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After a successful inaugural season for the United Football League, spring football returns with the 2025 UFL season kicking off on Friday. The St. Louis Battlehawks will visit the Houston Roughnecks in the tilt, with both teams coming off vastly different years. The Battlehawks won their conference with a 7-3 record before losing in the UFL semifinals. Meanwhile, the Roughnecks had the league's worst record at 1-9, but that resulted in them landing the No. 2 draft pick, and they selected former Alabama and Michigan DE Eyabi Okie.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at TDECU Stadium in Houston. St. Louis is a 6-point favorite in the latest Roughnecks vs. Battlehawks odds. The over/under for total points is 37.5. Before locking in Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks picks, you need to see the UFL predictions from SportsLine's Emory Hunt.

Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007. He is a former running back for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns and knows the game from a player's perspective. Hunt's dedication to analysis of all levels of professional football helped him crush the CFL, XFL, and USFL in 2023, posting a combined ATS record of 98-73 in his SportsLine articles. Anybody following could have seen huge returns.

Now, he has set his sights on the Houston Roughnecks vs. St. Louis Battlehawks and just locked in his picks and UFL predictions. You can visit SportsLine now to see his picks. Here are the UFL odds and betting lines for Roughnecks vs. Battlehawks:

  • Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks spread: St. Louis -6 at Caesars Sportsbook
  • Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks over/under: 37.5 points 
  • Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks money line: St. Louis -285, Houston +228
  • STL: Tied for the UFL lead with 31 touchdowns last season
  • HOU: Tied for the league lead with 15 takeaways in 2024
  • Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks picks: See picks at SportsLine
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Why the Battlehawks can cover

St. Louis racked up 31 touchdowns in the inaugural UFL season, which tied for the most in the league. Major components from that prolific offense return as the team's leading rusher, Jacob Saylors, and the leading receiver, Hakeem Butler, are both returning. Saylors, who was an FCS All-American in college, finished second in the UFL in both rushing yards (460) and rushing touchdowns (five). Meanwhile, Butler led the league with 652 receiving yards and tied for second with five receiving scores.

The Battlehawks also excel on the margins by being highly proficient in areas that often go overlooked. They are extremely disciplined, as they had both the fewest penalties and least amount of penalty yardage assessed against them in 2024. Additionally, St. Louis emphasizes special teams as it led the UFL in both kick return average and punt return average last season, in addition to ranking second in field goal conversion percentage (90%). See picks at SportsLine.

Why the Roughnecks can cover

Houston has clear strengths, especially on the defensive side, as it displayed high marks versus both the air and ground games in 2024. Just two teams allowed fewer rushing yards per game (88.4) than the Roughnecks, while their nine defensive interceptions were the second-most in the league. That ability to force turnovers wasn't just limited to the passing game as the team forced a league-high 11 fumbles, recovering six of them.

Despite their record, the 15 takeaways for the Roughnecks tied for the most in the UFL, with the champion Birmingham Stallions being who Houston was tied with. That indicates that Houston could have simply been unlucky in some regards as it was on par with the league's best team in one of the statistics that most correlates with success. Thus, regression to the mean can be expected, and the Roughnecks can surprise a Battlehawks team which no longer has the 2023 UFL passing touchdowns leader in QB AJ McCarron. See picks at SportsLine. 

How to make Roughnecks vs. Battlehawks predictions

Hunt is going Over on the point total. He's discovered a critical X-factor that has him jumping all over one side of the point spread. He's only sharing what it is, and which side to back, at SportsLine.

So who wins Battlehawks vs. Roughnecks, and which side of the spread is a must-back? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the Roughnecks vs. Battlehawks spread to jump on, all from the expert who has a track record of dominating his picks for all levels of football, and find out.