Alt-Football Digest’s UFL Week Ten Power Rankings

And so ends the 2025 regular season, and the season period for four teams. Four others move on to the post-season, but before that happens, we take a final look at how the teams stacked up at the end of 10 games. Once again, your four voters that put the word “power” in “power rankings” are as follows:

-Anthony Miller

-John Lewis

-Mike Mitchell

-Greg Parks

The collective rankings are based on a scoring system that awards eight points for a first place vote, seven for second, so on and so forth. The team’s ranking the previous week can be found in parenthesis after their current ranking. These will be updated each week throughout the regular season. Comments from the panel will follow each team’s place in the rankings.

The rankings after week one can be found here.

Please share your own Power Rankings and comments below!

T1 (1) St. Louis Battlehawks (30 points - highest rank: 1 - lowest rank: 2)

“The 8-2 record, best in the UFL, is nice, but this Battlehawks team is hungry for more. Max Duggan will return to the field with the starters as St. Louis focuses on running the ball. This is the most complete team in the UFL with a monstrous pass rush that can make life miserable for Jordan Ta'amu and the Defenders.” (AM)

“The Battlehawks appear poised to take the XFL crown if they can learn from that earlier game against D.C. A big spotlight on quarterback Max Duggan awaits.” (JL)

“No team in the UFL has more pressure to get to the title game than the Battlehawks. Anything less will be seen as a failure despite a league-best 8-2 record. This might be head coach Anthony Becht 's best overall St. Louis team in three seasons but it will all mean very little if they collapse under the weighty pressure of the playoffs again at home.” (MM)

“You can throw out the week 10 game against D.C. as mattering at all in the grand scheme of things and yet, St. Louis was still able to pull out the victory despite playing backups in sloppy conditions. I expect Becht to have his team ready to play at home against a D.C. team that on paper, has more holes than does St. Louis.” (GP)

T1. (T2) Birmingham Stallions (30 points - highest rank: 1 - lowest rank: 2)

“Alex McGough is out of the picture as he heads back to the IR, so it should be J'Mar Smith's show at quarterback. It should be as he has this offense firing on all cylinders. If the defense can contain Bryce Perkins and fluster him early, they could make a return to win a fourth straight league title.” (AM)

“What the Stallions did offensively, especially in the second half of the season, has me high on the Skip Holtz bandwagon.” (JL)

“We are back to where it all started, with Birmingham as the favorite to do what no outdoor pro football team has done since since the CFL's mighty Edmonton Eskimos in the 80s, and that's win a fourth consecutive league championship. The Stallions are hitting on all cylinders thanks to old friend J'Mar Smith having an unlikely career renaissance.” (MM)

“It appears as if Birmingham is going to roll with J’Mar Smith at quarterback for the playoffs. The level of familiarity that Holtz has with Smith likely plays a part in that. The Stallions have certainly tightened up their performance in that last several weeks, which makes the battle against Michigan all the more intriguing.” (GP)

3. (T2) Michigan Panthers (24 points)

All four voters had Michigan in third place.

“UFL fans finally get Bryce Perkins back in the lineup, but the question will be how rusty he is going to be after missing three weeks to injury. Michigan is going to challenge Birmingham with its complete roster.” (AM)

“I worry about the rust on quarterback Bryce Perkins after not playing the last few weeks.” (JL)

“Hard to put much stock in the Panthers week 10 loss to Houston in what was a game of very little consequence. It's their week nine loss to Birmingham that holds more merit. Michigan has a massive hurdle to climb against a red hot Stallions squad.” (MM)

“It’s incumbent upon Mike Nolan and his staff to finally figure out a way to beat the Birmingham Stallions, something they have yet to do since the relaunch of the USFL in 2022. The extra pressure they feel is from spring football fans who are tired of Birmingham’s dominance in this space and are ready for another team to take the mantle.” (GP)

4. (4) D.C. Defenders (20 points)

All four voters had D.C. in fourth place.

“The Defenders' defense has been horrific over the last month, but a monsoon and playing against backups helped them improve their performance. Jordan Ta'amu is lining up for a potential UFL MVP award as the offense is stacked. Going against the Battlehawks' stellar running game will be a problem for D.C.” (AM)

“What interim head coach Shannon Harris and defensive coordinator Blake Williams have done to step up into larger roles is impressive. Do they have the momentum and experience to get it done in St. Louis?” (JL)

“Similar to Michigan, the real test and truth of D.C. comes when they are faced with do or die in the playoffs. The Defenders were doubted from day one and are playing with house money in St. Louis, a place where they have won twice in the last three seasons.” (MM)

“D.C.’s chances against St. Louis are going to ride on their defense. Can they stop St. Louis through the air or on the ground? If they can, they’ve got a shot. But that defense has struggled mightily at times this year. We’ll see if they can cook up the right recipe this weekend.” (GP)

5. (5) Arlington Renegades (16 points)

All four voters had Arlington in fifth place.

