2008 Las Vegas Bowl
BYU (10-2) vs. Arizona (7-5)
Dec. 20, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$1 million Location: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, NV
2008 Las Vegas Bowl History, Player Profiles, Best Bowl Moments, &
More
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2006 CFN Las Vegas
Bowl Preview |
2007 CFN Las Vegas Bowl Preview
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National
Rankings |
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Arizona |
BYU |
|
Total Offense |
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34th 401.25 ypg |
17th 444.83 ypg |
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Total Defense |
|
20th 302.08 ypg |
58th 124.48 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
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16th 37.08 ppg |
19th 35.33 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
36th 21.33 ppg |
19th 35.33 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
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48th 164 ypg |
71st 135.92 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
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42nd 132.33 ypg |
65th 144.42 ypg |
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Pass Offense |
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40th 237.25 ypg |
7th 308.92 ypg |
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Pass Defense |
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14th 169.75 ypg |
59th 206.50 ypg |
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Turnover Margin |
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27th 0.50 |
50th 0.17 |
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Arizona
Idaho W 70-0
Toledo W
41-16
at N Mexico L
36-28
at UCLA W 31-10
Washington W 48-14
at Stanford L 24-23
California W
42-27
USC L 17-10
at Wash St W 59-28
at Oregon L 55-45
Oregon St L
19-17
Arizona St W 31-10 |
BYU
No Iowa W 41-17
at Wash. W
28-27
UCLA W 59-0
Wyoming W 44-0
at Utah St W
34-14
New Mexico W 21-3
at TCU L 32-7
UNLV W 42-35
at Col St W
45-42
SDSU W
41-12
at A Force W
38-24
at Utah
L 48-24 |
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Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
A |
5
highest
1 lowest |
Y |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
4.5 |
|
4 |
RBs |
3.5 |
|
4.5 |
Receivers |
5 |
|
3 |
O
Line |
4 |
|
3.5 |
D
Line |
3 |
|
4 |
Linebackers |
3.5 |
|
5 |
Secondary |
3.5 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
4 |
|
3 |
Coaching |
4.5 |
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BYU and Arizona will be meeting
for the third year in-a-row, but
have never faced off in the
postseason. While this is a good
matchup as is, it’ll carry
bigger overall implications for
the reputation of the two
representative conferences.
The Cougars will be looking for
their third straight bowl
victory, while further raising
the profile of the Mountain
West, which has gone 6-1 versus
the Pac-10 in 2008. The
Wildcats, on the other hand, are
about to end a decade-long bowl
drought that nearly cost head
coach Mike Stoops his job. This
breakthrough season, which was
narrowly missed the last two
years, was an absolute must for
the program to gradually begin
turning the corner.
No matter the game or the
opponent, Arizona had to show
its fans and prospective
recruits that tangible progress
was being made. Plus, those 15
extra practices this month will
be a boon to the younger players
and a program that still needs
all the work it can get despite
Stoops having his stamp fully on
the program now. The ‘Cats were
an inconsistent bunch,
especially away from Tucson,
where they lost to New Mexico
and Stanford, and went just 2-3.
As expected, Sonny Dykes’
offense has been the catalyst,
averaging 37 points a game and
looking nothing like the unit
that generated just 100 yards
when these two schools last met
in the 2007 opener.
Since 2005, BYU has spent nearly
as much time in Las Vegas as
Wayne Newton. The last three
years, the trip to the desert
was a reward for winning the
Mountain West championship.
Since Utah is playing in the
Sugar Bowl, however, this year’s
invitation has more of a
consolation prize feel to it. It
wasn’t supposed to be that way.
The Cougars were the favorite to
be this year’s BCS buster,
rising to No. 9 in the polls
before getting exposed on Oct.
16 by TCU. They’d go on to get
routed by the Utes in the
regular season finale,
squandering any of the goodwill
that was left from beating
Washington and UCLA in September
as part of a 6-0 start. Now that
it’s fallen short of
expectations, BYU is looking to
avoid a second straight loss
that’ll make for a very long and
empty offseason.
