Las Vegas Bowl

As a result of California's being edged out by Texas for a bowl championship series at-large berth, UCLA fell from the Insight Bowl into the Dec. 23 Las Vegas Bowl. So instead of facing Notre Dame for the first time since 1963, the Bruins will play Wyoming for the first time ever in their second Las Vegas Bowl appearance in three years.

Reporting from San Francisco — There was an unofficial homework assignment for members of the UCLA football team's offense during their holiday break: Watch the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl. Whether Arizona State could defeat Boise State was irrelevant. What was of interest was studying Sun Devils offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone , who is sliding over to UCLA. "I wanted to see what our new offense coordinator was like," running back Johnathan Franklin said. "What offense he was running, how he was coaching his players after they came off the field, stuff like that.

Nevada, champion of the Big West Conference, will cap its first season in Division I by playing Bowling Green, champion of the Mid-American Conference, in the inaugural Las Vegas Bowl today (ESPN, 4:45 p.m.). Nevada (7-4), previously a perennial Division I-AA power, joined the Big West this season. Bowling Green is 9-2. Last year, Bowling Green won the final California Bowl, which has been replaced by the Las Vegas Bowl.

The glut of bowl games is over except for those special few traditional galas that are always saved for last, "GoDaddy.com" and "Compass" among them. The water-cooler talk leading into championship week involved a million gallons of water being pumped out of the Poinsettia Bowl and the life being pumped out of the Big Ten Conference. College football's final goal-line stand of the season breathlessly ticks toward Sunday's stand-alone showcase, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, played in a baseball park, followed the next day by Oregon versus somebody in the mid-January Second Semester Classic.

The winner of the Mid-American Conference will meet the Big West Conference champion Dec. 18 in the inaugural Las Vegas Bowl. The new bowl replaces the Fresno-based California Bowl, which matched the champions of the two conferences for the past 10 years. Fresno State is leaving the Big West Conference this year. The game will be played at the 32,000-seat Sam Boyd Silver Bowl and televised by ESPN.

In a town of big gamblers, it was Utah State's high-rolling offense that came up a winner in the second Las Vegas Bowl. With Anthony Calvillo throwing for three touchdowns and Profall Grier running for two, the Aggies kicked off the major college bowl season Friday night by beating Ball State, 42-33. Calvillo threw for 286 yards and Grier ran for 142 as Utah State's run-and-shoot offense overcame some defensive lapses to give the Aggies the first bowl win in school history.

Wasean Tait, who scored three touchdowns in regulation time, plunged over from the two-yard line on Toledo's first overtime possession and the No. 25 Rockets capped an unbeaten season Thursday night with a 40-37 victory over Nevada in the Las Vegas Bowl. The first overtime game of a major college bowl ended quickly when Toledo needed only four plays to score a touchdown and overcome the field goal scored by Nevada on its first possession of overtime.

Henry Bailey had rushed 16 times for only 50 yards all season. Wide receiver was his position. Until Thursday. Bailey rushed for three touchdowns and caught a scoring pass as Nevada Las Vegas celebrated its first appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl by routing Central Michigan, 52-24.

They had gathered around televisions in the student center, in the houses along fraternity row and in various dormitory rooms, and because most of the kids go home on the weekends, in homes around northern Indiana. Purdue and Indiana had suffered dreadful seasons, and after Notre Dame's Jim Sanson missed an extra-point kick, and USC came back to score in the game's closing moments and then score again in overtime to beat Notre Dame, it became all but official.

Viva Las Vegas! USC's football team is thousands of miles and more than a year removed from last year's postseason debacle in the Nevada desert, but Trojan coaches and players say the memory remains as fresh as the Sunshine State orange juice they've been guzzling all week. Were it not for their embarrassing loss to Utah in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl, the fifth-ranked Trojans insist they would not be playing third-ranked Iowa tonight in the Orange Bowl at Pro Player Stadium.

