BOISE, Idaho — Boise State will play the Utah Utes in the 2010 Maaco Las Bowl on Dec. 22
It seemed clear immediately after BSU’s 50-14 win against Utah State this would be the Broncos’ destination, but it became official at a university press conference Sunday night.
“It’s something we’re really, really excited about,” BSU head coach Chris Petersen said. “The location is convenient for fans and family. We have a very good opponent in Utah, a team we have a lot of respect for.”
This will be Boise State and Utah’s first meeting since 2006. The Broncos won that game in Salt Lake City, Utah 36-3.
“We’re pleased that it’s worked out the way it has. We always try to get the best opponent we can,” BSU athletics director Gene Bleymaire said.” We’ve been very fortunate in the postseason to come up with big matchup’s. Fortunately for us, that happened again today.”
Petersen said a few BSU players came to him over the weekend to talk about their want to play in a bowl game before Christmas so they can go home to their families. The Maaco Las Vegas Bowl provided BSU (11-1, 7-1 Western Athletic Conference) that opportunity. The Fraft Fight Hunger Bowl was Boise State’s other possible bowl destination and will be played on Jan. 9 in San Francisco, Calif. The game will feature the Nevada Wolf Pack and the Boston College Eagles.
“It became clear that Nevada wanted to go to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and we wanted to go to Vegas,” Bleymaier said. “This is a win-win situation for our fans, for Nevada’s fans, for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl and for the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl.”
Utah (10-2, 7-1 Mountain West Conference) is a quality opponent, something that was very important to BSU coaches and players when deciding where to play.
“Players always want to play good teams,” Petersen said.
Bleymaire and Petersen believe fan travel to Las Vegas will be much better than it would be to another bowl possibly in California or Texas. BSU has always taken fan attendance highly into consideration when deciding where to play in a bowl game.
“I’m hoping that we’ll have 10,000 fans there. It’s a great opportunity for our program to play a quality program,” Bleymaire said. “I think our fans will be more excited about playing a Utah, than somebody else. Both of us have been to two BCS games and won both. Utah’s on a 9-game bowl win-streak, and we’d like to end that.”
Bleymaire said tickets are on sale right now.