The teams and fans weren’t the only people annoyed by the 45 mile per hour winds that accompanied BYU’s 44-20 victory against Oregon State in the 2009 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas Tuesday.
This is not how quarterback Sean Canfield pictured the end of his Oregon State football career. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound lefty entered Tuesday's MAACO Bowl Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium looking to cap one of the most prolific passing seasons in Beaver history by leading the team to its sixth-straight bowl victory. But 45-mph wind gusts and a suffocating BYU defense proved too much to overcome in a 44-20 defeat. Canfield entered having completed 70 percent of his passes for 3,103 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2009, but struggled adding to those numbers in his final collegiate game.
BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall found it hard to sum up the career and legacy of senior quarterback Max Hall in the week leading up to the 2009 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas. Sure, Hall held the school’s all-time record for victories by a quarterback with 31 and directed the Cougars to three straight 10-win seasons. But Mendenhall wasn’t able to select a single definitive performance from Hall.
What was supposed to be one of the most competitive bowl games of the year turned out to be a rout Tuesday night at Sam Boyd Stadium. BYU easily took care of Oregon State in the 2009 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, 44-20.
For BYU, tonight's MAACO Las Vegas Bowl is a chance to gain more national prominence and prove last year's loss in the same bowl was a fluke. For Oregon State, it's an opportunity to make amends for its devastating regular season-ending defeat to rival Oregon. Both the Cougars and the Beavers feel like they still have much to prove heading into tonight's 5 p.m. game Sam Boyd Stadium.
Oregon State quarterback Sean Canfield has never met BYU quarterback Max Hall, but Canfield feels comfortable speaking for Hall and himself when it comes to a prediction for Tuesday’s MAACO Bowl Las Vegas. “We’re going to have a shootout,” Canfield said.
Oregon State coach Mike Riley admits he made a mistake. When Riley became the head coach at Oregon State in 1997, he scheduled a quick interview with a young up-and-coming defensive coach left over from the previous staff. His name was Bronco Mendenhall, an Oregon State graduate who would eventually lead BYU to four straight 10-win seasons.
Forget about last year. That was the predominant theme surrounding BYU’s appearance at the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas press conference Thursday at ESPN Zone. The Cougars appeared sluggish in last year’s Las Vegas Bowl and fell to the Arizona Wildcats, 31-21. But BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall was adamant that this year would be different.
At less than full speed and on the road, it would have been understandable if BYU junior running back Harvey Unga struggled Saturday night. Then again, the Cougars were in Provo West, or Sam Boyd Stadium. And the foe was UNLV, with one of the worst defenses in the nation.
Max Hall clenched his fist, threw a punch into the air and spun around. Hall, BYU’s senior quarterback, had no reason to hide his enthusiasm after his second touchdown pass of the night in BYU’s 59-21 victory against UNLV. Carving up the Rebels defense for 320 yards and two touchdowns on 21-for-31 passing was a blast.
UNLV will be licking several wounds when it returns to Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night following a 63-28 drubbing at the hands of rival UNR — mostly on the defensive side of the ball. And it doesn't get any easier, as No. 18 BYU comes to town next Saturday night with an offense as high-powered as it gets.
BYU scored off enough of Colorado State's mistakes early that it didn't matter much when the 19th-ranked Cougars started making some gaffes of their own. The Cougars converted two interceptions and a blocked punt into touchdowns in the first quarter, then held on in the second half for a 42-23 victory over the Rams on Saturday.
Florida State ran away with No. 7 BYU's BCS hopes. The Seminoles were too fast for the Cougars on Saturday, scoring every time they got inside the 20 and forcing five turnovers in a 54-28 win that crushed BYU's BCS hopes.
Everything was working for Brigham Young on Saturday. The No. 9 Cougars got two touchdown passes from Max Hall, and Bryan Kariya and J.J. DiLuigi each scored twice on the way to a 54-3 beating of Tulane.
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford sprained his throwing shoulder in the closing seconds of the first half, and a mediocre performance by his backup, a questionable decision by coach Bob Stoops and a late meltdown by OU's defense let Max Hall and the 20th-ranked BYU Cougars pull out a 14-13 victory Saturday night in the first college football game at Cowboys Stadium.