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The Las Vegas Bowl got very lucky this year when it was able to corral both BYU and Utah. Not only is it a bitter rivalry that has not been played in two years, it features two teams that travel well and love to come to Vegas. Not coincidentally, the game sold out in minutes and figures to be one of the more intriguing Bowls of the Bowl season. The game opened at Utah -3 with the total 54. Money has trickled in on BYU with the number down a half click to -2.5 while money is pouring in on the under which is down to 52 at this writing and could be below 50 at kickoff. Weather should be perfect in Sin City at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl with partly cloudy skies and the temperature at kickoff expected in the low 60s. The game will be shown on ABC.
BYU (9-3) has had a pretty good year considering that their all-everything senior QB Taysom Hill went down with yet another season ending injury at the end of the opener vs. Nebraska. Freshman Tanner Mangum has stepped in and been nails for the Cougars completing 62% of his passes for 3000+ yards and an impressive 21/7 TD to INT ratio. The Coogs don’t run much (No.101) but when they do they feature Algernon Brown (122-697, 11 TDs). Mitch Mathews (52-729, 11 TDs) is the best of a big physical group of wide outs. The BYU defense is rock solid in all aspects and is No.41 against the run, No.49 against the pass and No.36 in total defense.
The Utah team that will take the field Saturday will look nothing like the team that won its first six game and climbed to as high as fourth in the AP poll. The Utes lost starting QB Kendall Thompson in game three and will Travis Wilson has been serviceable, he still turns the ball over (13/10 TD/INT) and is not the threat that Thompson presented. (2X) All Pac 12 RB Devonte Booker (1261, 11 TDs) was lost after 10 games and the Utes leading wide out and return man Britain Covey is listed as doubtful for this game. The Utah front seven is on the same level as Alabama but the secondary (No.92) has been the weakest link, especially facing pass happy conference opposition.
The real storyline for this game other than Beehive State bragging rights is the coaches as they are somewhat attached at the hip. BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall and most of his staff will be headed for Virginia but have chosen to stay for this game as the Utes have won the last four in the series. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham is a storied former BYU linebacker who was offered the Cougar job in 2004 but chose to stay at Utah and replace Urban Meyer. Mendenhall, at that point the BYU DC, was then given the Cougar job and this is the 10th meeting between the two with Utah holding a 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS edge. BYU is 3-1 as a dog this year while Utah was just 3-6 as the bully this year. BYU would seem to have the more explosive offense but the Utes have big advantages vs. the run and on special teams where they feature one of the better kicking games in the nation. This one could just turn out to be a good old fashioned BYU/Utah slobber- knocker and the money on the under could be justified.
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