Texas Football: 5 reasons the Longhorns will upset Utah in Alamo Bowl

5. Utah’s late-season cold streak

Coming into the Alamo Bowl, the Texas football program does have some momentum since they knocked off the Texas Tech Red Raiders by a 25-point margin in their regular season finale. That helped to soften the blow of their subpar 7-5 (5-4 Big 12) finish to the regular season, after entering the year with a top ranking in the AP Poll and Coaches Poll.

However, Utah isn’t in a great spot either after losing in the PAC-12 Championship Game and coming out with a slow start in their regular season finale. Utah really had to have a big second half push to nab a win over the lowly Colorado Buffaloes before they took on Oregon in the PAC-12 Championship Game.

Momentum does matter entering bowl games. While Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham holds a very solid career postseason record of 11-2, he can’t ignore any looming problems that his team has entering the Alamo Bowl.

These two teams are really trending in opposite directions coming into this New Year’s Eve showdown.

And the last truly difficult opponent that Utah was able to defeat came way back on Nov. 2, against the PAC-12 foe Washington Huskies. But even the Huskies entered bowl season unranked. There isn’t a single team that was ranked heading into the postseason that Utah beat during the regular season.