Players coming into Utah’s football program soon learn what is demanded of them. Among the Utes' standards, sophomore receiver Samson Nacua said, are these expectations: “We don’t lose to those guys down south, and we don’t lose bowl games.”
Not lately, anyway. The Utes have won eight straight games vs. BYU and are 5-0 in bowls in the school’s Pac-12 era, while coach Kyle Whittingham’s 11-1 postseason record gives him the best winning percentage in college football history (minimum 10 games).
In Monday’s Holiday Bowl, the Utes are facing a Northwestern program that claims only four bowl wins.