PROVO — Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy has waited a long time to invite the BYU football team, never able to land the Cougars since the bowl was aligned with the Western Athletic Conference in 1997 and the Mountain West Conference two years later.

She was even willing to go overtime — literally — as Saturday's BYU-Utah game wasn't settled in regulation, the understanding that a Cougar victory would result in a formal invitation to the Dec. 22 bowl.

The Cougars left Edwards Stadium without a win and — for now — a postseason place to play, thanks to Utah's 41-34 OT triumph.

"We'll go home and regroup," said Kunzer-Murphy before catching a quick flight back to Las Vegas.

It's hard to extend a bowl invitation to a team that has just lost — and equally hard for the losing team to accept.

Meanwhile, Utah became bowl-eligible with the victory, finishing the regular season with a 6-5 overall record identical to BYU as well as New Mexico and Colorado State. Throw in 10-1 TCU, and the conference has five bowl-eligible teams and only three guaranteed slots.

"We're kinda in a holding pattern," said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson.

Besides the Las Vegas Bowl, which has the first selection of Mountain West teams, the Dec. 22 Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego and the Dec. 29 Emerald Bowl in San Francisco will feature MWC representatives.

Monday will see a flurry of conference calls between MWC officials and bowl representatives, looking at prospective pairings, potential ticket sales and travel possibilities. Invitations could come that day but may take longer.

TCU is considered a strong possibility for the new Houston Bowl, more financially advantageous than past MWC champions playing in the Liberty Bowl, which even without the previous contract with the Mountain West, could still invite the Horned Frogs as an at-large participant.

The Mountain West has a contingency plan that could open up a spot in the Forth Worth Bowl, if Conference USA or the Big 12 can't fill its berths. Other bowls may open up for BYU, Utah and the other MWC teams if conference quotas aren't reached.

New Mexico seems to be a lock for the Poinsettia Bowl, having played last year at the Emerald Bowl and the previous two seasons at the Las Vegas Bowl. Utah has played at Vegas twice — against Fresno State in 1999 and Southern California in 2001, meaning San Francisco is likely Utah's postseason destination.

As for the Las Vegas Bowl, Kunzer-Murphy said "we like the Utah schools — they both make a lot of sense," adding that BYU's considerable fan base in southern Nevada "has to figure into the decision."

The Vegas Bowl has to sell 29,000 tickets this year to meet requirements to maintain accreditation. "It's a bowl game," she said, "but it's a business, too."

Kunzer-Murphy said the Pac-10 Conference opponent in the Vegas Bowl may not be determined until as late as Dec. 4. "We've got two weeks for the Pac-10," she said. "Of course, you always want to sell tickets, but we're not in any rush."

But, she added, "I wish it would have been easier."

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