Hall of Fame NFL coach Bill Parcells once said, “You are what your record says you are.” Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t familiar with the XFL.
The Defenders entered Week 7 with a fairly simple task. Beat the winless Guardians and you’re in the playoffs. Turns out, the task wasn’t so simple. They lost, 37-36, in Orlando and have made the XFL North division a wide-open race again.
With just three weeks remaining in the season, the four teams that end up qualifying for the playoffs remain anyone’s guess. There are still teams with bad records, but that didn’t matter last week. Because in the XFL, it’s any given Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
There were a few clinching scenarios one week ago, but no team was able to finish the job. Can they do it this time around or will each division be turned completely upside down?
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Here is your primer for all of the Week 8 action that the XFL has to offer.
XFL schedule Week 8
- Saturday, April 8
| Matchup | Time (ET) | TV Channel |
| Vegas Vipers vs. St. Louis Battlehawks | 1 p.m. | ESPN |
| Arlington Renegades vs. Orlando Guardians | 4 p.m. | ESPN |
- Sunday, April 9
| Matchup | Time (ET) | TV Channel |
| Houston Roughnecks vs. San Antonio Brahmas | 3 p.m. | ABC |
| D.C. Defenders vs. Seattle Sea Dragons | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 |
XFL Week 8 games TV schedule, live streams
Vegas Vipers vs. St. Louis Battlehawks
Kicking off the slate on a Saturday afternoon in St. Louis is the Battlehawks and Vegas Vipers. After playing five of their first seven games on the road, Anthony Becht’s Battlehawks will enjoy a three-game homestand to close out the 2023 season.
On paper, these two teams are fairly evenly matched across the board, but that wasn’t the case when they met two weeks ago in Vegas. St. Louis dominated the Vipers, using a 17-point second quarter to catapult itself to a 29-6 victory. A.J. McCarron only tossed six incompletions on the day. With an opportunity to keep place in the playoff race, the Battlehawks should be in position to take care of business in front of the home crowd.
Arlington Renegades vs. Orlando Guardians
The Renegades will try and hang onto their second place spot in the XFL South and draw a favorable matchup in the process — or so they thought. No one in the league appeared to be too afraid of the Guardians heading into last week — the only team without a win before Week 7. Instead, they hosted and defeated the XFL’s best team.
They sneaked up on D.C. but that won’t be the case with Arlington coming to town. The problem for the Renegades is that they remain the lowest-scoring team, which is never a good sign. Arlington and Orlando faced off in Week 3, with the Renegades narrowly escaping with a 10-9 victory. They’ll need a much better effort this time around if they hope a Week 11 is in their future.
Houston Roughnecks vs. San Antonio Brahmas
Sunday’s action kicks off with a battle of the Texans. It wasn’t that long ago that people were penciling in the Roughnecks as the team that would represent the South in the XFL championship game. Now they have lost three straight and Wade Phillips’ group desperately needs something to celebrate. Luckily for them, their division does not have many winners, meaning they still remain in first place.
The Roughnecks will need to win at least two of their remaining three games in order to clinch a playoff spot without any help. In San Antonio, the Brahmas will need a lot of assistance and it all starts on Sunday. To reach the playoffs, they’ll need to win each of those three games and be helped out with some losses by the Roughnecks and Renegades. It’s said that everything is bigger in Texas — which now includes the miracle the Brahmas will require to find the postseason in 2023.
D.C. Defenders vs. Seattle Sea Dragons
This is exactly the kind of matchup you want if you’re in the XFL league office. The best team in the league to this point and a star-studded Seattle offense? In prime time? Yes please.
It’s a rematch of Week 1 when the Defenders opened the season with a 22-18 victory over the Sea Dragons. The task remains the same for D.C. this week. Win and you’re in. On the other side, the task is slightly more difficult for Seattle — which dug an early hole this season, but is riding a five-game winning streak. The Sea Dragons need to win at least two of the final three games and get some help with the Battlehawks losing. Ben DiNucci threw the ball 54 times in the opening game and tossed two interceptions. Seattle will need some more efficiency to compete with the league’s best at Lumen Field.