Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

BYU heading back to play in Las Vegas Bowl

UNLV-BYU

Justin M. Bowen

A BYU cheerleader waves a flag after a touchdown during a win against UNLV earlier in the season. BYU will travel back to Las Vegas to play Oregon State in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas on Dec. 22.

Las Vegas Bowl-BYU vs OSU

Max Hall (left) and Manase Tonga celebrate after a BYU touchdown during the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Tuesday at Sam Boyd Stadium.  BYU dominated Oregon St. with a 44-20 win. Launch slideshow »

BYU is back in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.

Game officials announced today the Cougars will play in the Dec. 19 game at Sam Boyd Stadium for the first time in six seasons. They’ll face a to-be-determined opponent from the Pacific-12 Conference.

“We are happy to accept the invitation to play in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl and are looking forward to the opportunity to match up against a Pac-12 opponent,” BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said in a statement. “I am proud of this team and what we have accomplished this year. We are excited to build on that success by striving to achieve our 10th win of the season, while playing in a bowl game for an 11th straight year.”

BYU (9-3) is making its sixth appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl. It is the lone school to play more than three times in the game’s 24-year history.

BYU played five straight years in the game from 2005-09, posting a 3-2 record. Some of its fan base were hoping the Cougars would play in the Hawaii Bowl because the BYU basketball is scheduled to be playing in Hawaii at the same time.

Instead, they’ll be back in Las Vegas. And that’s big-business for the bowl game. There’s a deep BYU fan base in Southern Nevada, and BYU always sells out Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Our bowl and our city have a strong history with BYU and we are excited to be hosting Coach Mendenhall and the Cougars again,” John Saccenti, the Las Vegas Bowl executive director, said in a statement. “BYU’s fan base is among the most loyal and supportive in all of college football and Las Vegas can’t wait to see Cougar Nation hit town for bowl week. We’ve sold out every time they’ve been in our game and because it’s been six years between trips, we expect tickets to go extremely fast.”

The Pac-12 opponent will be determined Sunday.

Tickets, which begin at $35, are available at lvbowl.com.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21

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