It’s back! My Three up, Three down column tracks the roller-coaster ride that is UFL action each week, with positives or things happening often labeled “up,” and negatives or downward trends categorized as “down.”
Up: Showboat takeaways
Granted, it was against fellow one-win San Antonio, but Memphis’s defense finally got the turnovers on defense they’d been looking for all year. They had three takeaways Friday night against the Brahmas after entering week eight with just two all season. Even then, it took overtime to put away San Antonio. It is said that turnovers come in bunches, so Memphis will look to keep the defensive momentum going against Arlington next week.
Down: Perfect kickers
The last kicker yet to miss a field goal on the season, Rodrigo Blankenship of St. Louis, biffed his first one on Saturday against Birmingham. Up 13-12 just before the end of the first half, St. Louis got into position to try a long field goal. Inside the Dome at America’s Center, Blankenship lined up for a 58-yard try. He missed it, and the Battlehawks went into halftime clinging to that one-point lead. That turned out to be the difference at the end of the game as well, so Blankenship’s miss didn’t end up costing them – though it could have.
Up: Pick Sixes
Three of the four games this weekend featured interceptions returned for touchdowns – and the teams benefiting from those scores went 3-0. The Showboats’ first entry onto the scoreboard came when Cameron Dantzler picked off Kevin Hogan and returned it for a TD. Backup linebacker Callahan O’Reilly got into the action for the Battlehawks, taking a J’Mar Smith offering to the house. Finally, Houston’s Jalan McClendon was picked by Keni-H Lovely of Michigan, adding to the Panthers’ lead over the Roughnecks.
Down: Meaningful games remaining
Wins by Arlington and/or Houston in week eight would’ve kept each in the playoff race heading into week nine and would’ve given the league some meaningful regular season games left on the schedule. Alas, it was not to be: Both teams lost, locking in the four playoff teams with two weeks remaining. That’s bad enough, but the fact that certain stadiums are off-limits for the Conference Championships means we already know that St. Louis will be hosting the XFL Conference finals and Birmingham will be hosting the USFL Conference finals. So despite St. Louis and D.C. being tied for first, and Birmingham being only one game behind Michigan, there really isn’t homefield advantage on the line, either.
Up: New announcers
UFL viewers were treated to a couple of new voices on broadcasts this weekend. Former NFL QB Chase Daniel was on the FOX Friday night game, his debut as an analyst across any league. He held up well in that role. On Saturday, veteran college football voice Tim Brando was on the call for Birmingham vs. St. Louis, even giving the audience his trademark “how DO you do?” He showed a lot of excitement and heaped praise on the action throughout the contest.
Down: Games finishing on the network they air on
The UFL has not yet earned high-priority status from the networks that air the games, and that was evident on Saturday. With the Arlington at D.C. game running long and ABC needing to get to their NBA Playoff pre-game show, the last few minutes were kicked to ESPN2, causing many viewers to miss out on the exciting ending (notably those recording the game). I don’t think fans would have a problem with a playoff game taking precedence over a regular season game and I’d venture that most understand that the NBA is a more important property for the network than the UFL. But switching it for a pre-game show is what agitated some fans.
