Heading into Saturday’s regular-season opener against the Houston Gamblers, many UFL fans wondered what they would see from the Dallas Renegades’ offense with Austin Reed at the helm. Earlier this week, Renegades head coach Rick Neuheisel announced that Reed, and not Luis Perez, would be the starter.

The decision was quite shocking, given that Perez has made a name for himself over the years as “The Spring King.” However, Neuheisel might’ve been onto something with Reed, who had a record-setting performance against Kevin Sumlin’s Gamblers. The former Chicago Bears quarterback completed 26-of-40 passes for 376 yards and three touchdowns as the Renegades dominated the Gamblers, 36-17.

Reed’s 376 passing yards set the UFL’s regular-season single-game passing record, which is quite impressive for someone making their first-ever spring football start. From the start, it was clear that Neuheisel wanted to push the ball down the field with Reed, giving the Renegades’ offense something that they lacked with Perez under center for multiple years.

In the first quarter, Reed connected with wide receiver Tyler Vaughns on a 59-yard deep shot down the field. The Renegades didn’t score on that drive, but fans got a chance to see Reed’s arm talent on full display.

Then, to start the second quarter, Reed hit wide receiver Emmanuel Butler in stride for a 27-yard gain, putting Dallas inside the red zone. That drive ended with a Reed six-yard touchdown pass to running back Ellis Merriweather.

However, the former Bears QB’s best throw of the game happened at the start of the third quarter, where he ran the RPO to perfection, hitting Greg Ward Jr. in stride for a 66-yard touchdown. At that point, the Renegades were up 30-3 on Houston, who scored their first touchdown of the game on the next play, thanks to a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown from Jalen Moreno-Cropper.

Nonetheless, if you’re a Renegades fan, you cannot ask for a better performance in Week 1 from Reed, who clearly has the UFL world buzzing. It will be interesting to see what he can do for an encore in Week 2 against St. Louis Battlehawks, who gave Jordan Ta’amu fits in Week 1.