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If — hypothetically — BYU somehow manages to win the Las Vegas Bowl and outgoing Cougar coach Bronco Mendenhall says what Michigan State's coach did on TV after the Big Ten championship game, all hell will break loose.

Not so much with Michigan State's coach. In an interview on FOX after the Spartans beat Iowa to win a spot in the playoffs, Mark Dantonio said, "I have thought that this team is special. Quite honestly, I think we have God's favor."

Wow. He told a national TV audience God is on his side.

"I may get criticized for that, but I think we do," said Dantonio, who would be right at home in Provo — he used the word "special."

It's not the first time Dantonio has made comments like that. And, by all indications, there hasn't been much criticism of the FOX interview.

On the other hand, when Mendenhall compared his players to the "stripling warriors" in the Book of Mormon, a certain contingent of fandom lost its collective mind. Compare Dantonio's comment to what then-BYU receiver Austin Collie said in 2007 after a win over Utah: "When you're doing what's right, on and off the field, the Lord steps in and plays a part."

BYU plays at MSU on Oct. 8. Guess we'll see who has God's favor.

Utes get no respect

I wasn't buying the whole Utah-is-being-disrespected thing that exploded when the Utes were invited to the Las Vegas Bowl. And then I read this on the ESPN media website, under the headline "ESPN Events Announces 2015 Bowl Lineup":

"Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl — BYU (9-3) will face No. 22 Utah (9-3) of the Mountain West Conference …

Ouch.

Tuesday afternoon?

A year ago, I wrote about the terrible time slot for the Miami Beach Bowl — that BYU would play at noon MT on a Monday, which would hurt TV ratings. And, predictably, I was called a BYU apologist.

OK, so I'll be a Utah State apologist now. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 1:30 p.m. MT — a terrible time slot. As if a game between 6-6 USU and 7-5 Akron wasn't already, well, iffy at best, playing it when so many football fans will be at work is even worse.

A year ago, USU and UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl averaged 1.9 million viewers on a Saturday afternoon. It will be tough to match that on a Tuesday.

Taking a chance

How will a bowl game between two teams from the same state fare in the ratings? We'll find out when Utah faces BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Last year's Utah-Colorado State matchup averaged 2.2 million viewers — down 30 percent from the 2014 game between USC and Fresno.

By the way, the 884,900 homes in the Salt Lake television market comprise 0.781 percent of the nation's total.

However high (or low) the viewership turns out to be, there won't be a lot of excuses to be made. The Las Vegas Bowl airs on ABC (available in 114 million homes) at 1:30 p.m. MT on Saturday, Dec. 19.

The competition will be the second half of the New Mexico Bowl (Arizona vs. New Mexico) and the first half of the Camelia Bowl (Appalachian State vs. Ohio) — both on ESPN (available in 94 million homes). And, unlike 2014, there will not be a competing NFL game … unless Utah-BYU runs more than three hours. That might happen. But a year ago, the NFL game started during the second quarter of the Las Vegas Bowl.

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.