On December 23, 2023, at Allegiant Stadium, the Utes (8-4, 5-4 Pac-12) will play Northwestern (7-5, 5-4 Big Ten), a Big Ten team. This is the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. MST, and ABC will televise the match.
With an 8-4 overall record going into the bowl game, Utah is hoping to finish the year strong. Given the circumstances, a nine-win season and the first bowl victory since defeating West Virginia 30-14 in the 2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl would be considered a good campaign. Nine key players had suffered season-ending injuries.
The prospect of competing in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl excites us. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham released a statement, saying, “We are excited to start preparing for a great atmosphere in Allegiant Stadium and we have a lot of respect for the Big Ten and Northwestern.”
Following a one-win campaign in 2022 and the dismissal of head coach Pat Fitzgerald due to a hazing incident in July of this year, Northwestern has had an unexpected season under new head coach David Braun. Braun was voted the Big Ten Coach of the Year after the Wildcats went 7–5, placing them in second place in the Big Ten West.
With their scoring defense ranked No. 50, the Wildcats give up 23.8 points per game. Northwestern’s passing defense, which allows 192.1 yards via the air, is ranked No. 24 in the nation; but, its rushing defense allows 159.5 yards per game, which is ranked No. 82.
Northwestern comes into this game riding a three-game winning run after defeating Illinois, Wisconsin, and Purdue to close the season.
This will be Utah and Northwestern’s fourth meeting overall and their first since the 2018 Holiday Bowl, when the Wildcats defeated Utah 28 to 0 in the third quarter of that game.
The Las Vegas Bowl’s traditional matchup between a Pac-12 school and a Mountain West team was replaced with a Pac-12 team playing an SEC team in even years and a Big Ten team playing in odd years starting in 2021. The Las Vegas Raiders’ home stadium, Allegiant Stadium, replaced Sam Boyd Stadium for the matchup.
The Pac-12’s non-New Year’s Six bowl selections for this season included the Las Vegas Bowl as the second choice. With Utah, Oregon State, and USC all having identical 5-4 conference records, the Las Vegas Bowl committee had an option between Utah, Oregon, and Washington for the New Year’s Six bowls, and Arizona for the Alamo Bowl.
Oregon State was probably not given much thought because they didn’t want to make another appearance.
Out of the six Big Ten bowls that aren’t part of the New Year’s Six, the Las Vegas Bowl chose Northwestern.The Utes are making their first trip to the Las Vegas Bowl since 2015, when they upset BYU 35-28, holding on for the victory after jumping out to a 35-0 lead in the first quarter.
Four prior times, Utah has played in the Las Vegas Bowl: winning 17-16 against Fresno State in 1999; defeating USC 10-6 in 2001; losing 26-3 against Boise State in 2010; and defeating Colorado State 45-10 in 2014.
The 10-6 victory over the Trojans, in which the Utes held USC to just one rushing yard the entire game, may have been the most memorable victory of the four games.
