We have hit the half way point of the first ever UFL season. Not much rotation in this week’s edition of the power rankings. The Renegades can’t buy a win. Birmingham’s streak continues. While the Beer Snake winning streak has come to an end at home for the Defenders. The power rankings look like the tale of two cities with 8 teams. Two really great teams. Two solid squads. Then the 4 bottom feeders are lumped together. We see if we can sort out for you. Week 6 power rankings are rolling in like a tumble weed that shows up at some of these home stadiums in the UFL.

#1.BIRMINGHAM STALLIONS (5-0) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

Can the Stallions run the table like the 1972 Miami Dolphins? We are at the half way point of the season and the Stallions already have won half of their game. They have won 12 straight games dating back to last year. I really think they found their quarterback in Adrian Martinez rather than trot out Matt Corral. The Stallions’ try out behind center should be done as Skip Holtz has been rotating Corrall and Martinez. The first few games he played both in the same game. The Stallions offense is so much better with Martinez who is a duel threat guy. He set a new league high in rushing with 138 yards last week versus the Roughnecks. He also had 155 passing yards.

The 1972 Dolphins full back was Larry Csonka. The Stallions have their own version of Larry at running back. Larry Rountree III emerges out of the back field for the Stallions on his first run of the year, he at 30 yards. He had 50 yards on the ground with one rushing touchdown at the end of the day versus the Roughnecks. The Stallions are deep in the food pantry with running backs. The Stallions defense are the number one unit. They lead the league in sacks with 18. They held Mark Thompson in the second game of the season for the Roughnecks to 11 yards on the ground. Thompson was the offensive player of the year last year in the USFL.

#2. ST. LOUIS BATTLEHAWKS (4-1) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The BattleHawks put a kaboom to the Defenders and their beer snake last weekend. The Defenders have not lost a game at Beer Snake Headquarters as they were a perfect 10-0 at Audi Field. The BattleHawks slayed their dragon, the Defenders, who are an arch rival and a team St. Louis lost twice to which basically kept them out of post-season. AJ McCarron and company put 45 points on the board and made a statement in the XFL conference and the entire UFL. Hakeem Butler had another monster game with 6 catches for 147 yards while hauling in two touchdowns.

The BattleHawks defense picked off Jordan Ta’amu three times as the Defenders racked up only 12 points. Mike Rose on that BattleHawks defense had one of those interceptions with 11 tackles, 5 of them solo, and had a sack. The BattleHawks have some guys that can definitely get it done on the defensive side. St. Louis has won 4 straight.

#3. SAN ANTONIO BRAHMAS (4-1) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The Brahmas have to be thankful for their running back, John Lovett, not John Lovitz. The Brahmas running back averaged 7.3 yards per carry to help avoid catastrophic lost to a winnless Renegades team.

John Lovett had two rushing touchdowns, one of them the game clincher, as he racked up 95 yards on the ground. How long can the Brahmas keep winning with Dormady Quinten? He had three interceptions on the day as he finished 19-30 with 164 passing yards and a touchdown pass. Quinten can be good, bad, and gives your team lots of ugly as the former Orlando Guardians quarterback last year. The Brahmas running game and defense strong were enough to overcome their quarterback’s bad decisions. If I was a Brahmas fan, you better pray Chase Garbers returns for the playoffs.

#4. MICHIGAN PANTHERS (3-2) MOVED UP ONE SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The Panthers make a change at the quarterback position in week 5 and use their team’s strengths to rout the Showboats on the road. The Panthers used their strong running game and solid defense to move one game over the 500 mark at the half way point of the season as they scored 35 points. The Panthers benched EJ Perry and elected to go with Danny Ethling, who made his first start of the season. Ethling’s numbers were not off the charts as he completed 14-21 for 175 yards and chipped in with a rushing touchdown. The two-headed monster at running back the Panthers have rushed for 4 touchdowns. Wes Hills had three rushing touchdowns against his former coach John DeFilipo, now the Showboats head coach. Last year Hills and DeFilipo were in the USFL with the New Orleans Breakers. Hills also took a direct snap on a fake punt and converted on 4th and 12. The Panthers successfully ran and converted the same play in the last two weeks. Matt Colburn II had a rushing touchdown. The Panthers defense led by Breeland Speaks made Troy Williams’ first start for the Showboats miserable.

