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The 2023 XFL season is officially upon us, and we are finally getting XFL and USFL action together for our viewing pleasure this Spring football season. Sportsbooks are now available on that device in your pocket all over the world, and so this is going to be a Spring Football season like no other. I'll be here every week providing sports betting advice for XFL action, so join me here and let's get Xtreme. Be sure to also read all our other weekly XFL fantasy football articles.
Also, don't fret...I'll be back, right here, to talk about gambling on the USFL in April; and if we ever start expanding into the realms of the European League of Football, Indoor Football League, Fan Controlled Football, and/or (I can only hope) the CPBL of Taiwan come baseball season–I'll be right here to discuss the full happenings across the board. Speaking of which: the USFL season kicks off on April 15th, so look out for my USFL Week 1 & Futures article in early April.
They might not be the #1...or #2 leagues...but damn it, we've congregated here because we love sports. So, when the powers to be in professional sports decide to supply our hungry demand for more year-round action, it would be fundamentally and morally wrong of us to not take a head-first dive into Spring Football education so that we can continue to enter DFS contests and place anxiety-inducing bets on games that most of our friends and family probably won't even know are being played--and if you're still reading this paragraph, I am fully confident that you share my sentiment on that point. Anyway, let's get to talking about the Spring Football league that could've only been originally brought to us by the minds behind the WWE. XFL 2023: let's rock.
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Week 8 Power Rankings
- D.C. Defenders
- St. Louis Battlehawks
- Seattle Sea Dragons
- Houston Roughnecks
- Arlington Renegades
- Orlando Guardians
- Vegas Vipers
- San Antonio Brahmas
Week 8 MVP Ladder
- Abram Smith (RB, Defenders)
- Ben DiNucci (QB, Sea Dragons)
- Brian Hill (RB, Battlehawks)
- A.J. McCarron (QB, Battlehawks)
- Jordan Ta'amu (QB, Defenders)
Vegas Vipers at St. Louis Battlehawks (Saturday, April 8th, 1 PM)
STL (-6.5), O/U 46.5
Best Bet: Battlehawks (-6.5) & Under 46.5
Jalan McClendon looked about as effective as the quarterback for the Vegas Vipers last week in their hum-drum victory over the Brahmas as anyone has this season, and if they roll with him instead of Brett Hundley, they might actually stand a chance of making this a competitive contest. But in a road game in one of the best XFL environments in the midst of a cataclysmic North Division race with the Seattle Sea Dragons, it is not to be against the Battlehawks.
A.J. McCarron and Brian Hill have been far too offensively consistent, especially against every team not named the Defenders. Let us not forget: the Battlehawks are coming off a nine-point victory against an unraveling Roughnecks squad just last week, while in Week 6 they took it to the Vipers in Vegas by a score of 29-6. I don't think the Vipers will be able to put up another 26-point outing like they did against San Antonio, but I think they'll muster more than their first go-round with St. Louis, and even in looking ahead to Seattle next week, the home crowd should carry the Battlehawks to anywhere from 28-10 to 30-15. St. Louis has been nothing if not consistent in their scoring range. Either way, I feel strongly about laying the points with St. Louis and riding this under well below 45.
Arlington Renegades at Orlando Guardians (Saturday, April 8th, 4 PM)
ORL (-1), O/U 42
Best Bet: Guardians (-1) & Over 42
The Arlington Renegades didn't look too bad in what was ultimately a 24-15 loss to Seattle last week, but this week, Luis Perez will be starting at QB while Kelly Bryant now offers a Cole McDonald/D'Eriq King rushing option off of the bench. Meanwhile, the Orlando Guardians just got their first win of the season in a 37-36 shootout against the previously-undefeated D.C. Defenders, and in a game where they looked like the best team in the league and Quinten Dormady looked like the best player behind six total TDs, this South Division game carries very real postseason implications.
Even in what must be an emotional let-down spot in some ways for Terrell Buckley's squad, the issues remain for the Renegades offensive line, regardless of which quarterback they are protecting, and Orlando has been building their current freight train of momentum for several weeks now. I do think that Arlington's offensive potential will be slightly increased this week with Luis Perez at the helm and De'Veon Smith having established a solid ground attack, but even a solid Renegades defense won't be able to hold back the Guardians offense that took D.C. to the cleaners last week. With Cody Latimer and Charleston Rambo to throw to and a slept-on backfield led by Jah-Maine Martin, I see this final score ending up in the area of 30-15 to 34-22. Either way, I think Orlando is an absolute bargain in just laying a point at home, and I think the over is the easy play to cap off Saturday's slate.
Houston Roughnecks at San Antonio Brahmas (Sunday, April 9th, 3 PM)
HOU (-4), O/U 41
Best Bet: Roughnecks (-4) & Over 41
The Houston Roughnecks are not nearly the team that we thought they might be when they got off to a 4-0 start. Granted, things got a little tougher for them recently when Brandon Silvers got hurt, and things got a lot tougher for them before that when leading-receiver Jontre Kirklin went out for the season. I still like this Houston defense (particularly, the line), I like the way that they utilize Max Borghi (which they should maybe be doing more), and I like the one-two punch of Silvers and Cole McDonald when they both are fully available--but they're quite clearly the fourth-best team in the XFL despite being the best team in the South Division. Jack Coan was injured, Kurt Bentker was brought in for a couple of games just to get his ribs crunched, and even though Jack Coan is slated atop the San Antonio Brahmas' QB-depth chart for Week 8, they just obtained Paxton Lynch from the Orlando Guardians.
Liking Paxton Lynch is very much a guilty pleasure of mine, and while I might not believe much about him these days, I do believe that his numbers with the Orlando Guardians suggest that he is the best QB option they have now. He might not play on such short notice, but if he does, I think he gives them slightly greater offensive potential. San Antonio is now the worst team in the league based on the optics and offensive output, and I think the Roughnecks are able to put up more points than they did in Week 3 against a down-and-out Brahmas defense that has benefitted from games in the South division. I would take Houston laying up to seven points, but watch this O/U: I think if Jack Coan is the man all game, this game ends anywhere from 28-9 to 31-10, but if Paxton Lynch ends up playing, it ends up 31-14 to 34-14, Houston.
D.C. Defenders at Seattle Sea Dragons (Sunday, April 9th, 7 PM)
SEA (-1), O/U 48
Best Bet: Defenders (+1) & Over 48
I cannot wait for the bona fide game of the week on Easter Sunday night. The Seattle Sea Dragons have been my favorite team all season, and this is a monumental contest if they want to squeeze into the postseason past the St. Louis Battlehawks, who are in a much easier matchup this week. Jahcour Pearson has been limited this week, but the Sea Dragons just signed former All-Rookie and NFL Pro Bowl running back Phillip Lindsay, which should more than make up for the backfield deficiency that was there in Morgan Ellison's absence. On the away side, the D.C. Defenders finally lost a game to the team who had yet to win one, 37-36, in one of the top games of the XFL season.
However, I think the public is reacting a little strong to that loss, because Orlando now looks like an actual contender out of the South, and it took a heroic Quinten Dormady performance and a big missed field goal to top D.C. by one. The Seattle defense has been stronger in the latter half of the year, but the team overall still looks vulnerable from week to week. I can't forget what Abram Smith and Jordan Ta'amu have been doing all year, and I think that D.C. is the objectively better football team. Hopefully this Sea Dragons crowd shows up and the team proves me wrong, but I love D.C. +1 and on the ML (+110). I could see a final score of 30-28, and on the lower-end at 26 or 24-20, so I think I prefer the over but I definitely don't love it.
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