2008 Las Vegas Bowl

2008 Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl
Las Vegas Bowl logo
1234 Total
BYU 0777 21
Arizona 73147 31
DateDecember 20, 2008
Season2008
StadiumSam Boyd Stadium
LocationWhitney, Nevada
MVPQB Willie Tuitama, Arizona
National anthemDavid Hasselhoff[1]
RefereeJeff Flanagan (ACC)
Attendance40,047[2]
PayoutUS$1,000,000 per team[3]
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
AnnouncersMike Patrick, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe
Nielsen ratings2.2
Las Vegas Bowl
 < 2007  2009

The 2008 Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS post-season college football bowl game between the BYU Cougars (third place overall in the Mountain West Conference) and the Arizona Wildcats (fifth pick from the Pacific-10 Conference). The game was played on December 20, 2008, starting at 5 p.m. PST at 40,000-seat off campus Sam Boyd Stadium of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.[4]

The Wildcats stunned the 16th ranked Cougars in the coldest Las Vegas Bowl in history, 31–21. It was televised on ESPN. The announcers were Mike Patrick and Todd Blackledge with the sideline reporting by Holly Rowe. Starting in 2001, the Las Vegas Bowl featured a matchup of teams from Mountain West and the Pac-10.

  1. ^ Kansas City [dead link]
  2. ^ "Deseret News | BYU football: Reed ends Cougar career with statement game". Deseret News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2008.
  3. ^ "SportingNews.com - Your expert source for NCAA Football stats, scores, standings, and blogs from NCAA Football columnists". Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2011.
  4. ^ "BYU and Arizona to meet in Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl XVII". lvbowl.com. December 7, 2008. Archived from the original on December 10, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2008.