The first Sunday in the history of the USFL will kick off with a noon Eastern game between the Houston Gamblers and Michigan Panthers. Both teams will look to enjoy an easier game than the New Jersey Generals and Birmingham Stallions had in the league’s opening contest on Saturday night, which the Stallions won by a field goal. In our USFL betting picks for Week 1, we look at Gamblers vs Panthers in their USFL openers.
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Gamblers vs Panthers Betting Pick
This game will be played at Protective Stadium at 12:00 PM ET on Sunday, April 17, 2022.
Why Bet The Panthers:
✅ Quarterback play is going to be key early in the USFL season as the rosters get used to competing with one another. In this matchup, Michigan has a much better quarterback room, with former Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson and former NFL quarterback Paxton Lynch to lead them. Houston, meanwhile, is stuck relying on Clayton Thorson, whose Northwestern teams were known for running the ball and otherwise struggling to score.
✅ Michigan also appears to have an advantage at wide receiver, as they are led in that department by Jeff Badet. Badet played college football at both Kentucky and Oklahoma, and should provide the Michigan quarterbacks with the most explosive target that we have seen in the league over the course of the first two games of the season.
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✅ Kevin Sumlin is the coach of the Houston Gamblers, which does not inspire confidence given the recent history of Sumlin’s career. Sumlin’s teams have been undisciplined disasters at Texas A&M and Arizona. While Jeff Fisher is not the best coach in the world either, the Panthers should be able to get the better of a Kevin Sumlin coached team en route to a victory here.
Houston Gamblers
The Houston Gamblers come into the USFL season as one of the longshots to win the title. They enter the year tied for the second longest odds to win the championship, as the combination of coach Kevin Sumlin and quarterback Clayton Thorson has not inspired all that much confidence. But the Gamblers have some talent in their backfield that could change this game.
Dalyn Dawkins has some NFL experience under his belt in the backfield of the Gamblers, having played for the Tennessee Titans briefly in his career. They also have Devwah Whaley and Mark Thompson, both of whom have SEC experience during their collegiate careers. The end result could be a Houston team that has more success on the ground than through the air with Thorson.
Michigan Panthers
Michigan is one of the favorites to win the USFL in its inaugural season, as they are right there with the Tampa Bay Bandits as a favorite to win the title. They have a coach and quarterback combo in Jeff Fishers and Shea Patterson who have name recognition, with the question being whether they can deliver on the high expectations set for them. While neither was good at doing so consistently in the NFL, things could very well be different in this new football league.
If Patterson is unable to deliver in this game, as he often struggled to do in college at Michigan, the game could be turned over to Paxton Lynch at some point. Lynch has NFL experience with the Denver Broncos and elsewhere, and will at the very least be there to provide guidance to the young starter for the Panthers. But in a league where the Generals and Stallions both switched quarterbacks throughout their season opener, we could see Lynch in this contest.