UNLV football’s Barry Odom drops his “business” attitude after dominating without Matthew Sluka

The UNLV football program remains undefeated after Saturday’s 59-14 win over Fresno State, even without quarterback Matthew Sluka, who redshirted and will not play the remainder of the season due to NIL complications. Given the story surrounding Sluka, with the UNLV football program allegedly not paying him the promised $100,000, the team still has a season left as head coach Barry Odom talks about winning, according to ESPN.

“It was business as usual,” Odom said. “We have a very mature team. … Our players, we have strong leadership. They understand the mission we’re on and they’ve done it.”

While Sluka had an outstanding performance in the first three games of the season, Hajj-Malik Williams came into action and led the team to victory, throwing for 182 yards and three touchdown passes. Odom would discuss Williams’ performance while also recognizing the offense as a whole in the win over Fresno State.

“I thought he was effective, I thought he was efficient,” Odom said. “I thought the offensive line did a great job protecting him. I thought the receivers ran great routes. I thought the runners ran hard. We played well on offense.”

The main star on offense will likely be wide receiver Ricky White III, who caught ten passes for 127 yards and two touchdown passes. When discussing the quarterback position, he praised Williams, who wants to lead the Rebels down the line.

“He’s just a great quarterback that we can get behind as an offense and just match his pace,” White said.

UNLV Football’s Barry Odom prepared a statement regarding Matthew Sluka

Back to the controversial situation with the program, people wondered how the football team would react if they didn’t have a quarterback, as there was even a failed attempt by Circa Sports to give Sluka the money, but the school wouldn’t comply. Odom did not answer questions about Sluka but had a prepared statement on the matter, according to ESPN.

“Many have expressed very strong opinions about the events of last week without fully knowing the facts, without fully knowing the events of last week and without fully knowing the rules in the ever-changing and evolving NIL system,” said Odom. “And unfortunately, some have even used this as a platform for their own agendas. I respect everyone’s right to an opinion and will not comment on others’ opinions or their motivations for expressing them.”

When White was asked if the casino wanted to give Sluka the money to keep the Rebels’ playoff hopes alive, he instead replied that if he was still offering it, he should give it to a specific position group.

“I would ask someone to contact the CEO of Circa and ask him to please forward the $100,000 that he wanted to donate to our O-Hotline,” White said.

Despite being unranked, the dominant win has given the Rebels their postseason chances as Odom is confident the team has the mindset to do so.

“Our guys are going to turn the page very quickly,” Odom said. “In the locker room I saw that we were ready to do this and move on to the next game.”

The UNLV football team will face the Syracuse Orange next Friday night hoping to go 5-0.