Utah Football: 3 Bold Predictions for Holiday Bowl vs. Northwestern

2. Don’t expect too many points in this one.

As we already visited, Northwestern and Utah both won their respective divisions and played for conference titles. Now they didn’t win obviously, but their successful seasons are due in large part to their respective defenses. Northwestern only allows 23.5 points per game. Utah? 18.5 a game. What does that tell us? Points will be a premium at this one for sure.

Northwestern’s run defense has been sensational all season. They only allowed 200-yard rushing games to Purdue and Nebraska, though the Wildcats won both games. Let us not forget too that Northwestern played Wisconsin, Notre Dame and Michigan. What does that tell us? That Northwestern’s run defense is battle tested and ready to go. It helps them that Utah’s passing game isn’t all that great, so they will have to establish the running game to keep things moving which obviously will be quite hard to do given what Northwestern has pulled off on the line.

For Utah? They live in the backfield. Their defense against the pass has been a big deal this season. Chase Hansen, though he is iffy for this game with an undisclosed injury, has 22 tackles for loss this season. Defensive end Bradlee Anae has 14.5 plays behind the line. Overall, this team has come up with 103 tackles for loss. That is sensational. Their run defense isn’t too shabby either. This unit doesn’t give up big plays.

Simply put, points will come sparingly in this one. It will be a defensive shootout for the ages.