“It's the first time the Arlington Renegades have finished at .500 in the regular season, so there's progress there, but the frustration of having one of the most talented rosters in the UFL and finishing 5-5 has to be boiling over. Something has to change within the organization to get the Renegades back on track. This offseason's biggest storyline for the team is whether Luis Perez comes back for another run at it.” (AM)

“The Spring King’s ride is over for 2025. I hope it’s not over for good.” (JL)

“Had the Renegades not squandered games to Birmingham, D.C., and Michigan, their 5-5 season might've been much different. Luis Perez had another good season, and Arlington's special teams and defense proved they can play at a top level. But they just weren't good enough in the clutch against the league’s elite teams.” (MM)

“Based on his in-game comments this weekend, it sounds like Luis Perez is open to playing at least one more season for Arlington. That’s a good thing for the Renegades and whatever coaching staff will be in place next season. I have my doubts Bob Stoops will be back, but I’ve doubted that before. It was a curious decision in week 10’s win over San Antonio that Holton Ahlers didn’t see any extended playing time.” (GP)

6. (6) Houston Roughnecks (12 points)

All four voters had Houston in sixth place.

“A tip of the cap to Roughnecks head coach Curtis Johnson, who might have done enough to save his job for 2026. Unfortunately, Houston got off to such a slow start that it cost them a trip to the postseason. The Roughnecks could be losing a ton of their receivers to the NFL and Jalan McClendon put himself on people's radars. Houston's biggest question is whether they will still have a UFL team in 2026.” (AM)

“What a surge from the Roughnecks offense as the season went along and quarterback Jalan McClendon took the reins. Could we see a re-tooled Roughnecks in 2026?” (JL)

“Houston finished the year with back to back wins against two teams that were in backup mode. Nevertheless, considering where the 2025 season started, the Roughnecks came a long way to finish the year at 500. That's a testament to Jalan McClendon, who turned around the teams entire operation.” (MM)

“It’s wild to think Houston had the biggest positive turnaround of any team compared to last season, especially after week one’s debacle against St. Louis. It’s not a stretch to say that much of that success is owed to Jalan McClendon’s work with the offense. While the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for this turnaround as well, remember, they were the ones that saw McClendon in camp and made him the third-team QB to open the season.” (GP)

7. (7) Memphis Showboats (7 points - highest rank: 7 - lowest rank: 8)

“That was about as ugly a way to not only end your season, but potentially your time in Memphis. No players on the roster made the All-UFL team, which should be all fans need to know about this team. The focus should first be on moving as far away from Memphis as possible. Second would be tearing the roster apart and rebuilding.” (AM)

“A brutal end to a brutal season and a cloudy future for the franchise. This will be an interesting off-season for the Showboats.” (JL)

“Memphis's best and worst output this year came against the Stallions. The Showboats sinking ship sunk to its deepest depths against Birmingham to close out a rudderless campaign. Any hope of contention in 2025 was doomed from the start and spells even more doom at the finish line and the teams future existence.” (MM)

“Memphis went out not with a bang but with a whimper against a Birmingham team that completely out-classed them in all three phases. I’m not sure interim head coach Jim Turner did enough to earn the job full-time for 2026. The Showboats turned over much of their roster in the off-season, yet they ended with the same record as 2024. That’s got to be dispiriting.” (GP)

8. (8) San Antonio Brahmas (5 points - highest rank: 7 - lowest rank: 8)

“The ultimate downfall from UFL championship runner-ups to just one win. It's the second time in three years the franchise has finished with a losing record. There are questions about whether head coach Wade Phillips will return to his job. Either way, significant changes are needed to the UFL's worst team in 2025.” (AM)

“Payton Pardee had his team playing with passion and pride. He appears headed for coaching stardom in the near future.” (JL)

“Like Memphis, coaching turmoil didn't help San Antonio's cause this year but the Brahmas who have a lot more individual talent than the Showboats, failed to develop any cohesion on all three sides of the ball. They earned their 1-9 record.” (MM)

“It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what went wrong on the field outside of the coaching instability. And perhaps that was a large part of it. But this team was too talented to finish 1-9. They just made too many mistakes in key moments that doomed them, and that seemed to snowball from game-to-game throughout the season.” (GP)