Northwestern faced the odds head-on and made a bowl in David Braun’s 1st season. The Wildcats, in a bowl for the 1st time since 2020, learned their postseason opponent and destination on Sunday: the Utah Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl.

ESPN will televise the matchup, scheduled for Dec. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Utah, the 2022 Pac-12 champions and a Rose Bowl qualifier, were 8-4 (5-4 Pac-12) in 2023. That said, it was without highly-regarded quarterback Cam Rising for the season as he continued to recover from torn ligaments suffered in the Rose Bowl loss to Penn State.

Bryson Barnes received the bulk of the snaps for the Utes in 2023 but missed the regular-season finale against Colorado due to injury. However, he’s expected to be back behind center for the Las Vegas Bowl. His backup, Nate Johnson, was initially the starter and eventually yielded the job to Barnes before winning — and again losing — the job.

This marks the 4th time the Wildcats and Utes will meet on the gridiron. Northwestern has won two of the previous three contests.