BYU football notebook: Cougars happy to be back in Vegas, their annual holiday home

LAS VEGAS — The BYU football team arrived here Friday, happy to return to its home away from home.

The No. 15 Cougars will make their fifth straight appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN) when they face No. 16 Oregon State.

"Vegas is a good venue. Unless you're going to a BCS game, I don't know where else you'd want to go," said defensive lineman Jan Jorgensen. "There's a lot of stuff to do."

BYU is headquartered at Planet Hollywood, while the Beavers are staying at the Venetian.

BYU will hold a practice Saturday morning at Clark High School in preparation for the game. It will be the Cougars' only full-scale practice session during their time in Las Vegas because they don't practice on Sunday. BYU has a walk-through scheduled on Monday.

Later Saturday, BYU and Oregon State will participate in the bowl game's welcome reception at the ESPNZone at the New York-New York Hotel.

"I like the welcome reception on the first day and both teams are in the ESPNZone, playing a bunch of games," said BYU tight end Andrew George. "It's fun because you get to interact with the other team and see them in a different setting. That's one of my favorite things."

Saturday night, both teams will take in the Terry Fator Show at The Mirage. Fator is a ventriloquist, singer, comedian and impressionist.

NO FIRESIDE: For the first time in a long time, the Cougars will not hold a fireside on the night before a game.

"Having a game in the middle of the week has been odd for everybody," said BYU director of football operations Duane Busby. "We didn't want to conflict with Monday night and Family Home Evening."

Instead of a fireside, the team will hold a private get-together.

"It's more of a tribute to our senior class," Busby said. "Coach (Bronco) Mendenhall felt that when the game ends, you can hardly get into the locker room to do a post-game thing. So we've never really had a chance to pay adequate tribute to our seniors and let them say what they'd like to say. We're doing that instead."

The team will attend sacrament meeting at an LDS ward on Sunday morning.

LOGAN HONORED: BYU cornerback Brian Logan was named an honorable mention All-America by SI.com.

"It's based on statistics. He was toward the top in the nation in passes defended, 17, which is unheard of," said Mendenhall. "He's short, but he's not little. He plays really well. As I've mentioned from the very beginning of the year, he's played probably better than any field corner we've had since I've been the coach. He's really been a great asset to our team."

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