2015 Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Holy War in Sin City 24th Las Vegas Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 19, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Sam Boyd Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Whitney, Nevada | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Utah DB Tevin Carter [1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Utah by 2 [2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Mark Kluczynski (MAC) [3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 42,213 [3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Payout | US$1,350,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ABC Sports USA | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, Maria Taylor (ABC) Mike Morgan, Gary Barnett, Jonathan Von Tobel (Sports USA) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2015 Las Vegas Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015, at Sam Boyd Stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Whitney, Nevada. The 24th edition of the Las Vegas Bowl featured the BYU Cougars against the Utah Utes, earning the game the moniker the Holy War in Sin City (named for the "Holy War" rivalry game and the "Sin City" nickname for Las Vegas). The game sold out 24 hours after the matchup was announced. It began at 12:30 p.m. PST and aired on ABC. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season. Sponsored by lubricant manufacturer Royal Purple, it was officially known as the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. [4]
The game featured the BYU Cougars against their state rival, the Utah Utes. It was the 96th meeting in their Holy War rivalry, with Utah leading the series 57–34–4 entering the game. Their previous meeting was in 2013, when the Utes defeated the Cougars 20–13 in Provo. [5] In addition to determining the Las Vegas Bowl Champion, the game decided the 2015 Beehive Boot champion. The game cut short a scheduled hiatus in the rivalry; the teams had not played in the 2014 or 2015 regular seasons, but would resume doing so in 2016. [6]
After finishing their regular season with a 9–3 record, bowl director John Saccenti extended an invitation for the Cougars to play in the game, which they accepted. [7]
This was the Cougars' sixth Las Vegas Bowl, extending their record for most appearances in the game. So far, the Cougars are 3–2 in the Las Vegas Bowl, having appeared in five consecutive games from 2005 until 2009.
It was the final game at BYU for head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who accepted the same position with the Virginia Cavaliers on December 4, [8] and for assistant coaches Robert Anae, Garett Tujague, Mark Atuaia, Jason Beck, [9] Nick Howell, and Kelly Poppinga, [10] who accepted positions on Virginia's new coaching staff.
During the postgame interviews, Tom Holmoe stepped in during one segment and announced that Kalani Sitake had been officially hired to be the new head coach of BYU. [11]
The Utes had started the season with 6 straight victories, rising to as high as #3 in the Playoff rankings. However a loss to USC derailed hopes for a playoff bid and conference championship. They lost two of their next five games and finished as co-champions of the South Division. They did not play in the Conference Championship due to their loss to USC. Also, they won the previous year's Las Vegas Bowl, defeating former conference mates Colorado State 45–10.
On December 6, it was announced that the Utes were invited to the Las Vegas Bowl. This was their fifth overall Las Vegas Bowl appearance. The Utes posted a 3–1 record overall in the Las Vegas Bowl entering this game. [12]
Scoring summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [3]
Statistics [3] | BYU | Utah |
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First downs | 21 | 14 |
Plays–yards | 81–386 | 63–197 |
Rushes–yards | 71 | 126 |
Passing yards | 315 | 71 |
Passing: Completions/Attempts/Interceptions | 25–56–3 | 9–16–0 |
Time of possession | 26:52 | 33:08 |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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BYU | Passing | Tanner Mangum | 25/56, 315 yds, 2 TD, 3 INT |
Rushing | Francis Bernard | 7 car, 58 yds, 1 TD | |
Receiving | Devon Blackmon | 3 rec, 97 yds | |
Utah | Passing | Travis Wilson | 9/16, 71 yds |
Rushing | Joe Williams | 25 car, 91 yds, 2 TD | |
Receiving | Joe Williams | 2 rec, 22 yds |
The Holy War is the name given to the American college football rivalry game played annually by the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars and the University of Utah Utes. It is part of the larger BYU–Utah sports rivalry. In this context, the term "Holy War" refers to the fact that BYU is owned and administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the University of Utah is a public university with a large LDS student population. The proximity of the two schools, the athletic successes of the two teams, and the longevity of the series all continue to foster the rivalry.
Marc Bronco Clay Mendenhall is an American football coach who most recently coached at The University of Virginia. He stepped down after the 2021 season. Mendenhall joined Virginia in 2015 after spending the previous eleven seasons as the head football coach at Brigham Young University, and resigned his position following the 2021 season. He has a career record of 135 victories and 81 losses, and has recorded fourteen postseason bowl game appearances with seven victories.
