This Sunday night at 7 PM, the Houston Roughnecks and the DC Defenders will face off to see who the best team in the XFL is at midseason.
The Defenders are 5-0 and atop the North Division. The Roughnecks are 4-1 and hold the top spot in the South. DC has the chance to separate from the rest of the XFL pack and dominantly march on toward the XFL Playoffs.
Houston has a chance to play spoiler on the road and even up their record with the Defenders at 4-1. Here is the current line for betting on the Houston Roughnecks vs. DC Defenders being offered by Bovada Sportsbook.
Houston Roughnecks @ DC Defenders
- Point Spread: Roughnecks +2.5, Defenders -2.5
- Money Line: Roughnecks +125, Defenders -145
- Over/Under: 42.0
- Bovada LV
It should come as no surprise that an undefeated team would be favored at home. However, DC is only favored by -2.5, suggesting that there is a real possibility that they could lose their first game of the 2023 season this Sunday.
Other XFL betting sites have also posted lines for the Roughnecks vs. Defenders that offer some variance for gamblers looking to shop the odds. The following game line is from MyBookie.
- Point Spread: Roughnecks +2.5, Defenders -2.5
- Money Line: Roughnecks +110, Defenders -140
- Over/Under: 41.5
- MyBookie AG
While the point spread is identical, the moneyline odds to win and the over/under differ.
If you plan on betting on the DC Defenders to beat the Roughnecks, you can reduce your risk by placing your wagers with MyBookie. You’ll have to bet $145 to net $100 at Bovada, while only $140 will have to be wagered at MyBookie for the same outcome.
Betting on the Roughnecks to win is best done at Bovada. A $100 bet on Houston at Bovada will garner net profits of $125, whereas the same wager at MyBookie will result in gains of $110.
There is also a half-point of variance in the over/under. The only real perk of placing a wager with one book over the other, in this case, is that MyBookie removes the potential for the over/under to push.
Potential 2023 XFL Championship Preview
No matter who wins on Sunday, both franchises will remain at the top of their respective divisions. These are unquestionably the best two teams in the league after 5 weeks of play, and are the most likely to meet in the championship game according to the current XFL futures odds.
This marquee XFL matchup comes at a time where television ratings are hitting an all-time low. Although viewership has been lagging all season, ratings dipped once the March Madness Tournament began.
The league was averaging rougly half-a-million viewers per game until Week 5 when four out of five games dropped under 300,00o. Week 6 and Week 7’s games will also go head-to-head against the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament coverage.
There are four weeks remaining in the regular season, but is that enough time to recover? Don’t stick a fork in the XFL just yet, but there’s no denying that the outlook for the remainder of 2023 is grim at best.
Sources: XFL.com, The Athletic