None of the Utah Utes players are opting out of the Rose Bowl

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KSL UNRIVALED​

Devin Kaufusi: Opting Out Is ‘Not The Attitude Of This Utah football Team’​

Dec 29, 2021, 9:32 AM | Updated: 2:13 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: Devin Kaufusi #90 of the Utah Utes reacts as he leaves the field a...

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: Devin Kaufusi #90 of the Utah Utes reacts as he leaves the field after upsetting the Arizona State Sun Devils October 16, 2021 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)
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BY JEREMY MAUSS
KSL Sports
SALT LAKE CITY – Going to the Rose Bowl is a huge deal for the University of Utah football team. It’s their first time at the “Granddaddy Of Them All” and Utah is ready to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.
While the Utes seem ready to roll, the Buckeyes have four players opting out of this game to avoid injury and prepare for the NFL draft.
Those not playing are wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, defensive tackle Haskell Garrett, and offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere
Players electing to not play in a bowl game is a fairly new trend. However, the Rose Bowl is not just any other bowl game. Even though it is not part of the College Football Playoff, it holds a special place amongst all of the bowl games.
The Buckeyes are used to going to the playoff and have appeared in four semifinal games, so not having a chance to play for a title is apparently a bit of a bummer for some of those players.



As for Utah, there have been six players who have declared for the NFL Draft but they have elected to play in the Rose Bowl. That includes All-American linebacker Devin Lloyd who is projected as an early first-round pick.
Devin Kaufusi who joins Unrivaled every week said there has been zero talk about skipping the Rose Bowl.
“That’s not the attitude of this Utah football team and it hasn’t even been thought about,” Kaufusi said. “I haven’t even batted an eye thinking of our top guys and the seniors and the leaders of this team not playing. It just wouldn’t be the Utah football team. That wouldn’t be the culture for them to opt out. We’ve all been practicing. We’ve all been playing, because we’ve gone through that 1-2, we’ve gone through the losses, and the and the hardships and we’ve been together. It’s the Rose Bowl. I mean, what else you got?”
“It’s an easy sell when you’re at the Rose Bowl going up against the Ohio State, and so everyone wants a piece of it. We’re fired up about it this opportunity that we have.”
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Devin Lloyd Could Have Easily Opted Out​

The one player that has a decent argument to not play in the Rose Bowl is Lloyd and it would be hard for people to blame him for wanting to protect himself for his NFL future.
Lloyd has accomplished basically everything he can as a Ute by winning awards and earning honors this season. A Rose Bowl win would make all of those things even sweeter and be the icing on the cake of an amazing Utah football career.

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Lloyd is considered as high as top-10 in some mock drafts but the Pac-12 defensive player of the year wants to stick by his teammates and be part of arguably the best Utah football team in program history for one more game.
Plus, as Kaufusi said it best on Unrivaled, “It’s the Rose Bowl. I mean, what else you got?”
So, to leave this team and prepare for the Draft would be somewhat of a sour note for how the season would end. Instead, Lloyd wants to be part of history as a member of the first-ever Utah football team to play in the Rose Bowl, and hopefully to get the victory.

kslsports.com

Devin Kaufusi: Opting Out Is 'Not The Attitude Of This Utah football Team'

Utah will not have players opting out of the Rose Bowl.
kslsports.com kslsports.com
 






I saw the Utes in Vegas. Having also seen the Bucks in person, I like Utah's chances to win the Urban Meyer Memorial contest.

Not that it will matter much, but I expect a pro-Utah crowd based on how well they traveled to the Strip and that Ohio St fans probably view this as a consolation prize.
 



I am a big proponent of playoffs and expanded playoffs but the diminished role of the Rose Bowl is an awful consequence.
 



Gopher_In_NYC said:
I watched them a couple of times at the end of the season and they looked legit Also helps that the 2 best OSU receivers quit
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Me also. They showed a very strong running game with Thomas a stud RB and their QB only threw 5 INTS. Very good D also. Watched them totally dominate both Stanford and then the Ducks. Fun team to watch and I won't be surprised to the beat the Bucko's
 

goldengophers said:
I am a big proponent of playoffs and expanded playoffs but the diminished role of the Rose Bowl is an awful consequence.
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Make it an 8 team tournament with the original 4 bowl games being the first week. Rose Bowl keeps its status.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Me also. They showed a very strong running game with Thomas a stud RB and their QB only threw 5 INTS. Very good D also. Watched them totally dominate both Stanford and then the Ducks. Fun team to watch and I won't be surprised to the beat the Bucko's
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That would be awesome 🤞if they beat the Herbstreits - those are the 2 games I saw as well.
They also have a slot receiver/return guy who took a kick to the house IiRC and is a real weapon. I have much more tolerance for Michigan’s arrogance vs.theirs due to the Wolverines having a great school.
 

The Utes are happy to be there. I was talking with some Ute fans on way to Pasadena in Las Vegas. They play similar to Michigan, lots of TEs, smash mouth football. I think the Utes are going to win, especially with all the quitters and prima donnas on OSU.
 



