't stop smiles. you can see that. it is a great feeling with the long journey that i have been on, trying to find a home with football, going here and here. trying to get eyes on me so people know i can throw the ball. people here with the great opportunity with the usfl. i am very thankful. >> good luck the rest of the way. the phone will be blowing up in the locker room. back to you. >> thank you very much. coach, i hope we get 12 more weeks like tonight. what was going through your mind? >> we started tonight with the word opportunity. talking about guys taking advantage of an opportunity. j'mar smith at the end of the ballgame taking his team down the field. and they are not going to settle for a field goal. they are going to try to score the game-winning touchdown. a big-time play by him on the move, somehow puts his foot in the ground and gets north and south. it is electric here in birmingham.

>> we didn't know what we would see or what the crowd would be like. it was sold out. top deck was full. lower level was full. overall, the football, even the coaches said we don't know what we are going to see. the value. what did you see from the football, the players on the field? >> i couldn't have been more impressed with the football tonight. what has been going through my mind in the last few days, they have been together for three weeks. how do you put a team together in three weeks. w so impressed with how they played. fast start. big plays early. they settled in. a big time finish. getting stops, making drives on offense. heck of a night. >> perez and smith, they go with the two-quarterback system. you like the strategy out of birmingham? >> i love what mike riley was doing with the generals. they have a passer and runner, run it 24, 25 times in a row at the end of the ballgame. credit to j'mar smith. that is not an easy thing to do with the guys you just met. to drive it.

this is the ball down the end of the field and make the big play the the end. fantastic. >> 28-24 final. back for a triple-header tomorrow on the usfl.

. welcome to "the wall" on nbc. ♪ i'm here are britney, a community event planner from new jersey, her brother cj is behind the wall in isolation. when hurricane maria smashed through puerto rico, these two siblings sprang into action and gathered 29,000 pounds of supplies for the victims hopefully they're going to go home millionaires. they got all