Dec 19, 2015 01:31 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl offers Bronco Mendenhall the chance to coach the BYU Cougars against eh Utah Utes in a Holy War game one last time, and in Sin City no less.

BYU and Utah did not have a rivalry game scheduled this year, as was the case for last season, but their bowl pairing allowed for Mendenhall to get one last shot at Utah as the head coach at BYU.

Click here to listen to the game live via TuneIn. WatchESPN is also offering a free online live stream. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET in Las Vegas, Nev.

The BYU-Utah "Holy War" goes back more than a century with Utah leading the all-time series 57-34-4. Despite their numerous differences as schools, Utah and BYU's shared state is not all they have in common.

Both defenses averaged about 21 points allowed per game while attacking opponents with a balanced approach on offense. Considering the two teams' coaches' history, the on-field similarities make sense.

Utah head football coach Kyle Wittingham, a former linebacker at BYU, was up for the head coach job at his alma mater in 2005, ESPN noted. After losing Urban Meyer to Florida, Utah hired Wittingham and BYU hired its defensive coordinator to take over the team, Mendenhall.

Now on his way to Virginia, Mendenhall is glad to get one last shot at playing Utah.

"We are looking forward to this unique opportunity of playing against a rival like Utah in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl," he said at a press conference. "This will be the first time this rivalry game has taken place in a bowl setting so it has some historic significance as well as being a great matchup between two teams that have had outstanding seasons. This will be our 11th straight bowl game and I'm definitely looking forward to coaching this team one last time as we take the field in Las Vegas striving to achieve our 10th win of the season."

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