May 17, 2025 - 140 Games Today

Inside the UFL

by Fran Stuchbury
May 1, 2025 - United Football League (UFL)

United Football League offenses captured attention for the right reasons in week five, with seven of eight teams scoring 20 points or more.

Friday's game produced a shocking upset in the Memphis Showboats' 24-20 overtime victory at the Birmingham Stallions. It was the first win of the the season for the Showboats after losing four straight games to open the season. The setback for the Stallions was their first loss at home since May 13, 2023.

The Showboats handed third string quarterback Dresser Winn his first professional start, and he responded by completing 17 of 29 passes for 235 yards and one touchdown. His 78-yard toss to wide receiver Dee Anderson opened the scoring. Just as importantly, he avoided big mistakes.

"Same message I have sent to the team since I have been head coach has been this league is about them showcasing their ability," said Memphis Showboats Interim Head Coach Jim Turner. "At the same time you try to win football games. I was patient enough to give the other quarterbacks a chance. I was patient enough to give this guy (Winn) a chance. Obviously it paid off for us. He's a heck of a player and he did a lot of things tonight to help us win that football game.

"The number one thing was our team gelled. We came out in the second series of the game and threw that long pass to Dee Anderson. Obviously when that happens you need to throw those punches and land them, and we did. It set the tone of the game and turned the game right on the spot because it gave our team hope."

Memphis took advantage of a huge play at the end of the first half when Stallions kicker Harrison Mevis missed a 63-yard field goal that Isiah Hennie returned 108-yards for a touchdown at the end of the second quarter to put the Showboats up 17-3.

"I was out there for a couple of kick returns; I knew which way the wind was blowing," said Hennie. "As soon as they were going field goal I ran on the field. I knew we were going do a kick six. Something we practiced and went over, we just executed it. It's kind of a one-off play, the teams practice it. Everybody did their job, and we made a play that helped us win that football game."

"We had 10 starters on offense miss a game, and we're on our third quarterback after four games," said Stallions Head Coach Skip Holtz. "There is not any continuity. I feel like we are starting over again. There are always distractions. My frustration is not we lost; we have to get some consistency going. It was our first loss at home in a couple of years, I hate losing at home."

In the first ever overtime in the UFL Skip Holtz used a super challenge in an attempt to negate a Memphis score, noting that a holding call should have been made against the Showboats offensive line. Unfortunately, the coaching staff gave the wrong number for defensive lineman Carlos Davis, 90 instead of 96, negating the challenge.

"There was holding on the guy on the left side; I told them I don't have the number," explained Holtz. "I turned to the defensive staff, 'Give me the number of the guy being held, I wasn't watching,' The number they gave me was a number of a guy that wasn't on the field."

"I gave them the wrong number and that's on us as a staff. With the challenge rules in place you have to be very specific about what you want challenged."

Stallions quarterback Case Cookus made his first start of the season, connected on 15 of 33 passes for 145 yards with two touchdowns and one interception plus six carries for 83 yards

"It took me too long to get going," said Cookus. "There were a lot of plays. We will watch the film and get the corrections done. A lot of plays out there, where it was big plays or just small little things. I wasn't doing the small things right, especially early on. We had two drives late where everything was clicking and I was out there playing some football. I let the little things slip by. We can't win a football game that way.

The St. Louis Battlehawks snapped a two-game losing streak with a tight 32-27 win at home over the Michigan Panthers. Max Duggan made his first start of the season, connecting on nine of 12 passes for 124 yards and one touchdown with 10 carries for 72 yards and two more scores. Duggan was sacked just twice after being caught six times last week.

"Congrats to Max, his legs were a difference today," said Battlehawks Head Coach Anthony Becht. "I thought he made some big plays with his arm. It's really just reps and confidence for him. He hasn't played in a while. We showed a bunch of clips of him making great plays at TCU. We showed a video of Kurt Warner stepping in as the backup with the Rams back in this place when my friend Trent Green went down. Guys have to rally behind guys. It's a huge win for us after two straight loses."

The return of All-UFL wide receiver Hakeem Butler provided a big boost to St. Louis. He caught two passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one from Duggan for 67 yards and another from wide receiver Blake Jackson for 57 yards.

"It was an amazing feeling, just to be out there," said Butler. "I missed three weeks. Definitely didn't want to be out that long with me being the competitor I am. The coaches did a smart thing, and it paid off today. It was fun to be out there. I was more ecstatic about the blocking, just being out there hitting guys then I was just catching the ball."

An oddly-timed quarterback change proved to be a turning point in the game. Panthers quarterback Bryce Perkins had completed 10 of 11 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown when Head Coach Mike Nolan put Danny Etling in the game, who promptly threw an interception to cornerback Kameron Kelly. St. Louis ended up scoring on an eight-yard touchdown run by Duggan that gave the Battlehawks a 17-6 halftime lead. For the game, Perkins completed 21-of-25 passes for 235 yards.

"When we started the game, Bryce was going be the starter of the game if it just went in the perfect world, first quarter and second quarter, then (I would) decide in the second half what we would do," said Nolan. "Bryce was doing a real good job. It was like five minutes to go in the second quarter that we put Danny in, and we didn't finish the half really well. So when we came back out, Bryce got most of the playing time in the football game."

The D.C. Defenders, down at one point 27-12, completed the largest come-from-behind victory in UFL history when they rallied to defeat the Arlington Renegades 37-33 to improve to 4-1, the best record in the league.

