Week 8 of the 2025 UFL season was a big one, with four teams officially securing a playoff berth. The playoff field is now set with the St. Louis Battlehawks, DC Defenders, Birmingham Stallions and Michigan Panthers.
Beyond the high stakes, the action on the field over the weekend was must-see. It started with an overtime shootout on Friday night and ended with a game-clinching interception on Sunday afternoon. There were 25 touchdowns across four games, including eight in the week’s finale.
Let’s take a look at every touchdown scored in Week 8.
A battle between the last-place teams in the USFL and XFL divisions yielded a down-to-the-wire finish, as neither team could get out of its own way. The back-and-forth affair needed an overtime period to decide the winner.
The game started off with a pick-six. Brahmas quarterback Kevin Hogan and receiver Dee Anderson weren’t on the same page as Anderson ran a hook route and started breaking to the sideline. Hogan didn’t anticipate his move outside and threw it to his previous spot, where Memphis cornerback Cameron Dantzler was waiting. Dantzler hauled in the interception and pranced into the end zone for a touchdown.
Trailing 11-0 with nothing going to plan, San Antonio shook things up, calling a trick play on first-and-10 from the 38-yard line. Hogan took the snap and threw a lateral to tight end Steven Stilianos, the play drawing in the Showboats secondary and allowing Anderson to break free down the field. Stilianos lofted the pass and Anderson caught it just before a trio of tacklers arrived, carrying the ball into the end zone.
Every Touchdown of Week 8 | United Football League
Memphis retook a two-possession lead quickly after San Antonio’s touchdown. The Showboats needed just two plays — two rushes from Jalen Jackson — to go 66 yards. His first run was a 54-yard scamper down the sideline, and his second was a 12-yard touchdown run off the left tackle.
San Antonio snuck another score in just before the end of the first half. The Showboats had gotten the ball back and were driving, but receiver Kwamie Lassiter II fumbled the ball trying to reach for extra yards. Brahmas safety Jordan Mosley recovered the loose ball and returned it inside the 5-yard line. On the ensuing play, Jashaun Corbin rushed for a 2-yard touchdown.
There were only field goals in the second half of this game, which ultimately went into overtime and saw the Showboats outlast the Brahmas in the shootout.
The first touchdown of this game was a highlight play from Stallions quarterback J’Mar Smith. He stood tough in the pocket, took a hit from a Battlehawks pass-rusher, and threw a downfield bomb to Deon Cain for a 65-yard score.
The Battlehawks trailed 9-0 before finding paydirt for the first time. Their first touchdown came on a designed quarterback run. Max Duggan faked a three-step drop before dashing through the middle of his offensive line for a 13-yard touchdown.
Duggan found the end zone again with his legs early in the second quarter. This was another designed run, but an option play where Duggan could have handed it off. Instead, he took it and ran behind tight end Chase Allen’s block and beat Stallions defensive back Myjai Sanders to the pylon.
Cain scored his second touchdown of the afternoon at the start of the second half. He beat cornerback Nick Whiteside with a dig route, hauled in a pass from Smith and accelerated, showing off his run-after-the-catch ability to score a 50-yard touchdown.
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The Battlehawks pass coverage made up for its previous mistakes at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Linebacker Callahan O’Reilly stepped in front of Davion Davis’ slant route, intercepted Smith’s pass and returned it for a pick-six to give St. Louis its first lead.
Birmingham scored its third 45-plus-yard touchdown of the game to take the lead back. On third-and-4 from the Battlehawks 47-yard line, Smith delivered a pass down the sideline to Cade Johnson. Johnson tracked it over his right shoulder and avoided a tackle to strut into the end zone.
St. Louis had the last laugh, though, driving all the way down the field for a game-winning 1-yard rushing touchdown, and ensuing one-point conversion, by running back Jacob Saylors.
Michigan started off its scoring on a broken play. Quarterback Danny Etling went through his progressions before deciding to sprint out of the pocket and improvise. He saw Malik Turner break open and threw back across his body for the 5-yard touchdown.
The Panthers scored the second touchdown of the game as well. Their offense benefited from a huge punt return as Xavier Malone returned it 90 yards to the Roughnecks 1-yard line. The return led to a 1-yard touchdown catch from Samson Nacua, the brother of Rams receiver Puka Nacua.
Houston finally found paydirt midway through the second quarter. Keke Chism ran a seam route right through Michigan’s zone and Jalan McClendon threw it to him in stride for the 33-yard score.
Michigan scored the first touchdown of the second half on another over-the-top throw. On third-and-16 from the 35-yard line, all of the Panthers receivers split out to the right and ran go-routes. Devin Ross was the one who broke open and Etling anticipated it, hitting him on the numbers.
The Panthers defense cushioned the lead with a highly instinctive play by Keni-H Lovely. He sniffed out the Roughnecks’ play call — a bubble screen to Justin Hall — and dove in front of McClendon’s pass. The cornerback had enough space to regain his footing and outrun Hall for a pick-six.
Houston was able to add a garbage-time touchdown as McClendon and Hall connected for a 1-yard score with two seconds left.
The final game of the UFL slate capped a weekend of exciting games.
DC struck first, with Deon Jackson running off the tackle and going 57 yards untouched for a touchdown.
The Defenders took a 12-point lead after another rushing touchdown. This one was a bowling, tough carry from Abram Smith, who fought through an Arlington defender grasping his face mask for a 6-yard score.
Arlington scored its first touchdown on an extended fade route by Tyler Vaughns, who got an inch of space and outjumped his defender. Vaughns faked a slant and broke his route to the end zone, won a hand fight with Defenders cornerback Michael Ojemudia and then pinned Luis Perez’s pass to his chest.
DC regained a two-possession lead on a nifty trick play. Receiver Chris Rowland lined up in the slot to the left of quarterback Jordan Ta’amu. Rowland came in motion and took a handoff from Ta’amu who, seemingly, checked out of the play, trotting back to the left. Rowland started running right, but then stopped on a dime and tossed it back to Ta’amu, who had a pair of blockers out in front. But one of them slipped, allowing a Renegades defender to have a free shot at Ta’amu. He went low and Ta’amu went high, hurdling his opponent to complete the 9-yard touchdown that was arguably the play of the weekend.
Vaughns had something to say about that, matching Ta’amu’s highlight play with one of his own. On a second-and-goal from the 5-yard line, he ran a crossing route and the Defenders defense lost him. Perez still had to loft the pass over a line of linebackers and almost overthrew it. For most receivers, it would have been incomplete, but Vaughns extended his right arm and plucked the pass out of the air.
Ta’amu showed off his football IQ to put the Defenders back up two scores in the third quarter. On a play that seemed broken, he rolled out left, threw back right and found Cornell Powell in the back of the end zone. If not for his creativity, the third-down play could have resulted in nothing and DC would have settled for a field goal.
Powell added another touchdown in the back of the end zone for insurance midway through the fourth quarter. He ran a post route and Ta’amu hit him right in the numbers.
Arlington did answer, though, as bigger quarterback Holton Ahlers came in for Perez to sneak in for a 1-yard touchdown with just under four minutes remaining.
DC, though, was able to hold on thanks to Perez’s game-sealing interception.
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