San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl: Northwestern vs. Utah fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Monday, December 31st
Game Time: 7:00 ET
Venue: SDCCU Stadium, San Diego, CA
Network: FS1
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
– Get Tickets For This Game
Northwestern (8-5) vs. Utah (9-4) Game Preview
Why NU Will Win | Why Utah Will Win
Players To Watch | 3 Honest Thoughts, Prediction
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl History, Results
Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
– Welcome to your alternative Rose Bowl. Northwestern got rolled by Ohio State 45-24 in the Big Ten Championship, but it put up a better fight than the final score to close out a breakthrough season for Pat Fitzgerald. The Wildcats overcame a 1-3 start winning seven of eight games – only losing to Notre Dame – to dominate the West and win it with two games remaining.
Utah overcame injuries and a few early losses to win the Pac-12 South and – like Northwestern – won its division for the first time. The O clunked in the 10-3 defensive slugfest loss to Washington in the conference championship.
These are two underappreciated, rock-solid programs with two fantastic head coaches. It showed over the last several years in the post-season …
– Welcome to Utah and bowl games. Marshall won the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl over USF for its seventh straight win, and now Utah has to keep up. The Utes have won six bowls in a row and 12 of the last 13 under head coach Kyle Whittingham. As a program, it has won 16 of its last 17 going back to loss to Wisconsin in the 1996 Copper.
– Welcome to the new Northwestern when it comes to bowl games. The program won its first bowl game in the 1948 Rose Bowl, and then dropped its next nine up until Fitzgerald busted the streak – including his own four-game losing run – with a win over Mississippi State in the 2012 Gator. Now the Cats have won three of their last four including a thriller over Kentucky in last year’s Music City.
