Three Takeaways From Panthers Win Over Showboats in Defensive Battle

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A Kai Nacua interception for a touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter sealed a Michigan Panthers 26-12 win over the Memphis Showboats on Sunday afternoon.

Both defenses played well, holding each other to under 300 total yards of offense, but two interceptions by Memphis ultimately doomed the Showboats. Michigan outran Memphis 95 yards to 69 yards in the win.

The Panthers improve to 1-0 on the season while the Showboats drop to 0-1.

Takeaways From Panthers-Showboats Game

Bryce Perkins Magic

Someone on the Panthers coaching staff has to tell Bryce Perkins to slide more to avoid big hits, but he is unique with the ball in his hands. Perkins had a solid outing as the starting quarterback, going 16 of 19 for 163 yards and one touchdown pass, while adding 14 rushing yards and one more touchdown.

There were multiple occasions where Perkins had to escape pressure and look to make guys miss. He’s a spark plug kind of player who is willing to take a hit or two to let the team know he’s here to win.

Michigan’s rushing attack benefits from having Perkins in the game as the RPO game becomes that much more challenging to defend, which is how Perkins got his touchdown throw to Samson Nacua. The Panthers are poised to be a time of possession machine all year, thanks to their ability to run the ball effectively and their efficiency in the passing game.

Jarren Horton Fixed Memphis’ Defensive Woes From 2024

A lot of credit has to be given to Showboats defensive coordinator, Jarren Horton, for the job he did with this defense after last season being one of the worst. Horton had his guys flying around, and the ends on Memphis were containing Perkins and Danny Etling pretty well.

Memphis held Michigan to just three yards a carry and three tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The linebacking group looks much improved with Steele Chambers and Zeke Vandenburgh showing good vision for finding the ball carrier.

Progress will be made in the next nine weeks, but for a team that lost its head coach a week ago, Horton kept the unit intact and playing well, which already shows massive improvement from 2024.

Showboats’ QB Controversy Continues

E.J. Perry got the start in the game, but there were moments in the game where Troy Williams was moving the offense down the field better than Perry. It would be Perry who got the touchdown pass to Jonathan Adams to get Memphis within one score. Williams and Perry combined for 178 passing yards and one touchdown to two interceptions.

Overall, neither quarterback blew the roof off the offense, but Williams was more efficient passing the ball, completing 72.7% of his passes, while Perry had a 58.8% completion percentage. One game wasn’t enough for anyone to determine who was the better quarterback as Week 2 is another game for Memphis to stick with the two-quarterback system to find their guy.