SALT LAKE CITY — Utah received a pretty good consolation prize for coming up short in the Pac-12 championship game. On Sunday, the 17th-ranked Utes (9-4) accepted an invitation to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. They’ll face 22nd-ranked Northwestern (8-5) Dec. 31 (5 p.m., FS1) at SDCCU Stadium.
“We are elated to be invited to the Holiday Bowl and to play an outstanding Northwestern team,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in the announcement. “It is a testament to our players and also our great fan base that we were invited to play in this prestigious game. Our players are deserving to play in a bowl of this caliber and we are especially happy for our exceptional senior class.”
Whittingham added that they’re looking forward to playing in front of a big Utah crowd in San Diego. The game pits division champions from the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences. The Utes went 6-3 to win the Pac-12 South, while the Wildcats posted an 8-1 mark to finish atop the Big Ten West.
Both teams lost conference title games. Utah fell to Washington 10-3, while Northwestern dropped a 45-24 decision to Ohio State.
Senior offensive lineman Jackson Barton admitted that the loss in the Pac-12 championship “still kind of stings.” However, he’s glad that the team will get to play another game together.
The Holiday Bowl matchup will mark the third meeting between the programs. The previous contests — both played in Evanston, Illinois — were split. Northwestern prevailed in 1927 and Utah in 1981.
Whittingham knows the Holiday Bowl well. He played in four of them during his career at BYU. He was named Defensive MVP in 1981 and was inducted into the Holiday Bowl’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
After Utah’s 10-3 loss to Washington in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night, athletics director Mark Harlan noted that he had been in contact with the Alamo and Holiday bowls and made it “very clear that Ute Nation is strong.”
The message, obviously, resonated as rumors about Utah possible falling to a Pac-12 bowl down the list didn’t materialize. This will be the first time the Utes have played in the Holiday Bowl.
“We travel to support our team in a profound way and very much hope that we get a chance to play in these kind of premier bowl games, recognizing that wherever we go we’ll be honored and we’ll be proud, and we’ll go and get after it,” Harlan said following the Pac-12 game at Levi’s Stadium.
“Just give us a city and give us an opponent,” Whittingham said at the time. “We’ll be there and hopefully finish this thing off on a positive.”
Overall, Utah will be making its 22nd appearance in a bowl game. The Utes are 17-4, including an 11-1 mark under Whittingham.
Previous appearances include:
1939 Sun Bowl: Utah 26, New Mexico 0
1947 Pineapple Bowl: Hawaii 19, Utah 16
1964 Liberty Bowl: Utah 32, West Virginia 6
1992 Copper Bowl: Washington State 31, Utah 28
1993 Freedom Bowl: USC 28, Utah 21
1994 Freedom Bowl: Utah 16, Arizona 13
1996 Copper Bowl: Wisconsin 38, Utah 10
1999 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 17, Fresno State 16
2001 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 10, USC 6
2003 Liberty Bowl: Utah 17, Southern Miss 0
2005 Fiesta Bowl: Utah 35, Pittsburgh 7
2005 Emerald Bowl: Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10
2006 Armed Forces Bowl: Utah 25, Tulsa 13
96 comments on this story2007 Poinsettia Bowl: Utah 35, Navy 32
2009 Sugar Bowl: Utah 31, Alabama 17
2009 Poinsettia Bowl: Utah 37, California 27
2010 Las Vegas Bowl: Boise State 26, Utah 3
2011 Sun Bowl: Utah 30, Georgia Tech 27 (OT)
2014 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 45, Colorado State 10
2015 Las Vegas Bowl: Utah 35, BYU 28
2016 Foster Farms Bowl: Utah 26, Indiana 24
2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl: Utah 30, West Virginia 14
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2018 Holiday Bowl
No. 17 Utah (9-4) vs. No. 22 Northwestern (8-5)
SDCCU Stadium — San Diego
Dec. 31, 5 p.m. MST
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700AM
