The BYU Cougars have been officially invited to the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl to wrap up the 2015 football season.
The invitation came on Wednesday after BYU’s ticket office inadvertently released ticket information regarding the Las Vegas bowl on Tuesday night.
“We are happy to accept the invitation to play in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl and are looking forward to the opportunity to match up against a Pac-12 opponent,” BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall said following the invitation. “I am proud of this team and what we have accomplished this year. We are excited to build on that success by striving to achieve our 10th win of the season, while playing in a bowl game for an 11th straight year.”
BYU had a contract with the bowl entity as well as a separate contract with the Hawaii Bowl. With the Cougars heading to the Las Vegas Bowl to end the 2015 season, they are guaranteed a spot at the Hawaii Bowl in 2019.
The Cougars must be bowl eligible to head to Hawaii for the 2019 season unless they are invited to attend a higher ranking bowl, such as one of the College Football Playoff games.
“We are excited to be returning to Las Vegas to play in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl,” BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said. “Our team and Cougar Nation are grateful to once again be part of this great bowl tradition.”
It is still unknown who the Cougars will play in the Las Vegas Bowl, but it most likely will be a team from the Pac-12 Conference. This means that the Cougars could potentially face off against USC, UCLA, Cal or even the University of Utah.
