BYU to play in the Bowl Las Vegas (AGAIN)?

"The word I'm getting is that the Las Vegas Bowl folks do not feel beholden to Commissioner Thompson's wishes and, and that they want the "best team available" for their game. According to what I'm hearing, Las Vegas wants to invite the winner of the BYU-Utah game, even it does mean a fifth straight invite for the Cougars."



http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=498&sid=8689203

Well eff. I guess it could be fun if we get USC, wouldn't that be loverly!

I don't have a problem going to the Vegas bowl every year. BYU used to go to the Holiday bowl every year and no one complained. I just want them to win it every year. It doesn't make any sense to complain about having to play the 5th place Pac 10 team if we don't beat them when we play them. If the MWC is going to deserve to get into the BCS, then they need to beat these lower level BCS teams every time they play them.

I thinks it a good thing. If we want the Las Vegas Bowl to gain some respect, we have to expect it to pick the best team available. I was upset that they picked us last year because we finished third in the conference. They have also picked the 5th place Pac-10 team when they had the chance to get the 4th place Pac-10 team in the past. Since it doesn't look like Hair wants to get us a better bowl, we need to turn the Las Vegas Bowl into something more respectable. It will never happen if they continue to pick lower ranked teams.

frdbtr wrote:
I don't have a problem going to the Vegas bowl every year. BYU used to go to the Holiday bowl every year and no one complained. I just want them to win it every year. It doesn't make any sense to complain about having to play the 5th place Pac 10 team if we don't beat them when we play them. If the MWC is going to deserve to get into the BCS, then they need to beat these lower level BCS teams every time they play them.

Agree. We're only 2-2 in the LV Bowl, so really no reason to claim it's beneath us. Now if we run that record to 10-2 over the next few seasons, then we can gripe about how it's time to move on to something "better."

Having been to 3 of 4 LV Bowls and this seasons regular season win over UNLV at Sam Boyd, I personally enjoy it. It's not an unbearable commute. It's generally pleasant weather (which can include a round of December golf!) and it's not too expensive for tickets or rooms. My biggest gripe is the time it's played. I've heard all the 'reasons' why it is when it is but I still hate it! And this year, due to the stinkin' school district I teach in I will be unable to attend because we teach through the 23rd! (Which means even Poinsetta would be out for me!



Bottom line, I'd rather play a bowl game between Dec. 26th and January 3rd!



Go Cougs!!!



J. Child

Ammon, ID

AmmonCougar1 wrote:
Having been to 3 of 4 LV Bowls and this seasons regular season win over UNLV at Sam Boyd, I personally enjoy it. It's not an unbearable commute. It's generally pleasant weather (which can include a round of December golf!) and it's not too expensive for tickets or rooms. My biggest gripe is the time it's played. I've heard all the 'reasons' why it is when it is but I still hate it! And this year, due to the stinkin' school district I teach in I will be unable to attend because we teach through the 23rd! (Which means even Poinsetta would be out for me!



Bottom line, I'd rather play a bowl game between Dec. 26th and January 3rd!



Go Cougs!!!



J. Child

Ammon, ID

I agree wholeheartedly with this post. I've been to all but one Cougar Las Vegas bowl and it really works for me and my wife, we can drive down, get a cheap room, go to the Coke store and then go to the game. Now, we just need to be more consistent in winning the game.

hawkwing wrote:

Having been to 3 of 4 LV Bowls and this seasons regular season win over UNLV at Sam Boyd, I personally enjoy it. It's not an unbearable commute. It's generally pleasant weather (which can include a round of December golf!) and it's not too expensive for tickets or rooms. My biggest gripe is the time it's played. I've heard all the 'reasons' why it is when it is but I still hate it! And this year, due to the stinkin' school district I teach in I will be unable to attend because we teach through the 23rd! (Which means even Poinsetta would be out for me!



Bottom line, I'd rather play a bowl game between Dec. 26th and January 3rd!



Go Cougs!!!



J. Child

Ammon, ID

I agree wholeheartedly with this post. I've been to all but one Cougar Las Vegas bowl and it really works for me and my wife, we can drive down, get a cheap room, go to the Coke store and then go to the game. Now, we just need to be more consistent in winning the game.

