On Friday Night, we’ll see two UFL teams play each other in back to back weeks for the second time in a row. The Columbus Aviators will host the Dallas Renegades, for the second home game at Historic Crew Stadium this season.
These two teams are on opposite sides of the spectrum – but not as much as some may think. Dallas is 3-0, and Columbus is 0-3 – but the Renegades beat the Aviators by just five points on Sunday. In fact, the Aviators held a lead for most of the first half, but just couldn’t seem to get out of their own way the final couple of quarters.
Let’s take a look at what we can expect from this matchup. Considering these two just faced off a few days ago, we’ve got a much better idea this time around around how these teams match up.
Quarterback Play
At this point, Austin Reed might just be the smoothest quarterback that spring football has seen. Of course, he isn’t perfect, but his ability to read and pick apart opposing defenses is uncanny. Reed’s incredibly accurate, and his deep ball continues to hit week after week. Austin didn’t blow anyone away in Columbus’ secondary, but made the right plays to put Dallas in a position to win. He’s been playing very clean football, with only one turnover through three games.
Jalan McClendon has been very honest: he is not playing his best football. McClendon’s been off to a tough start when it comes to protecting the ball. He’s lost a few fumbles on the season, and threw two interceptions against Dallas. There’s no doubt about it: he’s got one of the strongest arms in the UFL. But his decision making hasn’t been tremendous, which has hurt this offense. In his defense, protection hasn’t been fantastic, either.
“If I just take care of the ball a little bit better, and go through my reads, trust my eyes, it’ll put us in a better situation than we are now. A few notes for myself, particularly, is pocket depth. Making sure I’m getting a little deeper in my drop. Obviously, ball security as well. Taking care of the ball. Just trust my eyes and my reads.” – Jalan McClendon
Standout Playmakers
The Renegades have leaned into the dominance of Tyler Vaughns through three weeks, but they have no shortage of talent offensively. Emmanuel Butler, Greg Ward Jr., and Deontay Burnett have all respectively made an impact over the last two games. Butler, in particular, had an impressive touchdown reception to put Dallas in front by 18 on Sunday.
Dae Dae Hunter, as we highlighted last week, is someone to watch. His fast-twitch abilities were on display all afternoon, as Columbus’ defenders looked silly on multiple occasions. One has to wonder if Dallas will involve him a bit more in the passing game, especially if Noel Mazzone can get him matched up against some of the Aviators’ slower linebackers (i.e. Xavier Benson or Fred Thompkins).
Antwane Wells needs more touches, plain and simple. They don’t call him “Juice” for nothing. His ability to make defenders miss, and beat corners over the top, is second to none in the UFL. Wells has only had two targets down the field this year (one vs. Dallas), but neither have resulted in receptions. That said, he did have a touchdown, to go with 43 receiving yards on Sunday.
Look for Columbus to get their tight ends a bit more involved this week. Gunnar Oakes, Alize Mack, and Camren McDonald are all more than capable of scoring. Oakes had two touchdowns with the Panthers a year ago, while Mack has been a machine for the Brahmas across three seasons.
The Injury Report
Both teams aren’t dealing with many injuries, which is excellent news. For Dallas, they didn’t have a single player on the injury report this week.
Meanwhile, the Aviators are a bit dinged up in their secondary. Safety Michael Lawson will miss a second straight game with a left groin injury. Meanwhile, CB Cam Smith is questionable with a right calf.
Depth Chart Notes
For Columbus, they’re pretty comfortable running it back with largely the same group on both sides of the ball. Chuck Filiaga is slated to start at right tackle, but Bless Harris saw a good chunk of snaps against Dallas, so there’s always a chance he gets the starting nod.
Andrew Dowell appears to still be missing in action for Dallas, which means that Donald Payne will receive his second consecutive start. The veteran led the team with 10 tackles last week. Expect the same activity from him in Columbus.
Tashawn Bower is slated to start over Darrius Moragne at DE, which is a positive. Dallas has struggled to generate a ton of pressure, but Bower is a vet who flashed with the Roughnecks last year.
Note: safety Leon O’Neal Jr. is not listed on the depth chart. It remains unclear as to if he will suit up, or be inactive. O’Neal, who was All-UFL with Houston a year ago, just made his way to the team last week.
