UNLV was a 40-1 long shot before the season to make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. Now the Rebels are essentially slight +165 underdogs to make the playoff. That is their price on the money line to beat Boise State in Friday’s Mountain West championship game in Idaho. “The winner of this game is almost certain to be the non-Power Four representative in the College Football Playoff, so the odds for each team to make the (CFP) will be the money line for this game,” Caesars Sportsbook head of football Joey Feazel said. “Both UNLV and Boise are ranked higher than Army. Thus, a win should make them the highest-ranked non-Power Four team.” The 12-team playoff field will feature the five highest-ranked conference champions — the Power Four winners and top Group of Five champ — and the seven highest-ranked remaining teams. Sharps back UNLV Sharp bettors are backing the Rebels over the Broncos. Boise State opened as high as a 61⁄2-point favorite at Circa Sports on Saturday night before sharp money on UNLV caused the line to quickly drop to 5. It dipped as low as 31⁄2 on Sunday before the consensus line inched back up to 4 on Monday. “They took 61⁄2, 6 and 5,” Circa sportsbook manager Nick Bogdanovich said. “I do think the Rebels are live. I definitely understand the move. “I made it 5, but the 5 was an arrow down. In other words, I favor UNLV in this game. I just think that their current form is a little better than Boise. Game 1 could’ve went either way. I think 4 is a good number. I think it will sit 4 most of the week.” Boise State (11-1, 6-6 ATS), which whipped the Rebels 44-20 in last year’s Mountain West title game, covered as a 4-point favorite over UNLV in its 29-24 win Oct. 25 at Allegiant Stadium. But the Broncos have failed to cover three of their last four games, including their 28-21 win over UNR as 231⁄2-point favorites and their 17-13 victory over Wyoming as 221⁄2-point favorites. The Rebels (10-2, 7-5 ATS) covered their last two games, including Saturday’s 38-14 rout of UNR. UNLV is 19-7 straight up and 17-9 ATS since the start of last season under coach Barry Odom. The total on Friday’s game has dipped from 591⁄2 to 58 at Circa. Books rooting for Rebels The Westgate has liability on Boise State to make the playoff. “We’re going to be pretty big UNLV fans in that game for a number of reasons,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said. “We don’t want Boise State to make it to the College Football Playoff, and we do think that UNLV making the (CFP) will be really good for business.” The Westgate will offer UNLV and Boise State at -105 on Friday as part of its season-long reduced juice promotion. “We’ve been doing that for Rebels games all season,” Murray said. “The team’s already working on a prop menu for that game. We’re expecting that to be a pretty marquee game for us on Friday.” Caesars and Station Sports reported early action on UNLV, which led the Broncos 24-23 early in the fourth quarter in their first meeting before Ashton Jeanty, the nation’s leading rusher, scored on a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal. “We’ve seen this number drop industrywide,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “These two teams played a close game earlier this season, and UNLV had its chances. “My guess is we’re going to have a ginormous handle on this game on Friday night.” Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X. CFP national championship At Westgate SuperBook Oregon +350 Texas 4-1 Georgia 5-1 Ohio State 5-1 Notre Dame 12-1 Penn State 12-1 Alabama 20-1 Tennessee 20-1 SMU 30-1 Indiana 40-1 Clemson 60-1 Boise State 100-1 Arizona State 100-1 Iowa State 100-1 South Carolina 200-1 Miami, Fla. 300-1 UNLV 300-1 Ole Miss 500-1By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press DOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware judge has reaffirmed her ruling that Tesla must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on Monday denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys , who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million. The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package. McCormick concluded in January that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. The compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price.
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Israel and its key ally the United States have attacked the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Several European nations say they would execute the warrants if either man steps on their soil. So what might happen next? Presenter: Bernard Smith Guests: Francesca Albanese – UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory Ori Goldberg – political commentator and former academic specialising in Middle East studies Stephen Zunes – professor of politics at the University of San FranciscoThe Louisville Cardinals host a ranked team for the second time this week when the No. 9 Duke Blue Devils pay a visit on Sunday, and the Cardinals hope for a better outcome in the teams' Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Louisville (5-3) has lost two straight, including an 86-63 thrashing at home by No. 23 Ole Miss in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Tuesday. The visiting Rebels shot 56.7 percent and dominated inside with a 48-26 edge on points in the paint. Tuesday's game was the first for coach Pat Kelsey's team without Kasean Pryor, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against Oklahoma in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. The 6-foot-10 senior wing, a transfer from South Florida, was a key player early on for Louisville, averaging 12 points and 6.1 rebounds per game and blocking eight shots in seven games. Pryor is the latest Cardinals player to go down with an injury. Before the season started, the school announced center Aly Khalifa and guard Kobe Rodgers would redshirt due to injuries. Then just two games into the season, Aboubacar Traore broke his arm and Koren Johnson injured his shoulder. Traore is expected back this season, but Johnson announced earlier this week that he would also redshirt this season and undergo surgery. Besides the injuries, the Cardinals are also struggling to hit 3-point shots, a key facet to Kelsey's offense. Louisville entered Saturday 340th nationally in 3-point shooting percentage at 27.3 percent and seventh nationally averaging 31.6 attempts per game. Despite the woes, Kelsey told reporters after the Ole Miss loss that he doesn't plan to change his offense, adding that he believes in his players. "The percentages even themselves out," he said. "This has happened before. I just don't want our guys to lose confidence, because I really, really believe in them. They'll bounce back and be better on Sunday." The Blue Devils (6-2) won their SEC/ACC Challenge game on Wednesday, beating No. 2 Auburn 84-78 in Durham. Duke overcame a 13-2 deficit to get the Quadrant 1 victory on its resume. Coach Jon Scheyer's team shot 50 percent from the field and committed just four turnovers. It was just the 14th time in program history the Blue Devils had four or fewer turnovers in a game. Freshman Cooper Flagg, a preseason All-American and a contender for national player of the year awards, leads the Blue Devils in scoring (16.6 ppg), rebounding (8.6 rpg), assists (4.1 apg) and blocked shots (1.4 per game). He scored 22, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out four assists in the win against the Tigers, but it was another freshman who stole the show. Isaiah Evans came off the bench to score 18 points and hit 6 of 8 3-point shots. The guard averages 9.4 points per game but has only played in five games and has yet to play more than 17 minutes in a contest. Scheyer told reporters after the win that Evans provided a "special moment" when his team needed a lift. "To have that amazing courage to come into this game and do what he did -- I'm not sure if I've ever been a part of something like that in my years here," Scheyer said. --Field Level Media