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Provo • BYU has accepted an invitation to play in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 19 against a yet-to-be-named opponent from the Pac-12, the school and the bowl announced on Wednesday afternoon.
It will be BYU's first trip to the bowl since 2009, an appearance that ended a five-year run in the game. BYU announced that tickets are $95 each including fees.
Accepting the invite means BYU will play in the Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu in 2019, per an agreement worked out between the school and the two bowls last April.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti told The Tribune that officials don't want a repeat game, so do not expect the Pac-12 opponent to be UCLA. The Bruins defeated the Cougars 24-23 in September at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
"We are trying to avoid a repeat game at all costs," Saccenti said.
Bowl officials' dream matchup would be BYU vs. USC, but the Trojans would have to lose in the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday for that to have a chance to happen.
"Well, wouldn't that be a great matchup for anybody? I don't think anybody would shoot that one down if it was put in front of them," Saccenti said.
What about a BYU vs. Utah matchup? Last week, Saccenti seemed skeptical, saying Utah visited Vegas last year, creamed Colorado State 45-10 and the television ratings weren't good. He said ESPN wasn't thrilled about a "regionalized" matchup.
He was less skeptical on Tuesday, however.
"We've been saying that [repeat appearances] are not great, but I am here to tell you that there are always exceptions to that rule," he said. "And people [tell] me all the time, 'You just had Utah, so you've got to avoid Utah.'
"Yes, we would prefer to look in a different direction, but you have got to remember: Utah was No. 4 in the country. They are No. 20 in the country right now. They travel as well as anyone. They filled our stadium last year. And they were an absolute joy to work with. So, you don't necessarily want to discount the repeat because they did such a good job for us, and they have a really good team. So we are keeping that one on the table."
Twitter: @drewjay