The Rose Bowl is known for its parade, postcard setting and Granddaddy tradition. The Sugar Bowl has Bourbon Street, the Orange Bowl South Beach. The Holiday Bowl, played in San Diego, is known for offense and high-scoring games. Brigham Young's Steve Young and Ty Detmer, Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders and Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli are among the players who have lighted up the Holiday Bowl scoreboard since the late 1970s. But today, when Nebraska plays Arizona at Qualcomm Stadium, all eyes and cameras are sure to be trained on a defensive lineman: Nebraska tackle Ndamukong Suh. The 6-foot-4, 300-pound senior is projected as the possible No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

Robert Johnson might have provided his team with the perfect recruiting slogan. "You come to Utah," the senior free safety from Los Angeles said, "you win bowl rings." Johnson collected his third piece of postseason jewelry Wednesday evening at Qualcomm Stadium after Utah scored 27 unanswered points to rally from an early two-touchdown deficit and overwhelm California, 37-27, in the Poinsettia Bowl. Freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn completed 26 of 36 passes for a career-high 338 yards and three touchdowns for the Utes (10-3)

MAACO LAS VEGAS BOWL OREGON STATE (8-4) VS. BRIGHAM YOUNG (10-2) When: 5 PST. Where: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas. About Oregon State: The Beavers were aiming for their first Rose Bowl berth since the 1964 season but lost out to Oregon. About Brigham Young: Max Hall is a finalist for the Manning Award, which goes to the nation's top quarterback. Prediction: Oregon State 35, Brigham Young 31. -- Orlando Sentinel

The best luck I've had with bowl picks, other than randomly drawing out of Bear Bryant's hat, is selecting winners based on the "want to be there" factor. Roses and poinsettias are both flowers, true, but which stem would you pick? Be attuned to programs that have an overinflated sense of entitlement and self. Consider the emotional states of 19-year-old sophomores who didn't sign letters of intent intending to play Dec. 26 in Detroit, no matter how you slice it (the title pizza sponsor)

Bruins' bowling While the EagleBank Bowl will mark Temple's third bowl-game appearance in 112 years, it will be UCLA's eighth bowl appearance this decade -- under five different coaches ( denotes interim coach): Year Coach Bowl Result 2007 DeWayne Walker Las Vegas Bowl lost to Brigham Young, 17-16 2006 Karl Dorrell Emerald Bowl lost to Florida State, 44-27 2005 Karl Dorrell Sun Bowl defeated Northwestern, 50-38 2004 Karl Dorrell Las Vegas Bowl lost to Wyoming, 24-21 2003 Karl Dorrell Silicon Valley Bowl lost to Fresno State, 17-9 2002 Ed Kezirian Las Vegas Bowl defeated New Mexico, 27-13 2000 Bob Toledo Sun Bowl lost to Wisconsin, 21-20

UCLA's wait is over, and Bruins Coach Rick Neuheisel can claim victory. A bowl game was set as the bar for success this season and the Bruins got there, but only after Navy defeated Army, 17-3, Saturday. That put UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl against Temple on Dec. 29 at RFK Stadium in Washington. "We've reached our goal," Neuheisel said. "Now, we need to finish with a flurry." Standing in the way of that will be Temple (9-3), which had its first winning season since 1990 and is appearing in only its third bowl game.

LAS VEGAS -- UCLA players slowly trudged off the field, a well-practiced journey they can do in step from a season of hard knocks. A moment before, the Bruins were on the edge of ecstasy, lining up for a game-winning field goal. Then kicker Kai Forbath's 28-yard attempt was tipped and fluttered harmlessly short as time ran out, sending Brigham Young players into wild gyrations after the Cougars' 17-16 victory in the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday in front of 40,712 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

A USC season that went south in the second half will conclude with a bowl game up north. The Trojans will play Boston College in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 26 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, it was announced Sunday. Kickoff is at 5 p.m., and the game will be televised by ESPN. Both USC and Boston College are 8-4. The Trojans are playing a postseason game somewhere other than the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 2004 season. "I think it's a good matchup with Boston College, a good chance to get a new setting for us," said Coach Pete Carroll , who was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County.

Pete Carroll has seen the scenario unfold before. A team struggles through the first part of its conference schedule and appears to be out of the bowl picture. Then it puts together three consecutive victories heading into its annual showdown against its crosstown rival. That was USC in 2001, Carroll's first season as the Trojans' coach. USC was 1-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference before winning three games in a row. The Trojans extended the streak with a 27-0 victory over UCLA, finishing 6-5 and earning a bid to the Las Vegas Bowl.