After months and weeks of anticipation, the 2025 UFL season will start with an exciting four-game Week 1 slate. The action begins on Friday night, as the St. Louis Battlehawks will play the Houston Roughnecks at 8 p.m. ET (FOX).

Then, on Saturday afternoon, the San Antonio Brahmas will face the Arlington Renegades at 4 p.m. ET (FOX). The Brahmas are the reigning XFL conference champions after falling short to the Birmingham Stallions in the UFL title game.

Finally, Week 1 wraps up on Sunday with a doubleheader beginning at noon ET on ESPN. The Michigan Panthers will play the Memphis Showboats, while the Birmingham Stallions will open the season on the road against the DC Defenders.

The Stallions are the defending UFL champs and have won three straight spring football titles dating back to 2022 in the USFL.

As we did last season, we’ll hand out our best bets for the week, using odds courtesy of FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.

UFL Best Bets for Week 1

St. Louis Battlehawks at Houston Roughnecks

Friday, 8 p.m. ET, FOX

Year 2 of the UFL begins with a solid matchup between the Battlehawks and Roughnecks from TDECU Stadium. The Battlehawks enter this contest as 6-point favorites, which speaks to the talent on both sides of the ball.

However, St. Louis will not have A.J. McCarron under center at quarterback this season. The team went in a different direction at quarterback. The Battlehawks kept Manny Wilkins for another year but added Max Duggan and Chevan Cordeiro.

On Monday, St. Louis announced that its Week 1 QBs would be Wilkins and Duggan. However, Battlehawks’ Week 1 depth chart has Wilkins starting against the Roughnecks.

Last season, Wilkins started two games for St. Louis against the Defenders and the Renegades. The former Arizona State QB will lean on his dynamic playmakers at WR in Hakeem Butler (2024 UFL OPOY) and Jahcour Pearson and in the backfield with RB Jacob Saylors (All-UFL in 2024).

At the same time, the Battlehawks’ defense is nothing to sleep on. They were ranked third in takeaways (14) and first in passing yards allowed (183.6) in 2024.

However, St. Louis cannot overlook the Roughnecks despite having the worst record in the UFL last season (1-9). Houston has an intriguing QB room with Nolan Henderson, Anthony Brown, and Jalan McClendon.

Henderson and McClendon have spring football experience, but the Roughnecks will give Brown the start. The former Oregon and Boston College QB has bounced around the NFL, spending time with the Baltimore Ravens, Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, and Buffalo Bills. Therefore, this will be a good opportunity for Brown to get consistent reps and show that he can compete in the UFL.

On paper, the Battlehawks have the better team. But I’m not sure how this offense will look sans McCarron and OC Bruce Gradkowski, who left for the NFL. Houston doesn’t have an explosive offense, and they are ushering in a new quarterback to spring ball.

That said, if the Roughnecks play within themselves and Brown can make a couple of plays with his legs, they could make things interesting against St. Louis.

Pick: Roughnecks +6 (-110, FanDuel)

San Antonio Brahmas at Arlington Renegades

Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, FOX

Despite losing in the UFL title game last season, the Brahmas are still considered one of the contenders to win the championship in 2025. Head coach Wade Phillips will have a new quarterback under center this season in Kellen Mond. Mond was a former third-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2021 NFL Draft.

The former Texas A&M star brings a dual-threat ability to A.J. Smith’s offense, which should be exciting to watch. Mond will have a good running game to lean on with John Lovett and Anthony McFarland and a good set of WRs to throw to (Greg Ward Jr., Jontre Kirklin, and Marquez Stevenson).

However, Mond has a tough challenge in his first UFL start on Saturday, as he’ll face a veteran-led Arlington defense.

The Renegades’ defense is loaded at all three levels, as they added defensive end Chris Odom (2022 USFL DPOY) and former Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Durrell Johnson. They also brought back LB Donald Payne, S Joe Powell, and CB Jamar Summers.

