Saturday is full of College Football bowl games. One of the games is the Las Vegas Bowl. The Utah Utes and Northwestern Wildcats will meet up in that one, in a battle of the Pac-12 against the Big 10.

The Utah Utes are 8-4 on the season, and finished fifth in the Pac-12. The Utes won their season finale 23-17 over Deion Sanders and his Colorado Buffaloes. The Utes are coming off a trip to the Rose Bowl a season ago.

For Northwestern, a team that many projected to not win a game all season, saw them finish with a 7-5 record. The Wildcats finished second to Iowa in the Big Ten – West. Northwestern won their final three games, including a rivalry win over Illinois.

The Utah Utes are -6.5 over the Northwestern Wildcats in this game. Utah and Northwestern have a combined total for this game of 41.5.

The Utah Utes are the favorites in the NCAAF odds in this game as they are listed at -6.5. The total for this affair is set at 42 points.

2023 Las Vegas Bowl Odds: Utah vs Northwestern | MyBookie Bowl Game Preview

Utah Utes vs Northwestern Wildcats
ATS Odds: Utah -6.5
Money line Odds: Utah Line -260 / Northwestern Line +210
Over/Under Odds: 42

Saturday, December 23rd at 7:30 pm ET | ABC / ESPN+
Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV

Utah Utes Head to Vegas

For the Utah Utes, they certainly will have the “home” advantage coming from closer than the boys from Chicago. The Utes, led by head coach Kyle Whittingham have always been known as one of the best coached teams in College Football. The Utes started this season with wins over Florida and Baylor, along with Weber State and UCLA.

Utah lost at Oregon State, and then three weeks later at USC. That basically ended their Pac-12 hopes, but then two out of three losses at Washington and Arizona to finish the season made them 8-4 overall. The Utes in their four losses allowed 133 points. In their 8 wins, they allowed a total of 104.

On the offensive side, the Utes saw Devaughn Vale lead the charge. He caught 43 passes for 593 yards and 3 touchdowns. The bad news is – he will not play in this game, as he declared for the NFL Draft. Next up in the receiving game for the Utes will be Money Parks. Parks had a nice season, but ended poorly with just one catch in the win over Colorado.

Northwestern Happy to Be Playing

There was not team with more “excuses” to be poor this season than the Northwestern Wildcats. Just before the start of the season, firing Pat Fitzgerald, the long time head coach had players and coaches searching for answers. But, David Braun came in and was terrific, along with his staff getting them to 7-5.

The Wildcats do nothing great. But, they also do nothing poorly. Northwestern scored 22.8 points per game, and allowed 23.8. The Wildcats won seven games; with five of them coming within one possession. Even their final two losses; at Nebraska and with Iowa were a possession game.

The Wildcats receiver Cam Johnson led the way in the win over Illinois. He caught 7 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown. He expects to have a chance for a big game, but against a tougher Utah defense in this one in Vegas. The running game for Northwestern was powered by Cam Porter. He had two touchdowns late in the season in a win over Purdue.

Utah Tops Northwestern

Both teams come into this game well coached. Both teams are going to be happy to be going to Las Vegas just before Christmas and playing one more game. The talent gap is pretty significant here. While Utah is not an “elite” team by any means, they are better than the Wildcats. Northwestern is going to play hard, but fall short. Utah wins this game in Las Vegas. Bet the Utes -6.5 over the Wildcats.

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