The Utes’ 38-10 loss to Texas in Tuesday’s Alamo Bowl spoiled their planned New Year’s Eve celebration of another season that brought them a Pac-12 South championship and a combo plate of discouraging defeats in the end. For the first time since the Jim Fassel coaching era of the mid 1980s, Utah has lost its last two games in two straight years.
This conclusion looks and feels a lot worse than Utah’s 2018 finish, for multiple reasons. The Utes went into December with an 11-1 record and No. 5 ranking, only to be outscored 75-25 by Oregon and Texas.