BYU has struggled vs. Pac-10 foes

LAS VEGAS — On the football field, the Pacific-10 Conference has not been kind to BYU.

Over the past decade, the Cougars are 5-9 in 14 games against Pac-10 opponents. Two of those victories came in 1999 and 2001 against Cal — the same Golden Bear program that BYU faces Thursday in the Las Vegas Bowl.

The Cougars have lost four consecutive contests to Pac-10 teams, having fallen to Southern California and Stanford in the 2003 and 2004 campaigns. BYU did not play any Pac-10 teams this season and California did not play any MWC teams in 2005.

BYU is 25-52-1 all-time against current Pac-10 teams, including 2-0 against the Bears.

Cal has a 13-10 mark all-time against current members of the Mountain West Conference.

BYU is 1-1 against Pac-10 teams in bowl games. The Cougars downed Washington State, 38-36, in the 1981 Holiday Bowl. BYU fell to UCLA in the 1986 Freedom Bowl, 31-10.

This year's Las Vegas Bowl marks the sixth time in the bowl's 14-year history that a MWC team will meet a Pac-10 squad. While the Pac-10 has won three of the previous five games, the MWC won the most recent meeting last year when Wyoming downed UCLA, 24-21.

SIDELINE SPECTATORS: Linebacker Aaron Wagner and defensive tackles Daniel Marquardt and Manaia Brown will be spectators Thursday, a role they've served all during BYU's bowl trip. Brown and Wagner were among the last to leave Tuesday's practice, dressed in warm-ups, not playing due to season-ending injuries.

"It's hard, it's tough, you can't play in a game you worked all year to be a part of," Brown said.

Wagner, who had an ACL tear in BYU's fifth game, said he missed getting a year back by four quarters.

"It's been awful not playing and it's been very hard to take," Wagner said.

Brown said he expects to be cleared to play in the East-West Shrine game. Wagner said he's ahead of schedule in his knee rehab.

SOLVING THE 3-3-5: California coach Jeff Tedford said he is wary of BYU's unorthodox 3-3-5 defense.

"Just because it says 3-3-5 . . . it's never really 3-3-5, that is the whole thing behind it," Tedford said. "There is always five or six guys rushing, but they just come from all different areas and they just kick down the secondary. It is very multiple. In our game planning, we look at the variations they do on defense and there is probably over 150 multiples of what they do. It's very hard to find something that they do twice."