Speaks had it easy with an early strip sack on Williams very early that made his presence known. The Panthers held the Showboats under 20 points.

#5. DC DEFENDERS (2-3) DROPPED ONE SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The Defenders have lost some of their top playmakers to the NFL from last season. They are not the same team from last year. I waffled if I should even have DC in the number 5 spot because they may be a team headed for the bottom of the UFL. I thought Jordan Ta’amu was one of the better quarterbacks in the UFL as he’s been a starter in multiple spring fling football leagues for the last few years. Ta’amu threw three interceptions last week versus the BattleHawks who gave them a beat down. Ta’amu is a guy only completing 50% of his throws this season. When he runs, he does not run with urgency. He does a quarterback slide right before the first down marker. He will come up short even diving for the first down marker. I’m surprised they have two wins after 5 games. One of them came in the UFL cheap rule of the on side play converting 4th and 12 versus the Renegades. Ta’amu’s day ended with him completing 12-23 for 101 yards with one touchdown and three picks.

Wasted effort by the Defenders’ Malik Fisher who had three sacks last week versus the BattleHawks. The Defenders lost their first home game ever in DC. I see this Defenders team sliding down at the wrong end of the beer snake.

#6. MEMPHIS SHOWBOATS (1-4) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The Showboats are another team that could be at the bottom of the power rankings or the standings by the time the season ends. The Showboats have lost 4 straight and have really nothing going right. The Showboats fell for a fake punt last week by the Panthers. The same fake punt the Panthers did the week before. What happened to the coaching? I had thought it was better than last year’s dead beat Todd Haley.

You know Todd Haley probably personally built his own statue to show how he thinks he’s the sharpest head coach in Memphis history or the other 100 stops he made in his football career. The Showboats came into this season with two starters from the USFL last year. Case Cookus is banged up right now but has not been that good so far in a new uniform. Troy Williams, X-Pittsburgh Mauler, got his first start this year and he threw 3 touchdown passes but had two interceptions. The Showboats turned over the ball 4 times as a team. Carnell Lake’s defense has gone MIA since week 2. The running game is still on the bus from pre-season.

Bright spot for the Showboats is wide receiver Davis Daewood who hauled in an 82 yard strike off Williams for touchdown. Daewood dropped an easy catch in this game as well. The Showboats on paper should be a top notch team. The offensive line may be their biggest issue. Bad running game. The passing game could be better.

#7. HOUSTON ROUGHNECKS (1-4) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

Any good grace the Roughnecks got last week after getting their first victory is out the window. The Birmingham Stallions will do that to you.

The head coach of the Roughnecks Curtis Johnson who were the Gamblers last year in the USFL went 1-1 versus Birmingham in two meetings. The Roughnecks only mustered up 9 points as they handed the ball off to the hero from last week, Mark Thompson, 4 times. The other back, CJ Pledger, had 6 carries. A guy like Reid Sinnett throwing the ball 38 times is not going to win many games for you. The offense needs to give the ball to Thompson more than 4 times a game. Sinnett did have a touchdown pass to his tight end, Braedon Bowman. Nolan Henderson got some work behind center and he threw an interception like Sinnett did. Turnovers can turn the offense one-dimensional where they abandon the run which takes out your best weapon, Thompson. The Roughnecks could easily find themselves at the bottom of these power rankings very soon.

#8. ARLINGTON RENEGADES (0-5) SAME SPOT FROM LAST WEEK

The Renegades can’t buy a win even if they had a suitcase full of money.

What do Bob Stoops and company have to do to get a win if cash is not the answer? The Renegades had three interceptions off Brahmas quarterback Dormady Quinten last week and lost another close game. Luis Perez is the first quarterback to tally up 1,000 passing yards for the season as now he has 1,151 yards through the air in 5 weeks. Perez completed 70% of his passes as he went 26-26 for 270 yards. The Renegades only scored 15 points and still have not won a game. Now that’s mean.

Renegades wide receiver JP Payton had a nice game with 7 catches, 119 yards, and hauled in the Perez touchdown pass. The Renegades I feel are not the bottom dweller they think they are. I feel like the Defenders, Roughnecks, and Showboats can make a better replacement for the dweller spots in weeks to come.