BYU Headed to Las Vegas to Face Oregon State

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PROVO -- The No. 14 BYU Cougars have accepted an invitation to play the No. 18 Oregon State Beavers in the 18th annual MAACO Bowl Las Vegas on Tuesday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. PT in Sam Boyd Stadium. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

Boasting two ranked opponents for the first time since the event was founded, the 2009 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas matches two teams that finished second in their respective conferences. BYU (10-2, 7-1) was runner-up to No. 4 TCU in the Mountain West Conference, while Oregon State (8-4, 6-3) was one of three teams tied for second in the Pac-10 Conference behind No. 7 Oregon.

The Cougars, who are the highest-ranked team to ever play in the game at No. 15 in the AP and 14 in the coaches’ poll, will be making their fifth consecutive trip to the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas while looking for their third victory in the game. This will be BYU’s 28th overall bowl appearance since 1974. Oregon State is ranked No. 16 (AP) and No. 20 (USA Today) in the national polls and No. 18 in the final BCS Standings released Sunday. The Cougars earned their highest-ever final BCS ranking this season at No. 14.

“We look forward to the opportunity to play in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas and face Oregon State,” said BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall, an Oregon State alumnus and former defensive coordinator with the Beavers. “I’m proud of what our seniors and our team have accomplished this year. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Mike Riley and his wife Dee and the job Mike has done at Oregon State.”

The Cougars will face Oregon State for the first time in a bowl matchup. BYU is making its fifth straight bowl appearance for the first time since a string of 17 consecutive bowls invitations from 1978 through 1994. The Cougars are playing in the same bowl game for the fifth straight season for the first time since making seven consecutive trips to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego from 1978 through 1984. Mendenhall is the only coach in BYU football history to take his first five teams to a bowl game.

"The MAACO Bowl Las Vegas has been very good to BYU,” BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe said. “Tina Kunzer-Murphy and her committee do an outstanding job of making it a first-class bowl experience for everyone involved. We are excited to earn a fifth straight bowl invitation with our fourth consecutive 10-win season under Coach Mendenhall. This year’s contest between two nationally ranked teams should be one of the best bowl matchups around.”

BYU and Oregon State bring to Las Vegas two high-scoring offenses. The Cougars average 34.8 points to rank 12th nationally and the Beavers total 32.4 points on average to rank 22nd in the nation. BYU will face its fourth ranked opponent of the season when it takes on the Beavers in Las Vegas. The Cougars are 2-1 this year against ranked teams with wins over Oklahoma and Utah and a loss to TCU. Oregon State played four ranked teams this season, going 1-3 with a victory over California and close setbacks against Cincinnati, USC and Oregon.

BYU and Oregon State last played in 1986 when Mendenhall played for the Beavers and earned a 10-7 victory over the Cougars in Provo. BYU’s last win over Oregon State was the previous meeting, a 10-6 triumph in Corvallis to open the 1978 season. The Cougars are 3-5 overall against the Beavers in a series that began in 1955.

Mendenhall played for Oregon State in 1986 and 1987 as a starting safety and linebacker. He was a team captain in 1987 and winner of the Leo Gribkoff Memorial Award given to the team’s most inspirational player. He served as a Beavers’ graduate assistant working with the defensive line from 1989-90 and returned to Corvallis from 1995-96 as the defensive line coach (1995) and defensive coordinator and secondary coach (1996). A 1988 graduate, Mendenhall also earned a Masters of Education in exercise physiology from Oregon State in 1990.

Mendenhall became the head coach at BYU in 2005 on the heels of three straight losing seasons. Under his leadership, the Cougars have returned to the ranks of the nation’s top programs, earning a 48-15 record with five straight bowl appearances and two conference championships. Over the past four seasons BYU has achieved a 42-9 record topped by only four teams — Boise State, Florida, Texas and Ohio State. In doing so, the Cougars have achieved four straight seasons with 10 or more wins for the first time in school history. Only Boise State, Ohio State and Texas have equaled BYU’s consistency in recording double-digit wins each of the last four seasons.

BYU is 3-3 in its six previous bowl outings against Pac-10 teams. The Cougars are 2-2 in four prior trips to Las Vegas with a 35-28 loss to California in 2005, 38-8 triumph over Oregon in 2006, 17-16 victory against UCLA in 2008 and 31-21 defeat to Arizona last year. BYU’s other bowl appearances against Pac-10 schools include a 1981 Holiday Bowl win over Washington State and 1986 Freedom Bowl loss to UCLA.