We wonder if Bob Stoops ever thought he would wind up as a head coach in professional football. Or maybe he's been wondering what took so long. Whatever the case, he will be the man in charge as his Dallas Renegades play the role of the host against the St. Louis BattleHawks in the opening weekend of the XFL.

Game time is 5 PM ET at Globe Life Park. That's the home field of the Texas Rangers. There are some XFL games being played at a venue where an NFL team is currently located. And there are still others that are MLS stadiums. This one, in Arlington, TX, is the only ballpark that is occupied by a Major League Baseball team.

At BetAnySports, you're going to be able to get reduced juice on this game. That means you'll escape having to lay the full -110 on football. And futures are available as well.

As far as their XFL betting lines on this game, which is carried by ESPN, the Renegades are listed as a big favorite:

Dallas Renegades         -9
St. Louis BattleHawks +9

Over 52.5 points -110
Under 52.5 points -110

Stoops was nothing but a winner in his tenure as head coach at Oklahoma. He only won a single national title, but led the Sooners to ten Big 12 championships. And he came right in with an "Air Raid" style of attack, run by QB Josh Heupel, who is now the coach at Central Florida. At Oklahoma, Heupel worked with QB coach (later offensive coordinator) Chuck Long, who so happens to be the O-coordinator with St. Louis. And the BattleHawks' head coach is Jonathan Hayes, who was also an assistant coach (four years) at Oklahoma. And I guess it's no coincidence that all three (Stoops, Long, Hayes) are alumni of the University of Iowa.

This is the kind of familiarity that adds an interesting angle to this game. Another angle is the absence of Landry Jones, who was expected by many to be the XFL's top quarterback, considering his experience as a guy who sometimes filled in for an injured Ben Roethlisberger with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Jones had the added attraction as a QB who ran up some big numbers in Stoops' system at Oklahoma.

But he's been dealing with a knee injury that he sustained on the first day of practice, and it was the determination of Stoops that even though he was ultimately cleared to play, he didn't have nearly enough in the way of practice reps. So he's going to be the third-string QB for this one.

The burden will rest upon Philip Nelson, who was only so-so as an AAF quarterback with San Diego last year, but is very familiar with Air Raid concepts as he played for Ruffin McNeil - a former assistant under Mike Leach at Texas Tech - when he was at East Carolina. For much of the time, Nelson was the only healthy quarterback in the Dallas camp, as Syracuse alum Eric Dungey was dealing with a hamstring injury.

And he'll have a great tutor, Hal Mumme, who is well-known as the "Godfather" of the Air Raid offense. Pretty much everything emanated from him.

His opposite number is a guy who hasn't yet played pro football at any level, and started for only a year and a half in college. Jordan Ta'Amu kind of came out of nowhere at Ole Miss to become a starter and savior of sorts after Shea Patterson went down with an injury in 2017. And in 2018 he threw for over 3900 yards to be second in the SEC behind only Tua Tagovailoa, despite playing three fewer games. With 9.4 yards an attempt, he flourished playing in an Air Raid system himself.

St. Louis has really loaded up on defensive backs, with eleven on the roster. They might have some options here in the respect that they also have the better backfield, so maybe Christine Michael and Matt Jones, who've both seen plenty of NFL playing time. So maybe they can opt to "shorten the game," so to speak, although that is something they'll play by ear.

My guess is that we're going to see a lot of passing, more of it on the Dallas side. Ta'Amu is a guy who is still developing, although I like the possibilities. And with these quarterbacks there was no need to learn a new system, because they had, for all intents and purposes, played in it before. So I like an OVER here. But one thing you may want to note here - when playing against better opponents - and we're talking about the group of Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Mississippi State - Ta'Amu completed just 50% with 181 yards a game. This may be something that gives Dallas an edge, in case you're interested in a parlay.

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