WHO: No. 19 Boise State (12-1) vs. Washington (7-5)
WHAT: The 28th Las Vegas Bowl
WHEN: December 21 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC
WHERE: Sam Boyd Stadium Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada
THE SKINNY: There are a ton of fun and interesting matchups on tap this bowl season but few have the kind of storylines surrounding them that the Las Vegas Bowl sports in one of the most anticipated postseason games of the entire 2019-20 slate. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a more compelling option than this one if you throw out the records next to the team names and disregard the College Football Playoff semifinals.
And most of it has to do with one man: Chris Petersen.
The Washington head coach stunned the college football world earlier in the month when he announced he was stepping away from the Huskies after six fairly memorable seasons on Montlake. While he is not retiring from the game, his departure from the program was bound to ratchet up interest in whatever bowl game the team landed in as it would result in a fairly sentimental sendoff for one of the best active coaches in the sport’s history.
Well, as luck would have it, the Las Vegas Bowl that UW wound up getting ticketed to was also set to play host to the team where Petersen first made his name (i.e. going 92-12) as head coach: Boise State. With a number of his former players and coaches (like Broncos head coach Bryan Harsin) on the other sidelines, this is probably the last opponent that Petersen wanted his swan song to come against but viewers at home or in the stands won’t fret too much about all that and will instead get to enjoy one of the more compelling games of the month.
Beyond the Petersen storyline though, there’s plenty to enjoy in this one. BSU defensive end Curtis Weaver is one of the best players west of the Rockies and has totaled up career marks of 34 sacks and 47.5 tackles for loss going into what is likely his last time in the school’s uniform. His ability to get off the edge has made him a nightmare in the Mountain West and now he’ll get to chase down Huskies QB Jacob Eason in a matchup NFL scouts are sure to keep a close eye on. The Seattle native has been hot and cold during his first season as a starter under center but also completely capable of reminding you why he was a five-star coming out of high school when he unleashes his cannon of an arm down the field.
He’ll need to do so quite a few times because Boise State really put a team effort together to win their league and come ever so close to capturing the New Year’s Six bid. On top of a fast and physical defense, the Broncos have a wide variety of skill position weapons to beat you with and they over came needing to rely on three different quarterbacks this season to go nearly unblemished in 2019. While they typically wouldn’t be super motivated to play in Vegas for the second time in three years, this will be the final MWC appearance in the game before the bowl changes affiliations so closing out the conference’s impressive year with another win over a Power Five opponent -- and over their old coach -- is bound to be in the back of BSU players minds.
Still, as solid as Boise State has been and disappointing the Huskies have looked for much of the year, it’s hard to see this one not following the script and seeing Petersen ride off into the desert night a winner. His teams have typically shown up and put up impressive outings in the Las Vegas Bowl in the past and while he’s wearing different colors for this one, the result may very well wind up being the same as both sides say their goodbyes just off the Strip.
THE PICK: Washington 24, Boise State 20