IFL Week 6 Picks
- offthewallfbpod
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
You hear a knock at your front door. You look through the Ring doorbell app on your phone to see who it is, because in 2025 who gets up to go look through the peephole.
What do you see? Oh just this beautiful six game slate for the weekend! Are you gonna let them in, or are they gonna have to kick the door down like Big Bird?
We've got 6 conference matchups this weekend and some very interesting matchups, but before we get into those let's see how we did in Week 5:
IFL Week 5 Review
Pirates +6.5 - Winner
Pirates win outright
Bay Area-Fishers U80.5 - Loser
Combined for __ points
Oilers -2.5 - Winner
Tulsa wins , covers
Wranglers -4.5 - Loser
Sugar Skulls win outright
Another 2-2 week. Two-two? What am I, a ballerina?
Going .500 isn't the end of the world, but we gotta do better. Let's bust out the spreadsheets, bust out the manalytics and folks....
LET'S FIND SOME WINNERS!
2025 IFL Record: 14-11
Vegas Knight Hawks vs San Antonio Gunslingers (Saturday 4/26 @ 6:05PM CT)
The Play: Vegas -1.5
Vegas has not started the season well on offense, but are coming off of a bye week where I expect that this veteran coaching staff was able to diagnose some of their issues and get fixes in place. I am still high on this Knight Hawks roster and get a feeling that we will be seeing an offensive explosion similar to what Tulsa did in Green Bay earlier this year.
For the Gunslingers, they have been shuffling their roster a ton over the last few weeks, most recently releasing QB Malik Henry after a lackluster start to the season. They are a team without an identity right now and I'm honestly not sure what to expect from them on either side of the ball in this one.
I like Vegas to win this one by double digits and get back on the right track.
Prediction: 51-36 Vegas
Fishers Freight vs. Iowa Barnstormers (Saturday 4/26 @ 7:05PM CT)
The Play: Over 83.5
I've switched my pick on this game 2 or 3 times. There are a LOT of unknowns in this matchup at the QB spot for both of these teams.
Who gets the start at QB for Fishers? Jiya Wright or Keegan Shoemaker?
Who gets the start at QB for Iowa? Nile McLaughlin or the newly sign James Cahoon?
Fishers can run the ball really well and put points on the board without great QB play, but Iowa relies solely on their QB to do anything -- and have been the kings of second half covers in each game they've played this year (Iowa Overs are currently 3-0).
Does it seem counterintuitive to take the Over with QB questions on both teams? Yes it is, but Fishers is coming off of a 41 point game where their offense had 5 INTs, so they can score points.
Screw it, root for points.
Prediction: 46-41 Fishers
Jacksonville Sharks vs Quad City Steamwheelers (Saturday 4/26 @ 7:05PM CT)
The Play: Quad City -2.5
Quad City has been playing great football so far this season and has really gotten into a groove the past couple of weeks -- granted both games were against the Barnstormers, but they look like they have taken the next step in terms of who they want to be with their offensive identity.
They have a fantastic running game with QB Daquan Neal leading the charge and a strong defense that really forces the opposition into mistakes with that defensive line that can get after the QB.
Jacksonville is a good team but has really struggled on offense. They are currently last in the Eastern Conference in scoring offense and are really being carried by their very stout defense that is ranked number one in the league in points allowed.
As if things weren't bad enough for this struggling offense, now take away two of their biggest weapons on the Short Term IR (RB Jimmie Robinson & RB Tyler King) and it looks a little bleak.
QB Kaleb Barker has not played well enough to carry the team like they will need him to, and I think the Steamwheelers will improve to 5-0 -- both overall record AND against the spread.
Prediction: 44-36 Quad City
Northern Arizona Wranglers vs Arizona Rattlers (Saturday 4/26 @ 8:05PM CT)
The Play: Rattlers -15.5
15.5 is a LOT of points, but we need to understand where each team is at right now.
Northern Arizona has not scored more than 30 points in a game this season. They are not very good.
Arizona has not scored less than 50 points in a game this season. They are very good.
These teams are on opposite ends of the spectrum right now and I have not seen enough out of the Wranglers to think that they can keep this one close. There is always a chance they backdoor cover, but this Rattlers offense is too good.
Probably looking at a 20+ game when this one is done. Snakes.
Prediction: 52-31 Arizona
Green Bay Blizzard vs Massachusetts Pirates (Sunday 4/27 @ 3:05PM CT)
The Play: Pirates +2.5
This Pirates team is on quite a run the past couple of games, where they have knocked off undefeated teams in two straight games -- including an impressive game against the Jacksonville Sharks last week. QB Kenji Bahar has looked good under OC Martin Theus and I like what they have going on -- and they still have a lot of room to improve.
On the year they are 2-0 straight up when entering a game as the betting underdog. Combined that with playing at home and a Green Bay team that didn't arrive in Massachusetts until late last night / early this morning?
On top of an underperforming Green Bay defense so far this season, all signs are pointing to Massachusetts here. Yargggg mateys.
Prediction: 45-39 Massachusetts
Tucson Sugar Skulls vs San Diego Strike Force (Sunday 4/27 @ 9:05PM CT)
The Play: San Diego -4.5
At some point San Diego has to get back on track and this seems like as good a time as ever. Similar to Vegas, the Strike Force are coming off of a bye week and have had time to diagnose their offensive issues from the first few games of the season. This team has too much talent on offense to continue to struggle and we should see them wake up in this one.
Tucson's defense has been playing really well in their two recent games, but when you look at it in hindsight it was against two offenses that have really been struggling this year (Jacksonville & Northern Arizona).
Did they perform well because they are a great defense or are they getting the benefit of playing two teams figuring things out on the offensive side of the ball?
San Diego's defense has been playing pretty well this year and I would expect to see them be the difference makers in this one.
Prediction: 46-36 San Diego