In a battle to remain comfortable in the 2026 UFL playoff race, the St. Louis Battlehawks play host this weekend to the Birmingham Stallions at The Dome at America’s Center. The game, scheduled to air Sunday on ABC at 2:00 PM CDT, features two teams coming off Week 2 losses.
St. Louis ran into what has become an early season buzz saw last week at Dallas, falling to the fast riising Renegades 31-15 to fall to 1-1 on the season.
Birmingham, like St. Louis, opened their season with a Week 1 win, but were squelched last week on the road in Houston thanks to a game ending 50 yard field goal as time expired.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: COMPARING BOTH TEAMS ENTERING WEEK 3
There is no real way of of measuring which team this week’s game is more important to. From the perspective of examining which team has been the most impressive after two games, the nod has to go to the Battlehawks. Their 16-10 Week 1 win over defending league champion, the DC Defenders, was far from perfect, but was still more impressive than Birmingham was in their win on the road at Louisville.
The Battlehawks were beaten soundly last week, and looked more vulnerable than Birmingham did in their outing against Houston, but Dallas has been the most impressive team in the UFL by a wide margin through two weeks of play.
It feels like the game has more urgency for the Stallions. Birmingham would love to carry some momentum into Protective Stadium for their home opener versus Orlando. After what will be their third consecutive road game to start the season, a 2-1 record would be more conducive to entice a nicer turnout as opposed to what it might look like hobbling home at 1-2, and attendance along with Birmingham were used in the same sentence more often than the City of Birmingham would like for it to have been during the offseason.
BY THE NUMBERS
Offensively, Birmingham has a sizable advantage over the Battlehawks in total offense, averaging 62.5 more yards per game than St. Louis (324.5-262.0).
On the defensive side of the football, St. Louis yields only 240 yards per game, tops in the UFL, while Birmingham allows 336.5, ahead only in front of Houston and Columbus.
Rushing defense has been a cause of concern of late for the Stallions, allowing Houston to run at will for a total of 173 yards. Especially concerning for the Birmingham coaching staff is the fact that the Gamblers were able to do it after looking anemic in Week 1, where they gained only 42 yards on the ground.
The Stallions did manage to hold the Gamblers to 1-6 on the day in the red zone, going a long way in keeping the game as close as the final score indicated.
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD: GAME PREDICTION
St. Louis always enjoys a profound home field advantage, and the nearly 30K they constantly have occupying the seats inside the friendly confines of The Dome at America’s Center is in good measure the primary reason for it.
Both teams have struggled with consistency thus far. For Birmingham, the Stallions clearly need to show marked improvement defending the run. Quarterback play has been a cause for concern for the Stallions as well, with Matt Corral looking surgical at times throwing the football, and then wildly off target at others. For the Stallions to have a chance, both areas need to improve on Sunday.
St. Louis has an opportunity to cure their ground attack ills, and the Stallions, unless they found the cure this week to their inability to defend the run, might have a hill to climb that’s too treacherous to navigate.
ST. LOUIS 23 BIRMINGHAM 20