Utes will play Northwestern on Dec. 31 in San Diego

Utes will play Northwestern on Dec. 31 in San Diego

SAN DIEGO—No. 17 Utah (9-4, 6-3 Pac-12) will play No. 22 Northwestern (8-5, 8-1 Big Ten) in the 41st-annual San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl. The game will be played on Monday, Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. PT (5 p.m. MT) at SDCCU Stadium and will be televised on FS1.

Utah, the Pac-12 South Division champion, and Northwestern, the Big Ten West Division champ, are both making their first appearance in the Holiday Bowl. The two teams have played twice in their history—1927 and 1981—splitting the series 1-1. Both games were played in Evanston with Utah’s victory coming in 1981.

Under 14th year head coach Kyle Whittingham, Utah is 4-0 against the Big Ten (3-0 vs. Michigan and 1-0 vs. Indiana). Whittingham played in the first four Holiday Bowls (1978-81) as a linebacker for BYU and was the Defensive MVP of the 1981 game. In 2008, he was inducted into the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame.

“We are elated to be invited to the Holiday Bowl and to play an outstanding Northwestern team,” said Whittingham. “It is a testament to our players and also our great fan base that we were invited to play in this prestigious game. Our players are deserving to play in a bowl of this caliber and we are especially happy for our exceptional senior class. We look forward to playing in front of a big Utah crowd down in San Diego on December 31.”

The Utes are playing in a bowl game for the 13th time under Whittingham. He has the best bowl win percentage in NCAA history (92%) and his 11 bowl wins (11-1) is tied for second among active coaches.

Utah is 5-0 in bowl games in the Pac-12 era with wins over Georgia Tech, Colorado State, BYU, Indiana and West Virginia since 2011. See sidebar on this page for Utah’s bowl history. The Utes are 2-0 in College Football Playoff bowls, beating Pittsburgh in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl and Alabama in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.