Las Vegas, NV - December 22, 2023. - Allegiant Stadium: David Braun of the Northwestern University Wildcats and Kyle Whittingham of the University of Utah Utes at the Kickoff Media Conference prior to the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl. (Photo by Ian Maule / ESPN Images) | Ian Maule, ESPN ImagesJoe ColesSun, November 30, 2025 at 2:21 AM UTC·4 min readLAWRENCE, Kan. — Late on Friday night, Arizona defeated Arizona State, officially eliminating Utah from Big 12 championship contention.
The Wildcats’ win sent Texas Tech and BYU to the conference title game, where the two sides will meet in a rematch of a November contest the Red Raiders won 29-7.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementUtah closed its regular season on Friday with a 31-21 win at Kansas to improve to 10-2 on the season. After missing the postseason last season with a 5-7 record, the Utes are going bowling once again.
The No. 13 Utes will almost certainly not be selected for the College Football Playoff after sitting at home during conference championship week. Instead, Kyle Whittingham and his team will get a break this week before finding out their bowl and opponent on Dec. 7.
ESPN will broadcast the College Football Playoff selection show starting at 10 a.m. MST on Dec. 7. After the reveal of the 12-team field, the non-CFP bowl games will begin to make their selections.
Despite being in the Big 12 Conference, Utah is still a Pac-12 Conference representative this bowl season. Due to bowl contracts that run through the 2025 football season, legacy Pac-12 schools (Utah, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, Cal and Stanford) and current Pac-12 members (Oregon State and Washington State) will continue to represent the Pac-12 Conference in this season’s bowl games.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere is the selection order for this year’s Pac-12 bowls:
Alamo Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big 12), San Antonio, Texas, Dec. 30.
Holiday Bowl (Pac-12 vs. ACC), San Diego, Calif., Jan. 2.
Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big Ten), Las Vegas, Nev., Dec. 31.
Sun Bowl (Pac-12 vs. ACC), El Paso, Texas, Dec. 31.
LA Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Mountain West). Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 13.
ESPN Events Pool of Games, TBD
No. 6 Oregon defeated Washington to improve to 11-1 and will likely be in the College Football Playoff despite not playing in the Big Ten championship game.
At 10-2, Utah has the best overall record of the non-CFP Pac-12 teams, but that doesn’t mean the Utes will automatically be selected by the Alamo Bowl.
USC, which would improve to 9-3 with a win over rival UCLA late Saturday night, is a possible choice for the Alamo Bowl.
If BYU misses out on the CFP and Alamo Bowl organizers don’t mind the Cougars playing in the bowl twice in a row, USC vs. BYU could be an option. If not, the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando is likely for Kalani Sitake’s team.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIf BYU is in the CFP or Orlando, Houston would be the likely Big 12 selection for the Alamo Bowl. Choosing USC to be the Pac-12 representative over Utah in that case could prevent an “All-Big 12” Alamo Bowl like last season’s BYU win over Colorado in San Antonio.
Houston and Utah met in Big 12 play in 2024. Utah last played in the Alamo Bowl in 2019, losing 38-10 to Texas.
The Holiday Bowl seems likely to select 9-3 Arizona after the Wildcats’ Territorial Cup win over rival Arizona State. A Holiday Bowl representative was on hand in Tempe and told Arizona media that he’d “see you all in San Diego” after the game.
Utah’s last appearance in the Holiday Bowl came in 2018, a 31-20 loss to Northwestern.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNext in the Pac-12 bowl selection order is the Las Vegas Bowl. Utah was last in the Las Vegas Bowl in 2023 for a dreadful 14-7 loss to Northwestern in front of an announced crowd of 20,897 two days before Christmas.
This time around, the Las Vegas Bowl is more attractive. It will still be the Pac-12 vs. Big Ten, but instead of Dec. 23, it’ll kick off New Year’s Eve celebrations at 1:30 p.m. MST.
If the Utes are selected, there will be plenty of crimson at Allegiant Stadium with a much better date — and Utah team — than the 2023 edition.
Utah would face a mid-level Big Ten team in Las Vegas if chosen, likely Nebraska (7-5) or Iowa (8-4).
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn whichever bowl game they go to, Whittingham and the Utes will be vying for their first bowl win since 2017, when Utah defeated West Virginia 30-14 in the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
Since that victory, the Utes are 0-5 in bowl games.
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