"Offensively for us we were able to back our defense today," Defenders Interim Coach Shannon Harris said. "We did a good job creating opportunities for our skill guys. Jordan (Ta'amu) did a good job finding those guys. We knew this game would would be an old school AFC North, Pittsburgh Steelers - Baltimore Ravens football game. That's what we treated it as when we prepared this week."

Ta'amu finished the afternoon with season-highs in passing yards with 308, completions with 23 and matched a season-high in passing touchdowns with three while adding one rushing touchdown. It was his second-straight game with 300+ passing yards and the third in his career.

The Defenders completed the comeback with a seven-play, 46-yard drive that resulted with a two-yard rushing touchdown from Deon Jackson.

"We knew we were down but we knew we had to keep stacking, trust in our offense, trust in our guys and keep driving down the field" said Ta'amu. "Coming down to the last drive everyone (there) was confidence in the huddle. We see it in everyone's eyes: we are going do down there and score."

Even in a high-scoring game the Defenders still had totaled five sacks, one forced fumble plus an interception by safety Josh Proctor in the end zone with ten seconds left.

"I thought their defensive front, they put a lot of pressure on us with five sacks, hitting Luis (Perez) when he was throwing the football," said Renegades Head Coach Bob Stoops. "They did a better job getting after him."

Perez connected on 23-of-33 passes for 268 yards, with one touchdown for 63 yards to wide receiver Deontay Burnett, the longest scoring pass from the Renegades this season.

After playing four of their first five games at home, the Renegades hit the road for to face the St. Louis Battlehawks Friday night.

The only team that scored less than 20 points last weekend was the San Antonio Brahmas who only put three on the board against a suffocating Houston Roughnecks defense. After starting 1-11 since the XFL/USFL merger, the Roughnecks have won two out of their last three games following their 27-3 victory at San Antonio.

The Houston defense held the Brahmas to 118 total yards on offense while collecting four sacks. Quarterbacks Kellen Mond and Jarrett Guarantano combined to go 10-of-24 for 41 yards with two interceptions. One interception bounced off the receiver's hands before being 67-yards for a score by Rayshad Williams.

"We got two win out of five games, that's not what we want but it's pretty good," said Roughbecks Head Coach Curtis Johnson. "We are in striking distance to achieve our goal. It's not just winning, it's how we won it. It was pretty convincing today."

After four weeks on the road, the home opener debacle dropped the Brahmas to 1-4 and last place in the XFL Conference.

"This is a disappointing loss," said Brahmas Interim Head Coach Peyton Pardee. "It's not up to our standards as an organization and as a football team. What I told the team is we are not going be in the business of pointing the finger. There was a lot that went on in all three phases that we have to be better at as a team."

UFL Top 10 Plays From Week 6

Every Touchdown of Week 5

Week 6 Games

Friday May 2nd

Arlington Renegades at St. Louis Battlehawks - 8 pm est. FOX

Saturday May 3rd

Memphis Showboats at Houston Roughnecks - 12 pm est. ABC

Sunday May 4th

D.C. Defenders at Michigan Panthers - 12 pm est. ESPN

San Antonio Brahmas at Birmingham Stallions - 4 pm est. FOX

EXTRA POINTS

Friday's Memphis Showboats at Birmingham broadcast on FOX drew 467,000 viewers, while Saturday's Michigan Panthers at St. Louis Battlehawks on ESPN totaled 615,000 viewers. Sunday's D.C. Defenders at Arlington Renegades telecast on ESPN hit 545,000 viewers, and the Houston Roughnecks at San Antonio game on ESPN completed the weekend with 391,000 viewers.
Attendance at Friday's Memphis at Birmingham game was 9,127, and Saturday's Michigan at St. Louis drew 30,406. Sunday's D.C. at Arlington game attracted 9,544, and Houston at San Antonio drew 14,427.
D.C. Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu, Arlington Renegades cornerback Ajene Harris, and Memphis Showboats quarterback Dresser Winn were named the OurSports Central United Football League Offensive Player, Defensive Player and Unsung Hero of the Week, respectively, for week five of the UFL season.
Teams went four-of-eight on one-point conversion attempts from the two-yard line, eight-of-sixteen on two-point conversions from the five-yard line, and one-of-one on the lone three-point conversion attempt from the 10-yard line.
The United Football League has suspended wide receiver Samson Nacua of the Michigan Panthers for one game without pay for an altercation with a spectator following the Panthers' game against the St. Louis Battlehawks at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis on Saturday, April 26.
At the midway point of the season Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'Amu leads the UFL in passing yards with 1,213 and passing touchdowns with nine. Renegades running back Kalen Balage tops the league with 276 rushing yards, and Memphis' Jonathan Adams leads the way with 313 receiving yards.
On defense, D.C.'s Derick Roberson and Andre Mintz and 4.5 sacks apiece. Arlington's Ajene Harris has grabbed three interceptions, and Memphis Steele Chambers has collected 45 tackles.
Michigan's Devin Ross has 380 yards on kick returns, and St. Louis' Jahcour Pearson 179 on punt returns. D.C.'s Matt McCrane has connected on 13 field goals. San Antonio's Brad Wing tops all punters with a 49.9-yard average.
Road teams went 3-1 last week.
My UFL best bet lock of the Week is St. Louis -2.5 over Arlington. Max Duggan's play improved a lot last week. Arlington played well at home, going 3-1. It should be a high scoring game with the Battlehawks hitting their stride.

Inside the UFL

United Football League Stories from May 1, 2025