Las Vegas Bowl coaches discuss their contrasting connections to the city

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This year’s Las Vegas Bowl features two head coaches who come from opposing spectrums — one is making his seventh Las Vegas Bowl appearance, while the other is making his debut.

Alex Eschelman previews the upcoming clash between Las Vegas Bowl newcomer and veteran:

Nebraska’s head football coach Matt Rhule is eating his words after making a comment earlier this year that he thinks college sports shouldn’t be in Vegas. Now, he has a new tone toward the sports capital as he leads the Huskers into their first Las Vegas Bowl game.

“I do apologize for that, and I do apologize to anyone that it bothered or hurt,” Rhule said. "I’ve been here now four times in the last calendar year. I came out and saw Kenny Chesney; I hung out with Dan Mullen that night, P.J. Fleck, came out for Big 10 media days, came out for Bud’s fight. I’m pretty confident my wife, our two daughters, our nanny, my mom have spent enough money that Vegas should be good with me. We did the best we could to contribute to the tourism.”

As for Utah’s new head coach Morgan Scalley, he’s no stranger to the Las Vegas Bowl, making his seventh showing with his first dating back to 2001.

“The first one was against Pete Carroll at USC, that’s the one I played in, and Troy Polamalo had, I think, 15 solo tackles. Unbelievable we were able to win that one, and so this has been an amazing experience. Las Vegas has always been great to us.”

Utah and Nebraska kick off at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Allegiant Stadium.