This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Holiday Bowl is another one of those what-might-have-been games for Utah fans. Instead, USC was picked over the Utes as the Pac-12's contestant vs. Wisconsin for Wednesday's game (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN).
The Big Ten's sending three teams to New Year's Six games created a trickle-effect for the conference's other affiliated bowls. That explains how Wisconsin is in San Diego. Even so, this is a good matchup, on both sides of the ball. USC's offense will be going against a Badger defense that held Iowa to 10 points in a loss. And it will be interesting to see how USC's defense performs without three assistant coaches, fired by coach Clay Helton soon after the Trojans' loss to Stanford in the Pac-12 championship game.
Thanks to California's win over Air Force (contrary to my forecast), the Pac-12 is now 5-1 in bowl games with four to play. The Trojans should deliver a sixth win. USC 24, Wisconsin 17.
– Kurt Kragthorpe