William Duval | Assistant Sports Director
Former FIU football quarterback Alex McGough is a champion.
After having an MVP season with the Birmingham Stallions, McGough led his team to the USFL championship game, defeating the Pittsburgh Maulers 28-12 on July 1, 2023 in Canton, Ohio.
McGough wasn’t the Day 1 starter for the Stallions; that was initially J’Mar Smith.
But after an injury forced Smith to miss the rest of the season, McGough stepped in and blossomed, totaling 2,104 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and completing over 67% of his passes to cap off a dominant 2023 season.
Starting nine out of the ten games played, he ranked third in the league in passing yards and led the league in passing touchdowns.
Not only did he find success passing, McGough proved himself to be a highly efficient rusher at his position. On 70 carries, he totaled 403 rushing yards, the sixth most in the league at his position.
Also totaling five rushing touchdowns on the season, McGough proved himself to be a dual-threat quarterback.
Leading his team to a league-best 8-2 record, McGough was named the Most Valuable Player in the USFL.
However, the journey didn’t stop there for the newly-dubbed MVP as the championship remained the ultimate goal.
The first of two playoff games resulted in a 47-22 victory for the Stallions over New Orleans, where McGough threw for 310 yards and four touchdowns. The Stallions proved to be the best team in the league, steamrolling the competition to make it to the USFL championship game.
McGough remained composed under pressure, where he accumulated 243 passing yards and four touchdowns while completing 72% of his passes.
Halfway through the fourth quarter, McGough threw a perfectly-placed 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Deon Cain to push the Stallion’s lead to 28-12.
His highly-efficient play and late-game heroics helped the Stallions win the 2023 USFL Championship, defeating the Maulers and giving the team back-to-back titles.
Prior to the USFL, McGough spent some time in the NFL from 2018-2021 before finding a home in Birmingham.
At FIU, he found enough success to get drafted into the NFL, totaling 9,084 passing yards, 65 touchdowns and 37 interceptions in 45 games during his four years.
McGough finished his career with the Panthers as the team’s all-time leader in passing touchdowns and second in passing yards.
McGough has found himself in the center of a potential football dynasty in the USFL and is hoping his recent success can spark a return to the NFL.
His journey from college to the pros to winning a title and MVP shows that the Tampa native still has plenty of fuel left in the tank and may find himself back on an NFL roster in the near future.
Follow William Duval on Twitter at @WillDuval40
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