How the Big 12 championship impacts Utah's bowl game destination

Utes' potential bowl game destinations have likely been narrowed down following the Big 12 title game

Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham and his program will strive for their first bowl game win since 2017 this postseason. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Texas Tech's dominant win over BYU in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday will likely have a significant impact on the College Football Playoff picture and bowl game lineup for the 2025-26 postseason.

While the Red Raiders are in position to clinch a top four seed in the 12-team playoff, the Cougars are likely headed for a top-end bowl game going into Sunday's postseason reveal show on ESPN (10 a.m. MT). BYU, ranked No. 11 in the CFP rankings, needed to win the Big 12 title to clinch an automatic berth into the playoff.

Instead, Kalani Sitake and company will probably have a spot in the Alamo Bowl alongside a Big Ten school and former Pac-12 member, like USC. If that winds up being confirmed Sunday during the College Football Playoff reveal, Utah is most likely in line for a trip to Nevada for the Las Vegas Bowl.

Prior to the Big 12 championship game on Saturday, On3's Brett McMurphy reported the Utes (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) will meet Nebraska (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) at Allegiant Stadium on New Year's Eve for the Las Vegas Bowl.

Utah's been projected by several outlets as a Las Vegas Bowl participant since it was eliminated from Big 12 title game contention during the final week of the regular season. A trip to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl was still in the cards until BYU's loss on Saturday essentially locked the Cougars a spot in a non-College Football Playoff bowl game.

An invite to the Las Vegas Bowl would be Utah's second trip to Allegiant Stadium for a postseason game in a three-year span. The Utes lost to Northwestern, 14-7, in the 2023 Las Vegas Bowl.

This time around, the Las Vegas Bowl will take place on Dec. 31 — not Dec. 23 — and kickoff at 1:30 p.m. MT.

A potential Utah-Nebraska matchup in the postseason would pit the Big 12's No. 3 team against the Big Ten's No. 10 squad. The Cornhuskers started the season 5-1 before losing four of their last six, including a 40-16 defeat to Iowa in their regular season finale.

If Utah does square off against Nebraska, the Utes might not have to worry about containing the Big Ten's leading rusher, Emmett Johnson. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior from Minnesota declared for the NFL draft on Friday, though didn't specifiy whether he'd play in the Cornhuskers' postseason game.

Johnson was named the Big Ten Running Back of the Year after totaling 1,451 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, plus 46 catches for 370 yards and three more touchdowns in the regular season. His 1,821 scrimmage yards ranked No. 2 in the country.

Utah will be seeking its first bowl game win since it beat West Virginia, 30-14, in the 2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl. The Utes have lost their last five bowls games heading into their impending bowl game for the 2025-26 season.

Due to bowl contracts that run through the 2025 season, former Pac-12 schools that are bowl-game eligible (Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, USC, Utah and Washington) and current Pac-12 constituent Washington State will be considered for bowl games that have Pac-12 affiliations. That means those schools are eligible for the Alamo Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, LA Bowl, Holiday Bowl and Sun Bowl. The Independence Bowl and Armed Forces Bowl are also potential destinations depending on the availability of bowl-eligible teams from other conferences.

Presuming Oregon is a lock for the College Football Playoff, seven former/current Pac-12 schools will be bowling this season.

McMurphy also reported Arizona and Arizona State have been locked into bowl game invites. Per McMurphy, the Wildcats will play SMU in the Holiday Bowl (Jan. 2, San Diego) while the Sun Devils take on an ACC school in the Sun Bowl (Dec. 31, El Paso, Texas).