Utah-Navy

the Poinsettia Bowl Thursday, December 20th, 9:00pm San Diego, California
Utah (8-4)_____Mtn West____213.09				Navy (8-4)______Indy_____111.26
Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score	Week	Opponent	oPts	Res, Score
12	New Mexico	154.27	W, 28-10	5	Air Force	233.04	W, 31-20
8	@ Texas Christian	152.78	W, 27-20	7	@ Pittsburgh	76.94	W, 48-45
3	UCLA	117.96	W, 44-6	10	@ Notre Dame	-135.92	W, 46-44
6	@ Louisville	106.21	W, 44-35	1	@ Temple	-154.46	W, 30-19
11	Wyoming	-10.46	W, 50-0	14	@ Army	-176.1	W, 38-3
7	San Diego State	-84.17	W, 23-7	4	Duke	-205.27	W, 46-43
9	@ Colorado State	-109.69	W, 27-3	12	Northern Illinois	-277.36	W, 35-24
5	Utah State	-209.2	W, 34-18	11	@ North Texas	-309.82	W, 74-62
13	@ Brigham Young	341.36	L, 10-17	8	Wake Forest	245.34	L, 24-44
2	Air Force	233.04	L, 12-20	2	@ Rutgers	146.23	L, 24-41
1	@ Oregon State	209.72	L, 7-24	3	Ball State	70.73	L, 31-34
4	@ Nevada-Las Vegas	-178.3	L, 0-27	9	Delaware	-	L, 52-59

Same W-L record for these two, but Utah definitely has the edge from playing (and beating) tougher teams. They only lost one bad one to UNLV, while the only decent team Navy beat was Air Force. Losing to DI-AA Delaware really hurts the Midshipman's case too. To their credit, Navy was able to put lots of points on the board, even in their losses.

Both teams have gone upward in the last half of the season, but the Utes have surged ever since week 4, their only blemish being the loss to BYU in the last week of their season.

Intangibles: Navy's coach is now at Georgia Tech, leaving them interim'd for their bowl - not usually a good thing. Utah know's how to prepare for a bowl too, having beaten Georgia Tech, Pitt, and USC to take their bowl-streak to 6 wins.

The Line: Navy +8

The Story: Navy's Run O vs Utah's D. Can the Utes stop the Midshipmen from running all over the field with their triple-spread option? Probably.

The Call: Utah by 10

The Result: Utah 35-32 = Much more entertaining that anticipated, which hopefully bodes well for the bowl season as a whole.