The Holy War is moving west. No. 22 Utah will try to earn a fifth straight victory over rival BYU when these two teams meet in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 19. So far, the odds are in their favor.
Las Vegas Bowl 2015 picks and predictions: Bronco Mendenhall’s final Holy War
Las Vegas will be the host of the latest version of college football’s Holy War. But can BYU win Bronco Mendenhall’s final game on its sideline against Utah?
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At the halfway point of the season, the Utes were a top five team. Despite a 3-3 finish, they hold wins over No. 14 Michigan and No. 15 Oregon. BYU, conversely, needed a Hail Mary to beat 5-7 Nebraska and lost to a Missouri team that ranked 126th out of 127 FBS teams in scoring offense. It’s no surprise that ESPN, the oddsmakers at Oddshark and all but one of SB Nation’s college football writers are choosing the Utes to win this one.
| Matt Brown | Bill Connelly | Wescott Eberts | Bud Elliott | Steven Godfrey | Spencer Hall |
| Utah | Utah | Utah | Utah | Utah | Utah |
| Jason Kirk | Rodger Sherman | Pete Volk | Luke Zimmermann | OddsShark | ESPN |
| BYU | Utah | Utah | Utah | Utah | Utah |
The S&P+ ratings predict a 27-26 win that actually cuts closer than the 3-point spread suggests. Utah has been buoyed by a balanced offensive attack that is well-rounded but rarely great. As a result they often relied on their 20th-ranked defense to deliver key wins. Only two teams, USC and Arizona, were able to score more than 24 points against them this season. They’ll have a chance to shine once more against a solid, but often one-dimensional, bowl opponent.
The Cougars haven’t emerged on the happy side of this in-state rivalry since 2009. BYU will also have to deal with the unexpected loss of head coach Bronco Mendenhall, who will leave Provo for Virginia after coaching his final game for the program in Las Vegas. They have utilized a pass-happy approach en route to a 9-3 season thanks to Tanner Mangum’s proficiency behind center. The freshman finished his season off in a frenzy, tossing four touchdowns against Utah State and cracking the 3,000 passing yard barrier for 2015.
Jason Kirk explained his rationale for swimming upstream and picking a BYU upset in Sin City:
I picked BYU because there’s not very much difference between the two teams in overall quality, and Utah’s played only one particularly impressive game (Washington) in the last two months. It’s a tossup game because of all the weird rival emotions and a coach leaving, but with everyone else picking Utah, I felt like balancing us out a little.
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