The BYU Cougars football team is the college football program representing Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. The Cougars began collegiate football competition in 1922, and have won 23 conference championships and one national championship in 1984.
Robert Anae is an American football coach and former player who is current serving as the offensive coordinator (OC) for NC State since December 2022. Prior to NC State, he was the OC at the University of Virginia and Brigham Young University (BYU), his alma mater, each under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, and as the OC at Syracuse under head coach Dino Babers.
The 2007 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. BYU clinched its second consecutive Mountain West Conference (MWC) championship title outright after defeating Utah on November 24. It was BYU's second consecutive, undefeated season in the MWC, its fourth MWC championship since the league began in 1999, and its 23rd conference title. At the beginning of the season the Cougars had won an MWC record 16 straight league games dating back to 2005 and were on a ten-game overall winning streak, the longest winning streak in the country at the time. The Cougars began the season with the second longest winning streak in the country at 11 wins until their loss to UCLA in the second regular season game. The Cougars ended this season ranked 14th in the nation, highest of all schools from non-AQ conferences. This finish was the highest back-to-back rankings in the AP Poll since the Cougars won the national championship in 1984.
The 2008 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
Kelly Scott Poppinga is an American football coach and former player. He is the special teams coordinator and defensive coach at the Brigham Young University (BYU). He is the younger brother of National Football League (NFL) linebacker Brady Poppinga.
Jeff Grimes is an American football coach who is currently the offensive coordinator at Baylor University. He was previously the offensive coordinator at Brigham Young University (BYU) from 2017 to 2020, Louisiana State University's (LSU) offensive line coach and run game coordinator from 2014 to 2017, and the offensive line coach at both Virginia Tech in 2013 and Auburn University from 2009 to 2012. In addition, he was the assistant head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach at the University of Colorado from 2007 to 2008, BYU's offensive line coach from 2004 to 2006, offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Arizona State University (ASU) from 2001 to 2003, and offensive line coach at Boise State University (BSU) in 2000.
The 2009 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars were led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall and played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Kelaokalani Fifita "Kalani" Sitake is a Tongan–American football coach and former player. He has been the head football coach at Brigham Young University (BYU) since December 2015, and is the first Tongan to become a collegiate football head coach. Sitake played college football as a fullback at BYU under coach LaVell Edwards, and graduated in 2000.
The 2009 Maaco Bowl Las Vegas was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS post-season college football bowl game, in which the Brigham Young Cougars defeated the Oregon State Beavers 44–20. The game was played on Tuesday, December 22, 2009, at 5 p.m. PST at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in Whitney, Nevada, and was televised on ESPN.
The 2010 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium and were members of the Mountain West Conference. They finished the season 7–6, 5–3 in Mountain West play and were invited to the New Mexico Bowl where they defeated UTEP 52–24.
The 2011 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the first year they competed as an independent in football. They finished the season 10–3 and were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they defeated Tulsa 24–21.
The 2012 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the second year BYU competed as an independent. They finished the season 8–5. They were invited to the Poinsettia Bowl where they defeated San Diego State.
The 2013 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by head coach Bronco Mendenhall, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the third year BYU competed as an independent. They finished the season 8–5. They were invited to the Fight Hunger Bowl where they lost to Washington, 31–16.
The 2015 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University (BYU) in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by 11th-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the fifth year BYU competed as an NCAA Division I FBS independent. They finished the season 9–4. They were invited to the Las Vegas Bowl, where they lost to rival Utah.
The 2016 BYU Cougars football team represented Brigham Young University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars, led by first-year head coach Kalani Sitake, played their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This was the sixth year BYU competes as an NCAA Division I FBS independent. They finished the season 9–4. They were invited to the Poinsettia Bowl where they defeated Wyoming.
The 2022 New Mexico Bowl is a college football bowl game that is scheduled to be played on December 17, 2022, at University Stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The 17th annual New Mexico Bowl, the game will feature teams from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, or the Mountain West Conference. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. MST and will air on ABC. It will be one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season.
The 2023 BYU Cougars football team will represent Brigham Young University in the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cougars will be led by seventh-year head coach Kalani Sitake and play their home games at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This is the 1st year that BYU will compete as a member of the Big 12 Conference.
Jason Michael Beck is an American football coach and former player who is current serving as the offensive coordinator (OC) for Syracuse since December 2022. Prior to Syracuse, he was the quarterbacks coach at the University of Virginia and Brigham Young University (BYU), his alma mater, each under head coach Bronco Mendenhall, and as the quarterbacks coach at Syracuse under head coach Dino Babers.