Non-playoff bowl games are typically something of a crapshoot. Without the chance for advancement and a title to play for, often times motivation is lacking for teams that had higher aspirations when the season began. In recent years, we’ve also seen a good number of high profile players opt out of participating, making sure to reduce their chances of having an injury impact the pending start of their NFL careers.
On the flipside, when a program that had been down for a while, with rosters full of players who had yet to get a full bowl game experience, finally do get that opportunity to go bowling, there’s often a good deal of excitement attached. That’s when upsets…sometimes big upsets…can happen.
Huskers Drew the Toughest Assignment Against the Utes
When this season’s non-playoff Bowl game destinations became public, the oddsmakers didn’t give the unranked 7-5 Nebraska Cornhuskers much of a chance against the 15th ranked and 10-2 Utah Utes, motivation notwithstanding, in the December 31st Las Vegas Bowl. On paper at least, the game appears to be a mismatch. Utah is favored by two touchdowns.
Both sides have already been dealing with distractions as their bowl prep continues.
Certainly the Huskers have dealt with their fare share of distractions late in the season. Head Coach Matt Rhule dismissed three key assistant coaches and brought in replacements that are already on board and helping with bowl prep. All-America running back Emmett Johnson, the Big Ten Running Back of the Year, has opted out – with Rhule’s blessing – and star quarterback Dylan Raiola, a two-year starter, has announced he’s entering the Transfer Portal. That’s Nebraska’s two biggest offensive weapons (even with Raiola out with a leg injury) on the sidelines.
So Nebraska is going into the Las Vegas Bowl on New Year’s Eve looking significantly different than it did five weeks ago.
But the heavily favored Utes aren’t without distractions and significant changes of their own.
For starters, the Utes best offensive lineman Spencer Fano, the winner of the Outland Trophy as the nation’s best interior lineman, has already opted out of the bowl game and will instead train for the NFL Draft Combine. Then comes the news the Head Coach Kyle Whittingham, who had previously announced he was stepping down and turning the job over to Head Coach in-waiting Morgan Scalley for next season, is expected to be named the new head coach of the Huskers Big Ten rival, Michigan.
Suddenly the Distraction Meter Favors Nebraska
When it was announced the 66-year-old Whittingham, who spent better than three decades coaching in Salt Lake City, was leaving Utah on December 12th, the veteran coach made sure to make it clear he was not retiring. He even said he was “in the Transfer Portal,” making it clear he his coaching days were not over. He’s been on the job while his team completes bowl preparations.
Now the question is whether or not Whittingham will be on the sidelines in Allegiant Stadium when the Utes and Huskers kick off next Wednesday. Reports are now that he will be traveling to Orlando, Florida to join the Wolverines as they prepare for their Citrus Bowl match up with Texas on New Year’s Eve when they meet in the Citrus Bowl. So far, his involvement in the Las Vegas Bowl is TBD.
He can’t be in two places at once. The Citrus Bowl and the Las Vegas bowls are both being played on Wednesday afternoon, almost simultaneously.
While he has been referred to as “former” Utah coach since he announced he was stepping down, the plan was was always for this to be his swan song in Salt Lake City. Most thought he was retiring. Then came the news about the Michigan job.
Which sideline he is standing on that day is not 100% certain as of yet. In either case, Whittingham’s situation may tip the scales in terms of the distraction meter in Nebraska’s direction for the impending bowl game.
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