One year after BYU beat a ranked opponent in a bowl game and finished in the top 15 in the final rankings while Utah was home for the holidays with a 5-7 record, the two schools are going into the 2025 season with expectations to make the postseason.
It was the Utes, though, who earned the more favorable prediction in a way-too-early bowl projection that came out to kick off July.
On3's Brett McMurphy released his bowl projections earlier this week, including his best guess at who will make — and win — the College Football Playoff.
What did he predict for BYU, Utah, Utah State and the Big 12?
The Cougars played in the Alamo Bowl last season, beating Colorado 36-14.
This year, though, McMurphy is projecting a lower-profile matchup for BYU against Jacksonville State in the Independence Bowl.
The Cougars played in the Independence Bowl in 2021, losing to UAB 31-28.
BYU has never faced Jacksonville State before. The Gamecocks joined the FBS in 2023 after nearly three decades playing at the FCS level.
McMurphy projects that Utah will win the Big 12 and earn an automatic bid into the College Football Playoff as the No. 11 seed in the first year of the straight seeding model.
McMurphy predicts the Utes will face No. 6 seed Clemson on the road in the first round and lose to the Tigers.
Utah and Clemson have never played in football.
Utah is the only Big 12 representative in McMurphy's CFP projections. He has Georgia beating Ohio State in the national championship game.
While Utah has never played in the CFP, the Utes have previously played in four New Year's Six bowl games — two during the CFP era which began in 2014 and two prior to that.
Utah played in back-to-back Rose Bowls in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The Utes were also the original BCS busters, winning both the 2005 Fiesta Bowl and later the 2009 Sugar Bowl during a 13-0 2008 season that saw the Utes finish the year ranked No. 2.
McMurphy doesn't have the Aggies reaching the postseason in their first year under coach Bronco Mendenhall, the former BYU head coach.
Utah State missed the postseason last year after playing in a bowl game in 11 of the previous 13 seasons.
McMurphy predicted that 12 of the 16 Big 12 teams will qualify for a bowl game.
Last season, nine Big 12 teams played in the postseason. The league went 4-5 collectively.
College Football Playoff, first round — Utah vs. Clemson.
Cure Bowl — UCF vs. USF.
Rate Bowl — TCU vs. Minnesota.
Pop-Tarts Bowl — Texas Tech vs. Louisville.
Texas Bowl — Iowa State vs. Oklahoma.
Birmingham Bowl — Oklahoma State vs. Missouri.
Independence Bowl — BYU vs. Jacksonville State.
Alamo Bowl — Kansas State vs. USC.
Sun Bowl — Colorado vs. Florida State.
Armed Forces Bowl — Kansas vs. Army.
Liberty Bowl — Baylor vs. South Carolina.
Holiday Bowl — Arizona State vs. SMU.
Arizona State, last year's Big 12 winner, is projected for the Holiday Bowl, while a couple other expected conference contenders, Texas Tech and Kansas State, are predicted to play in the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Alamo Bowl, respectively.
Only three of the 12 Big 12 teams projected to make the postseason in McMurphy's predictions wouldn't face a fellow power conference team.
