The 2026 UFL season is now 20 percent through, and it has produced a lot of memorable moments, crowd interactions, and big plays on the field. It is hard to imagine what could be more exciting, especially since week one in St. Louis had the biggest rival with a Nelly halftime show. How about the return of A.J. McCarron to St. Louis after the messy breakup that happened between him and former head coach Anthony Becht. That’s right, the Birmingham Stallions are the Battlehawks week three opponent and show a new level of rivalry between two teams where one has the most championships and the other has the most dedicated fan base.
Birmingham is coming off a week two loss like St. Louis, but theirs was to a buzzer-beating field goal out of the Houston Gamblers. Birmingham was slow to pick it up last week as they were evenly matched up until the fourth quarter, with Quarterback Matt Corral completing 21 passes out of 27 attempts for 226 yards and two touchdowns. Ultimately, they fell in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 13 to six and falling to 1-1 in the standings. Birmingham, while they were able to move the ball, were also able to turn it over and give unnecessary opportunities to the Gamblers, which led to them falling short. Birmingham is looking to tighten up on those mistakes and build off their defense’s strong performance to have a shot against an aggressive defensive line that St. Louis boasts.
Flipping the switch over to St. Louis, there are things on both sides of the ball that need fixing. Quarterback Brandon Silvers was pressured more times than not, and whether that is O-Line play or on Silvers himself, it needs to be changed going into this week’s game. Hakeem Butler needs to be utilized more beyond deep balls and extra point conversions. His size makes him a threat to even the biggest defender, so being able to do quick slants instead of post routes could make it better for the Battlehawks to gain yards after the catch. Finally, we need to utilize the run game better and split the reps more consistently between Jarveon Howard and Kevon Latulas and tire out the defense on the ground. On defense, the secondary just needs to be able to cover the deep ball. The run defense was suffocating (mostly), but Dallas took advantage of the safeties all game and never stopped throwing Hail Mary passes that worked.
This is a very winnable game for St. Louis, with Birmingham being in many of the same boats as St. Louis, with new head coaches and new systems after years of stability. Both are going into this week at 1-1, so there is a sense of desperation not to fall to a negative record this week. Week three’s game is Sunday, April 12th at 2 P.M. at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and available to watch on the ABC Network.
