boxing

will travel to Las Vegas to take on California (7-4 overall, 4-4 Pacific-10) in the Pioneer Pure Vision Las Vegas Bowl. The game will be BYU's ninth appearance in Sam Boyd Stadium, where the Cougars are 7-1. They are 6-0 in Vegas against UNLV and 1-1 in Western Athletic Championship games. BYU is coming off a 41-34 overtime loss to the University of Utah. The Cougars fell behind early and trailed 24-3 at the half but outscored the Utes 31-10 in the second half to force overtime. Utah scored on its first drive in overtime and BYU failed to convert.California enters the Las Vegas Bowl with a 7-4 record. After winning their first five games of the season, the Golden Bears have won two of their final six games. Following a heart-breaking overtime loss at Oregon on Nov. 5, and a hard-fought loss against top-ranked USC on Nov. 12, Cal finished the regular season with a decisive 27-3 win over Stanford. Steve Levy passed for 125 yards and one touchdown while Marshawn Lynch rushed for 123 yards and one touchdown. California limited the Cardinal to 327 yards of total offense and just 3.9 yards per play.
On paper, BYU appears to have a fundamental matchup advantage offensively. The explosive Cougars have ridden the arm of QB John Beck (3,357 passing yards, 24 TDs and completing 64.3 percent of his passes) and legs of RB Curtis Brown (1,095 rushing yards, 15 TDs), averaging 46.5 points per game in their final four outings. However, Cal's secondary is very underrated. Indeed, the Bear secondary had more interceptions, 13, than TD passes allowed against them, 11. In addition, Cal also has had the advantage of playing in a competitive Pac-10 with many teams using a similar wide open passing attack. Situationally, BYU should enjoy whatever limited crowd support there is at Sam Boyd Stadium. The Cougars traditionally draw well when they travel to face UNLV, with a large local fan base, and the trip from Provo, Utah, is much easier to make than the trip from Berkeley, California.
Poinsettia Bowl - Thursday, December 22nd
Navy vs. Colorado StateThe Navy Midshipmen (7-4) travel to San Diego, California to take on the Colorado State Rams (6-5) in the inaugural San Diego Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium (70,561). Navy comes into this contest with the nation's #1 rushing offense, averaging an amazing 305.18 yards per game and a school-record 5.6 yards per rush this year. The Midshipmen have absolutely dominated every opponent they have faced this year on the ground, amassing 200 rushing yards in every game and out-rushing all opponents, including bowl-bound Rutgers and Notre Dame. The Navy attack is lead my QB Lamar Owns, who has 1,985 yards of total offense (830 rushing and 1,155 passing) on just 307 plays this year. His 6.5 yards per play ranks him fourth in school history for average yards per play for a season and his 5.94 average yards per play for a career (2,080 yards in 350 plays) also ranks first in Navy's record books. Although Navy finished dead last in the nation in passing offense this season, when the team did decide to pass, Owens averaged a school-record 10.3 yards per pass attempt, throwing for 1,155 yards on just 112 attempts, and averaging a school-record 19.9 yards per pass completion on 58 completions. Owens needs just 127 yards of total offense against Colorado State to pass Aaron Polanco for fifth all-time on the Navy list for total offense in a season.
Meanwhile, the Rams are making their ninth bowl appearance in the past 12 seasons and the 11th in school history. They earned their sixth bowl trip in the last seven years with a 6-5 record and a 5-3 mark in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams are averaging 26.5 points, 119.9 rushing yards, 273.2 passing yards and 393.1 yards of total offense per game. Quarterback Justin Holland has completed 209 of his 336 pass attempts (62 percent) for 2,804 yards and 20 touchdowns. Holland's favorite target is David Anderson, who caught 77 passes for 1,095 yards and eight touchdowns. Kyle Bell has had an outstanding year running the football, rushing for 1,166 yards and nine touchdowns on 254 carries. Defensively, the Rams are giving up 28.9 points per game, 200.6 yards per game on the ground, 211.6 yards per game through the air and 412.3 yards of total offense per contest. Travis Garcia leads the defense with 82 tackles, five tackles for a loss and three sacks. Courtney Jones and Jesse Nading have recorded 10 tackles for a loss apiece, while Nading has four sacks.