UNLV Rebels Football Predicted To Beat Idaho State Bengals, But Not Cover 25 Point Spread

The UNLV Rebels will kick off their season this Saturday in Week 0 against the Idaho State Bengals. The predictions are starting to roll in, and it's clear that the Rebels are the heavy favorites. College Football News has already weighed in and is predicting that UNLV wins their opener by a score of 45 - 20. This is in line with the Vegas line of UNLV -25.5. They are viewing this as little more than a warm-up game for Dan Mullen's Rebels.

College Football News' Prediction For UNLV Rebels vs Idaho State Bengals

"UNLV is hardly a fully-formed team.

There's a reason why Idaho State is on the schedule to kick things off. The Rebels need a warm-up game to get the offensive line in place and find new playmakers on defense to replace stars like former linebacker Jackson Woodard and a slew of great defensive backs. Idaho State is hardly loaded with rock-solid veterans, but Dason Brooks and the running backs are good, the offense won't be awful, and ...

The Bengals are replacing most of the parts in the passing game. Last year's team needed to keep winging it around to keep up the pace, but it'll take a bit of time to get back up to speed. No , UNLV will hardly be fully jelled on offense, but it'll be quick, the pace will be a problem, and the running game should tear off yards in chunks. Idaho State has several good defenders returning, but ...

There won't be any reason to get cute with this. UNLV will get a huge game out of RB Jai'Den Thomas, likely starting quarterback Alex Orji will overcome a few early mistakes to find a groove early in the second quarter, and the transfers on the defensive front will take over in the second half. It won't be smooth, but the offensive explosion will be enough to pull away without a ton of stress."

We do agree that the Rebels should win this game convincingly; however, we think the game will be a bit closer than 25 points. This should be a three-score game though. With that said, we don't believe this game is on the schedule to be a "warm-up" game because this game wasn't supposed to take place until Week 3 but had to be moved due to a scheduling conflict at Allegiant Stadium with the Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford Megafight on September 13. The Bengals are a team that UNLV cannot overlook and simply view as a pushover scheduled to get them an easy W.