I was watching the Central Michigan- Washington State Sun Bowl today. The WSU QB DeLauria could not play in the second half due to injury and the #2 guy, some transfer from Tennessee who never did squat at either place (I recall him, he sucked at Tenn) was standing there on the sidelines acting like a big shot. Of course he was sitting out of the game for some reason, so the #3 guy went in and almost brought them back.

Why some slug like Jarrett Guarantano, who will never sniff an NFL snap would sit out of his last CFB game in a Bowl I have no idea.

Mike Leach weighed in on this and was correct. I think some of these nobodies are opting out to stroke their own egos, as insignificant as they may be.
 


oak_street1981 said:
I was watching the Central Michigan- Washington State Sun Bowl today. The WSU QB DeLauria could not play in the second half due to injury and the #2 guy, some transfer from Tennessee who never did squat at either place (I recall him, he sucked at Tenn) was standing there on the sidelines acting like a big shot. Of course he was sitting out of the game for some reason, so the #3 guy went in and almost brought them back.

Why some slug like Jarrett Guarantano, who will never sniff an NFL snap would sit out of his last CFB game in a Bowl I have no idea.

Mike Leach weighed in on this and was correct. I think some of these nobodies are opting out to stroke their own egos, as insignificant as they may be.
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Good post - it’s kissing cousin is the college players who enter the NBA draft and don’t get picked - as they had no business being in the draft in the first place
 


Perfect illustration of the talent gap in CFB. One team is 100% all-in, no opt-outs, super motivated, basically playing a home game and the other is disappointed to be there and missing 5 (?) NFL prospects. Awesome game, but we saw the result.

We all know this, but CFB just isn't a level playing field and never will be. There's always going to be a handful of teams who have so much talent they can roll out backups at 6 - 10 positions and be better than 95% of teams. Just is what it is.
 

MGGopher said:
Perfect illustration of the talent gap in CFB. One team is 100% all-in, no opt-outs, super motivated, basically playing a home game and the other is disappointed to be there and missing 5 (?) NFL prospects. Awesome game, but we saw the result.

We all know this, but CFB just isn't a level playing field and never will be. There's always going to be a handful of teams who have so much talent they can roll out backups at 6 - 10 positions and be better than 95% of teams. Just is what it is.
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This is one reason why I like the Gophs residing in the Big Ten West. Their real competition is inside their mini-conference with six other relatively match-up level teams (depending on the year). The strong programs in the BTW will occasionally have really good years where they can challenge the small number of gigantic powers. Let's face it, Alabama and Ohio State, with probably Georgia and Clemson to a lesser extent, are on different levels for recruiting with the CFP concentrating that even more. Michigan rose up this year to challenge OSU in a down year for them (young bad defense), but it's temporary.
 

oak_street1981 said:
I was watching the Central Michigan- Washington State Sun Bowl today. The WSU QB DeLauria could not play in the second half due to injury and the #2 guy, some transfer from Tennessee who never did squat at either place (I recall him, he sucked at Tenn) was standing there on the sidelines acting like a big shot. Of course he was sitting out of the game for some reason, so the #3 guy went in and almost brought them back.

Why some slug like Jarrett Guarantano, who will never sniff an NFL snap would sit out of his last CFB game in a Bowl I have no idea.

Mike Leach weighed in on this and was correct. I think some of these nobodies are opting out to stroke their own egos, as insignificant as they may be.
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If anyone is an expert about stroking his own ego, it's Mike Leach.
 

MGGopher said:
Perfect illustration of the talent gap in CFB. One team is 100% all-in, no opt-outs, super motivated, basically playing a home game and the other is disappointed to be there and missing 5 (?) NFL prospects. Awesome game, but we saw the result.
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If the estimates are correct, 60,000 Utah fans in Pasadena, that's amazing. That's more than for any of their home games (stadium capacity is less than 52,000). It's not like it's a quick trip either to SoCal.
 

MGGopher said:
Perfect illustration of the talent gap in CFB. One team is 100% all-in, no opt-outs, super motivated, basically playing a home game and the other is disappointed to be there and missing 5 (?) NFL prospects. Awesome game, but we saw the result.

We all know this, but CFB just isn't a level playing field and never will be. There's always going to be a handful of teams who have so much talent they can roll out backups at 6 - 10 positions and be better than 95% of teams. Just is what it is.
Click to expand...
If the powers that be wanted to level the playing field is to limit roster sizes to 75 guys including walk ons.
 



MennoSota said:
Make it an 8 team tournament with the original 4 bowl games being the first week. Rose Bowl keeps its status.
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I kind of like this idea. But with seeding....the Rose Bowl would be unlikely to remain a Big Ten/Pac 12 game.

oak_street1981 said:
Mike Leach is the best. The world needs a few Mike Leach types to balance out all the asshole Lou Holtz BS pumpers, and the fake Bible thumpers .
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Agreed. Assuming some of the player treatment stuff from years and years back are in the past....he's a pretty interesting guy.
 

GFBfan said:
With NIL it won't matter.
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What won’t matter? With NIL a scholarship limit doesn’t matter because you can pay to go to school and still come out net ahead.
A roster size limit matters. The 88th best player isn’t going to go to Alabama and not be allowed to practice with the team.
 

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