The Tampa Bay Bandits look to keep their playoff hopes alive when they face the New Orleans Breakers in the marquee matchup of Week 9 of the 2022 USFL season this weekend. Tampa Bay (4-4), which suffered a 34-3 loss to New Orleans (5-3) in Week 2, trails the Breakers by one game for the second postseason berth in the South Division. The road to the playoffs will be a difficult one for the Bandits, who need to defeat New Orleans and follow with a win against league-leading Birmingham in their regular-season finale while the Breakers lose to Houston.

Favorites have gone 18-13 against the spread over the first eight weeks of the USFL 2022 season.

Week 9 begins Saturday with a doubleheader at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Ala. as the North Division-leading New Jersey Generals (7-1) seek their eighth straight win when they face the Michigan Panthers (1-7) at 1 p.m. ET and the Houston Gamblers (1-7) meet the South Division-best Birmingham Stallions (8-0) at 6 p.m. ET. The weekend concludes with another twinbill on Sunday, when the Bandits take on the Breakers at 4 p.m. ET and the playoff-bound Philadelphia Stars (5-3) square off against the Pittsburgh Maulers (1-7) at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The new league requires bettors to really dig into the rosters and matchups to cash in on any bets. Fortunately, SportsLine experts have been doing their homework, so before you make any USFL 2022 bets, you definitely want to see what SportsLine football expert Emory Hunt has to say. 

Hunt is the founder and CEO of Football Gameplan, which has been supplying analysis of all levels of football since 2007. He is a former running back at Louisiana-Lafayette and knows the game from a player's perspective.

Hunt, who is 19-13 on his selections this season and has gone 3-1 each of the last two weeks, has broken down all four matchups from every angle to make his USFL picks. He has locked in STRONG plays for all four USFL Week 9 games, and he sees a team with a defense that has posted three straight strong efforts that you really have to back! You ABSOLUTELY need to see his picks before making any of your own.

Which teams should you be backing in Week 9 of the 2022 USFL season? And which team with a defense performing well is a MUST-BACK? ... Join SportsLine right now to see who wins and covers every USFL Week 9 game, all from the football expert who has examined these teams from every angle!