Throughout the 2025 college football season, Nick Bartlett provides predictions and commentary for contests involving top teams in the West, including schools from five conferences such as Arizona, ASU, BYU, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington, Cal, Stanford, Oregon State, Washington State University and those in the Mountain West. This week’s featured matchups are Idaho State at UNLV, Fresno State at Kansas and Stanford at Hawai’i.
UNLV faces Idaho State to start its campaign with a new head coach and questions at quarterback. According to Bartlett’s analysis, “This is an ideal matchup for UNLV to start the 2025 campaign. The Rebels lost all 10 starters on both sides of the line, so facing a mid-tier FCS opponent is a nice break-in game. It should also serve as a good opportunity for new head coach Dan Mullen to get reps in for both of his potential starting quarterbacks. If Jai’Den Thomas can get some big runs early, it should get the crowd amped up and build momentum. UNLV lost a lot on the defensive side of the ball, so grabbing the lead should help build confidence. Idaho State likes to pass in chunks, and they’ll probably put some points on the board. But the Bengals were 5-7 in the FCS last year, and Mullen won’t debut his program in Sin City with that type of loss. The two quarterbacks protect the ball decent enough to get the job done.” Bartlett predicts UNLV will win its home opener with a final score of 42-14.
In another matchup, Fresno State travels to Kansas with a new head coach Matt Entz and former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner’s son E.J. Warner leading as signal-caller. Bartlett notes that “This is a really tough opener for Fresno State. The Bulldogs have a new head coach in Matt Entz, and he’s gonna have to pull something slick to leave Lawrence with a victory (…)” and goes on: “Fresno State is breaking in a new signal-caller, and it’s the son of former NFL quarterback Kurt Warner. E.J. Warner can move the ball up and down the field, but he’s also prone to throwing interceptions.” Warner has accumulated 8,814 passing yards with 58 touchdowns and 37 interceptions during his collegiate career.
Bartlett adds that if Warner does not establish rhythm with running backs Bryson Donelson or Elijah Gilliam early on offense “the Bulldogs could get cooked.” He remarks that Kansas should avoid repeating last year’s poor start: “Kansas got off to a 2-6 start last year, despite having high expectations. That slow start isn’t gonna happen twice (…) Jalon Daniels is also back, and he’s been with the Jayhawks for six years.” Ultimately he predicts Kansas will prevail over Fresno State by a score of 35-24.
Stanford plays Hawai’i later that day in what Bartlett calls “the game of the day.” He writes about both teams’ personnel changes: “These teams should prove evenly matched (…). The Cardinal enter the contest with a new head coach, a new quarterback (…). Offensively their inexperience at signal-caller and lack of wideouts figure to hinder them at times (…). Hawaii is one of those teams that could be sneaky good this season.” He notes contributions from Andrew Luck as football general manager helping Stanford’s program while emphasizing Hawai’i’s experience advantage due to returning players.
Bartlett concludes by favoring Stanford narrowly: “The Cardinal enjoy their time at the beach,” predicting a final score of Stanford 20-17 over Hawai’i.
The predictions reflect Bartlett’s focus on key player changes as well as past performance trends ahead of Week Zero college football action.
