The Odessa Roughnecks joined the new IFL from the Intense league, of which the team was once the champion. The 2009 Roughnecks, however, were not nearly as good. The team was led by Dennis Gile, who threw 24 interceptions and 31 touchdowns. Jimmy Connor amassed over 1,000 yards receiving for the team, while Eric Taylor caught the most touchdowns at 14. The team gave up 20 rushing scores while getting 45 of its own. The three lone wins came against San Angelo and Corpus Christi. The team was competitive in its losses, losing by an average of 12 points. The team returned in 2010 and went 7-7. All seven wins came against Abilene, Corpus Christi, and Austin, none of which were over .500 at the end of the year. Tommy Jones quarterbacked the team, throwing for 2,698 yards, 46 touchdowns, and 23 picks. Ryan Bugg and Steve Bergeski combined to gain over 1,700 receiving yards and 33 touchdowns. Jorvorskie Lane led the team's rushing attack, with 252 yards and 12 scores. The Roughnecks won four of their final six games and qualified for a playoff game in Amarillo. The team was unable to come close to defeating the Venom in the regular season and this remained true in the playoffs. The Venom won 56-36. The Roughnecks of 2011 were led by quarterback Arkleon Hall, who passed for 1,737 yards, 31 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Evin Jones ran for 450 yards and 16 touchdowns, while DeWayne Hogan added 223 yards and 14 scores. Wilson Kimble and Josh Floyd led all wide receivers. Floyd scored 14 times, while Kimble added 13 scores, with both gaining over 750 yards. Most notably were some standouts on defense: Jermaine Blakely racked up 11 sacks, Marrio Norman picked ten passes, and Anthony Beck made eight more interceptions. Twelve fumbles were forced and 33.5 sacks were recorded, along with 32 interceptions. Opposing teams were held to 28 points per game. The Omaha Beef were held to just 16 points. Three of the four regular season losses came by a combined ten points, including a 22-21 loss at home to Wichita in which the Wild only scored two touchdowns. The Allen Wranglers defeated the Roughnecks twice and won the division on this tiebreak. West Texas headed to Tri-Cities and blew a 27-22 lead, losing 61-49.