PROVO (Dec. 6, 2015) — BYU (9-3) will face No. 22 Utah (9-3) in the 2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, executive director John Saccenti announced Sunday.
The two in-state rivals will meet for the first time in a bowl game when they take the field at Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 12:30 p.m. PT (1:30 p.m. MT). The game will be broadcast live nationally on ABC.
“We are looking forward to this unique opportunity of playing against a rival like Utah in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “This will be the first time this rivalry game has taken place in a bowl setting so it has some historic significance as well as being a great matchup between two teams that have had outstanding seasons. This will be our 11th straight bowl game and I’m definitely looking forward to coaching this team one last time as we take the field in Las Vegas striving to achieve our 10th win of the season.”
The Las Vegas Bowl matchup renews a rivalry that was not scheduled the past two regular seasons and will pit the Cougars and Utes against each other for the 90th time in a series that began in 1922. Utah leads the overall series 54-31-4 and won the last contest by a 20-13 tally in Provo in 2013. BYU and Utah are scheduled to resume their regular-season series again next season in Salt Lake City.
“We are excited to be returning to Las Vegas to play in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl,” BYU director of athletics Tom Holmoe said. “BYU–Utah is one of the great rivalries in college football. Playing each other for the first time in a bowl game should add a unique chapter to our storied history.”
The 2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl will be the Cougars sixth trip to the Las Vegas Bowl. BYU has a 3-2 record in the Las Vegas Bowl, with five straight sellouts at Sam Boyd Stadium from 2005-09. BYU's last appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl was a 44-20 victory over No. 16 Oregon State in 2009.
The Cougars have advanced to 11 straight bowl games, one of only 11 programs in the country to do so. BYU is 6-4 in its bowl games under Mendenhall, who will be leaving BYU following the game to take the head coaching position at the University of Virginia. Mendenhall has a chance to equal legendary coach LaVell Edwards’ seven bowl wins with a victory against Utah.
BYU will be appearing in its 34th bowl game overall since its first bowl invitation in 1974, with an overall record of 13-19-1. BYU posted a 9-3 regular-season record as an independent in 2015 while Utah achieved a 9-3 overall record and 6-3 mark in the Pac-12 Conference.
Tickets can now be requested at BYUtickets.com. Tickets are $95 each and include all fees. Visit www.byutickets.com/royal-purple-las-vegas-bowl for detailed information on how to purchase tickets to the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl.
The Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl is one of 13 college bowl games owned and operated by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN.