The BYU Cougars will play in the Poinsettia Bowl against former Mountain West foe Wyoming Cowboys.
BYU plays on Wednesday, December 21st, 2016. The game will be televised on ESPN at 7 PM Mountain Standard Time. The game will be played at Qualcomm stadium where the San Diego Chargers professional football teams plays. It is also the home of former Mountain West rival San Diego State Aztecs. The stadium seats 70,561 fans so there is plenty of room for BYU fans to congregate like they consistently do on a national level.
While it doesn’t match the hype that last years Holy War in Vegas did, this is a game that plenty of Cougar fans can be excited about. The last time Brigham Young University won a bowl game was in the Poinsettia Bowl in 2012. They beat the San Diego Aztecs on their home field 23-6 in that game.
The Wyoming Cowboys aren’t a consistent contender but they had a few stellar seasons when they annually played BYU back in the Mountain West days. Wyoming fans know how to party when their teams are good. They know that their coaches might get picked by bigger schools or fired if the team plays poorly again.
The highlight of the year for Wyoming was beating undefeated Boise State in Laramie. They beat a team that beat BYU by a point so hypothetically they are good enough to beat BYU
The Cougars don’t play by hypotheticals though.
BYU has won close games this year over Power 5 conferences like Michigan State, Mississippi State and Arizona. They have also lost close games to good teams like Utah, UCLA and West Virginia. You never know what you’ll get out of this team but you know that it will most likely be a nail biter.
Look for the Cougars to give the ball to Jamal. Wyoming is ranked 105th in the country in rushing yards allowed as they have let teams run a total of 2635 yards on them this season. Tanner Mangum has the potential to throw some long bombs but BYU will want to be smart with their passes to win the turnover margin. The Cowboys will sing a sad country song as they leave San Diego with a 31-28 loss.
This is the game for BYU to prove that they don’t need their old conference to be successful. They need to prove that they are better off as an Independent FBS team. This is the case in point for the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl.