Bowl Guide: Utah Football Ready For Valero Alamo Bowl
THE GAME
The No. 11 University of Utah football program is headed to San Antonio, Texas for the 2019 Valero Alamo Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31 to battle the Texas Longhorns. The game is set to kick off at 5:30 p.m. MT from the Alamodome on ESPN. Search #ValeroAlamoBowl for conversation on social media.
THE UTES ARE BOWLING
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham is legendary for his postseason success, boasting the second-best bowl win percentage in NCAA history (84%). His 11 bowl wins (11-2) ties him for second among active coaches and ranks in the top-10 all-time (including ties). His bowl record includes a 2-0 mark in College Football Playoff New Year's Six Bowls with wins over Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl as co-head coach and Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl. Utah is 17-5 all-time in bowl games and 5-1 in bowl games in the Pac-12 era with wins over Georgia Tech, Colorado State, BYU, Indiana and West Virginia. Utah's nine-game bowl winning streak from 1999-2009 tied for the second-longest bowl win streak in NCAA history.
NUMBERS TALK
• With a win against Texas, Utah will have beaten two Big 12 teams in the past three seasons, both in bowl games (defeated West Virginia in the Heart of Dallas Bowl in 2017).
• With a win, Utah will have 12-or-more wins in a season for the third time in school history (13-0 in 2008, 12-0 in 2004).
• Utah has scored 30 or more points 10 times this year, the most games scoring 30+ points since 2008
• The Utes have held 11 of their 13 opponents to under 100 yards rushing and have outscored their opponents 208-78 in the second half this season.
• Head coach Kyle Whittingham has coached in 319 games for Utah as an assistant and a head coach with 216 career victories (131-63 as head coach).
QUICK HITS
• Utah is 11-2 and won the Pac-12 South Division for the second year in a row with a conference record of 8-1, its best in nine seasons as a Pac-12 member. The Utes ran off an eight-game winning streak during Pac-12 play.
• Utah's eight-game winning streak from Sept. 28 through Nov. 30 was its longest in a single-season since winning eight in a row to begin the 2010 season, and its longest overall since winning eight in a row spanning the final two games of the 2014 season and the first six of 2015.
• Utah defeated eight consecutive Pac-12 opponents for the first time since joining the conference in 2011.
• Utah's 11 wins are third-most in school history. Head coach Kyle Whittingham has guided the Utes to two of the three winningest seasons in school history: 13-0 in 2008 and 11-2 in 2019. He was defensive coordinator for 11 of the 12 wins in 2004 and co-head coach for Utah's Fiesta Bowl win that completed a 12-0 season, second-most wins in school history.
• Utah is No. 11 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, 12th in the latest AP poll and 10th in the Coaches poll. The Utes reached as high as No. 5 in all three polls this season. No. 11 is Utah's highest position in the final CFP rankings.
• Utah leads the Pac-12 and ranks sixth nationally in weeks ranked in the CFP poll, with 30 weeks, trailing only Alabama (37), Clemson (37), Ohio State (37), Oklahoma (35) and LSU (33).
• The Utes' No. 12 pre-bowl AP ranking is their highest at this stage of the season since ranking No. 7 in the Dec. 7, 2008 poll as an 11-0 team en route to a 12-0 season and final No. 2 ranking.