Las Vegas Bowl had no choice but the Bruins

Another fact. BYU traditionally struggles against the Pac-10 and has a 29-56 all-time effort against teams from that conference.

And finally, BYU is 1-7 against the Bruins. Not good at all. UCLA at 6-6 still has a better ranking in Jeff Sagarin's power ratings at No. 37. Utah's opponent, Navy, is 94th. UCLA has played the second toughest schedule next to Washington in Division I. Navy's played the 91st toughest schedule in the NCAA, according to Sagarin.

Bronco Mendenhall acknowledged Monday his main concern in Las Vegas is to keep pushing BYU football forward. While he's had two MWC titles tucked away — both undisputed — he's still got work to do to get BYU to the national level he believes it is capable of.

Griping about a bowl opponent doesn't get BYU anywhere. Beating somebody in a bowl does, if not in January's final rankings, it does give the Cougars momentum in the off-season to start ranked instead of outside looking in, like what happened this year.

"It was only a few years ago BYU was begging to get into a bowl. Now we have some complaining about who we're going to play in a bowl," said athletic director Tom Holmoe, who isn't tolerant of any disrespect of UCLA, his favorite team growing up in Los Angeles.

Amen.

"Our sponsors, our committee and our community has embraced BYU since they've been in the bowl because they've taken it to the next level," said Kunzer-Murphy. "As a regional bowl, we decided years ago it was important for us to consistently take the MWC champion and have the best tie-in we could get with the Pac-10. That's our model and we are fortunate to have the Pac-10 involved."

On Sunday, the Pac-10 gave Las Vegas no option but to take UCLA when the Bruins refused to allow Cal its Vegas spot and go to the Bell Helicopter Bowl near Dallas. Las Vegas complied as per contract.

End of story.

Until BYU starts a string of bowl wins, fans have little case for busting chops. They don't have to like the match-ups or the system because it is ridiculous. But dissing UCLA and dumping on the Las Vegas Bowl is dumb.

Beat the Bruins for only the second time in three decades and let's talk.

Good-luck to Tina. She's tough, but the past week has been a bolt-and-nail salad.

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E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com