ALRIGHT LADS ALL ON BLACK OR RED?
Teams: Syracuse Orange (3-1, 1-1) at No. 25/23 UNLV Rebels (4-0, 1-0)
Day & Time: Friday, October 4, 9:00 pm ET
Location: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV
Line: Syracuse travels to Vegas as +5.5 underdogs according to Fanduel.
TV/Streaming: FS1, Foxsports.com
Radio: Cuse.com, TK 99/105, WAER 88.3, Sirius/XM 137 or 193
Rivalry: 0-0, Tied
First Meeting: Much like Stanford earlier this season, Syracuse and UNLV have never faced off in football.
Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images
Head Coaches: Syracuse – Fran Brown (first year, 3-1) | UNLV – Barry Odom (second year, 13-5)
Coach Bio: Odom reportedly earned a scholarship to Missouri after running a 10.6 100-meter dash. He played linebacker in college, serving as a team captain in his senior season. After starting out in high school coaching, Odom went back to Missouri in a variety of roles, starting as a graduate assistant before serving as director of recruiting and director of football operations. He finally got his first assistant coaching job in 2009 with Missouri working with the safeties before earning his first defensive coordinator job with Memphis in 2012.
Odom returned to Missouri once again in 2015 to serve as defensive coordinator. He was promoted to head coach of the Tigers in 2016 after Gary Pinkel retired due to health-related issues. Odom went 25-25 in four seasons at the helm of Missouri, getting fired after the conclusion of the 2019 season. He immediately moved to Arkansas as defensive coordinator before joining UNLV as its head coach in 2023. Odom won MWC coach of the year in his first year in charge of the Rebels.
Last Year: UNLV picked up nine wins in Odom’s first year as head coach, which gave the Rebels a share of the regular season conference title. Odom was named MWC coach of the year but UNLV fell to Boise State in the MWC Championship Game. The Rebels earned a berth to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl but lost to Kansas to end the season.
Last Game: UNLV got revenge after losing to Fresno State last season. The Rebels dominated the Bulldogs from the jump, taking a 21-0 halftime lead into a 59-14 victory.
Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images
“Fear Me, I’ve Killed Hundreds of Timelords”: The big story surrounding UNLV is the departure of starting QB Matthew Sluka due to a reported NIL dispute. Hajj-Malik Williams steps into his place and brings a dual-threat skillset to the position. He rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown against Fresno State. More importantly, Williams threw for 182 yards, more than Sluka threw in any game this season, and three touchdowns.
If Syracuse Wins: It’s gonna be a FANTASTIC night on the Vegas strip.
If Syracuse Loses: Can we somehow spin the loss as a reason to keep the A’s in Oakland and away from Vegas?
Fun Fact: Syracuse has played 18 first-time opponents since the beginning of the 2000 season. The Orange are 12-6 in those games.