2015 Las Vegas Bowl

2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
Holy War in Sin City
Las Vegas Bowl Logo
BYU Cougars Utah Utes (9–3) (9–3) Independent Pac-12 28 35 Head coach:  Bronco Mendenhall Head coach:  Kyle Whittingham AP Coaches CFP 20 20 22
1 2 3 4 Total BYU 0 7 7 14 28 Utah 35 0 0 0 35
Date	December 19, 2015
Season	2015
Stadium	Sam Boyd Stadium
Location	Whitney, Nevada
MVP	Utah DB Tevin Carter[1]
Favorite	Utah by 2[2]
Referee	Mark Kluczynski (MAC)[3]
Attendance	42,213[3]
Payout	US$1,350,000
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC Sports USA
Announcers	Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, Maria Taylor (ABC) Mike Morgan, Gary Barnett, Jonathan Von Tobel (Sports USA)

The 2015 Las Vegas Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015 at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada. The 24th edition of the Las Vegas Bowl featured the BYU Cougars against the Utah Utes, earning the game the moniker the Holy War in Sin City (named for the "Holy War" rivalry game and the "Sin City" nickname for Las Vegas). The game sold out 24 hours after the matchup was announced. It began at 12:30 p.m. PST and aired on ABC. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season. Sponsored by lubricant manufacturer Royal Purple, it was officially known as the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.^[4]

Teams

The game featured the BYU Cougars against their state rival, the Utah Utes. It was the 96th meeting in their Holy War rivalry, with Utah leading the series 57–34–4 entering the game. Their previous meeting was in 2013, when the Utes defeated the Cougars 20–13 in Provo.^[5] In addition to determining the Las Vegas Bowl Champion, the game decided the 2015 Beehive Boot champion.

BYU Cougars

After finishing their regular season with a 9–3 record, bowl director John Saccenti extended an invitation for the Cougars to play in the game, which they accepted.^[6]

This was the Cougars' sixth Las Vegas Bowl, extending their record for most appearances in the game. So far, the Cougars are 3–2 in the Las Vegas Bowl, having appeared in five consecutive games from 2005 until 2009.

It was the final game at BYU for head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who accepted the same position with the Virginia Cavaliers on December 4,^[7] and for assistant coaches Robert Anae, Garett Tujague, Mark Atuaia, Jason Beck,^[8] Nick Howell, and Kelly Poppinga,^[9] who accepted positions on Virginia's new coaching staff.

During the postgame interviews, Tom Holmoe stepped in during one segment and announced that Kalani Sitake had been officially hired to be the new head coach of BYU.^[10]

Utah Utes

The Utes had started the season with 6 straight victories, rising to as high as #3 in the Playoff rankings. However a loss to USC derailed hopes for a playoff bid and conference championship. They lost two of their next five games and finished as co-champions of the South Division. They did not play in the Conference Championship due to their loss to USC. Also, they won the previous year's Las Vegas Bowl, defeating former conference mates Colorado State 45–10.

On December 6, it was announced that the Utes were invited to the Las Vegas Bowl. This was their fifth overall Las Vegas Bowl appearance. The Utes posted a 3–1 record overall in the Las Vegas Bowl entering this game.^[11]

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP BYU Utah 1 10:59 6 25 3:18 Utah Joe Williams 1-yard touchdown run, Andy Phillips kick good 0 7 1 10:42 Utah Interception returned 28 yards for touchdown by Tevin Carter, Andy Phillips kick good 0 14 1 9:01 1 1 0:05 Utah Joe Williams 1-yard touchdown run, Andy Phillips kick good 0 21 1 7:29 Utah Interception returned 28 yards for touchdown by Dominique Hatfield, Andy Phillips kick good 0 28 1 4:38 5 39 2:06 Utah Travis Wilson 20-yard touchdown run, Andy Phillips kick good 0 35 2 0:36 13 97 4:16 BYU Remington Peck 3-yard touchdown reception from Tanner Mangum, Trevor Samson kick good 7 35 3 10:02 12 72 3:44 BYU Francis Bernard 10-yard touchdown run, Trevor Samson kick good 14 35 4 10:33 10 65 3:22 BYU Nick Kurtz 5-yard touchdown reception from Tanner Mangum, Trevor Samson kick good 21 35 4 3:23 7 60 1:37 BYU Tanner Mangum 4-yard touchdown run, Trevor Samson kick good 28 35 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 28 35

Source: ^[3]

Statistics

Statistics[3]	BYU	Utah
First downs	21	14
Plays–yards	81–386	63–197
Rushes–yards	71	126
Passing yards	315	71
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	25–56–3	9–16–0
Time of possession	26:52	33:08

References

1. Lima, Jesse (December 19, 2015). "Carter A Rare MVP From Defense". lvbowl.com. ESPN Events. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
2. Odds, Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2015
3. "2015 Las Vegas Bowl: BYU vs. Utah Stats". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved 2015-12-19.
4. "BYU Cougars Accept Bid To 2015 Bowl". Las Vegas Bowl. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
5. "Winsipedia - BYU Cougars vs. Utah Utes football series history". Winsipedia.
6. "BYU Accepts Invitation to 2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl". BYUCougars.com. Brigham Young University. December 2, 2015. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
7. Wood, Norm (December 4, 2015). "Virginia keeps Bronco Mendenhall pursuit a secret, taps him to be Cavaliers' new football coach". Newport News, VA: Daily Press. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
8. Harmon, Dick (December 9, 2015). "BYU's Robert Anae leaving for Virginia, taking 3 assistants with him". Deseret News. Retrieved December 9, 2015.
9. Welch, Jake (December 10, 2015). "BYU assistants Kelly Poppinga, Nick Howell reportedly following Bronco Mendenhall to Virginia". SB Nation. Retrieved December 10, 2015.
10. Mizell, Gina (December 19, 2015). "Kalani Sitake hired as BYU's head coach". The Oregonian. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
11. Adam Stites (6 December 2015). "2015 Las Vegas Bowl, BYU vs. Utah: Date, time, location and more". SBNation.com. Vox Media.