Every year during bowl season, the big question for some teams is how much motivation each team has and how it will positively or negatively affect them. In last year’s Sugar Bowl, many said the only reason Texas was able to get a victory over Georiga is that the Bulldogs wanted to be in the College Football Playoff, not the Sugar Bowl.
The same was thought after it was announced that Utah would be playing against the Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl. Just like Georgia, the Utes lost in their conference championship game and missed out on the College Football Playoff.
After losing the Alamo Bowl, Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley used that excuse, saying the Utes “took it more as a vacation.”
Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley on the loss against Texas in the Alamo Bowl: "We took it more as a vacation than preparing for a game, and it came back to bite us."
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) January 1, 2020
Texas dominated most of the game on both sides of the ball but especially on the defensive side. The Longhorns held running back Zach Moss to 57 rushing yards and Huntley to under 150 passing yards.
Even if Utah did use their trip to San Antonio as a vacation, they could have had a better showing than what happened. Dominated on both line of scrimmages, killing their drives through penalties, and losing their temper is what cost the Utes the game.
Not being unprepared.
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