Cougs on Cougs: Live it up in sunny San Diego before the Cougars take on the Cowboys

It’s week 49 of Cougars on Cougars and we’re coming off of a tough basketball loss, but football is back for the first time in almost a month! The sports gods giveth and the sports gods taketh away...

We start out with the good: BYU Football has been in sunny San Diego ahead of their Poinsettia Bowl matchup with Wyoming Wednesday, and Cougar fans have started to head that way in droves. We had Temecula native Riley Bray on to share some of her favorite things in an “Along the Trail to Fame and Glory” segment. She recommends visiting Balboa Park, ice skating on the beach, grabbing some Mexican food at Lucha Libre and more.

Below are some links to those activities so you can more easily enjoy them. Tweet us your pics if you do anything Riley suggested. Make sure you watch the episode to hear details on what Riley suggested and why she chose what she did! And don’t forget to send us that video of evidence of Jake Welch (@BYUAllBlue) in the Mormon Battalion Center video if you get a chance...

Things to do:

1. Balboa Park
2. Coronado Island (and Hotel del Coronado)
3. Check the tide times before checking out the tide pools near Scripps Pier

Places to eat:

1. Lucha Libre
2. Hodad’s
3. Pizza Port

Next we move into a bowl-heavy Talk of the Town. The team’s been in San Diego for a few days. What have they been up to? Fullback Algie Brown certainly made a new friend at Sea World. We also discuss the strange possibility of BYU playing in the Holiday Bowl that arose (that’s not happening). Does Steven Beo look like Luke Skywalker, the legend of Jimmer lives on, plus more. Don’t miss out on what everyone in the BYU mediasphere has been talking about.

Then it’s time to relive that painful 75-73 loss BYU Basketball suffered to Illinois Saturday (sorry). Jess and Mary get real with some talk about BYU’s bench, or lack thereof. Mary’s disappointed that only three players ended up in double digits. Jess thinks having Elijah Bryant back would solve a lot of the team’s problems. What do you think it came down to in Chicago? Watch the episode to hear what we have to say then tweet us, or leave your feedback in the comments. We’re hoping for two wins this week — then it’s time for conference play.

Finally, we wrap it all up with a quick 2-minute-drill. The debate this time? Is it okay for a top draft prospect to sit out their bowl game for the sake of not getting injured? That’s what Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey is doing, and our friend Jake Welch posed a hypothetical situation that brought it close to home. What if Jamaal Williams were doing the same thing (which we don’t think he ever would)? Watch the episode to hear both sides of this argument, and let Jess and Mary know if you agree with them or not.

Merry Christmas from Cougs on Cougs! We’ll be taking a Christmas break next week but will be back at it again the first week of January. Thank you for watching us and for your continued support. We hope you enjoy this holiday time with family and friends and that we come back with a lot of Cougar wins to talk about.