I thought I knew just how awful Las Vegas was-but a Coke store? And I thought brothels were morally repugnant. ;)

If BYU beats Utah, BYU fans will be very happy to go to their bowl game and will likely travel well wherever it is. If BYU loses to Utah, fans won't care where they play and the following that attends will be reduced regardless.



The season's perception now rests solely on the Utah game. A win and it's a successful season. A loss and it's not. Successful season = fans excited to travel to the bowl. Non-successful season = fans won't travel to the bowl.

Mars wrote:
"The word I'm getting is that the Las Vegas Bowl folks do not feel beholden to Commissioner Thompson's wishes."



http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=498&sid=8689203

Ha ha First BYU fans boo Thompson en mass and now the Las Vegas Bowl will choose BYU against his wishes. Poor guy just can't catch a break with respect to BYU eh? :P

ABYUFAN wrote:

Ha ha First BYU fans boo Thompson en mass and now the Las Vegas Bowl will choose BYU against his wishes. Poor guy just can't catch a break with respect to BYU eh? :P

Nor should he!

kitic77 wrote:
If BYU beats Utah, BYU fans will be very happy to go to their bowl game and will likely travel well wherever it is. If BYU loses to Utah, fans won't care where they play and the following that attends will be reduced regardless.



The season's perception now rests solely on the Utah game. A win and it's a successful season. A loss and it's not. Successful season = fans excited to travel to the bowl. Non-successful season = fans won't travel to the bowl.

I agree with the comment above. While I'm sure a change of venue would be nice for the players that have already gone to Las Vegas the last few years, I'm much more interested in the matchups than where the game is, but it was obvious that having BYU lose the Utah game at the end of the regular season last year cast a dark shadow on the proceedings at the subsequent Las Vegas Bowl for both the players and the fans. Then losing to Arizona (and Arizona St at the last second in BB that same day) left an indelible bad taste in my mouth.

Should you be making reservations for Las Vegas or San Diego?



• DICKSON: It all depends on the BYU-Utah game. Winner gets the Las Vegas Bowl, loser gets San Diego and the Poinsettia Bowl. Loser goes to San Diego? Now that I said that out loud, that's ridiculous. After four straight seasons going to Sin City, San Diego would be a nice change. And I don't have to pray for my life when Franchuk drives us down I-15 on another snowy December night.



• FRANCHUK: If I'm that bad of a driver, I fit right in around here. But with the bowl game, I just see BYU going to the Poinsettia no matter what. Another year of Vegas seems ridiculous for the Coguars, and the game. Utah's had a fine season (win or lose against BYU) and would draw fans to Sin City. But the big question becomes matchups. Say if Boise State is made available again, like it was to play TCU in San Diego? That's the opponent the Utes and Cougars would both want.



http://heraldextra.com/sports/college/byu/article_13bb2d4f-8b54-5dea-af09-7adb719e9934.html

Mars wrote:
Should you be making reservations for Las Vegas or San Diego?



• DICKSON: It all depends on the BYU-Utah game. Winner gets the Las Vegas Bowl, loser gets San Diego and the Poinsettia Bowl. Loser goes to San Diego? Now that I said that out loud, that's ridiculous. After four straight seasons going to Sin City, San Diego would be a nice change. And I don't have to pray for my life when Franchuk drives us down I-15 on another snowy December night.



• FRANCHUK: If I'm that bad of a driver, I fit right in around here. But with the bowl game, I just see BYU going to the Poinsettia no matter what. Another year of Vegas seems ridiculous for the Coguars, and the game. Utah's had a fine season (win or lose against BYU) and would draw fans to Sin City. But the big question becomes matchups. Say if Boise State is made available again, like it was to play TCU in San Diego? That's the opponent the Utes and Cougars would both want.



http://heraldextra.com/sports/college/byu/article_13bb2d4f-8b54-5dea-af09-7adb719e9934.html

Boise State will not be an option for the Poinsettia Bowl. The Pac-10 will fill all of their bowl slots. Here's what the Pac-10 standings would look like if the favorites win their games:



Team Overall Pac-10 Remaining Wins

Oregon 10-2 8-1 UA, OSU

Stanford 9-3 7-2 Cal, ND

USC 9-3 6-3 UCLA, UA

OSU 8-4 6-3 WSU

Cal 8-4 5-4 UW

Arizona 7-5 5-4 ASU

UCLA 6-6 3-6 ASU

UW 4-8 3-6 WSU

ASU 4-8 2-7 none

WSU 1-11 0-9 none



That means the Pac-10 bowls would go:



Rose- Oregon

Holiday- Stanford

Sun- USC

Emerald- OSU

Vegas- Cal

Poinsettia- Arizona



I think Cal is a better matchup for BYU than Arizona therefore I'm going to hold my nose and hope for a Vegas Bowl berth.

