BYU finishes in style

LAS VEGAS — For a team that began its season with two losses in three games, it was a rather flamboyant finish for the BYU Cougars.

A Vegas finish, in fact.

Cue the dancing fountains at the Bellagio. Fire up the Fremont Street canopy screen. Is it possible they're working on a John Beck-to-Jonny Harline display at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum?

This much seems true: The Cougars really do own Vegas.

Can nearly 40,000 blue-clad fans be wrong?

Last year was a letdown for the Cougars, with BYU losing in its first Las Vegas Bowl appearance. But that changed this year. Thursday's 38-8 rout of Oregon gave the 11-2 Cougars their 10th straight win. It also gave BYU its eighth 11-win-or-more season and its first bowl victory since January 1997.

This year's team came through the back door, losing early to Arizona and Boston College but rallying afterward. It didn't even make the national rankings until mid-November.

"I couldn't think of a more fitting ending," said BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall.

In spite of BYU's dubious bowl history (8-16-1), it seemed the Cougars were determined to finally get one after a 10-year drought. Perhaps that's because the game was in Las Vegas, which has become one of the most BYU-friendly places on earth — not counting Utah County. You'll see nearly as many LDS churches in town as liquor stores and wedding chapels.

Consequently, BYU seemed downright comfortable in Vegas this week. It has never lost to hometown UNLV at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Cougars' only loss there was last year's Las Vegas Bowl, against Cal. Otherwise the Cougars are a perfect 7-0. That helps explain the 38,000 or so BYU fans in the crowd, Thursday night. (BYU officials think they could have sold another 15,000 tickets, if available.) The crowd of 44,616 marked the largest ever in Boyd Stadium.

Beyond that, Mormons have long claimed a stake in Las Vegas. In 1855, a group of settlers dispatched by Brigham Young went south to establish a stop-off to California and teach farming to the Southern Paiutes. The "Mormon Fort" was established on Las Vegas Creek.

LDS faithful — and BYU fans — have been there ever since, as ubiquitous as all-you-can-eat buffets.

Not that the game was an all-LDS production. The proceedings had a definite Vegas entertainment flair. For instance, the showgirls who came to midfield for the coin flip. There were fireworks before the game and at halftime, too. That's the Vegas motto: One good show deserves another.

But the fireworks and showgirls weren't the only flashy stuff.