This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

It will be very tempting to pick all eight Pac-12 teams to win their bowl games, including the College Football Playoff semifinals. Conference members are favored in seven games (all but UCLA) and I'm on the record with a national championship prediction for Oregon.  Last year's example shows that one or two teams will slip, with motivation and other variables always playing a role in bowl games. But that won't happen in the pre-Christmas phase of the schedule.  Ordinarily, there might be questions about Utah's level of interest, facing a Mountain West team (Colorado State) in Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl. But the fact the Utes haven't played in a bowl game since 2011 should give them enough incentive to perform well.  CSU surrendered eight sacks against Utah State in October. Even though the Rams won 16-13 on a buzzer-beating field goal, USU produced a good blueprint for Utah's defense. On the other side, it is difficult to picture CSU shutting down Utah's running game, as the Rams did to USU.  The pick: Utah 31, Colorado State 17.  – Kurt Kragthorpe