Good luck to former KU and K-State football stars in UFL championship | Opinion
Even though I’m a football fan (and reigning champion of the Wichita Eagle staff-alumni fantasy football league), I haven’t spent a lot of time watching the United Football League.
I’ve ducked in and out of UFL game broadcasts, but really couldn’t get interested. Spring, in my view, is the time for basketball and hockey playoffs and baseball.
I am now officially interested in the UFL — at least for the next week. And if you’re a fan of Kansas or Kansas State football, you might want to be too.
What caught my attention was watching Sunday’s UFL playoff game and seeing a couple of familiar faces, former KU quarterback Jason Bean and former K-State kicker Matt McCrane. They led the DC Defenders, season record 5-5, to a huge upset over the UFL’s No. 1 team, the 8-2 Orlando Storm.
Bean was like the Bean of old, passing for 233 yards and running for another 40; and throwing a touchdown pass to tight end (and K-State alum) Briley Moore. The only time the game was really in doubt was when Bean went down with an obviously painful shoulder injury and his backup immediately threw an interception that went back for an Orlando touchdown. Bean got taped up, came back and steadied the ship.
Meanwhile, McCrane went two-for-three on field goals, missing a 28-yard chip shot from a questionable hold just before the half, but making up for it later with a 61-yard boot in crunch time (which in the UFL counts for four points).
Now, they’ll play for the league championship Saturday at the United Bowl in Washington, against the Louisville Kings.
It’s not the Super Bowl, but it sure is fun to see Bean, McCrane and Moore reprise the gridiron success of their days as Jayhawks and Wildcats.
All three got a cup of coffee in the NFL. McCrane went 8-12 on field goals in spot starts for three teams. Bean and Moore made preseason rosters with the NFL Colts and Titans respectively, but got cut before the regular season.
But the UFL, formed by a 2023 merger between the struggling XFL and USFL, is a second-chance league.
Dozens of overlooked or just unlucky players who have shone there ultimately wound up on NFL rosters. Probably the most famous to date is Brandon Aubrey, a former pro soccer player who was working as a software engineer, learned to a kick a football instead, and after two seasons in the USFL, was signed by the Dallas Cowboys.
Aubrey’s been an all-pro each of his three NFL seasons, and just signed a contract making him the highest-paid kicker in league history — $28 million over the next four seasons.
So here’s hoping that our former Sunflower Showdown rivals can put together a game for the ages this weekend, and maybe catch enough attention to get another shot at the NFL. But even if they don’t, seeing them in a UFL championship game is still going to be pretty cool.
To quote the immortal words of quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves) in “The Replacements”: “Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever.”
