Bowling for BYU

PROVO — From the day Bronco Mendenhall was hired to take over the BYU football program, returning to bowl games has been a top priority.

After three consecutive losing seasons, staying home for the holidays was beginning to be the norm at BYU.

So when Tina Kunzer-Murphy, executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl, called Tuesday morning and officially extended a Las Vegas Bowl invitation to the Cougars, Mendenhall couldn't have been happier.

"It was one of the best phone calls I've received yet, not only as a professional, but as a person," he said.

BYU (6-5 overall, 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference) will play in the Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium Dec. 22 against an opponent that has yet to be determined.

"We're very excited," said athletic director Tom Holmoe, "to be back in the bowl game business."

It marks the Cougars' first bowl bid since 2001, which ends their longest bowl drought since before earning their first bowl invitation in 1974.

In Las Vegas, that feeling of excitement is mutual.

"We are simply thrilled to have BYU coming (to the Las Vegas Bowl) for the very first time," Kunzer-Murphy said in a statement. "They are a national program with tremendous fan interest. Our executive committee congratulates coach Mendenhall on his impressive first season leading BYU, and we look forward to the Cougars' high-powered offense playing in our game."

For Mendenhall, a bowl game is tangible proof of the program's progress.

"I'm so thankful to our players and the effort they put in, achieving one of the marks we had laid out at the beginning of the year," he said. "That was to be in a bowl game and also to win a bowl game, which is the second part of this. The other goal we reached was having a winning season. We fell short of a third goal, which was winning the conference championship. However, our program is headed the right direction. A winning season, a second-place conference finish and a bowl game — those are all tangible, hard-earned landmarks that can't be contested."

Offensive lineman Jake Kuresa and his teammates have been preparing all year for this opportunity. "We're really excited for all the benefits that come with a bowl game," he said. "We've been working with that goal in mind since coach Mendenhall got hired. There were a lot of ups and downs in the season and what kept us going was this. This is what we wanted. This is the reward we wanted for our hard work. To have it, it's awesome. We've earned it. We're the second-best team in the conference. It's great knowing we have another game left."