While Utah’s Rose Bowl hopes were tragically dashed in the closing seconds of the PAC-12 championship, the Utes still have a chance to finish the season with ten wins when they match up against the Northwestern Wildcats on New Year’s Eve in the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl.
Much like the Utes, the Wildcats opened the season with some tough losses, going 1-3 through the first five weeks of the season (including a bye week in week four), dropping games to Duke, Akron and a 20-17 loss to Michigan before rebounding to finish 7-1 with their only loss coming against Notre Dame in week ten during that stretch.