Easter Weekend brought turmoil – well, just like EVERY weekend in the UFL – and maybe some clarity.
What will week five bring?
Last week, fans saw three days of solid UFL football.
- On Friday night, the Michigan Panthers took care of business again at home at Ford Field, a 27-9 win over the Memphis Showboats.
- On Saturday, Arlington – looking like the team we thought we were getting a year ago – doubled up on the St. Louis Battlehawks, 30-15.
- Later Saturday, in Houston, the Birmingham Stallions brought the championship pedigree to H-Town, leaving TDECU Stadium with a touchdown win, 23-16.
- And on Sunday, all of those road games finally paid off for the San Antonio Brahmas, who broke through for their first win of the season, a road win at Audi Field over the DC Defenders – that was also the Defenders’ first loss in 2025.
After four weeks of play, it’s fitting that we’ve got a pair of 3-1 teams in each conference.
In the XFL Conference, Arlington is 3-1, and so are the DC Defenders. St. Louis is 2-2, and San Antonio is 1-3.
In the USFL Conference, defending UFL champ Birmingham is 3-1, and the Stallions have won three straight after losing their season opener at DC. Michigan is also 3-1. Houston is 1-3, and the Memphis Showboats are the league’s only winless team, at 0-4.
This week will be week five, and the UFL’s 2025 regular season will be half-complete.
On Friday, Memphis will play at Birmingham, an 8 p.m. Eastern / 7 Central kickoff at Protective Stadium downtown, and live on FOX.
Saturday’s game has the Battlehawks back at home, at The Dome at America’s Center, hosting the Michigan Panthers. That game will kick off at 7 ET / 6 Central on ESPN.
And on Sunday, ESPN will carry a doubleheader. The Renegades will be back at home at Choctaw Stadium, hosting the DC Defenders at noon Eastern / 11 locally, and in the final game of the weekend, at 3 ET / 2 Central, the San Antonio Brahmas get to defend their home turf at The Alamodome against the Houston Roughnecks. Incredibly, it’ll be San Antonio’s first home game this season.
Before we move on, though, a look back at week four…
Michigan 27, Memphis 9: Four different players scored for the Panthers in this home game, the most points a Panthers team has scored in a single game since last year, and the largest winning margin since 2022, when they were still solely a USFL team.
Michigan quarterback Bryce Perkins went 15-of-22 for 200 yards and two touchdowns – that’s the highest yardage total Perkins has thrown for as a member of the Panthers. He also ran for 45 yards.
The Panthers’ defense also held Memphis to 150 total yards, racking up six tackles for loss, an interception, two sacks, and two failed fourth-down conversions.
Deneric Prince would score for Memphis on an early-game drive, a 3-yard run, but the two-point conversion failed. Michigan tied the game at 6-all when Toa Taua scored on a 15-yard run, capping a seven-play, 53-yard drive. Taua also scored the conversion, putting his Panthers in front, 7-6, at the end of the first quarter.
Late in the first half, Nate McCary scored on a 19-yard run for the Panthers and Perkins found Samson Nacua for the conversion, giving Michigan a 14-6 lead. They wouldn’t take it to the half, though, as Showboats kicker Matt Coghlin put it through the uprights to keep Memphis close at the break (14-9).
Memphis wouldn’t get another point, though, as the Panthers’ defense kicked in. Arnold Tarpley III picked off a Troy Williams pass for his second interception of the season.
Michigan added another touchdown in the fourth, as Perkins hooked up with Jaylon Moore for a 27-yard score. He set it up with a 38-yard pass to Siaosi Mariner the play before. The one-point conversion made it 21-9 Panthers.
They would get into the end zone one last time on a 13-yard pass from Perkins to Jalen Wydermyer, in Wydermyer’s first game of the season. The conversion failed, but the Panthers’ win was secured.
Willilams and E.J. Perry combined to go 12-of-24 for 80 yards and the interception for the Showboats.
Arlington 30, St. Louis 15: This home thing – the Renegades have gotten it down.
The Renegades have three wins and one loss this season, and the one loss was at Birmingham. Arlington has won every time it’s played in front of its home fans.
And St. Louis isn’t an easy out, as the Renegades found out last Saturday.
