Northwestern Bests Utah to Win the Las Vegas Bowl

Utah's lackluster offensive production hindered them once more as they fell short in the Las Vegas Bowl.

1st Quarter

The 1st quarter was a rather uneventful chess match for both sides as they tried to get back into the groove of the game coming off the break. Utah's defense held strong, imposing their will in coverage leading to two punts and an out-of-range field goal that the Northwestern kicker missed right. On offense, the Utes attempted to establish the run game early and despite some success, the o-line was still leaky when it came to passing downs, giving Bryson Barnes little to no time to run through his reads which led to constant pressure and sputtering drives. Matching Northwestern, Utah also had two punts while adding an interception to the stat sheet after a long endzone bomb with 23 seconds left in the quarter.

2nd Quarter

The 2nd quarter was a lot of the same story for Utah as the offense sputtered throughout, producing nothing but punts and another interception. The line continued to show a lack of strength in the trenches which halted the run game and continued to allow Barnes to succumb to pressure. Meanwhile, the Ute's defense managed to continue their good stretch of form but as shown time and time again, they can only do so much before they break and Northwestern capitalized with a touchdown pass to Cam Johnson to make it 7-0. However, the Wildcats failed to increase their lead as their kicker missed another field goal, this time from 40 yards out. 

3rd Quarter

The Utes continued to stumble throughout the 3rd quarter as they punted on their first possession and lost a fumble on their second. But as had been the story most of the game, the defense held strong, granting Northwestern nothing but empty-handed possessions, trying their best to keep Utah in it till the end. 

4th Quarter

Eventually, the Utah offense paid the defense back for their strong play as Micah Bernard crossed the pylon for a 6-yard run to tie up the game 7-7 on the opening possession of the 4th quarter. After tying up the game, the Utes went 4 and out on back-to-back possessions giving Northwestern every chance to come out on top which is exactly what they did. The Wildcats took advantage of the worn-out Utah defense as their QB delivered a dime in the corner of the endzone to Bryce Kirtz taking the lead once more, 14-7. The Utes couldn't answer and as a result, went home empty-handed. The 2024 season can't come fast enough for the fans and the program as a whole.