Bowl: San Diego Count Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Teams: Utah vs. Navy
Utah's season was... A bell curve. The Utes began 0-2 before benefitting from being UCLA's opponent in the annual Game Karl Dorrell Shouldn't Have Lost But Did. After losing to UNLV -- yes, UNLV -- Utah ripped off seven straight wins, then fell to 8-4 after losing the Holy War to rival BYU.
Mormon Power!
Navy's season was... Season? Not bad. The whole historically successful coach leaving for Georgia Tech part? Eh, that kind of sucked. In any case, the Midshipmen went 8-4 as well, winning the Commander in Chief's Trophy along the way by defeated both Army and Air Force. And they beat Notre Dame. Though that was the week after losing to Delaware. Which should tell you something about the Irish.
Utah impact player: Darrell Mack. Mack had 231 rushes for 1,128 yards (4.9 ypc) and 10 TDs. He had six 100-yard games and nine games with 75 yards rushing or more. (He had a combined 21 carries in the other three, and didn't even play in one of those games.) Mack also caught three scoring passes.
Navy impact player: Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada. In addition to having perhaps the best college football name everer, KNKE is 48-of-84 for 830 yards, 6 TDs and 4 INTs, which actually isn't bad for a Navy QB. He keeps the trains running for the parallel universe that is the Midshipmen offense, and he rushed 162 times for 782 yards (4.8 ypc) and 11 TDs.
Fun Sponsor Fact: You might actually be able to get through the line in less than 10 minutes:
The credit union, opened in 1938, has 481 full time employees and 85 part time employees, or 353 members per employee, compared to a national average of 462.
Am I the only one who kind of wishes they were in charge of education?
Prediction: Since late September, the Utes haven't lost to a team not named BYU. The Midshipmen, on the other hand, were left to defeat teams like Duke by a FG. Utah wins, 24-21.