Utah, BYU to renew rivalry in Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl

By Case Keefer (contact)

Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 | 2:15 p.m.

College football’s Holy War is coming to Las Vegas for the first time.

The 90th meeting of the rivalry between BYU and Utah will take place at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 19, in the 2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. Bowl officials announced the inclusion of BYU, which went 9-3 on the season, last week.

They revealed Utah, also 9-3, as the Cougars’ opponent this afternoon.

“We are excited to host the renewal of such an intense in-state rivalry,” Las Vegas Bowl Executive Director John Saccenti said in a statement.

Utah and BYU haven’t played over the past two seasons, much to the chagrin of both fan bases. It’s the first interruption since 1943-1945, when BYU didn’t field a team during World War II.

Utah leads the all-time series with a 54-31-4 record that includes victories in each of the past four meetings. The Utes figure to come in as the favorite again this year.

They ranked as high as No. 3 in the polls after winning their first six games of the season. Utah finished the season tied for first-place in the Pac-12 South division, losing a head-to-head tiebreaker to USC for the right to appear in the conference championship game.

BYU won seven of its past eight games and will look to send coach Bronco Mendenhall out in style with one last victory over its archrival. Mendenhall accepted an offer to fill Virginia’s coaching vacancy but will coach BYU in the bowl game.

The winner of the game will emerge as the winningest Las Vegas Bowl program of all time. BYU has appeared in the game five times, consecutively from 2005-2009, and went 3-2. Utah has played here four times, going 3-1, including a 45-10 blowout of Colorado State last season.

“What a matchup we have for Las Vegas this season,” Saccenti said. “We know first hand what Coach Whittingham’s program can do after watching the Utes dominate last year’s game.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.