For the first time this bowl season, you're going to have to get your remote controls ready to do some clicking. The Sun Bowl takes place on New Year's Eve at 2:00 p.m. (ET), and you're going to have to catch this one in between two of the other great bowl games on that day. In this one though, the Utah Utes will take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in what is sure to be a great bowl game.
The Utes are understandably the three point underdogs in this game at 5Dimes Sportsbook after they blew their chance at playing in the Pac-12 Championship Game. They were beaten by the Colorado Buffaloes, arguably the worst team of all of the automatic qualifying schools and certainly the worst team in the Pac-12 in their regular season finale, though the end result probably didn't change all that much.
What that loss probably did do was cost Head Coach Kyle Whittingham a shot at moving to a new job this year. That being said, Whittingham's Utes normally play tremendous ball in bowl games, something that both Head Coach Paul Johnson and his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets can't say.
Georgia Tech actually hasn't won a bowl game in years, including in 2005 against this Utah team in the Emerald Bowl. That day, the Utes were nine point underdogs, and they were able to walk away with a stunning 38-10 victory. For whatever reason, the Ramblin' Wreck just don't play all that well in bowl games, and history with Johnson will tell you that teams figure out his triple option attack during the few weeks off to prepare for the bowl game.
Last year, QB Tevin Washington and the G-Tech offense looked atrocious in the Independence Bowl. The hope is that El Paso proves to treat the Jackets a heck of a lot better than Shreveport did.
Watch out for RB John White IV in this one for the Utes. He was one of the best rushers in the Pac-12 this year, coming up with 1,405 yards in his first year out of JUCO. He has an ankle injury, but when push comes to shove, thanks to the fact that this game is being played on New Year's Eve and not earlier in the bowl season, he should have no troubles being ready for this game.
As stated before, 5Dimes is featuring Georgia Tech favored by a field goal, while the 'total' is set at 50.5 for the Sun Bowl.
