Video: UFL’s Jake Bates Kicks 64-Yard Game-Winning FG for Panthers vs. Battlehawks

Paul KasabianFeatured Columnist IIMarch 30, 2024

Fox Sports/UFL/Getty Images

The first day of the United Football League’s inaugural season ended with a bang as Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates drilled a 64-yard field goal to lead his team to an 18-16 win over the St. Louis Battlehawks.

UFL @XFL202364 YARDS FOR THE WIN 😱

JAKE BATES WITH A BOOT FOR @USFLPANTHERS pic.twitter.com/nx25x1PEIK

Remarkably, it was Bates’ first made field goal since high school:

UFL @XFL2023This is wild 😱 pic.twitter.com/CcDujppUs4

Bates actually made two 64-yarders on Saturday, but his first attempt didn’t count after St. Louis called timeout before the snap. Bates wasn’t rattled, though, and he smoked the next one through the uprights.

He spoke about the moment afterward:

UFL @XFL2023The star kicker, Jake Bates, talks with @Jbooty88 after his 64-yard field goal led to a @USFLPanthers win! pic.twitter.com/0jPQdYwcwA

Bates’ kick is made even more remarkable when considering his story. He started his collegiate athletic career as a Central Arkansas soccer player for two seasons before transferring to Texas State. He was a kickoff specialist there for two years before moving on again to Arkansas, where he was First-Team All-SEC in 2022 as a kickoff specialist.

Bates landed with the Houston Texans in training camp last year before being waived in mid-August. He made 2-of-3 extra-point kicks and totaled two touchbacks in one preseason game against the New England Patriots before he was released.

To put Bates’ accomplishment in historical context, only two kickers have ever made field goals of 64 or more yards in the NFL’s 104-season history. The Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker holds the all-time record with a 66-yarder in 2021, while Matt Prater (then of the Denver Broncos) hit a 64-yarder in 2013.

Bates and the Panthers will be back at it on Sunday, April 7 when they face the Birmingham Stallions.