Matchup compelling, if teams are up for it

You can define most college football bowl games by the roller coaster of your choice. Teams either arrive at the top of the first drop or have already plummeted to its base.

They are either excited enough to fly around the tracks at excessive speeds or content enough to glide leisurely along.

They either want to run through the opponent or the motions.

It's a point that strikes directly to today's MAACO Bowl Las Vegas at Sam Boyd Stadium, which in Brigham Young against Oregon State offers not only the first between ranked teams in the bowl's history but arguably the best matchup of any postseason game this year outside the Bowl Championship Series world.

It has the makings of a terrific game, of one so closely contested that executive director Tina "Hugs" Kunzer-Murphy could wear out her arms embracing others afterward from sheer excitement.

That is, if both teams show up.

Mindset is everything when preparing for a bowl, and it might not be until well into the first quarter when it becomes apparent how hard each team worked since the matchup was announced.

You have Oregon State, which less than three weeks ago stood 60 minutes from its first Rose Bowl since 1965, whose players at that point were thinking about Las Vegas as much as they were spring practice.

The Beavers lost to Oregon, 37-33. Roses were replaced with casinos, BCS with MAACO, Jan. 1 with Dec. 22, Lawry's Beef Bowl with Outback Buffet Bowl, 90,000 fans for what officials say could be the lowest attended Las Vegas Bowl in five years, Granddaddy of Them All with one of many.

"It's a challenge to get over a loss to our rival and all the ramifications that came with it, but that also means a great opportunity for us to grow and show discipline and put our best effort forward and play a tough team and win a game," Beavers coach Mike Riley said. "That would be a great sign for our guys. I have a lot of faith we will be ready. I have seen no sign of any kind it won't be that way."

You have BYU, which is making its fifth straight Las Vegas bowl appearance, knows the way to Sam Boyd Stadium better than parking attendants who work it, and made it known during the season it wouldn't mind spending the holidays somewhere other than its second home.

But that tone changed as things wound to a close. The Cougars and their coach learned a valuable lesson last season, one that ended with losses to rival Utah and then Arizona here in the bowl.

BYU has come to understand that continuing to grow a program's national prominence is a process, that while it would prefer to jump from phase 1 to 4 without having to experience 2 and 3, it's not practicable for most non-BCS teams.

"Going into last year, we had been 11-2 two straight seasons and hadn't lost a conference game those years and had the nation's longest winning streak twice, and it was like, 'Where else do you go except 13-0 and playing in January?" BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "That was my fault. I pushed the timetable with our team. I learned a lot from that about defining what is acceptable in terms of number of wins.

"This year, we just talked about playing their best, and we've had a lot more fun. I've had more fun. Would it be fun to play a bowl in another place and have new experiences for our players? Certainly. But this time, it was more about whom we would play than where.

"Our players unanimously wanted to go where the best opponent was. They wanted to be here instead of having to be or assigned to be, which a year ago (against Arizona) is basically how we played and how I coached."

With that miracle, this being the first time in five years a college football coach in Las Vegas has taken blame for anything, I suspect BYU will expend the maximum effort today.

Riley is also too good a coach not to have his team focused on the opportunity at hand instead of one it missed Dec. 3.

The game, on paper, is one that could reach the top of that first loop and never drop, one that could cause Kunzer-Murphy to set a personal record in hugs.

That is, if both teams show up.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN-AM (720) and www.kdwn.com.