It’s always difficult to pick bowl games. Most teams have been off for almost a month, players have been on the banquet circuit, have been enjoying the holiday season and have been studying for finals. Their attention has been anywhere but on football.

But if there is one team over the last decade that have been able to maintain that razor-sharp focus going into a bowl game, it’s been Mike Riley’s Beavers. Oregon State has gone 6-0 since Riley returned as the head coach, including a brutal 3-0 win over Pitt last year.

As for BYU, after their signature win of the season, an opening game squeaker against Oklahoma, they faltered every time they faced a big-name team until their overtime win over rival Utah to close out the season. The Cougars are usually a solid team on both sides of the ball and should prove to be a challenge for the Beavers.

All in all, the Las Vegas bowl should prove to be the best of the pre-New Years bowls. Two well-coached, ranked teams facing off. My money is on the Beavers, because of their daunting schedule in the Pac-10. The Beavers faced more quality teams and have more quality wins than BYU. Oregon State took Oregon to the wire while BYU was crushed by TCU. Even more damning, BYU was blown out at home by a underachieving Florida State team.

BYU will be up for this game, but Oregon State just has more talent and you know that Coach Riley is going to have them ready for this game.

Oregon State wins 24-20.