Why a Utah Rose Bowl win is far from guaranteed

After their performance in the Pac-12 title game, the Utah Utes are widely expected to handle Penn State in the Rose Bowl. I, however, am not as convinced.

The Rose Bowl is always one of college football’s most exciting games, as it has famously involved some of the most iconic showdowns ever (just look at last season). This time around will hopefully be no different as the Utah Utes face off against the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Both Utah and Penn State are big-name programs, headlined by their tendencies to linger in the rankings and play some of the country’s most physical ball. As a result, the spread for the Rose Bowl is one of many in this postseason stretch that is tremendously narrow (UTAH -2.5 according to Fan Duel).

But while the spread may be just barely in Utah’s favor, the confidence in them prevailing is stronger everywhere else. For reference, ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Utes a 57.7% chance to win while the bulk of social media users appear even more comfortable than that.

The instance that showed the aforementioned confidence at its peak was a popular YouTube poll conducted by a content creator named “Bordeaux.” Out of over 54,000 votes, just about 65% of them were for Utah (as of the morning of Dec. 13), and the comments underneath the poll illustrate such a majority.

Now the obvious response to seeing this would be that YouTube votes amount to a big bowl of nothing when it comes to making an educated guess on these matters, and said response is especially correct when considering just how misguided the voters are.

I’m sure that many of you read that last statement as “Utah is incapable of winning the Rose Bowl,” and that is not what I’m trying to say at all. In fact, I wholeheartedly agree that the Utes are as tough as nails. However, I also feel that those who endorse them are victims of what I like to call “Alabama Syndrome.”