Nebraska Football Set to Meet Ranked Opponent in the Las Vegas Bowl

Nebraska football is headed back to Las Vegas.

After officially kicking off preseason preparations there with Big Ten Media Days, the Huskers will close the 2025 campaign in Sin City for the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. According to On3's Brett McMurphy, Nebraska will take on Utah.

Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback TJ Lateef hands the ball off to running back Emmett Johnson against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The Utes are 10-2 and No. 15 in the College Football Playoff rankings. They feature the No. 2 rushing attack in the nation. tallying 269.8 yards per game on the ground.

The reason a highly-ranked Big 12 opponent would meet up with a 7-5 Big Ten team is two-fold: former Pac-12 teams were tied to this bowl, and Husker fans travel. Add the two together, and you get a recipe for bowl organizers to want to make the matchup happen.

Nebraska is undefeated all-time against Utah. The four meetings were all in the regular season and all in Lincoln: 1968, 1980, 1989, and 1992.

Game Information

Nebraska and Utah will play at 2:30 CST on Dec. 31. The New Year's Eve bowl will be televised on ESPN and lead into a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal game from the Cotton Bowl.

The Las Vegas Bowl has been going on since 1992, with several different sponsors over the last 33 years. The game was played at Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, until 2019. Since then, it has been at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders.

A general overall view as Southern California Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava throws the ball against the Texas A&M Aggies in the second half at Allegiant Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The game had previous tie-ins with the Big West, MAC, WAC, and Mountain West. The Pac-12 has been tied to the game since 2001. Over the past few years, the Big Ten and SEC have also been tied to the Las Vegas Bowl on an alternating basis, although USC played Texas A&M last year as part of their former conference.

Common Opponents

Nebraska and Utah played two of the same teams over the course of the season.

The Huskers opened the year with a neutral-site affair against Cincinnati in Kansas City. Nebraska got a late interception to seal the victory, 20-7.

Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. intercepts a pass against Cincinnati Bearcats wide receiver Caleb Goodie during the fourth quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

The Utes would face the Bearcats to open November. By then, Cincinnati had moved up to No. 17 in the rankings, but it was all Utah, 45-14.

Utah's opening game was a road trip to UCLA. The Utes scored the first 20 points of the game, going on to a dominant 43-10 win.

Nebraska would also face UCLA at the Rose Bowl, but a couple of months later, in November. This was the first start for true freshman TJ Lateef, who guided the Huskers to a 28-21 victory.

The Utes Just Miss the College Football Playoff

Utah rolled to a 3-0 start, beating UCLA, Cal Polly, and Wyoming by a combined 137-25. A 34-10 setback against Texas Tech gave the Utes their first loss, although a good one, with the Red Raiders making the Big 12 title game.

Texas Tech Red Raiders running back Cameron Dickey runs the ball against Utah Utes defensive end John Henry Daley during the fourth quarter at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Another pair of blowout wins against West Virginia and Arizona State set up a showdown with BYU for a historic Holy War game. Utah was ahead at the half, but a 14-0 run for the Cougars was enough to put the game out of reach for the 24-21 final. BYU is the other Big Ten title game team.

From there, Utah dominated Baylor, survived an upset bid from Kansas State, and finished off a Sunflower State swing with a win at Kansas.

Despite the two losses being to teams playing for a conference championship and sitting at No. 4 and No. 11 in the penultimate rankings, the Utes are too far out to make a jump into the bracket.

The Huskers Don't Get the Year Three Rhule Bump

At his previous two stops, Temple and Baylor, Matt Rhule's year three improvements resulted in double-digit wins. At Nebraska, that result seemed well on its way with a 5-1 start.

But then the debacle in Minneapolis happened, with Minnesota rolling Nebraska 24-6. The Big Red bounced back to secure bowl eligibility the next week against Northwestern.

Minnesota Golden Gophers wide receiver Lemeke Brockington catches a pass for a touchdown as Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Donovan Jones defends. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Sitting at 6-2, November was less than welcome to Nebraska. The Huskers went 1-3 in the month, losing to USC before the UCLA victory. The last two losses were embarrassing routs of 37-10 at Penn State before a Senior Day whooping by Iowa, 40-16.

December Questions for Both Teams

One question has been answered for Nebraska already. Emmett Johnson is off to the NFL, taking the Huskers' leading rusher off the board.

Another question for the Big Red comes at quarterback. Will Dylan Raiola or TJ Lateef elect to leave and try their hand at the transfer portal? If Lateef stays, Rhule has already said he'll be likely to play in the bowl after tweaking his hamstring against Iowa, but a setback could further muddy that position against Utah.

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham watches the team warm up before the game against the Colorado Buffaloes at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

For the Utes, coach Kyle Whittingham could be leading the team in his final game. He has been the coach in Salt Lake City since 2005, amassing 177 wins and 88 losses. He had through Friday to provide a written decision to retire, per his contract.

If Whittingham elects to retire, that changes the focus for that program this month as it goes through a transition, but it could also lock in otherwise bowl opt-outs to want to give him a send-off with a bowl victory.

At 10-2, Utah is loaded with talent. Just like Johnson had an NFL decision to make, so do multiple Utes. Those players could elect to skip the bowl and begin NFL draft preparations.

Nebraska has a different coaching question to answer this month: who will become the full-time defensive coordinator? That is unlikely to affect this game too much, unless someone is hired and returning Blackshirts skip the game to hit the portal, or more assistants are let go. As it stands, associate head coach Phil Snow, a former defensive coordinator for Rhule at multiple stops, will lead the defense in Las Vegas.

Have a question or comment for Kaleb? Send an email to kalebhenry.huskermax@gmail.com.

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