December 22nd 2009, 8:00 ET - ESPN. 

This year's Las Vegas Bowl will face off the Oregon St. Beavers vs. the BYU Cougars.

This will be BYU's fifth consecutive trip to the Las Vegas Bowl and Oregon St.'s second.  BYU is tied at 2-2 in Las Vegas while Oregon State's last appearance was a 55-14 beating of New Mexico

Oregon St. leads the all time series 5-3 with the most recent meeting coming in 1986 when BYU fell in Provo 7-10.  Two decades later, how do these teams compare now?

General

Oregon State has played more ranked teams but has more losses to show for it.

 Oregon St.'s Ball

Both teams have played quality opponent with Oregon St. having a slight edge.  The performance should be near the middle maybe a touch towards the Oregon St. side of the column.

BYU's Ball

Again, I expect both teams to be slightly below thier average but not enough to make the other team above thier average, with a slight bump towards Oregon St.

Prediction

One thing that jumps out is Oregon St.'s allergy to turnovers, on both sides of the ball.Both teams will attempt to control the ground game but be free to take to the air if need be.

This game will really come down to which team shows up to play.  Both have been solid when the show up and paper thin when they don't. 

Somehow I still have last years Las Vegas results in my head, but last year BYU was suffering from Alabama style motivation issues and faced a determined Arizona team.  I don't think that factor applies this year.  Oregon St. might be at risk of this effect this year.

I've got Oregon St. 28 BYU 27.