UNLV looks to become bowl eligible with win at Oregon State

CORVALLIS, Ore. — UNLV will make its first football trip to Oregon State on Saturday since 2009.

The matchup will be the Rebels’ first game against a Pac-12 team in two years. The last time they faced a Pac-12 team, they lost to now-ACC member Cal in 2022 — a year before coach Barry Odom took over UNLV.

Odom’s first season saw UNLV make its first bowl appearance since 2013, and the team is poised to repeat the feat for the first time in program history. The Rebels (5-1) will become bowl eligible with a win against the Beavers (4-2).

Amid this season’s furious start, UNLV was initially left out of an exodus from the Mountain West to the Pac-12. UNLV later flirted with joining the Pac-12 before deciding to stay put. Including UNLV, Oregon State will face seven Mountain West opponents this season because of a one-year scheduling agreement between the Pac-12 and Mountain West.

Now, Odom has moved on from the whirlwind of conference realignment and is focused on a Oregon State team coming off a 42-37 loss at UNR.

“We’re going to Corvallis against a really good team, and I look forward to representing UNLV in the Mountain West,” he said Monday when asked if there were any residual thoughts or feelings about the Pac-12.

“… We just need to go play really well against a good team that I’ve got a lot of respect for.”

Building UNLV’s brand

The Pac-12 might have provided more exposure for UNLV, but Odom is prepared to build interest as much as he can from the Mountain West.

Odom will serve as the grand marshal for Sunday’s South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He said he’s a huge NASCAR fan and has been to Daytona, Talladega, Bristol, Texas and Charlotte speedways as a fan.

“They’re going to pick me up, fly me, drop me off right at the spot to go do it. I’m going to hop out and go say a couple words, hop back in,” Odom said.

Odom then will start to prepare for the Rebels’ homecoming matchup Friday against Boise State, which has garnered so much interest that the university added more seating and parking.

“It doesn’t fit time-wise,” Odom said of the NASCAR appearance. “But there’s also certain opportunities that you have to put the UNLV brand on the national stage. And whether I want to do it or not, you say yes, because go do it, because the UNLV brand will be on a stage, on a national level. And we’ve got to continue to do those things if we want our program to be nationally recognized.”

The Rebels were nationally ranked for the first time earlier in the season, but fell out of the poll after a loss to Syracuse. They rebounded with a win over Utah State that started strongly but didn’t end convincingly.

Odom is focused on cleaning things up against the Beavers, especially on defense.

“It’s the next game up,” he said. “You’ve got to be really good every single week or you’re going to get exposed, because there’s so many different varieties of what you face, not only individual players but then schematics on what you’re going against on the other side.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X