It’s already week three of the United Football League.
Time to start separating the contenders from the pretenders.
As always, there are four games this weekend, all easily accessible either on ESPN or FOX.
The schedule:
The D.C. Defenders play at the Arlington Renegades today at 1 p.m. Eastern / noon Central at Choctaw Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on ESPN – hear it on ESPN Xtra on SiriusXM, if you’re driving.
The Memphis Showboats, coming off that disastrous finish at home in the loss to San Antonio (more below), have the unenviable task of having to go on the road to play the Birmingham Stallions tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern / 6 Central at Protective Stadium, on FOX Sports and also on Fox Sports on SiriusXM.
Sunday’s schedule has the Houston Roughnecks at the Michigan Panthers, a noon Eastern time / 11 a.m. Central start at Ford Field in Detroit, to air on ESPN, and then a 3 p.m. Eastern / 2 p.m. kickoff at the Alamodome in San Antonio for the hometown Brahmas to host the St. Louis Battlehawks, on ABC.
D.C. at Arlington: Through two games, the Defenders, coached by Reggie Barlow, are 1-1, and coach Bob Stoops’ Renegades are a somewhat-surprising 0-2.
This is a rematch of last year’s XFL Championship game – Arlington won that contest, 35-26.
New season, though, new league, and right now, the Renegades are struggling.
They opened the season on March 30 at home with fanfare: owner partners Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia were on hand, as was XFL President Russ Brandon, but the Renegades were hosting the Birmingham Stallions, who appear (so far) to be the league’s best team. That resulted in a 27-14 loss.
And last week, in front of a huge crowd in St. Louis (40,317!), the Renegades dropped a 27-24 decision to the Battlehawks. The difference was a 22-yard game-winning field goal. That attendance total, it was noted, set a modern spring football record.
If Arlington can get the win today, it would be Stoops’ 200th career win. He was 191-48 as a head coach at Oklahoma (including a national championship in 2000), and is 8-11 as coach of the Renegades dating back to last season, and that includes the XFL Championship in 2023.
So far this season, Renegades quarterback Luis Perez has completed 70 percent of his throws for 447 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Defensively through two games, the Renegades have scored 42 points, have put up 549 total yards, and have converted 54 percent of their third-down conversions (12-of-22), which leads the UFL.
The Defenders beat Houston, 23-18, last week for their first win of the season. Jordan Ta’amu found Ty Scott for a 17-yard touchdown pass with just over six minutes left in the game for the go-ahead touchdown. Ta’amu went 16-of-32 (a non-sparkling 50 percent) for 212 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
Five different receivers caught passes for D.C., whose Defenders have never lost at home.
They’re not playing at home today, though.
It’ll be a return to the home state, however, for several members of the Defenders, including former Texas Tech wide receiver KeKe Coutee, from Lufkin. Coutee, a former NFL receiver with the Houston Texans, had three catches last week for 40 yards in the win.
Memphis at Birmingham: The Showboats had a good day for their home opener last week against San Antonio.
Until the final minute.
San Antonio trailed 19-8, scored with 48 seconds left, used the league’s alternative possession rule (a fourth-and-12 play from their own 28-yard-line) to convert and get another possession, scored AGAIN and got out of Memphis with a 20-19 win.
That is, right after Wade Phillips wound up wearing a sombrero with Brahmas fans that were in attendance, along with The Football Beat crew.
And this week, the Showboats (1-1), coached by John DeFilippo, get to face the reigning, defending USFL champion Birmingham Stallions – a team that Memphis is 0-5 against in the last two years.
Before the collapse late against San Antonio, Memphis led the game at one point, 16-0. Quarterback Case Cookus had a 2-yard pass to Daewood Davis, and Matt Coghlin had two field goals in the first half, then a third-quarter 22-yarder to build that advantage.
So far this season, Cookus is 40-of-71 for 398 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also leads the team in rushing (73 yards).
Birmingham, of course, won the USFL last year, and coach Skip Holtz (son of Lou) is using two quarterbacks: Matt Corral, the former Ole Miss standout, and Adrian Martinez, who are combined to be 27-of-54 for 367 yards, a touchdown and three picks – not really impressive.
The Stallions beat Michigan, 20-13, last week.
Memphis leads the UFL in rushing defense, giving up just 39 yards a game.
The Stallions have been pretty solid, too, in that department: they’ve rushed for three touchdowns this season in two games, but have allowed none.
Houston at Michigan: The Roughnecks have had a “rough” start. They’re 0-2 so far this year, with a home loss at Rice Stadium to Memphis (18-12, on March 30) and the road loss mentioned earlier in this story at D.C. (23-18 last week).
The Roughnecks are coached by C.J. Johnson, and it’s the first-ever meeting with Michigan, between the actual Roughnecks franchise and the Panthers. The Houston Gamblers lost to Michigan, 29-13, last year in USFL play.
There is good news for Houston, in spite of the 0-2 record.
Quarterback Reid Sinnett completed 63 percent of his passes and threw for 221 yards and a 34-yard touchdown to Keke Chism in the loss at D.C. last week, after starter Jarrett Guarantano was hurt.
Kicker J.J. Molson is 4-of-4 on the season, two of them over 50 yards.
And the Roughnecks’ defense are clamping down on the run – opponents are averaging just 2.5 yards a carry.
Through a quirk of the schedule (?), the Panthers are playing at home for the third straight week to open the season. They won the first game (over St. Louis, 18-16), and then lost the second (to Birmingham, as mentioned).
Houston shouldn’t let it come down to a field goal – at least, not if Michigan kicker Jake Bates is kicking it. Bates has a 64-yarder to his credit, a kick that beat St. Louis in week one. He also hit a 62-yarder in the loss to Birmingham last week, and his only other kick was a 52-yarder. He’s 3-for-3.
St. Louis at San Antonio: The Brahmas put their unbeaten record on the line against coach Anthony Becht and the visiting Battlehawks, who come in with quarterback A.J. McCarron. In fact, the two best quarterbacks in the league so far this year, McCarron and San Antonio’s Chase Garbers, are both in this game.
McCarron, who has had a couple of stints in the NFL (most memorably with Cincinnati) and won back-to-back national championships as the starter at Alabama in 2011-12, is the leading passer in the UFL. McCarron has thrown for 464 yards and also has four touchdowns (Garbers has five).
McCarron has completed 65 percent of his passes and hasn’t thrown an interception in the first two games.
The Brahmas are hoping to change their fortunes at home. They’re 1-0 at home this season, but won one game at home all of last season.
In week one, San Antonio beat D.C., 27-12, and last week, as mentioned, they escaped Memphis with a 20-19 steal of a win.
Coach Wade Phillips, of course, is known as a defensive mastermind – he helped the Los Angeles Rams win a Super Bowl a couple of seasons ago. And he’s working that magic in San Antonio now.
The Brahmas’ defense has allowed only one touchdown through two games played, and has four players in the top seven tacklers this season. The defense has seven sacks as a unit, and 12 for loss.
Garbers has thrown for five touchdowns and 443 yards in two games, obviously both of them wins.
