We are almost halfway through the 2024 UFL season and we are starting to get a good scope of where each of these teams stand with one another. Here’s a breakdown of how each team stands through four weeks.
1. Birmingham Stallions (4-0)
It wasn’t the cleanest performance, but the Stallions came out of their week four contest versus the Defenders still undefeated, with a 20-18 win.
The Stallions had no issue getting drives going but struggled to finish them off. They had to settle for four field goals from Ramiz Ahmed, making his UFL debut, and scored just one touchdown. In a game where poor weather conditions played a factor, Birmingham fumbled twice at the goal line and had one of its punts blocked.
While the Stallions gave their opponent opportunities with their turnovers and special teams lapses, Birmingham’s defense made its own share of big plays to keep things even, including a forced fumble and safety. Linebacker Kyahva Tezino led the Stallions’ defensive charge with nine tackles, including two for a loss.
2. St. Louis Battlehawks (3-1)
The Battlehawks have continued to improve week to week, extending their winning streak to three games with their 32-17 win over the Showboats on Saturday.
In the win, A.J. McCarron had another great game, going 35-for-45 passing with 222 yards and three touchdowns. Jahcour Pearson, in his season debut, was McCarron’s top target, with 10 receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown. The Battlehawks’ offensive line allowed McCarron to be sacked zero times for the first time all season while it created holes for a rushing attack led by Jacob Saylors that totaled 133 yards (6.3 yards per carry).
Defensively, the Battlehawks held the Showboats to just 127 yards—the fewest tallied by any team in a game this season. If it continues playing how it played on Saturday, St. Louis’ defense will pose a massive challenge for Jordan Ta’amu and the Defenders.
3. San Antonio Brahmas (3-1)
After losing to the Battlehawks last week, the Brahmas got back on track Saturday with a 19-9 win against the Panthers.
With Chase Garbers on the Injured Reserve, quarterback Quinten Dormady made his first start for San Antonio and impressed. He went 23-for-37 passing with 269 yards and one touchdown. And as he gets more reps, he will ideally only get better as the season progresses. Plus, he has quite an arsenal of weapons at his disposal between Jontre Kirklin, Cody Latimer, Marquez Stevenson, and Justin Smith.
Meanwhile, the Brahmas had arguably their best defensive performance of the early season, forcing three turnovers from Michigan and holding them to just one touchdown and a field goal. San Antonio has the winless Renegades in its next matchup. They would move to 4-1 on the season with a win.
4. D.C. Defenders (2-2)
It was a crushing loss for Reggie Barlow’s squad, who lost on a last-second field goal to the undefeated Stallions. While, in the end, it wasn’t the result they wanted, the Defenders certainly showed they could keep up with the best team in the UFL for a full 60 minutes.
For how the Defenders’ defense has played this season, Saturday’s performance was arguably its best thus far against a scary-good offensive team. D.C. exemplified the “bend-don’t-break” mantra, allowing zero touchdowns on four red zone attempts for the Stallions. Unfortunately, Gregg Williams’ unit couldn’t hold during Birmingham’s last drive, where it quickly got into field-goal range, picking up 31 yards on three plays. Ramiz Ahmed went on to drill a 46-yarder for the win.
Next week, the Defenders face the Battlehawks at Audi Field in a big-time XFL Conference matchup. Last season, D.C. went 2-0 against them.
5. Michigan Panthers (2-2)
After an impressive week-three showing versus the Roughnecks last week, the Panthers crashed back down to Earth in Saturday’s loss to the Brahmas. E.J. Perry exited midway through the game and was replaced by Danny Etling, as the Panthers scored just nine points in the loss.
After allowing 16 points in the first half, Mike Nolan’s defensive unit cracked down and held the Brahmas to just a field goal in the latter half. This could have been an excellent opportunity for the Panthers to get back into the game, but the offense couldn’t produce enough on its end. A late fourth-quarter touchdown from Marcus Simms, the UFL receiving leader, wasn’t enough in the comeback effort.
So far this season, the Panthers have followed a win-loss-win-loss pattern. If that holds true next week, then they should take down the Showboats.
6. Memphis Showboats (1-3)
The Showboats have been able to stick with their opposition through the first half of games this season, but the second half becomes a different story. So far, Memphis has been outscored 56-11 in the second half of games. The Showboats entered halftime against the Battlehawks trailing by just three points but were outscored 12-0 in the second half and ultimately fell by a score of 32-17.
Maybe Saturday’s second-half breakdown had something to do with starting quarterback Case Cookus going down with an injury early in the third quarter, as all the sacks he had taken prior finally caught up to him. Memphis has allowed a UFL-high 18 sacks this season, including four against St. Louis.
If the Showboats want to stay in the playoff hunt, two things will need to improve as soon as possible: 1) offensive line play and 2) in-game adjustments – because clearly, whatever changes the Memphis coaching staff has made throughout games haven’t been working.
7. Houston Roughnecks (1-3)
The Roughnecks earned their first win of the season against the Renegades, who also entered week four winless. The game was a slugfest, coming down to which defense held more ground. J.T. Tyler and Houston’s defensive unit held Arlington to 193 offensive yards and nine points.
With their top offensive player, tailback Mark Thompson, back and with one of the better defenses in the league (my take), we will see how the Roughnecks look against the Stallions next week. Reid Sinnett has also seemingly found his footing in Houston’s West Coast system, after taking over at quarterback in week two. He has thrown for 608 yards and three touchdowns through two-and-a-half games for the Roughnecks.
8. Arlington Renegades (1-3)
Entering their matchup against the Roughnecks, the Renegades looked like the better offensive team on paper. However, that didn’t show on Sunday in the loss. Luis Perez threw for a shrew 144 yards, while Arlington’s rushing game struggled to gain momentum, averaging just 2.2 yards on 18 carries. Arlington’s top receiver, Tyler Vaughs, was held to just one reception for 12 yards in the loss.
Many, including myself, believed the Renegades were bound to win this one, considering they were coming off two-straight losses on walk-off field goals, while the Roughnecks’ losses this season had looked uglier. But this wasn’t the case.
With the loss, Arlington’s road to the playoffs became much more difficult. A lot will need to improve for the Renegades before their next game against the Brahmas.
Not much to debate here… other tahn flipping Memphis for Houston, same here.