What to know about Utah for the Las Vegas Bowl

The Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 23 will be only the fourth all-time meeting between Northwestern and Utah. Yet it will be the two schools' second bowl matchup in just five years.

The last time, at the 2018 Holiday Bowl, the Wildcats scored 28 unanswered points in the second half to erase a 21-3 deficit and stun the Utes, 31-20.

Northwestern is again the underdog in this game, as Utah has been installed as an early 7.5-point favorite.

Here are some key facts to know about the Utes, who finished 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the last year of the Pac-12 conference.

The Utes will look very different: Utah has seen a swath of entries into the portal -- 14 as of publication -- since it opened earlier in December, and several key players opted out of the bowl game to start their NFL draft preparations.

The headliner of that group is quarterback Bryson Barnes, the pig farmer who has posted a 5-4 record as Utah's main starter. He announced his entrance into the portal on Dec. 4 a couple of weeks after Cam Rising announced he would be back for his seventh season in 2024. However, Barnes said that he will play in the bowl game.

Rising's return prompted Barnes and two other quarterbacks, Nate Johnson and Mack Howard, to announce that they'll be entering the portal in pursuit of a new home with a better chance to see the field.

Utah will have Barnes, their staple signal caller, but if he gets injured, a program renowned for its stability finds itself on unusually uncertain ground.

Other key defections include a pair of safeties and a pair of wide receivers:

- Sione Vaki, a first team All-Pac 12 safety, declared for the draft with 50 tackles and two interceptions. Due to injuries, the two-way talent played running back against Cal and wide receiver against USC, amassing more than 100 yards in both games.

- Cole Bishop, a second team All-Pac 12 safety, declared for the draft after tallying 60 tackles and two interceptions.

- Leading wide receiver Devaughn Vele also declared for the draft with 43 receptions for 593 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games this season, though he has not said one way or another if he will play in the bowl game.

- Wide receiver Mikey Matthews, the Utes' third-leading receiver with 29 catches for 261 yards, is also a member of those 14 transfers.

Utah is battle-tested: The Utes won their first four games of the season and reached 10th in the polls. But as injuries mounted, they slid and lost three of their last five games.

All four of the Utes' losses come to teams currently ranked 19th or better in the final College Football Playoff Top 25. They were beaten by three or more scores by Arizona and Oregon, but they pushed No. 2 Washington to the brink in a 35-28 loss.

They won an ambitious season opener against Florida, 24-11, and toppled the second domino in USC's season with a 34-32 win in Los Angeles behind 235 yards and three touchdowns from Barnes.

Utah physically beat up teams like UCLA, 14-7, and Colorado, 23-17. Northwestern won most of its games this year by dragging teams down into the mud of physical, low-scoring slugfests. The Utes might be one of the few teams as comfortable with that style of play as the Wildcats.

The takeaway is that this is an experienced, battle-tested team.

Barnes presents a dual-threat: Northwestern's ability to stop dual-threat quarterbacks this season has been a mixed bag.

Duke's Riley Leonard gouged the Wildcats for more than 300 total yards of offense and two rushing touchdowns in a 38-14 win early in the season. Tanner Mordecai was a more limited rushing threat for Wisconsin, compiling just 77 yards on the ground this year in nine games, but the Wildcats were able to get a 24-10 win.

Barnes is a true dual-threat in the mold of Leonard, rushing for 267 yards and three touchdowns this season. The good news for the Wildcat faithful there is that he is yet to consistently deliver with his arm and has proven to be turnover-prone, with nine interceptions on the year, including four in his last two starts.

Northwestern won a good chunk of their games this season by dropping back and daring teams to beat them through the air. They allowed fewer than 200 passing yards in eight of their 12 games, and in four of their seven wins.

Barnes has broken 200 yards passing in just three of his nine games, though he also had a four-touchdown game against Arizona State with just 161 yards. He's thrown for a touchdown in five of his nine starts. For context, Northwestern's Ben Bryant has thrown for a score in six of his eight starts.

Barnes fits into the mold of how Northwestern wants to play defense as a passer, but will present a thorn in their side as a runner.

The Utes stop the run: Defensively, Utah's strength is stopping the run. Of course, some of that can be attributed to the fact that the Pac-12 was rife with quarterbacks who aired it out.

The Utes will be physical in the box, crash hard on ball carriers and clog rushing lanes. They allowed just 3.2 yards per rush this season.

Utah allowed 224.3 passing yards per game, 32 more than the Wildcats gave up through the air. But the Utes faced the likes of Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr. and Caleb Williams, while Northwestern played in the ground-and-pound, offensively challenged Big Ten West, so it's difficult to compare the numbers.

The Utes gave up just 19.8 points per game, which ranks in the top 25 in the nation. They are just as proficient at the bend-don't-break model espoused by Northwestern; the Wildcats rank 33rd and the Utes 34th in allowed red zone success rate.

The bottom line is that Northwestern may find it very difficult to run the ball against Utah. Quarterback Ben Bryant to have deliver one more time as a passer for the Wildcats if they want to cap this improbable season with a bowl victory.

One player the Wildcats have to figure out how to stop is No. 83, Jonah Elliss, who ranks second in the nation with 12.0 sacks this season. That's a tall task for a Northwestern offensive line allowing the third most sacks per game in the Power Five, fewer than only Colorado and Wake Forest.