Last season, the Utah football team lost to rival BYU but redeemed itself in the Armed Forces Bowl with a win over Tulsa. This season, it will get that same chance for redemption.
The Utes were accepted to the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl early Sunday afternoon, giving the team its fifth consecutive bowl bid.
“We started out the season behind the eight ball and dealt with some adversity,” Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said. “But I couldn’t be more pleased with how our players and coaches handled it and fought their way into a bowl situation.”
Utah will play against the Navy Midshipmen on Dec. 20 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. The game will mark the first football meeting between the two schools in history.
“We’ve got our hands full,” Whittingham said. “It’s going to be an excellent matchup. Two good 8-4 teams going at it.”
The Midshipmen, who have a contractual agreement to play in the Poinsettia Bowl every year if they have a winning record, have rolled to their record this season with wins against the likes of Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Air Force.
Navy can credit the majority of its success to an elusive option attack. The Midshipmen’s running game easily ranks first in the nation in yardage — averaging 351.5 yards per game — and boasts seven players with more than 400 yards on the ground.
The Utes faced a similar option-heavy attack against Air Force earlier this season and allowed the Falcons to rush for 334 yards. Utah ended up losing the game 20-12.
“The option attack presents its own set of problems for our defense. Fortunately, we’ve been playing Air Force for several years now, and the two attacks are pretty similar,” Whittingham said.
Utah has enjoyed a reasonable amount of success in recent bowl games. They currently hold the nation’s second-longest bowl win streak at six games and have the best bowl win percentage in the country (75 percent).
The announcement didn’t come as too big of a shock to Whittingham. The Utes had been studying game film on the Midshipmen last week and had geared their practices toward the team.
“We were anticipating being accepted to this bowl, so we have a good start on it right now,” Whittingham said. “When you face an option game like (Navy’s), you need the extra time.”
Tyler Cobb