LV Bowl matchup is just as expected

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For the Las Vegas Bowl, Sunday was like Christmas morning for a child who’d already peeked at his presents.

The suspense was long gone. Word of Brigham Young’s fourth consecutive trip leaked last week, and then Arizona clinched a spot Saturday.

So the bowl was left with only the formality of officially inviting the teams to the Dec. 20 game at Sam Boyd Stadium.

But that doesn’t mean questions don’t remain.

Why BYU?

After all, No. 11 Texas Christian (10-2) is ranked ahead of No. 17 BYU (10-2) and beat the Cougars 32-7 on Oct. 16. The bowl has the first selection among Mountain West Conference teams, which usually means the champion, but No. 7 Utah (12-0) is off to the Sugar Bowl to play Alabama (12-1).

So TCU seemed the logical choice after that, but the Cougars bring plenty of fans — an especially important consideration in a sagging economy. And it’s not like the bowl committee passed over TCU in favor of, say, Colorado State.

"BYU brings a lot of things," bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said before rolling off a list of reasons why the Cougars should be invited.

"I know we made the right decision," she said.

Will the Cougars play the disrespect card because of questions about whether they belong in the game over TCU?

Good luck getting anything like that from BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall. His written statement emphasized the importance of using this game to improve, and his nature is to downplay such issues.

"I don’t think anybody thinks they won’t be ready to play because they do this year in, year out," Kunzer-Murphy said.

What about TCU?

Don’t feel badly for the Horned Frogs. They wound up getting the better end of the deal. TCU will play in the Poinsettia Bowl against No. 9 Boise State (12-0) in a game with national consequences. If the Frogs win, they probably will end in the top 10 for the first time since finishing seventh in 1959.

"Boise State is a BCS-caliber team," TCU coach Gary Patterson said in a statement.

Is Arizona the rare Pacific-10 Conference team that truly wants to play in this game?

Most Pac-10 teams consider Las Vegas a consolation prize, though it is difficult to question UCLA’s effort in its 17-16 loss to BYU last year.

But making this bowl is important for the Wildcats (7-5), who had to beat Arizona State to get in. They did, winning 31-10 on Saturday.

Players wore Las Vegas Bowl caps following the victory, which ended Arizona’s 10-year bowl drought. The band played "Viva Las Vegas," and fans stormed the field.

"This opportunity means a whole lot to our football program because of the hard work we have put in this season and in our previous seasons," Arizona coach Mike Stoops said in a statement.

Wildcats fans have two reasons to travel. Arizona’s basketball team plays UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center at noon that day, and the bowl is at 5 p.m.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.