Ex-Cal QB Chandler Rogers Leads Louisville to an Upset in United Football League

Rogers, Fernando Mendoza's backup at Cal, is one of four former Golden Bears hoping to lead their teams to the UFL playoffs

Chandler Rogers | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Quarterback Chandler Rogers never got much of a chance at Cal after losing a preseason competition with Fernando Mendoza for the starting job. But he's getting an opportunity in the United Football League and he's making the most of it.

Rogers was one of four former Cal players who played in UFL games this weekend, and three of the four played on teams that won their games and improved their chances to reach the playoffs. Xavier Carlton is Rogers' teammate for a Louisville Kings team that upset the first-place DC Defenders 30-13. Ricky Correia helped the Birmingham Stallions knock off the Dallas Renegades 21-17 in overtime, and Ryan Coe scored a couple of points, but his Columbus Aviators lost to the St. Louis Battlehawks 31-20.

However, Rogers was the star of the weekend, completing 17-of-26 passes for 201yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while leading the Louisville Kings to an impressive upset of DC and improving the Kings' record to 3-4. Louisville is tied for fourth place with the Stallions and Renegades with three regular-season games remaining. The top four teams in the eight-team league advance to the playoffs.

Rogers' performance was particularly impressive because he led a Louisville rally after taking a vicious hit late in the second quarter that leveled him and resulted in a 15-yard personal foul penalty against DC. The Kings trailed 13-3 at the time.

HOLY SMOKES DERICK ROBERSON

Chandler Rogers just got absolutely LAID out #UFL pic.twitter.com/WMi0Y67Yvd

— James Larsen (@JamesLarsenPFN) May 9, 2026

"I'm playing mad right now," said Rogers after halftime in a Fox TV interview (below) early in the second half. regarding his second-quarter hit.

Chandler Rogers checks in with @Jbooty88 😤 pic.twitter.com/NhqO5SSzSx

— Louisville Kings (@UFLKings) May 9, 2026

"When everybody was oohing, it really pissed me off, I ain't going to lie. I'm playing mad right now," he said.

Chandler led the Kings on a 27-0 run that resulted in the upset win and put the Kings in the middle of the playoff picture. This was his best game of the season. He has completed 60.8 percent of his passes with two TD passes and two interceptions in the six games he has played this season.

In college, Rogers, a dual-threat quarterback, had been a starter at North Texas before transferring to Cal in 2024 and competing with Mendoza for the Bears' starting job in preseason. It was expected to be a close competition after Mendoza had become the Bears' starting quarterback midway through his redshirt freshman season in 2023.

But Mendoza held on to the starting job for the 2024 opener and played well, never giving Rogers a chance to supplant him as the starter. Chandler played in just eight games and attempted just 25 passes, completing 12 of them, in his one season at Cal.

Carlton, a defensive end, helped the Kings' cause by recording four tackles and one of the team's four sacks against DC. He has two sacks and five tackles for loss for the season.

Carlton played three seasons at Cal from 2022 to 2024 and collected 27 tackles for loss and 19 sacks for the Bears. He was Cal's top pass-rusher in 2024 from his outside linebacker spot, recording 9.0 sacks, which ranked fourth in the ACC that season..

In Birmingham's win, which pushed the Stallions into a tie for fourth place, defensive tackle Ricky Correia recorded two tackles to aid the Stallions' win. The 322-pound Correia has 16 tackles, including one tackle for loss, for the season.

While at Cal from 2020 to 2024, Correia played in 45 gams, including 17 starts, and recorded 105 tackles and 2.5 sacks.

Columbus kicker Ryan Coe converted two of three extra points but did not attempt any field goals for the Aviators in Columbus' loss to Dallas. For the season, Coe is 5-for-9 on field-goal attempts, making three of four kicks from inside 40 yards, but missing his only attempt from inside 30 yards. His longest field goal this season was a 53-yarder.

He had an erratic season for Cal in 2024, hitting 14-of-22 field-goal attempts and being replaced as Cal's primary place-kicker midway through the season. But he made four field goals of more than 50 yards, including a 54-yarder.

Jack Plummer, who was Cal's starting quarterback in 2022 before transferring to Louisville, is the starting quarterback for the Orlando Storm, which played the Houston Gamblers on Sunday.