With Arlington up 22-15 in the fourth quarter, the Battlehawks did just that – battled their way to the Arlington 3-yard-line.
But the drive stalled there, a fourth-and-3 in the final seconds.
What did St. Louis dial up?
Well, it was more like what Arlington corner Ajene Harris dialed up.
Harris, who has developed a knack for making the big play, did it again, picking off a pass and taking it the length of the field, a pick-six to secure the win.
The Renegades took an early lead when defensive end Chris Odom picked up a fumble for the first score of the game, and then quarterback Luis Perez hooked up with Isaiah Winstead for a two-point conversion (8-0 Arlington).
After a St. Louis field goal (8-3), the Renegades recovered a second Battlehawks fumble, and corner Carlton Johnson took the ball back. Perez and tight end Sal Canella connected for a 27-yard pass, and two plays later, Perez found receiver JaVonta Payton for a 2-yard TD. Tyler Vaughns caught the two-point conversion, and Arlington had taken a 16-3 lead.
Vaughns had a 52-yard touchdown called back in the second quarter, and St. Louis added a field goal to keep the game within two scores (16-6 Arlington).
St. Louis, though, wouldn’t go away, getting nine third-quarter points to cut Arlington’s lead to one (16-15) before the final quarter, and the late heroics.
Perez finished with 149 yards passing, with an interception and a touchdown.
Jacob Saylors of St. Louis had 61 yards on 20 carries. Battlehawks quarterback Max Duggan was held to 78 yards passing and two interceptions.
Birmingham 23, Houston 16: The Stallions got off to a good start, with Harrison Mevis hitting a 48-yard field goal, and then Davion Davis grabbing a 26-yard pass from Matt Corral, and then the two-point conversion.
Birmingham went up 11-0 before Houston finally scored, a 4-yard run by Zaquandre White. Lorenzo Lingard scored the one-point conversion, and then Chris Blewitt hit a 44-yard field goal. Houston had gotten the game within one (11-10).
Birmingham added one more first-half score, a 50-yard pass from Corral to Deion Cain. The conversion failed, but the Stallions led 17-10 at the break.
Houston kept the pressure up with an 11-yard touchdown run by Jalan McClendon in the third quarter, and got within one, but Birmingham maintained that lead – the Stallions got two fourth-quarter field goals from Mevis, one from 35 yards out with 11:30 left and another, this one an insurance score, with 1:16 left from 50 yards away.
The Stallions rolled up 132 rushing yards, and Corral went 14-of-25 for 195 yards and the two scores.
For Houston, McClendon finished 22-of-131 for 236 yards and the rushing score.
San Antonio 24, DC 18: Well, the league’s last undefeated team took a loss last Sunday, and to the unlikely San Antonio Brahmas, who got two rushing touchdowns from Aidan Robbins and a punt return for a touchdown by Mathew Sexton.
The Brahmas had not won all season. And it was the first win in the UFL for coach Payton Pardee.
Robbins scored his first of the two TDs on the Brahmas’ opening drive, a 2-yard score that capped an 11-play, 76-yard drive.
After the Brahmas’ defense stopped the Defenders’ first drive, Sexton took the punt and bolted 83 yards for ANOTHER touchdown, putting San Antonio in front 12-0.
Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta’amu wasn’t going to be held scoreless, though, especially not at home. Ta’amu hooked up with Briley Moore-McKinney for a 39-yard touchdown, and then DC kicker Matt McCrane hit two field goals.
San Antonio added another score, a 5-yarder by Robbins, in the final minute of the second quarter to allow the Brahmas to go into the halftime break with an 18-12 lead.
DC tied the game on a 7-yard run by Ta’amu in the third quarter, but Greg Ward Jr. caught a 9-yard pass from Kellen Mond in what would be the winning score.
Ta’amu went 19-of-31 for 300 yards, the TD pass and the rushing TD in the loss. DC held San Antonio to 219 yards of total offense, and had 409 yards of offense of their own, but lost. The Defenders were flagged 13 times for 121 yards.
Mond went 14-of-20 for 121 yards and the TD pass to Ward for the Brahmas. Defensively, San Antonio’s Tavante Beckett had 14 tackles.
