MAACO Las Vegas Bowl Tickets

2009 Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl Predictions The BYU Cougars will take on the Arizona Wildcats in the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl on December 20 at 8 p.m. in Las Vegas.

This figures to be one of the most intriguing games of the earlier bowls. Some of the bowls before New Year's tend to lack luster, but this is one worth watching.

Both teams came into 2009 with high hopes and each played well at different times during the year.

BYU had hopes of possibly reaching a BCS bowl game, but a 10-2 record wasn't nearly good enough in their tough conference. BYU went just 6-2 in their conference and finished in third place.

They had a couple of nice wins, narrowly winning at Washington and crushed UCLA by 59 points. However, they were also blown out by TCU and Utah, the two teams that finished ahead of them in their conference.

Arizona ended the season on a strong note, rolling past rival Arizona State. All of their losses were by narrow margins, including a 17-10 loss to Pac-10 monster USC.

In addition, most of their victories were of the blowout variety. I feel like Arizona is a much better team than their 7-5 record indicates and should show it in this game against an underrated BYU team.

Prediction: Arizona 23, BYU 21