Columbus’ Defensive Improvements
The Aviators have had a rough go defensively the first few games. However, they showed signs of life against Dallas on Sunday. In fact, they were able to generate some key stops that allowed for their offense to get back into the ball game. Had it not been for a wild pick six to end the half from McClendon, the Aviators could easily have gone into the half with a lead.
Dallas was just 4-12 on third down, which goes to show that Munnerlyn’s unit is making strides forward. In fact, the Renegades had just 15 first downs, six less than Columbus. Their major issue this past weekend was their inability to generate turnovers. The Aviators have the worst +/- in the turnover battle of any UFL team right now, at -4. That’s a trend that has to change. There’s too much talent in this secondary – Cam Smith, D.J. Miller Jr., Kyree Woods, etc. are all capable of generating takeaways.
“If you look at all of our games, we’ve been fighting our butts off in the second halves. If we can just compliment that with more of a fight in the first half, it’ll put is in a better position. We’re making adjustments at halftime, and people are starting to buy in. We’ve got a lot of fighters on this team. Sometimes the scoreboard doesn’t show how good you are.” – Ted Ginn Jr.
Penalties, Special Teams a Problem For Dallas
A concerning trend for the Renegades in week three: their self-inflicted wounds. They committed 11 penalties for 75 yards, six of which were on the offense. Granted, the delay of game at the end was accepted on purpose, but still – we’re used to Dallas playing cleaner football than that.
Rick Neuheisel was not pleased with their performance on that end of the ball last week, with this to say post-game:
“That’s more penalties than we’ve had in the last two games combined, right? It was obvious that we weren’t as sharp as we have been, and need to be. And we can say all we want, hey, it was 11am, it was cloudy, only five days to practice. As I get to tell them, this is an opportunity league. No one will care about the circumstances. No one will say, ‘oh, we didn’t give you enough time to warm up’. They’re just going to say: ‘hey, here’s your opportunity’. And you just have to be ready. That’s the lesson to take from today.”
On top of that, the special teams have not been great. Colton Theaker continues to miss kicks, and also sent a kickoff out of bounds to start the game, which set up the Aviators with great field position. Brendan Hall, the team’s punter, is averaging only 35 yards per punt. That’s the lowest average in the league. Not to mention, his hangtime of just 3.91 seconds per punt is the shortest time-span in the UFL (according to Between The Goalposts). Special Teams can make or break teams – even the best of them. Scott Spurrier has to clean this up moving forward.
Coaching Matchup
Dallas Renegades, Rick Neuheisel: Neuheisel is a guy who just loves football. He didn’t need to get back into coaching, but has taken full advantage of his opportunity in the UFL. Rick loves the UFL, and the UFL loves him back. He’s been involved on and off the field, and his style of coaching has resonated with Dallas since day one.
Columbus Aviators, Ted Ginn Jr.: Ginn is officially back, after missing last week due to the off-field issues he took part in. Ted is still searching for his first win as a Head Coach. The Aviators have not looked incredibly disciplined during the two games that he coached – which isn’t a surprise given his lack of overall experience.
“I want to thank my family, my friends, our team, our league, for all the support. I said what I needed to say, and I’m going to continue to take accountability for my actions. Going forward, I’m going to be positive. I’m grateful to be back with my team, with my players, and I’m looking forward to Friday.”
Final Thoughts
While the Dallas Renegades are undefeated, and the clear favorites heading into this game, Columbus showed that they can hang with the best on Sunday. The Aviators are a team with enough talent to get the job done. It’s simply execution in all three phases that is holding them back. Considering they will once again be playing in front of their home crowd, one that was very loud in week two, we’ll see if that can help be the boost they need to get over the hump.
Remember, Dallas has yet to play in front of a crowd that isn’t theirs. The Renegades had three straight home games to start the year.
The action all kicks off on Friday night, at 8pm ET on FOX. To secure your tickets for the game, click here.
Full Roster Breakdowns: Dallas, Columbus
Are you excited for this upcoming game between the Dallas Renegades and Columbus Aviators? Which players will need to put on a show? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!
