| Year Game Played: | 2007 |
| Title Sponsor: | Pioneer PureVision |
| Game Name: | Las Vegas Bowl |
| Football Season: | 2007 |
| Visitor Name Short: | UCLA |
| Visitor Nickname: | Bruins |
| Visitor School: | University of California at Los Angeles |
| Home Name Short: | BYU |
| Home Nickname: | Cougars |
| Home School: | Brigham Young University |
| Visitor Record: | 6–6 |
| Visitor Conference: | Pac-10 |
| Home Record: | 10–2 |
| Home Conference: | Mountain West |
| Visitor Coach: | DeWayne Walker |
| Home Coach: | Bronco Mendenhall |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | NR |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | NR |
| Visitor Rank Bcs: | NR |
| Home Rank Ap: | 19 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 19 |
| Home Rank Bcs: | 17 |
| Visitor 1Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 10 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 3 |
| Home 1Q: | 3 |
| Home 2Q: | 14 |
| Home 3Q: | 0 |
| Home 4Q: | 0 |
| Date Game Played: | December 22 |
| Stadium: | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| City: | Whitney, Nevada |
| Mvp: | WR Austin Collie, BYU |
| Odds: | BYU by 6 [1] |
| Referee: | Ed Kierce (C-USA) |
| Attendance: | 40,712 |
| Payout: | 1,000,000 per team[2] |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers Link: | List of announcers of major college bowl games |
| Us Announcers: | Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire |
The 2007 Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I post-season college football bowl game between the UCLA Bruins and the Brigham Young University Cougars. The game was played on December 22, 2007, starting at 5 p.m. PST at 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, where the bowl has been played since 1992. It was televised on ESPN.
Starting in 2001, the Las Vegas Bowl featured a matchup of teams from the Mountain West Conference (MWC) and Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), with organizers having first choice of bowl-eligible teams from the MWC, and the fourth or fifth choice (alternating annually) of bowl-eligible teams from the Pac-10.
This was the second meeting in the 2007 college football season between the UCLA Bruins and the BYU Cougars. In the first meeting on September 8, 2007 at the Rose Bowl Stadium, the Bruins avoided an upset in a tough game by beating the Cougars, 27–17. UCLA had control of the game in the first half, but BYU made it close in the third quarter. UCLA's pass defense was shaky, giving up 391 yards, and their own passing attack inconsistent, as Ben Olson, a quarterback who transferred from BYU to UCLA, completed only 13 of 28 passes for 126 yards.[3]
On December 3, 2007, following the final regular season game against USC, Los Angeles papers and the Associated Press reported that UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell was fired during a meeting with athletic director Dan Guerrero.[4] Dorrell was offered the choice, but decided not to coach in the Las Vegas Bowl. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker served as interim coach for the game.[5]
The 2007 Las Vegas Bowl kicked off at Sam Boyd Stadium at 8:12 p.m. EST. UCLA won the coin toss and elected to kick off to BYU to begin the game.
With less than a minute to go in the first half the Cougars had opened up 17-6 lead. Instead of simply downing the ball, the Cougars ran a running play up the middle and RB Harvey Unga fumbled. The Bruins responded by punching the ball in the end zone on the final play of the half. In the second half with the Cougars leading 17-13, the defenses took over. Second-half scoring was limited to a 50-yard field goal by the Bruins' Kai Forbath in the fourth quarter. Forbath then attempted a 28-yarder at the end of the game, but it was blocked by Eathyn Manumaleuna to preserve the Cougars' victory.
Walker's defensive schemes kept the Bruins, who were without their two top quarterbacks and relied on McLeod Bethel-Thompson, in the game. The Bruins size and strength advantage allowed them to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Ball control was also key: Chris Markey rushed for 117 yards, the most by any BYU opponent in the 2007 season.[6]