Then, on offense, you must talk about Renegades veteran quarterback Luis Perez. Last season, the spring football vet completed 67% of his passes for 2,310 yards, 18 touchdowns, and four interceptions. Perez has a nice set of weapons around him at RB (Kalen Ballage and Dae Dae Hunter), WR (Deontay Burnett, LuJuan Winningham, JaVonta Payton, and Tyler Vaughns), and TE (Sal Canella).

Saturday’s game should be a fun chess match, as San Antonio was ranked first in scoring defense last season (15.3 ppg allowed) and led the UFL in sacks (32). Meanwhile, Arlington had the third-best scoring offense ( 24.7 ppg).

Therefore, give me the Renegades and the points at home, as I could see Bob Stoops and Co. throwing different looks at Mond in his first UFL start.

Pick: Renegades +3 (-118, DraftKings)

Michigan Panthers at Memphis Showboats

Sunday, noon ET, ESPN

Last season in Week 1, the average total points scored among the four games was 33.5. The highest-scoring match was between the Stallions and Renegades (41).

I bring that up because Sunday’s game against the Panthers and the Showboats could be a low-scoring affair. Michigan returns many key players on both sides from last season, including DE Breeland Speaks (9.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss, 2024 UFL DPOY), LB Frank Ginda, DE Levi Bell, and DE Kenny Willekes.

The Panthers’ defense was ranked second in sacks (30) and third in scoring defense (19.0) last season. As for Michigan’s offense, they aren’t going to wow you with explosive plays. But quarterbacks Bryce Perkins and Danny Etling are great plus-ones in the running game, which features Matthew Colburn II, Jaden Shirden, and Nate McCrary.

Meanwhile, the Showboats will have a new head coach after Ken Whisenhunt stepped away earlier this week for “personal reasons.” Offensive line coach Jim Turner is taking over for Whisenhunt as the interim head coach.

Memphis’s QB room has a ton of experience between E.J. Perry and Troy Williams. However, the Showboats’ defense might be the storyline in Week 1 as Jarren Horton takes over as defensive coordinator. Horton was the DC of the Pittsburgh Maulers in the USFL for two years (2022, ’23) and led them to the USFL title in 2023.

Horton’s unit has a few former Maulers, including Boogie Roberts, Mark Gilbert, Nasir Player, and Eli Walker. The sportsbooks don’t give Memphis a chance this season, as they are tied with the Roughnecks for the worst odds to win the title (+2400 on FanDuel).

That said, Sunday’s game might give us an early preview at potentially two of the better defenses in the UFL.

Pick: Under 38.5 points (-110, FanDuel)

Birmingham Stallions at DC Defenders

Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN

Week 1 wraps up with the Stallions beginning their title defense against the Defenders at Audi Field.

The Stallions look poised to win another title as they retooled their roster on both sides. They brought back a familiar face in 2023 USFL MVP QB Alex McGough. In fact, Birmingham might have the best QB room in the league with McGough, Matt Corral, and Case Cookus.

Birmingham also returns a lot of key starters at the skill positions (TE Jace Stenberger, WR Deon Cain, WR Amari Rodgers, and RB CJ Marable). Defensively, the Stallions look like a well-oiled machine on paper, with playmakers at all three levels.

Meanwhile, the Defenders are in flux as Reggie Barlow became the new head coach at Tennessee State this week. With Barlow off to Tennessee State, the Defenders will roll with Shannon Harris as the interim head coach.

Harris, Gregg Williams (defensive coordinator), and Fred Kaiss (offensive coordinator), who will all reportedly head to Tennessee State after the UFL season, have a talented veteran team to work with. Veteran QB Jordan Ta’amu and RB Abram Smith are back for another year, which should re-ignite their offense.

It’s tough to guess what DC team will show up with the change at HC, but we know they have the talent on both ends to compete. However, I’ll give the edge to the Stallions, who will pull away late in the fourth quarter to get the cover.

Pick: Stallions -7 (+100, FanDuel)

[Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports]