One of the longest and most successful college football tenures will be coming to an end when Utah and Nebraska meet in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham announced earlier this month he would be stepping down after 21 seasons. The 66-year-old Whittingham is 177-88 with the Utes as head coach but has been with the program in some form or fashion since 1994.
“The time is right,” Whittingham said, noting that he wasn’t retiring from coaching. “The opportunity to guide so many talented young men as they pursued their goals — both on and off the field — has truly been a blessing.”
Defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley, who has been with Utah since 2007, will take over as head coach after the Las Vegas Bowl.
The Utes (10-2) finished 15th in the final College Football Playoff standings and take a five-game win streak to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. It’s the other way around for Nebraska (7-5), which has lost its last two games and three of four after a 6-2 start.
Since the regular season ended, the Cornhuskers have made numerous changes to their coaching staff, most notably hiring San Diego State’s Rob Aurich as defensive coordinator to replace John Butler. But coach Matt Rhule doesn’t consider this a program reset, not when Nebraska is set to play in a bowl game for the second straight year, the first back-to-back bowl appearances since nine in a row from 2008-16, after not going to a bowl from 2017-23.
“The program was dead for 10 years,” Rhule said. “We are moving forward, it’s just not as fast as Indiana did it.”
The Las Vegas Bowl will be just the fourth start for Nebraska freshman quarterback TJ Lateef, who stepped in after Dylan Raiola suffered a season-ending injury. Lateef has thrown for 722 yards and four touchdowns and run for three scores.
Utah is led by junior quarterback Devon Dampier, who has 2,867 yards of total offense and 29 total TDs, but freshman Byrd Ficklin has also contributed 10 rushing TDs and three through the air.
Nebraska will be without junior running back Emmett Johnson, who declared for the 2026 NFL Draft after leading the Big Ten Conference with 1,451 yards. No other player had more than 119 yards and Lateef’s 27 carries (including sacks) are the most left on the roster.
Utah also has some big holes to fill from draft declarations, particularly on the offensive line, as both left tackle Caleb Lomu and right tackle Spencer Fano are sitting out, as is edge rusher Logan Fano.
Nebraska is 27-27 in bowls but hasn’t won consecutive games since the Gator and Holiday Bowls, both in 2009. Utah, which is 17-9 in bowls, has dropped its last five, with its last win coming in the 2017 Heart of Dallas Bowl.
