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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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XFL South Division Championship: Arlington Renegades at Houston Roughnecks (Saturday, April 29th, 7 PM)
HOU (-6), O/U 41
Best Bet: Renegades (+6) & Under 41
This season has certainly been a tale of two divisions in the XFL. This is the tale of the South Division, and today, you have to put the meaningless Week 10 result out of sight and out of mind. Arlington seems to have been headed on an upward trajectory at the same rate that Houston was charting downward from mid-way point of the campaign, and even though Arlington has missed several opportunities to show that they should be taken seriously in some capacity for a run in this postseason, it was the OT loss to the Defenders that ultimately puts more confidence from me into the Renegades' ultimate ceiling than that of the Houston Roughnecks.
Defensively, I'd say they've been more or less a wash for the entirety of 2023, and I think Arlington is now better equipped to handle the Houston defensive line with some last-minute changes to their OL personnel. At this point, I would trust the likes of Luis Perez and De'Veon Smith much more than I would Brandon Silvers and Max Borghi, though I do favor the Roughnecks receiving core of Travell Harris, Deontay Burnett, and Cedric Byrd over the Renegades' combo of Sal Cannella and Tyler Vaughns.
However, I think the former category will factor in much more heavily than the latter, and the Renegades get the big win they've been looking for at the best possible time. This will be a close game regardless with what is at stake, so definitely hammer the points with Arlington, play them on the ML, and ride the under into the XFL Championship--as I envision a final score range of 18-14 to 24-21.
XFL North Division Championship: Seattle Sea Dragons at D.C. Defenders (Sunday, April 30th, 3 PM)
D.C. (-3), O/U 48.5
Best Bet: Sea Dragons (+3) & Over 48.5
This North Division matchup was meant to be, even though one of the residual effects was that the St. Louis Battlehawks would miss out on the postseason based on a very confusing tie-breaker system. Here are a few key facts driving the narrative coming into this game. 1) Ben DiNucci is leading the league in passing by a mile at 2,671 yards, and has since curbed his turnover propensity with a current TD:INT ratio of 20-13. 2) The Sea Dragons have four receivers in the top-11 in XFL receiving yardage (Jahcour Pearson, Josh Gordon, Blake Jackson, Juwan Green), but the D.C. Defenders have been quietly climbing in this department for some time, with Chris Blair and Lucky Jackson both top-5 among WRs with a combined 1,167 yards behind Jordan Ta'amu's 1,184 passing yards, 14 TDs, and three interceptions.
3) Abram Smith remains head and shoulders above the rest of the XFL rushing field with 791 yards and seven touchdowns, and while Ta'amu has excelled in this department throughout the season, Ben DiNucci has since surpassed him and currently stands with 305 yards and three touchdowns (just five yards less than Max Borghi and 60 less than De'Veon Smith). 4) Most important to me: Seattle has won their last two games by a margin of 58-21 to include a 30-12 routing of St. Louis, and while the Defenders have easily been the top team in the league all year, their last four games (3-1) have been decided by a total of five points, including that 34-33 win over Seattle in Week 8.
This will be a close game primed for a cash on +3, and for the sake of a ML play on my Seattle Sea Dragons, that is a lot of close games for D.C. to keep holding on to, but their home crowd is going to be rabid and lousy with lemons. I am very confident this game has a floor of 28-26, but another score in the neighborhood of 34-33 is easily within reach.
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