EM_Puma wrote:

If BYU beats Utah, BYU fans will be very happy to go to their bowl game and will likely travel well wherever it is. If BYU loses to Utah, fans won't care where they play and the following that attends will be reduced regardless.



The season's perception now rests solely on the Utah game. A win and it's a successful season. A loss and it's not. Successful season = fans excited to travel to the bowl. Non-successful season = fans won't travel to the bowl.

I agree with the comment above. While I'm sure a change of venue would be nice for the players that have already gone to Las Vegas the last few years, I'm much more interested in the matchups than where the game is, but it was obvious that having BYU lose the Utah game at the end of the regular season last year cast a dark shadow on the proceedings at the subsequent Las Vegas Bowl for both the players and the fans. Then losing to Arizona (and Arizona St at the last second in BB that same day) left an indelible bad taste in my mouth.

uggh, don't remind me of that day. That was one of the worst days of my life. I hate even thinking of how I felt that day.

The PAC-10, as much beef as I give them sometimes, is actually pretty well-rounded and competetive this year.

At the point to which a match even against their 4th/5th ranked team could be interesting. Just think, depending on how things finish out, we could even play USC or Oregon! Not bad if you ask me... tough enough games with big enough "name" opponents that, if we won, I think it'd give us a good amount of national attention and respect. Now if we end up playing ASU or something, I'd be pissed... but Oregon, USC, California, Arizona, or Oregon St. wouldn't be so bad IMO. In fact, I think either of those teams would be a great measurement of how much (if much) we've improved as a team this year.

Italics wrote:
The PAC-10, as much beef as I give them sometimes, is actually pretty well-rounded and competetive this year.

It's definitely not the PAC-1 this year!

I don't mind the Vegas Bowl. In fact I think it has a lot of potential. Obviously the dates aren't the greatest for a college football bowl game, but as a non-LDS fan wanting to travel to watch their team play, I don't think you could ask for a better time to do it. Due to that week being about the only dead week of the year for Vegas, everything is dirt cheap. So not only do you get an opportunity to see your team play but you can also get an extremely cheap vacation.



I don't think the date a college football game is played on is what makes a bowl game great anyway. It's the bowl tie-ins and the payout. The Vegas Bowl could be a great bowl game if it got a better opponent for the MWC champ and if they got a better sponsor willing to drop some cash on the participants (which would make it easier to get that better opponent for the MWC champ).



As for Sam Boyd Stadium, I don't know where else you'd put a stadium any closer to the UNLV campus. It's not like there are any empty lots and considering how expensive the real estate is downtown I don't think it's likely they could afford one anyway. And it's only 7 miles away from campus. It does however need some upgrades. Specifically in infrastructure. There needs to be some more arterials accessing the stadium. And maybe upgrading the seating capacity somewhere between 50-60 K would help too.



It certainly wouldn't take much to make this a very desirable bowl game for both the teams and fans.

EM_Puma wrote:
Then losing to Arizona (and Arizona St at the last second in BB that same day) left an indelible bad taste in my mouth.

Not to split hairs, because the taste in my mouth was pretty nasty too, but the basketball team DID NOT lose that game.

The game was OVER, with the referree calling the shot good. Game over and done with.

The referrees THEN got together, looked at the video, which, according to NCAA rules must show "definitive information" to overturn. The video was COMPLETELY inconclusive (the shot could literally have been good or bad, but there was no way to tell from the video whether his fingertip was touching the ball, as the hand was only between the ball and the camera), and they made a JUDGEMENT call based on the what was LIKELIEST from the video, which is forbidden by definition of the rule. If there is no definitive information, the call on the court stands, which was basket good.



I can understand why BYU Athletics didn't pursue it (bad publicity). But the game ended with BYU up by 1, and an incorrect implementation of the rules of the game AFTER the game was over disabled BYU from calling it such in the recordbooks.



Disgusting.