Inside the UFL

Inside the UFL

by Fran Stuchbury
Published on May 7, 2026 under United Football League (UFL)


After starting the United Football League season 3-0, the Dallas Renegades have struggled the past three weeks, losing three straight games and falling to fourth place in the UFL standings.

During their undefeated start, the Renegades outscored opponents by a 32-18 margin. Quarterback Austin Reed tossed nine touchdown passes and just one interception.

Over the course of their skid, they've been outscored by 33-15 and Reed has thrown four touchdown passes to pair with six interceptions.

The troubles began when they played their third game in 11 days, a 28-14 road loss to the Columbus Aviators in which the Dallas defense surrendered 201 rushing yards.

In a week five, 47-25 home setback against the Louisville Kings, Reed threw four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns.

"We could do this a little bit better," said Renegades Head Coach Rick Neuheisel. "We now as coaches have to figure out what's the best strategy to get the best result within the reason of how much time you have to employ a new scheme. Therein lies what we've got to do and then because everything in football, if you're successful, is complementary."

Their latest defeat took place on the road where they were controlled by the DC Defenders, 24-6. The offense managed only 50 rushing yards.

"Our offense needs a running game and needs a higher completion percentage, meaning that we're efficient staying in all this stuff," added Neuheisel. "We need to protect Austin so that he can make a bunch of on-script plays rather than all these heroic off script plays and just see if we can't stay dialed in when we get down in the red zone and knock it in."

Neuheisel doesn't plan to make many roster moves moving forward.

"I just told my team, I love them," he said. "I'm not getting rid of anyone unless they show me by their behavior that they don't want to be on the team by not buying into what the team culture is and no one's done that. Everybody has said by their actions this is important to them. So now we just got to push it until we get it exactly how we want it, and go and play as complete game as we've done."

He remains optimistic the Renegades can make the postseason.

"If we can find a way to play good football in the final four games, I think we can stay in the hunt for a playoff spot," he added "If our improvement is, as I think it will be, then we'll be a tough out when we get to those playoffs, which is kind of the goal."

Dallas finishes the season with three of its final four games on the road against the Birmingham Stallions May 9th, Louisville Kings May 24th, and St. Louis Battlehawks May 29th.

Their final regular season home game will take place on Friday, May 15th, at Phantom Warrior Stadium on the Fort Hood U.S. Army military base near Killeen, Texas, against the Orlando Storm.

Top 10 Plays of Week 6

All Touchdowns from Week 6

Week 7 games

Friday, May 8th

Columbus Aviators at St. Louis Battlehawks - 8 pm est. FOX

Saturday, May 9th

Louisville Kings at DC Defenders - 1:30 pm est. FOX

Dallas Renegades at Birmingham Stallions - 8 pm est. ESPN

Sunday, May 10th

Orlando Storm at Birmingham Stallions - 6 pm est. FS1

EXTRA POINTS

  1. Thursday's St. Louis at Louisville game was witnessed by 10,456 attendees. Friday's Houston at Columbus contest drew 8,347. Saturday's Dallas at DC game attracted 7,019, and Sunday's Birmingham at Orlando weekend finale notched 9,107 spectators.

  2. DC Defenders quarterback Jordan Ta'amu, Birmingham Stallions linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi, and Birmingham quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson were named the OurSports Central United Football League Offensive Player, Defensive Player and Unsung Hero of the Week, respectively, for week six of UFL season.

  3. The St. Louis Battlehawks will start quarterback Luis Perez in Friday's home game against the Columbus Aviators. Perez has played in eight spring football league seasons.

  4. The Battlehawks defense dominated in their 16-3 win over the Louisville Kings. They collected six sacks, one interception and four pass breakups.

  5. Last Saturday's DC Defenders home game against the Dallas Renegades on ABC was the most watched UFL game of the season. It reached 1.05 million viewers and peaked at 1.16 million viewers.

  6. In the Orlando Storm's 20-17 loss to the Birmingham Stallions, the Orlando offense coughed up three fumbles, two of them in the red zone. Prior to this game the Storms offense had only turned the ball over twice with one fumble and one interception. The Stallions victory ended their four-game losing streak.

  7. The Houston Gamblers signed quarterback John Rhys Plumlee after he was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers on April 28th. Houston released quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa who passed for 300 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while adding 43 rushing yards and one touchdown. He could be headed back to the Indoor Football League's Orlando Pirates.

  8. The Louisville Kings traded wide receiver JaVonta Payton to the Houston Gamblers for defensive end Lonnie Phelps.

  9. 2020 XFL quarterback PJ Walker announced his retirement. In five games with the Houston Roughnecks in 2020, Walker passed for 1,338 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. He led the Roughnecks to a 5-0 record before the season ended due to Covid-19. He would go on to play for the NFL's Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns before spending the last two seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Calgary Stampeders.

  10. My UFL Best Bet Lock of the Week is the St. Louis Battlehawks -4.5 against the Columbus Aviators. The Battlehawks are hoping with Luis Perez starting they will not turn the ball over as they have with quarterbacks Brandon Silvers and Harrison Frost who tossed nine combined interceptions. If St. Louis can stop the Aviators from running the football and force them to throw, they should stay undefeated at home.
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United Football League Stories from May 7, 2026


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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