When BYU and Arizona met in 2006
and 2007, the winning team
failed to score more than 20
points in either game. That
won’t be the case Saturday
night. With two of the nation’s
top 20 scoring offense squaring
off at Sam Boyd Stadium, the Las
Vegas Bowl has the potential to
be the most exciting game of the
bowl season’s opening weekend.
And for Pac 10 and Mountain West
fans looking to debate the
merits of their respective
leagues, this will be among the
most important.
Players to watch:
The most intriguing—and
important—battle to watch is the
one between the quarterbacks,
BYU’s Max Hall and
Arizona’s Willie Tuitama.
Both are having solid seasons as
the leaders of their respective
offenses. Hall has thrown for
3,629 yards and 34 touchdowns,
but is coming off the worst game
of his career, a five-pick
clunker in the loss to Utah.
Plus, he might be without
prolific TE Dennis Pitta,
who’s working his way back from
a sprained MCL, and will be
going up against one of the
nation’s better pass defenses.
Arizona is No. 16 nationally in
pass efficiency defense, thanks
to the development of a couple
of juniors, CB Devin Ross
and S Cam Nelson. If Hall
has any problems navigating the
airways, he can always hand the
ball to bruising RB Harvey
Unga, who’ll be running
behind one of the nation’s most
physical offensive lines.
Dallas Reynolds, Ray
Feinga, and the rest of the
Cougar line will be able to maul
an undersized interior of the
Arizona front on running downs.
Tuitama is poised for a big
night. Not only is he surrounded
by a slew of playmakers, but the
BYU defense is suspect against
the pass and had just five sacks
in the final six games. With
time, he’ll be able to locate
both of his All-Pac-10 targets,
WR Mike Thomas and TE
Rob Gronkowski. While just a
sophomore, Gronkowski is already
a next-level tight end, who’s
caught 43 passes for 645 yards
and 10 touchdowns in just nine
games.
Tuitama will also have the
benefit of balance, courtesy of
backs Nic Grigsby and
Keola Antolin, who’ve
combined for almost 1,600 yards
and 22 touchdowns on the ground.
While Grigsby is the starter,
Antolin has been a revelation as
a true freshman. Like trying to
grab a leaf in the wind, he’ll
cause nightmares for a defense
not known for its scary
athleticism.
BYU will win if... it’s
balanced on offense. The Cougars
cannot rely solely on Hall and
WR Austin Collie to move
the chains, especially against a
quality pass defense. They’ve
got to get Unga at least 20
carries in order to dent the
Arizona defense and take
advantage of a big edge in the
trenches. If he gets rolling
early, it’ll wear down the
Wildcats by the second half,
making Hall that much more
effective when he does drop back
to pass.
Arizona will win if...
the offensive line protects
Tuitama. If Eben Britton
& Co. does their jobs up front,
Tuitama will carve up a BYU back
seven that allowed 12 touchdown
passes and picked off just three
in the final six games. Arizona
has too many weapons for the
Cougars to handle if Tuitama is
allowed to sit in the pocket and
locate one of them without
feeling any pressure. It’s been
a long time since BYU made an
opposing quarterback feel
uncomfortable. It’s up to the
Wildcat blockers to keep it that
way.
What will happen: When
BYU was challenged this year by
TCU and Utah, it caved in by a
combined score of 80-31. Now,
Arizona isn’t as good as the
Frogs or the Utes, but it does
have enough on offense to keep
the Cougars from playing up to
its ranking in the polls. While
both schools will have success
on offense, the ‘Cats have the
better running game and the
healthier tight end, which could
be the difference. Gronkowski
will catch a pair of touchdown
passes and Antolin will
introduce himself to a national
audience with a couple of
dazzling bursts into the
secondary. However, BYU will be
better on the lines and will
thunder away in the fourth
quarter to pull out the win.
Line: Arizona -3
... CFN Prediction:
BYU 38 … Arizona 34
2008 Las Vegas Bowl History,
Player Profiles, Best Bowl
Moments, & More
|