Beavers to bring local flavor

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2003 | 10:13 a.m.

Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy got the news she had been hoping for on Monday morning.

The Rose Bowl had decided to release Washington State from its list of potential teams. And that started the Pac-10 bowl dominoes falling.

The Cougars, second-place finishers to USC in the Pac-10, were immediately invited to the Holiday Bowl. Third-place Oregon then was snapped up by the Sun Bowl and the Insight.com Bowl in Phoenix then picked Cal.

And shortly after lunch Kunzer-Murphy issued an invitation to Oregon State (7-4, 4-3) to play Mountain West runner-up New Mexico (8-4, 5-2) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Christmas Eve at 4:30 p.m. at Sam Boyd Stadium.

The Beavers, coached by former John Robinson assistant Mike Riley, have eight Las Vegas high school graduates on their roster including Pac-10 rushing leader Steven Jackson of Eldorado High School and star linebacker Richard Seigler from Chaparral High School.

"That obviously is a great twist for us that we have not had before in our game," Kunzer-Murphy said.

Even better, the announcement was made official before the final BCS standings were released on Sunday. That means six more days for the Las Vegas Bowl to promote the game and sell tickets to the two competing schools.

"I'm delighted that we were able to get this matchup firmed up a week early," Kunzer-Murphy said. "The Rose Bowl could have waited another week before releasing Washington State. But they decided to it (Monday) which was great for all the other bowls that are tied in with the Pac-10 Conference because now we can get on with our games."

Kunzer-Murphy gave the news to the Riley and his Beavers on Monday afternoon. After hearing a big cheer from the squad, she chatted with Seigler, who had been openly lobbying in the Oregon media the past few weeks about going to the Las Vegas Bowl.

"He told me how excited he was about being able to come home and play," Kunzer-Murphy said.

The Beavers still have one more Pac-10 game remaining on Saturday at No. 2 ranked USC (10-1, 6-1).

Tickets for the game are priced at $10, $30, $50 and $100 and can be reserved by calling (866) 388-FANS or at www.unlvtickets.com.