Each week, Greg will present what we learned from UFL games over the previous weekend.
-Dallas Renegades head coach Rick Neuheisel made the right call to start QB Austin Reed over Luis Perez. Many eyebrows were raised (including from yours truly) when Reed was named opening day starter over the veteran Perez. All Reed did was set a UFL record by throwing for 376 yards in Dallas's win over Houston. Reed will face more resistance from other defenses on the schedule - notably this week against St. Louis - but coming out of week one, Neuheisel certainly looks like he knew what he was doing in making this call.
-Defense was optional for Houston. For as great as Reed was, it was Houston's defense that played a role in that as well. FOX's Joel Klatt was aghast that the Gamblers continued to play man defense when Reed was exposing them with crossing routes. Houston never seemed to adjust. It's especially surprising given their defensive coordinator is Marvin Sanders, a former Renegade assistant coach who is no stranger to coordinating spring football defenses. Safety Markel Roby was the fall guy for the performance on Saturday - he was waived Monday. Roby started at safety, though he played just 20 snaps on defense and was the second-lowest graded defender on the Gamblers per Pro Football Focus. They need to get their house in order quickly as they play another offense with dynamic receivers this weekend in Birmingham.
-St. Louis's defense is as-advertised. I had St. Louis's defense highly rated in my preseason position rankings but even I didn't see their domination of the defending UFL champions coming in week one. They had seven sacks, two interceptions and limited what was expected to be a strong D.C. offense to under 200 total yards. Now, defenses tend to be ahead of offenses early on in the spring football season (Renegades notwithstanding), so I wouldn't expect these numbers each week from the Battlehawks. But in an early rivalry game, they were able to wrest Battledome advantage away from the Defenders, at least for this season.
-D.C. will face some adversity if they want to repeat. D.C. had a difficult draw in week one, the Battlehawks in St. Louis. Nevertheless, this was supposed to be a team that had the advantage over the rest of the league, returning much of the coaching staff and more players than any other UFL squad. You wouldn't have guessed that, though, from watching the game. The offensive woes started up front, as their line surrendered seven sacks and QB Jordan Ta'amu could never get in rhythm. The Defenders yesterday signed OT Yasir Durant, an All-UFL player for them in 2025 who spent time with the New England Patriots last season. He should help right away. On defense, tempers got the best of a few players near the end of the game, and that lack of discipline has bit the Defenders before. About the only thing that went right was K Matt McCrane hitting the league's first four-point field goal.
-Quarterback play should be pretty good in this league. QBs tend to be hit or miss in the spring, and by mid-season it's not uncommon for multiple week one starters to be benched for performance issues. I don't see that being a concern this year. Houston may be the only place this happens, as Hunter Dekkers was much more successful in relief of starter Nolan Henderson. Week one is usually rough for quarterbacks; however, most looked at least competent this year. Though week one did not feature the kind of scoring new owner Mike Repole is looking for, the QB play should give him and fans confidence that the tuddies will come.
-Mixed results on attendance, television ratings. Louisville drawing over 14,000 for the franchise's first game was an impressive start to the season. St. Louis going over 30,000 was a plus too, and Orlando's 11,000 was a good draw. Dallas may have disappointed with under 10,000, but there are extenuating circumstances such as the limited capacity at Toyota Stadium due to construction. Late Tuesday, ESPN touted the viewership for the D.C. vs. St. Louis game; it was the second-best UFL rating ever on ESPN. The Friday night opener on FOX, however, drew just 649,000, less than the 690,000 for last year's week one game. And on ESPN Sunday night, Columbus and Orlando pulled in 466,000.