Utah accepts MAACO Bowl Las Vegas bid

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 | 4:55 p.m.

For the first time in six years, BYU will not represent the Mountain West Conference in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas.

No. 21 Utah (10-2, 7-1) has accepted a bid to play in the game at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

“Our committee is thrilled to welcome back an old friend in Utah, which has had so much success in the Las Vegas Bowl but hasn’t played here in nine years,” said Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of MAACO Bowl Las Vegas, in a statement. “We expect to feature another great matchup in front of what we hope will be another soldout crowd.”

The Utes last appeared in Las Vegas’ bowl game in 2001, beating USC 10-6. They also played in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl, beating Fresno State 17-16 and starting a nation-high nine-game bowl-winning streak.

The 2010 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas will be Utah’s last game as a member of the Mountain West. The Utes, of course, accepted an invitation to begin competition in the Pac-10 next year.

“We are very excited about our invitation to play in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “It’s been a while since we have played a bowl game in Las Vegas and our players and coaches are looking forward to the opportunity. We are proud to represent the Mountain West Conference in its top bowl game.”

Utah, which ranked as high as No. 6 in the country this season, finished second in the Mountain West. But the Utes get the league’s highest bowl bid because TCU is headed to a BCS game, most likely the Rose Bowl.

Utah will probably not face off against a Pac-10 team in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas despite the conference’s tie-in with the bowl.

MAACO Bowl Las Vegas is supposed to receive the fifth team in the Pac-10, but currently only three Pac-10 teams are bowl eligible as USC is on probation and not allowed to compete in postseason play.

As many as three more could be bowl eligible after this weekend, but not headed to Las Vegas because Oregon and Stanford could possibly earn BCS bowl bids.

A number of different teams could receive a bid to play Utah in the game, but Internet speculation points toward a Mid-American Conference representative.

Bowl projections from ESPN, CBS and Rivals.com each predicted Ohio as Utah’s opponent in the game.

The bowl will announce the final team this weekend.

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