Friday, December 10, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas Bowl teams reap rewards from game

Youthful UCLA, up-and-coming Wyoming to benefit from participation

By MARK ANDERSON
REVIEW-JOURNAL

UCLA coach Karl Dorrell, above, and counterpart Joe Glenn of Wyoming, below, address the media Thursday at a news conference at New York-New York. The Bruins, with just 12 seniors, and Cowboys, who had their first winning season in five years, meet Dec. 23 in the Las Vegas Bowl. Photos by Craig L. Moran.

Appearing in the Las Vegas Bowl could be an important part of the futures of both participating teams.

UCLA brings a young team into the Dec. 23 game at Sam Boyd Stadium, and the Bruins could benefit from the experience as they make a run for more prestigious bowls. For Wyoming, playing in the game is a signal that the once-beleaguered program is on the rise, an important selling point to recruits.

UCLA played a school-record 12 freshmen this season, with nine of them appearing in the opener against Oklahoma State. With just 12 seniors, the Bruins went 6-5 and ended the regular season with a competitive 29-24 loss to top-rated Southern California.

A victory over the Cowboys could help UCLA going into next season.

"That's how we're counting this game is to build on what we need to do in the offseason," Bruins coach Karl Dorrell said Thursday at a news conference at the New York-New York. "We played our last game of the season against the No. 1-ranked team in the country, and we did some good things against them, and we'd like to carry that on through this game and help ourselves to be in the position we need to be in the fall."

Tailbacks Manuel White and Maurice Drew lead a UCLA rushing game that averages 190.3 yards per game. Drew has gained 881 yards and White 761, and each has rushed for eight touchdowns.

"With us being here, you're going to get a team that fights to the end," White said. "It's a great opportunity for us to get the young guys experience and keep building the program in the way it should be built."

Wyoming also went 6-5, its first winning season since going 7-4 in 1999. This is the Cowboys' first bowl appearance since a 52-17 loss to Kansas State in the 1993 Copper Bowl. Wyoming is looking for its first bowl victory since defeating Florida State 28-20 in the 1966 Sun Bowl.

Considering the Cowboys had won just five games over three seasons before coach Joe Glenn took over two years ago, simply getting to the Las Vegas Bowl is a boost.

"It can't do anything but help us," Glenn said. "We get to practice another month. We get to play another game. You're in the paper every day with those 56 teams that are going to a bowl game. It's such a huge plus in recruiting. Going to the city of fun, Las Vegas, it's a tremendous shot in the arm for us."

However, Wyoming linebacker Guy Tuell insisted his team, a 12-point underdog, isn't coming here just to see the sights.

"Coach talked about early in the year that we wanted to come to a bowl game, and not only come to one, but win one," Tuell said. "We're trying to do everything that we can for our coaches.

"When they stepped in a couple of years ago, we would've never expected to be where we're at today. Just the fact that we're here today proves that we've come a long way, and, hopefully, we can end our season with one more win."