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Oregon State Beavers vs BYU Cougars - Las Vegas Bowl Preview

The Las Vegas Bowl has a reputation for providing the kind of place - and the type of stage - where desire matters more than anything else on a football field. When Oregon State - turned away for a second straight season in a bid for the Pac-10 title - visits Sam Boyd Stadium a few nights before Christmas, coach Mike Riley hopes his band of Beaver brothers will care about the Cougars of Brigham Young University.

The Vegas Bowl's place in the pecking order of the Pac-10 and Mountain West Conferences makes this a game that's not anticipated or cherished by at least one of the two competing teams. If you look through this event's recent history (it's been around since 1992, but with different conference matchups), you'll see that want-to, and not X-and-O execution, is the true secret to success in Sin City USA.

The Vegas Bowl's emphasis on pure effort and unbridled enthusiasm began in 2001, when the Mountain West-Pac-10 tie-ins were newly established for this game. On Christmas Day of 2001, USC - led by a rookie collegiate head coach named Pete Carroll - came to the world's great gambling spot to take on Ron McBride's Utah Utes. Southern California might have had the stronger studs in the stable, but Utah owned far more energy and used that excess of adrenaline to very good effect. The Utes smothered Carson Palmer and the rest of the Trojans' offense in a 10-6 win that humiliated Carroll, but also led to the creation of renewed hunger at a program that would dominate the rest of the decade in college football (save for this season, of course).

In the 2004 Las Vegas Bowl, another team from Los Angeles - the UCLA Bruins - came to Nevada's biggest city and acted as though it didn't want to make the trip in the first place. UCLA owned far more talent than a scrappy bunch from Wyoming, but the Cowboys treated the affair as a personal Super Bowl. After 60 minutes, the huge underdog from the Mountain West had toppled the lazy lineup from Westwood, 24-21, as the ill-fated Karl Dorrell era never found fulfillment at UCLA.

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Since 2005, there's been one constant presence at the Las Vegas Bowl, and that's the BYU team Oregon State will tackle on the Tuesday before Christmas. BYU lost to Cal in 2005 because the gifted Golden Bears took the occasion seriously (or at least, seriously enough to prevail), but the Cougars were far more thrilled to be in Vegas than Oregon was in 2006, as the Ducks phoned in their postseason commitment in a game BYU would win by a 38-8 score.

In 2007, BYU retained its winning ways in this game of "bowl blackjack" by beating UCLA, 17-16, but last year, it was clear to everyone at Sam Boyd Stadium that the Cougars and coach Bronco Mendenhall had grown tired of the Vegas act at the end of a college football season. Playing in its fourth straight Vegas Bowl, a team that missed out on the Mountain West title - due to a season-ending loss at Utah - went through the motions against an Arizona outfit that hadn't been to a bowl since 1998. The Wildcats played with savage intensity, while the bored and disinterested Cougars found their spiritual tank running on empty. Final score: Arizona 31, BYU 21.

With the past as prelude, Oregon State's challenge doesn't really concern BYU quarterback Max Hall, tight end Dennis Pitta, or anyone else on the Cougars. The main key for the Beavers is to care about this game and make a strong showing on behalf of the Pac-10 Conference. With more heart and desire, OSU can register another bowl breakthrough and set the stage for an even bigger year of Beaver football in 2010.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer