‘It was a trying year’: Las Vegas Bowl teams shined through adversity

David Braun said it was mostly difficult but also full of joy. That it was his job to make sure Northwestern football players were on display this season — for who they are, what they stand for and their character.

“At the end of the day, the best way to write the story is to have success and win games,” Braun said. “Whenever you’re facing adversity, it affords you the opportunity to reveal (the) character of an entire program.

“We navigated through some really difficult months.”

And ended up here: Northwestern (7-5) on Saturday meets Utah (8-4) in the Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium.

It was July when longtime Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired amid allegations of widespread hazing within the program. Braun was named interim coach. He was given the full-time job last month.

Northwestern and Utah kicked off bowl week Tuesday with a news conference including coaches and players from each team.

Bryce Gallagher is a Northwestern linebacker who spoke about the ups and downs of the past several months and a team dealing with controversy while grinding through a football schedule.

The Wildcats didn’t lose consecutive games all season.

“As soon as (Braun) stepped in, we didn’t miss a beat,” Gallagher said. “He kept everyone together and poised. Just kept telling us we were a special group and that we could write our own story, however we wanted to write it. This wasn’t going to be a linear (journey). It was always going to be about how we responded.”

Utah faced its own share of adversity this season. Just a different type than Northwestern.

The Utes had a devil of a time staying healthy.

There were weeks when 15 to 16 players were unavailable. It began with star quarterback Cam Rising, who missed the season while recovering from a serious knee injury suffered in last year’s Rose Bowl.

All-Pac 12 tight end Brant Kuithe also missed the entire year with a knee injury. Linebacker Lander Barton was shut down with a leg injury following a win against Southern California in October.

“It was a trying year,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “Things just didn’t work out medically from the get-go. The whole season has been about dealing with adversity and next-man up mentality. Don’t get down on yourselves. Just continue to remain positive.

“But we ended up 8-4 and given all the circumstances, that was pretty darn good. I credit the leadership. I’ve never been around a really good team that wasn’t player-led.”

Utah players don’t just want to win. They expect to. The team captured back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022.

Whittingham is 11-5 in bowls as coach. His 11 bowl wins tie him for the third-most among active coaches and is tied for the ninth-most all-time.

“We’re a championship (program) and have to act like it,” Utah running back Micah Bernard said. “We want to win every game. Nobody likes to lose. We took it to heart to come out and play our best when everyone went down. Just come out every week and play the way we know how to.”

Contact sports columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com. Follow @edgraney on X.