The UNLV Rebels take on the Fresno State Bulldogs. Check out our college football odds series for our UNLV Fresno State prediction and pick. Find how to watch UNLV Fresno State.

Few people expected this particular game to mean so much for both sides before the 2023 college football season began. Plenty of Mountain West football observers thought Fresno State, the reigning Mountain West champion, would be in the hunt for the conference crown and a spot in the Mountain West Championship Game, but few felt UNLV would be in a position to make a run at the conference title game. The Rebels have been a hard-hit, largely snake-bitten program in recent years. They hadn't found the right coach. They hadn't established even a modest level of consistency, let alone a high one.

Yet, new coach Barry Odom — formerly the head coach at Missouri and the defensive coordinator at Arkansas under Sam Pittman, has come to Vegas and built something new from the ground up. Odom's message is resonating with his players. His game plans are hitting the spot. UNLV, like Fresno State, has just one loss heading into this Week 9 showdown in the valley. The winner gets a big leg up in the battle for a spot in the MWC title game against conference-leading Air Force. It's the big game you didn't know was coming in Week 9, one of the late-night kickoffs on October 28. Fresno should be jumping for a game which should be intensely interesting. It will definitely be important to both sides.

Here are the UNLV-Fresno State College Football odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Football Odds: UNLV-Fresno State Odds

UNLV Rebels: +7.5 (-115)

Fresno State Bulldogs: -7.5 (-105)

Over: 57.5 (-110)

Under: 57.5 (-110)

How To Watch UNLV vs Fresno State

Time: 10:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm PT

TV: Fox Sports 1

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why UNLV Could Cover the Spread

The Rebels know how to win games. It's that simple. Teams have to learn how to win, and Barry Odom has taught his team how to win. UNLV has scored at least 40 points in five different games this season, but last week's not-as-easy 25-23 win over Colorado State might weirdly be the most impressive result on the Rebels' slate this year. It was not a game in which everything flowed or came naturally for the Rebel offense. Colorado State, a team which outplayed Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes for a majority of the contest back in September in Boulder, has legitimate talent and some future NFL prospects. CSU led Colorado 38-27 with 11 minutes before making some crucial late-game mistakes. That team can be tough to deal with. UNLV dealt with the Rams by winning a hard-fought game and dealing with a level of stress it hadn't faced in previous easy wins over Nevada (45-27), Hawaii (44-20) and UTEP (45-28). This team has a winning attitude, and that matters in a game like this.

UNLV doesn't even have to win, though, to cover. Losing by merely one touchdown would give the Rebels a cover.

Why Fresno State Could Cover the Spread

The Bulldogs have Jeff Tedford, an excellent coach and schemer, on their side. Odom has infused UNLV with a winning attitude, but Tedford will give Fresno State a winning game plan and the line of attack it needs to exploit this UNLV defense, which has not faced elite opposition in recent weeks. If UNLV had trouble with Colorado State at home, Fresno State on the road will be 10 times tougher for the Rebels to solve.

Final UNLV-Fresno State Prediction & Pick

This is a really interesting game, but a hard one to get a good read on just because we're not yet sure if UNLV is for real or just the beneficiary of playing bad teams (UTEP, Hawaii, Nevada). Pass on this one.

Final UNLV-Fresno State Prediction & Pick: UNLV +7.5