The Las Vegas Holy War should be emotional and hard fought, even by BYU-Utah standards

When you create a mid-tier bowl like the Las Vegas Bowl, with solid conference ties but little hope of ever hosting a top-10 team, you hope for exactly this: A game between two historical rivals who don’t have far to drive. This year’s Vegas Bowl sold out in approximately eight seconds and will end up ensuring we only had a one-season gap without a Holy War between BYU and Utah.

When a coach leaves for another job, there are frequently some hurt feelings to work through. This goes double if the job he’s leaving for isn’t a clear step up.

Mendenhall was recently announced as Virginia’s new head coach, and while moving from BYU to UVA is a step forward in terms of power-conference status, access, etc., in terms of winning potential, history suggests BYU is superior. Over the last 40 seasons, the Cougars have finished in the AP top 25 17 times, finished in the top five twice, and won at least nine games in a season 23 times. In that same span, the Cavaliers have finished ranked eight times, never higher than 15th, and they’ve won at least nine games six times.

Maybe the ceiling is higher at UVA, but you couldn’t blame BYU or its players if they elected to show Mendenhall to the door immediately. Instead, he’s coaching in the Las Vegas Bowl, and everybody seems happy with the decision.

Mendenhall is 99-42 in 11 seasons. His tenure had ups and downs -- the Cougars haven’t finished ranked since going 11-2 in 2009, and 2015 broke a streak of three consecutive five-loss seasons -- but he will be remembered for keeping BYU afloat as the Cougars moved from the Mountain West to independence. And he’ll have a chance to go out with a bang, securing win No. 100 and taking down current/former rival Utah for the fourth time in 10 tries.

In my BYU preview in May, I typed the name of senior quarterback Taysom Hill 18 times. He lasted three quarters. Hill was injured in the second half of the Nebraska game.

In stepped former blue-chip Tanner Mangum, and BYU started winning. The Cougars beat Nebraska and Boise State on last-second heaves, and after dropping a heart breaker to UCLA and getting whipped by Michigan, BYU won seven of its last eight games with a pass-first attack instead of the run-first structure Hill brought.

The Utes rank fourth in Rushing S&P+ and hold significant advantages over the Cougars in virtually every rushing category. BYU’s offense will rest mostly on Mangum’s shoulder. That has frequently worked out fine for BYU this year.

It’s uncertain whether Utah will be able to run either. Actually, it’s unclear what Utah will be able to do at all. Senior workhorse back Devontae Booker is doubtful with a knee injury, and the Utes’ top two wideouts, Britain Covey and Kenneth Scott, are questionable.

Booker wasn’t particularly effective in 2015 -- only 34 percent of his carries gained at least five yards, and while “three yards and a cloud of dust” is an admirable identity, it’s not very efficient -- but he was durable. He was able to make sure quarterback Travis Wilson was throwing most of his passes in second-and-6 or third-and-5 situations. Without him, Utah scored only 29 points against UCLA and Colorado, and Wilson completed an abysmal 23 of 52 passes with a sub-90 passer rating.

As a sophomore starter, Wilson was as entertaining as anyone in the country, throwing gorgeous touchdowns and making stultifying mistakes with regularity. He’s evened out (though he’s still fumbled eight times and thrown 10 picks this year), and like Mendenhall, he has a chance to add to his legacy with a final-game win over a rival.

Throwing could be scary, though. BYU has a top-10 pass rush led by enormous Bronson Kaufusi (6’8, 280, 10.5 sacks).

Check out the monstrous stat preview here.

There are two relative guarantees in a Utah game: The Utes’ offense won’t produce many big plays, and neither will the other offense.

Utah has managed 20 plays gaining 30-plus yards in 2015 (101st in the country) and allowed 19 (24th). The Utes rank 126th in offensive IsoPPP (which measures the magnitude of successful plays) and 13th in defensive IsoPPP. And those numbers were mostly produced with Booker, Covey and Scott. (Then again, only Covey was even slightly explosive.)

BYU’s offense has its moments. Each of Mangum’s top five targets -- Mitch Mathews, Devon Blackmon, Nick Kurtz, Mitchell Juergens and Terenn Houk -- has averaged at least 13 yards per catch, and big back Algernon Brown has averaged 5.7 yards per carry.

Utah may struggle to produce many explosive plays, but if the Utes can render BYU incapable in this same way, the game becomes a battle of efficiency and field position. The Utes know how to maneuver in that type of game.