Tony Avelar/Associated Press
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Lil’ old Utah, the Little Engine That Could of college football, had emerged from the shadows of the Wasatch Mountains to take a rare turn on center stage Friday night, eager to impress the College Football Playoff selection committee and maybe — just maybe — earn a spot alongside the behemoths of Ohio State, Louisiana State and Clemson.
All the under-recruited and overachieving Utes had to do was dispatch an Oregon team that for the last couple months had looked largely dead on its feet.
At worst, they would end up in the Rose Bowl.