Texas Football: Longhorns care more about winning Alamo Bowl than Utah

Is there any reason why the Texas football program should care more about winning the Alamo Bowl than the No. 11 Utah Utes?

A question that always arises each passing bowl season in college football is which team  in each respective matchup “cares” more. That was definitely a valid question pertaining to the Texas postseason matchup in the Sugar Bowl against the No. 5 ranked Georgia Bulldogs last season. Texas knocked off Georgia in last year’s Sugar Bowl, but not everyone gave them credit for the validity of the win.

Texas and Georgia both largely find themselves in similar spots this season. Georgia once again fell short in the SEC Championship Game and landed in the Sugar Bowl against the Big 12 runner-up this year. This time around, Georgia lost to the LSU Tigers in the SEC Title Game and will face the Baylor Bears in the Sugar Bowl. Could this be another spot where head coach Kirby Smart and his Dawgs don’t really leave it all out on the field with a disappointing postseason berth.

Meanwhile, the Texas Longhorns football program landed the team that lost the PAC-12 Championship Game in the Alamo Bowl. Head coach Kyle Whittingham and Utah fell short against the Oregon Ducks in the PAC-12 Title Game by a convincing score of 37-15. Utah will bring their balanced squad to San Antonio to try and knock off the 7-5 (5-4 Big 12) Longhorns.

Once again, the Longhorns didn’t get the best of the rival Oklahoma Sooners to claim a Big 12 Championship. But the Longhorns didn’t even make it to the Big 12 Championship Game this year like they did in 2018.

There are similarities between where the Longhorns are at this year compared to last. And this is the second year in a row that Utah found themselves falling short in the PAC-12 Championship Game to the North division winner. Last year, it was the Washington Huskies that got the best of Utah. This year it was Oregon.

Both Whittingham and head Texas football coach Tom Herman have solid postseason records during their time in the college football coaching ranks. Whittingham holds a postseason record of 11-2. And Herman is 3-1 in his career in the postseason. He’s also 2-0 during his time on the Forty Acres.

There’s also plenty on the line for the Longhorns heading into the postseason. Garnering an eighth win of the season, over a team as talented as Utah on both sides of the ball, would be a good way to salvage things after a disappointing regular season. Junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger will have a lot of motivation to head into his senior season on the right foot.

Ehlinger will be taking on a stout quarterback on the Utah sidelines, senior star Tyler Huntley. A good Utah offense, that is better on the ground than through the air, will really put the Longhorns defense to the test. And the Texas defense will be without defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, since he was fired after the win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the regular season finale.

But the firing of Orlando was part of a theme of coaching turnover that Herman looked to instill heading into the offseason. That is part of the reason why the Longhorns should be so motivated to come out strong in the Alamo Bowl.

But the postseason track record of Whittingham during his time with the Utah program shows that his side should come out strong too. This should be a battle between two usually good postseason teams with a lot on the line. But Texas should be more motivated than Utah, in theory, given their rough regular season record.