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Bet on red: Cougars to play in Las Vegas Bowl

Senior quarterback Greg Ward Jr. threw two touchdowns in the rout of the Cardinals. | Ajani Stewart/The Cougar

A win in the 2016 Las Vegas Bowl can make senior Greg Ward Jr. the first Cougar quarterback to win three consecutive bowl games. | Ajani Stewart/The Cougar

The Cougars will head west later in December after they were selected to compete in the 25th annual Las Vegas Bowl Sunday afternoon. A victory will mark the first time that the team has won a bowl game in three consecutive seasons.

Coming just weeks after the departure of former head coach Tom Herman, interim head coach Todd Orlando has the chance to secure a bowl win in his first career game as a head coach.

A win would further polish Orlando’s résumé. He is expected to interview for the coaching vacancy at some point this month.

The Cougars will take on the Mountain West Conference’s champion, San Diego State University Aztecs, who finished the season at 10-3 and were losers of two of their last three games.

Senior running back Donnel Pumphrey, a Las Vegas native, leads SDSU. He rushed for 2,018 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.

In his four years with the Aztecs, Pumphrey has accumulated 6,290 yards 61 scores. Pumphrey will face his toughest matchup of the season against the third-ranked Cougar rushing defense.

The bowl — to be played on Dec. 17 — will be the third time that the Cougars and Aztecs have met on the gridiron. The Cougars are 2-0 against SDSU overall with their last meeting coming by way of a 14-9 win on Oct. 6, 1973.

In the 24th showing of the Las Vegas Bowl last season, the Brigham Young University Cougars just edged out the University of Utah Utes 35-28 in front of 42,213 people.

Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT from Sam Boyd Stadium.

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